Behind Enemy Lines: Five Questions With a Texans Blogger

As we get ready for week one matchup of the Steelers and Texans, Chris Watkins from the Houston DieHards was nice enough to offer some insights on the Texans for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

1) We Steelers fans are pretty bummed about our schedule, but I have to imagine it's always rough to be a Texans fan. Six games against the Titans, Jags and Colts can never be easy. Is this the year the Texans get out of the cellar?

Check out these two stretches of the schedule for Houston. Stretch 1:Week 1 though Week 5 - at Pittsburgh, Baltimore at home, at Tennessee, at Jacksonville, Indianapolis at home. Stretch 2: Week 9 though Week 14: at Minnesota, Cincinnati at home, at Indianapolis, at Cleveland, Jacksonville
at home, at Green Bay.

Of course Baltimore at home in the first stretch, and Cincy at home in the second should be winnable games, but at this point early in the pre-season, all the others could go either way. Luckily, very few in the Texans fan community are complaining. A lot of us have the attitude of "hey, if we're going to finally get respect in this league, we NEED to beat whoever they throw at us, no matter who it is."Yes, I do think this is the year the Texans get out of the cellar. I think Tennessee will slip a little bit this year, and the Texans will finish ahead of them.

2) It's been a couple of years since Pittsburgh faced Houston. Back then, David Carr had lots of trouble with the Steelers' zone blitz. Obviously Carr's long gone, which helps the offensive line, but how's the Texans offensive line play now? Who stands out and who are the weak links?

First off, kudos to you for being one of the few people outside of Houston who realizes that David Carr was as much to blame for his sacks as the offensive line was.

The line has vastly improved since Carr's exit. Last season, the Texans gave up only 22 sacks, tied for sixth-best in the league. That said, they still have issues protecting the quarterback at times - it just doesn't always result in a sack. First-round draft pick Duane Brown has been way better than expected at left tackle, especially in pass protection. He went up against guys like Will Smith and DeMarcus Ware in the pre-season, and held his own.

However, the Steelers obviously have quite an exotic brand of blitzing, built to confuse and bewilder an offensive line, and I expect the Texans to have problems with that in Week 1. One of the reasons the Texans want Ahman Green back for game 1 is because he's a veteran who will be far more likely to pick up the crazy blitzes that Pittsburgh will throw at them, whereas young backs like Chris Taylor and Steve Slaton will be more nclined to have protection problems.

Standouts on the offensive line - LT Duane Brown, RT Eric Winston. The others aren't weak links, but the group as a whole is still learning the true Zone Blocking Scheme that was installed in the off-season. I don't expect them to really have it down to a science until five or six games into the season. It's definitely a concern.

3) Who's the one player on the Texans Steelers fans don't know about that they should?

I would say Kevin Walter. Sure, Steeler fans will remember him from his days with Cincinnati, but he's an entirely different player now. He's had a great pre-season, and has an uncanny ability to find the soft spot in the secondary under the safeties. If Andre Johnson is is Matt Schaub's go-to guy, Walter is definitely his security blanket. When we need a guy to make a play on third down, lately it's been Kevin Walter.

4) Who's the one player on the Texans, Steelers fans don't know who's in danger of losing his job by Week 5?

Aside from Ahman Green who will undoubtedly be injured, I would have to say #2CB Jacques Reeves. He's had a pretty bad pre-season, and even though we've only got rookie Antwaun Molden and Houston's favorite whipping boy DeMarcus Faggins behind him on the depth chart - he has to step it up in a HURRY to justify the contract Houston signed him to. He'sgot tremendous speed, but he relies on it too heavily. His playmaking instincts are zero, and he doesn't use his hands well at all.

5) Mario Williams seems to have proven the Texans' smart to take him instead of Reggie Bush or Vince Young with his breakthrough year last year. Considering the Steelers offensive line problems, that seems like a concern for Pittsburgh. How is he progressing? Is he drawing a lot of double-teams already, or is he still blockable by a tackle?

He's an absolute monster. He's progressing tremendously, and he is in no way blockable by a single tackle. The problem is - the Texans have absolutely no pass rush aside from him, which means he's going to be double and even triple-teamed on every snap with no fear or trepidation on the part of the offense. There's just literally nobody else on the Texans who strikes any sort of fear into an offensive line right now.

6) Sorry, I said this was going to be five questions, but I have a sixth. Who's going to be the primary tailback with Chris Brown hurt?

Ahman Green was always the #1, but I'm going to answer this as if both Green and Brown are hurt, because very soon, Green will join Chris Brown. 3rd-year back Chris Taylor is a guy the coaches love, and Steve Slaton has really been tearing it up in the pre-season. The smart money is on Chris Taylor to be the #1 after Green goes down, but I think that's more because the coaches are afraid to go with a rookie full time.

That said, you can carve it in stone that at some point, Steve Slaton will start for the Texans in 2008. His pass protection is progressing nicely, and he's got that explosive play-making ability that a Houston Texans running back has never had. As with Duane Brown, Slaton has exceeded his expectations. That coupled with the mediocre stable of running backs will have him in the spotlight at some point this year, no doubt.

Thanks to Chris for all the insights.