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The Brett Favre drama continues.
I'm not sure if you've heard or not - because it's not like it's been all over TV the entire week or anything - but Favre is injured, and now says he wouldn't have played this afternoon if the Metrodome roof hadn't have caved in and postponed the Vikings' game against the Giants.
It's really sad that I feel this way, because Favre is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, but man, I just wish he'd go away already. The weekly "Will he play or won't he play" game is so old at this point.
While the Vikings' quarterback has had a rough season under center, the guy leading the Texans' offense is quietly putting up another very solid campaign.
Houston quarterback Matt Schaub has already topped the 3,000-yard passing mark this season, completing 64 percent of his passes and posting 17 touchdown passes to just eight interceptions.
Schaub, the seven-year veteran out of Virginia, has the Texans putting up an average of 373 yards per game (seventh-best in the NFL), and 24 points per contest.
The Ravens say that what has made Schaub effective in Houston is the Texans' "single route" scheme, in which Schaub has one main intended target, and if that's not there, he'll quickly dump the ball off to an underneath receiver or a running back coming out of the backfield.
That strategy allows Schaub to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers, often wideout Andre Johnson or running back Arian Foster, and avoid taking sacks because he doesn't hold onto the ball too long.
"Schaub is very, very good at throwing the single route," defensive coordinator Greg Mattison said. "He's done a great job of seeing [if] Johnson's there. If he's not there, 'I'm going to go right down to my checkdown.' It's made it a pretty safe deal, and a very productive deal for them."
Mattison says the Texans like to run a levels concept, where they have one receiver run a deeper route, and bring another receiver underneath him. That allows for a number of big plays, and if nothing is open deep down the field, Schaub has no problem checking the ball down to Foster, who is incredibly dangerous catching the ball out of the backfield.
"They like a lot of big chunk plays where it's 15-20 yards down the field, and they'll max protect, and if [Schaub] doesn't see it open, he'll throw the checkdown," cornerback Chris Carr said. "And that's dangerous, because Foster with the checkdown - he's been doing that better than anybody in the league this year.
"I think if we can take away his initial read, it's going to benefit us, especially the way that our D-line has been playing. Definitely, you want to take away that initial read."
Even if the Ravens are able to take away Schaub's intended target, be it Johnson, tight end Owen Daniels, or the speedy Kevin Walter or Jacoby Jones, they'll have to deal with Foster, who is the Texans' second-leading receiver this season.
The second-year back has 50 catches on the season and is averaging 9.6 yards per reception, a very high total for a running back.
"He's a type of guy [who] it can be third-and-long, and he can catch a checkdown of four yards and run after the catch and get the first down," Carr said. "And so, he's going to be vital to us stopping him."
