RAIDERS @ Texans Halftime Post

Alright so welcome into the halftime report of the Raiders @ Texans, where the Texans come back and scored 17 unanswered points after the Raiders jumped to a 14-0 lead.

For the most part, the first half told a tale of two quarters. The first quarter, where the Raiders were riding high, cashing in on every opportunity whenever the defense makes a turnover, and the second quarter, where the Texans quit turning the ball over and drive deep down field.

Alright some of the positives: Matt McGloin. I'm telling you guys, during the preseason I was wowed by how the undrafted QB out of Penn State played and he was really outplaying Matt Flynn, Tyler Wilson, and Terrelle Pryor in terms of the passing game. I know most of his TDs were off turnovers, but McGloin's got a nice zip to his pass and he knew when to throw the ball away, although he did take a sack. But other than that, McGloin has made the correct decision when throwing the ball and he has more a field vision, the skill sets that Pryor lacks in the passing game. If only the receivers can catch those nice throws.

Overall in a limbo, the defense, I kinda have mixed feelings. The first quarter, they generated two turnovers and sacked Keenum to put the Texans out of field goal range. I thought "hey this is the best start the defense ever got." And then the 2nd quarter happened, giving up on that 3rd down play to make Keenum heave one to Graham. After that, the busted special teams coverage to leave Keyshawn Martin off to the races to tie it up. It was mixed feelings for me for the defense.

Onto the negatives, the running game and the receivers. The running game has gotta get it going, even without Pryor and the Texans' D has really exploited that weakness. The receivers, whenever McGloin is deep into his own territory, there are certain times where McGloin has a chance to move the plays with his good passes, but the receivers can't get any awareness. Yeah sure Moore and Streater had the nice 2 TDs, but other than that, the receivers have been non-existent and that's where we need a #1 guy.

I know I'm a little delayed because the 3rd Quarter just started right now. We just gotta find a way to drive down field and score more often and it's not happening. Also, stop the penalties. The penalties were just ugly, particularly on both sides. We'll see how the second half pans out.