The 2010 Houston Texans AFC South

The Houston Texans' 2011 Super Bowl Betting Odds have the Texans at +2500  to win the 2011 Super Bowl.

NFL Predictions Offense: The Texans have been getting better and better on offense for years now, and this year is no exception. Wide receiver Andre Johnson appears to have backed away from his original intent of holding out for a new contract. Receiver Kevin Walter provides a great complement to Johnson, and tight end Owen Daniels will be back from the ACL injury that ended his 2009 season prematurely. While the interior of the offensive line is sound and does a good job of getting off of the ball, the Texans' offensive tackles struggled in picking up outside pass rushers, which caused quarterback Matt Schaub to face pressure and get rid of the ball sooner than he would have liked to at times. Despite that, Schaub had a Pro Bowl season and produced over 4,700 yards. If rookie running back Ben Tate turns out to be the solid between-the-tackles runner the Texans think he can be, Houston's offense could be one of the best in the league in 2010. The 2010 new Houston Texans jerseys AFC South Odds to win the division are at +350.

NFL Predictions Defense: The Texans signed former New York Giant jerseys Danny Clark to fill in during Brian Cushing's four game suspension, and his performance in that role will be of huge importance. Those four games include matchups against the Colts and Cowboys. The Texans also play the Redskins during Cushing's suspension, and quarterback Donovan McNabb is more than capable of exploiting Clark if the linebacker becomes the weak link in the defense. Another concern is the departure of Dunta Robinson, who was the Texans' best cornerback for years. If rookie Kareem Jackson takes a while to transition to the pro game, he and second-year cornerback Glover Quinn will have trouble facing Tony Romo, Mark Sanchez, Philip Rivers, and Donovan McNabb this year. The Texans' corners will also be tested twice by Peyton Manning, Vince Young, and David Garrard, which is no easy task. The Houston Texans' Win Total is at 8 with the over at -130.

Head Coach\Special Teams: Gary Kubiak was considered to have been on hot seat Brian Cushing at the start of the 2009 season, but kept his job after the Texans produced their first-ever winning season. The Texans' zone-blocking scheme allowed their running game to be productive despite a lack of quality running backs, and it will be interesting to see if Kubiak has the Texans stick with that scheme despite offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan's departure to Washington. Return man Jacoby Jones is electrifying, and has returned a kickoff and two punts for a touchdown already in his three-year career. He almost always puts the Texans in great field position, and that should continue this year. Kicker Kris Brown was a weak spot in 2009, making only four out of ten field goal attempts of 40 or more yards. To fix this situation, the Texans signed Neil Rackers, who is 13 out of 15 the past two years in field goals of over 40 yards.

Matt Schaub is coming off of the best year of his career, throwing for 4,770 yards and playing all 16 games for the first of what I hope to be many times. Will the injury bug come back again? Will the running game cut into his total? Will he break 5,000 en route to winning enough shootouts to take the Texans to the playoffs? Will he spend all of training camp working on his running game and lead the Texans to a 47-10 victory in the Orange Bowl as the greatest option QB of all-time, then call Vince Young up and ask him why he can't hold his jockstrap? Thats all up to you.

Simply predict Schaub's regular season passing yards, touchdowns, and interceptions. I'll list the weighted formula behind the jump so as to not bore you, but the person who is closest to these numbers will receive...something Texans-related as a prize, should they be around after the season to claim it. I can't tell you what the prize will be, both because it would ruin the surprise and because I'm just planning to make it something on sale and random at Amazon for the free shipping, but believe me when I tell you that it will change your life.

I'll try and run an average of what we come up with as well in a few days. If we were a baseball site, here's where I would include a player's CHONE and PECOTA and SIXWORD systems, but to the best of my knowledge, there aren't really any companies doing that for free. Football Outsiders has a projection system, but since I think they are about five more consecutive posts stealing book tidbits away from issuing me a cease and desist, let's not do that. So, on that note, project away!