In my second installment of chatting with this week’s opponent today, I caught up with Dustyn Richardson of Houston Sports and More. He has a very impressive and informative blog that I highly recommend you check out, and please give him some love on twitter as well. Thanks to Dustyn for taking the time, and check out our Q&A below. He will be posting a Q&A on his site as well with some questions for me, so be sure to check it out if you’re curious what I had to say about the Saints and the game.
Saints Nation: What’s the deal with Arian Foster? I saw he hurt his hammy again last week. Will he play, and what does the rotation of backs look like?
Houston Sports and More: There are a lot of question marks around Foster. Last week he started but didn’t play the second half. It’s not clear whether he reinjured the hamstring or if he was rested. With the way Ben Tate has played this season I think you’ll see Foster in a limited role again. Along with Foster and Tate, Steve Slaton will see limited action while Derrick Ward continues to heal an injured ankle.
SN: Matt Schaub is having a great season so far. Where do you think he fits in the hierarchy of quarterbacks? Better than guys like Roethlisberger and Eli Manning? Worse? Do you think he’s underrated and belongs in that conversation with Brees/Manning/Brady/Rodgers?
HSAM: Schaub catches a lot of flack here in Houston but I think he is definitely an above average QB. He’s definitely not in the elite category but I think he sits in the group behind there along with Romo, Ryan and Flacco. Eli and Ben probably have a slight edge because of their playoff success, somewhere Schaub and the Texans have never been.
SN: Your team embarrassed the Saints in preseason this year, badly. It was not a good game at all for the Saints. What makes your team so strong when you’re clicking on all cylinders? What do the Saints need to do to stop the Texans from playing at their best?
HSAM: When the Texans are fully healthy and firing on all cylinders, their offense is one of the best in the league. They have great skill players on offense (Schaub, Foster, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels) and can run and pass with great success. If the Saints can pressure Schaub the Texans offense can be thrown out of sync. If Andre Johnson can be held in check (which is not easy) the other receivers on the Texans, besides Daniels, are below par and this could cause the Texans to falter. The running game is tough to slow down because both Foster and Tate find the holes in the zone blocking scheme so well. The Saints will have to hit them in the backfield to slow them down.
SN: Now that your team has been around a while and a core is getting built, what are your aspirations for this team? Do you think they can legitimately compete for a Super Bowl title as they currently stand? What is this team missing if not.
HSAM: The Texans seem to always be the hot team ready to make the jump each season but always disappoint. We’ve had an elite offense for the past few seasons but the defense has always hurt us. With the addition of Wade Phillips and the switch to a 3-4 the Texans seem to finally have a good defense that can complement the offense. If this isn’t the year to make the playoffs, I don’t know when it will be done. With Manning hurt and the Jaguars and Titans down, the AFC South is there for the taking. In order to be a Super Bowl team I think we have to see how this defense holds up against a good offense and we will definitely see that on Sunday.
SN: I’m going to throw your question back at you: if you can have one player from the Saints, who is it?
HSAM: Brees seems like the obvious answer but with Schaub, we are ok at QB. Sedrick Ellis or Aubrayo Franklin would be the Saints player I would want. Our 3-4 defensive transition has gone great but we don’t really have a true NT. Ellis or Franklin would fit in perfectly and would improve our defense instantly.
SN: Score prediction?
HSAM: The Texans defense is improved and I think the Texans can score on the Saints. The Superdome is a tough place to play and while I think we could pull of an upset I think the Saints are too much for our defense at this point in the season. Saints 27 – Texans 20
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