In his press conference on Monday, coach Gary Kubiak couldn't escape the questions about Andre Johnson's disappearance at Oakland. The Pro Bowl receiver caught just two passes for 19 yards and did not play during the final series of the game.
What about 'Dre?: The marked disappearance of Andre Johnson during Houston's loss at Oakland had members of the media scratching their heads. Johnson, who leads the league in receiving yards with 1,427, caught just two passes for 19 yards. Both of those catches did not come until the fourth quarter.
When asked why the Texans struggled to get Johnson the ball, coach Gary Kubiak said that Oakland's defensive schemes forced the Texans to look elsewhere.
"Coverages dictated that we go some other place with the ball," Kubiak said. "I'll say it like I said yesterday: Obviously, when Andre is making a lot of plays, that's good for our football team. He's done a pretty good job this year, and our coaches have done a great job of getting him the ball. I think he's had a pretty good year."
The Raiders, who rank ninth in the league in pass defense, did an excellent job of mixing up their coverages to shut down Johnson and wideout Kevin Walter. Cornerbacks Nnamdi Asomugha and Chris Johnson played man coverage for most of the game and switched to zone when the Texans went behind by two touchdowns, effectively taking away the receivers' long routes.
"They didn't send 21 (Asomugha) with him in every situation like we thought they would," Kubiak said. "They did play us in a lot of man coverage. When you play the Raiders, you've got to beat man to be successful. You've got to go outside and do a good job as a receiver and beat man coverage. We've got to find a way to get him the ball, as far as making the throws and those types of things."
{QUOTE}Kubiak went on to say that the Texans did not get Johnson the ball enough to win the game. He also said that he decided not to play Johnson in the final series of the game because he wanted to get receiver Jacoby Jones more touches.
"That was just me," Kubiak said. "I was trying to get Jacoby some reps and get him in the game. He hasn't been in a game at wide receiver much. So that was just me, my decision."
Same idea, different call: With the Texans trailing by 11 points midway through the fourth quarter, they had a fourth-and-inches call at the Oakland 5-yard line. Kubiak decided to go for it and called a pass to Walter in the end zone. The Raiders played soft zone coverage, swarmed Walter and the pass fell incomplete.
After reviewing the play on film on Monday, Kubiak said he still would have gone for it, but he would have called a different play.
"I'd still go for it and naturally I'd call a different play," Kubiak said. "When you're not successful, you go back and do something else. Just the momentum of the football game and the way the day had went, we were looking for a spark for our football team. You know, I would go for it again in the situation that we were in. Like I said, obviously we could have done something better."
The Texans ended up 1-of-4 in the red zone, the lone score coming on a one-yard run by fullback Vonta Leach. Kubiak was forced to abandon the run the fourth quarter when the Texans were down by two scores.
"Should we be running more? Yeah, to be a good red zone team, you probably should," Kubiak said. "But we haven't been running well down there. You know, that opportunity that we missed on down there, we had second-and-two, we didn't execute. We had third-and-one, we didn't execute. Then fourth-and-one, I didn't give them a good enough play to execute. So we have to get a lot better down there."
Moving forward: Where do the Texans go from here? They can finish at 8-8 and match last year's record. To do that, they have to beat a Chicago Bears team that could be playing for a trip to the playoffs.
"I just want to see us play a lot better, and I want to see us bounce back and play a lot better than we played yesterday," Kubiak said. "Like I said, we got beat in all three phases of the game. We have no excuses. It's not like we went down there and gave them the game; they earned it. They beat us up across the board. They coached and played very, very well. So we have to come back and hopefully do the same thing against a good Chicago team this week."
The Texans don't believe the loss at Oakland negates their four-game winning streak, which included a victory over the Tennessee Titans.
"It's a week-to-week business, and it's not good today," Kubiak said. "You know, it's been good the last four weeks, but it's not good today. And we have to go back to work and try to make it better this week."
Injury notes: The Texans came out of the game fairly healthy. Linebacker Xavier Adibi, who was inactive with a groin injury, will be day-to-day this week. Safety Nick Ferguson is nursing a swollen knee.
