Rush defense: Entering the game, running back Darren McFadden led the NFL in rushing with 468 yards. In the Raiders' two wins, he'd cracked the 150-yard mark, while in their two losses he gained a total of 147 yards. McFadden was held to 51 yards on 16 carries against the Texans, for an average of just 3.2 yards per. The Texans run defense shut him down, but it just wasn't enough for a victory.
"Our goal all day was to try and stop the run," defensive end J.J. Watt said. "For the most part we did that but obviously you have to do it the entire game."
As a team, the Raiders gained 94 yards on the ground, but 35 of those yards came when Rock Cartwright ran a fake punt in the fourth quarter. Without Cartwright's big play, Oakland gained just 59 yards on 21 carries.
Last possession: The Texans were in a position to win the game late, as they set up shop with a first-and-10 at their own 37 yard line with 1:50 remaining. A pair of Matt Schaub passes went for big gains, as he hit Kevin Walter for 26 yards and Joel Dreessen for 34 yards. The latter gave the Texans a first-and-goal at the five yard line. After spiking the ball on first down, Schaub's pass on second down was picked off in the end zone. Schaub described what his choices were on that final play.
"First option is on the strong side," Schaub said. "I got Kevin and Joel Dreessen working for me. They had a lot of bodies in there and there wasn't anything clean, so just stepping up and trying to make a play off schedule."
Walter was quick to point out that the Texans lost as a team, and it wasn't just one play or player that decided the outcome.
"We just didn't execute on the last play," Walter said. "It's either you execute it or not and we didn't get it done as a group."
Sack differences: Oakland quarterback Jason Campbell was sacked just twice in the season's first four games. The Texans were able to drop him three times Sunday, and hurried him eleven times total. Linebacker Brian Cushing tallied a sack, but still said the defense could've done more.
"Speaking defensively, I think we could have maybe gotten a turnover, a big hit, sack, forced fumble, something," Cushing said. "We needed to do something to spark the team, spark the game. We weren't able to do it."
Cornerback Johnathan Joseph agreed.
"For us, it wasn't good enough," Joseph said. "We still lost the game. We can say we played good but for us that's not good enough."
