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Early drops were deadly for Texans

Before their amazing rally, the Texans were ineffective. Matt Schaub was off early, but his targets were also a problem. ESPN Stats & Information says the Texans were just the third team this season to drop six passes in a single game.

Green Bay (Week 5 at Washington) and Arizona (Week 11 at Kansas City) also lost when it happened to them.

Jacoby Jones dropped a touchdown. Owen Daniels returned from a long layoff with a hamstring problem and had at least two, one of which turned into an interception.

Daniels also had a great catch where he tipped the ball to himself.

“I have to be able to catch it,” he said. “I can tip it to myself and catch it but I can’t catch it when I am wide open.”

Another couple of notes:

  • Andre Johnson was targeted twice on the Texans' opening drive. After that, the Texans went 23 plays before going his way again. They went to him three times on the final drive of the first half (punctuated by his 46-yard touchdown). The Texans included Johnson more frequently in the second half, and he produced, catching seven passes on nine targets for 78 yards and the late score that helped the Texans force overtime.

  • Against a standard pass rush in the first half, Schaub was ineffective, in part because of the drops. The Ravens stuck with four-man pressure often in the second half, and Schaub fared well against it. Schaub was just 7-for-21 against four or fewer pass-rushers in the first half, with a touchdown and a pick that was on Daniels. But in the second half and OT, he was 19-of-31 against four or fewer pass-rushers with two touchdowns. Four men were enough on the game’s final play, when Haloti Ngata influenced the decision-making on the game-losing pick.