HOUSTON -- He never expected this NFL thing to be easy. But David Carr still was struggling a little more than he had anticipated after the first couple of games, when he got some words of encouragement from someone who knew the drill.

Peyton Manning had been in the same spot just four years earlier. So when the two met on the field before the Texans played the Colts Sept. 22, Manning, a No. 1 pick in 1998, knew what a whirlwind in which Carr, this season's No. 1 pick, found himself.

"He told me he didn't know much his first few games, that he didn't actually know what was going on until the end of his first year," Carr said. "He told me to not lose my confidence."

	Carr will continue to shout if the Texans don't provide better protection.

The words did much for Carr's spirits, but Manning also told him what he could expect in the weeks to come.

"He said the first time you see something, it's going to be fast," Carr said. "But the second time you see it, it's going to slow down a little bit. And the third time it gets better and better."

Carr especially took those words to heart. He has been seeing defenses coming at him at hurricane-like speeds. The blitzes were mounting and so were the sacks. After the first four games, Carr had been sacked 26 times, on pace to tie the 1986 Eagles' NFL record of 104 sacks allowed.

Carr, though, is not worried about blitzes or sacks or whatever opponents might throw at him. When talk of the sack record arises, he is quick to defend his offensive line, which still hasn't seen its two best players -- Tony Boselli and Ryan Young -- play a down because of injuries. But Carr has no complaints about the warriors who are in there.

"I'm just as much to blame as they are," Carr said. "I have to keep them motivated. It's my fault if they are not motivated to play. It's my fault they don't want to go out there and fight."

So he gets up, sack after sack, and points no fingers. His resilience has impressed his teammates, even veteran backup quarterback Tony Banks.

"He's tough," Banks said. "Some guys don't like the pounding, and they don't respond well to it. But to me, he's a rare breed. He keeps getting up, and it doesn't affect his game."

Though he admits he's still learning every day, every play, Carr scoffs at teams who plan to throw even more blitzes at him. The onslaught the Eagles brought at him resulted in seven sacks. But it also helped the Texans score two touchdowns, which they hadn't done since the opening game against Dallas.

So Carr says bring on the blitzes.

"That's what I'm learning and what the guys are learning too," Carr said. "I think at first we were a little nervous about getting the blitz. But now we can see where we have chances to make plays, chances to get one-on-one coverages.

"I welcome the blitz always. As a quarterback, you know there are plays to be made when they blitz. Some of our guys may still be a little nervous about blitzes, but we're getting better all the time."

That attitude is what Texans officials love. They say Carr is every bit the quarterback they thought he was going to be.

"I think he has exceeded our expectations," general manager Charley Casserly said. "We put a lot of pressure on his shoulders mentally because we asked him to start from the beginning. He has responded magnificently. I think he is going to be an exceptional quarterback in this league."

Casserly isn't predicting when, because he knows all of the best quarterbacks have taken some time.

"Steve McNair took a couple of years," Casserly said. "(Tom) Brady was in his second year before he started playing well and (Donovan) McNabb too. We know he'll have growing pains, but we like what we see."

Offensive coordinator Chris Palmer agrees. "He's farther along than I thought he'd be at this point," says Palmer, who has a long history of developing young quarterbacks, such as Tim Couch, Mark Brunell, Drew Bledsoe and Rob Johnson. "He's doing an excellent job, growing week to week.

	“	I'm just as much to blame as they are. I have to keep them motivated. It's my fault if they are not motivated to play. It's my fault they don't want to go out there and fight. ”
		— Texans QB David Carr

"The thing that excites me is that we've faced some of the better defenses in the league in the first four games, from San Diego to Philadelphia. You get better when you play better teams."

On another team, Carr might have had the luxury of being brought along slowly. But with the expansion Texans, Carr was thrown in with the first unit from Day One. The Texans, however, say that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"It all depends on the individual," Casserly said. "David has been able to handle it mentally. Some quarterbacks are not ready mentally that first year, but David showed us he was from the start."

Not that a few too many beatings might not change their minds. "I think Dom (Capers) and I have to keep close tabs on that," Palmer said. "We have to stay close to him and make sure he doesn't lose his confidence. But so far, he hasn't shown any signs of that."

Far from it. Carr is frustrated but not close to getting down. He believes the Texans offense is fast closing in on being a smooth-running machine. Scoring the two touchdowns against the Eagles -- especially getting a 7-0 lead on them early -- made him even more certain of it. The Texans had not scored a touchdown in their previous two games.

"I think I am feeling gradually more comfortable every week because I'm seeing different things," Carr said. "Playing Philly was good for us. They threw every blitz imaginable at us, and it was good for our guys.

"Scoring that first one was a must. We had to get the ball in the endzone. We have to get the ball early and get some points every week. The sacks are not important. That's something that's part of the game, and I've grown accustomed to it. We're getting better at it."

When asked how he would grade himself after the first four games, Carr says, "average." But he has no regrets about anything. In fact, he says if there were no draft and he had his pick of teams, he would have chosen Houston.

"Definitely," he said. "I chose Fresno State for the same reason. They were starting to build something and the first two or three years we struggled. But then we came together and it was a lot of fun. Hopefully, we can pull it together here soon."

Jim Carley is a freelance writer who covers the Texans.

Material from Pro Football Weekly.
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