Sage looked pretty good in his first start with the Texans. The Raiders aren't much of a team, but there are not gimme wins for the Texans. Rosenfels did some work with his feet, including a 14 yard scramble on the Texans' first offensive play of the game and a fourth down QB sneak. Kubiak has confidence in Sage and his ability to run the offense, going for it on fourth down from the Oakland 5. That decision was rewarded with a TD, only the second touchdown on an opening drive all season.
The one issue that Rosenfels has is under throwing deep balls. He also has a tendency to lead the receiver into the middle of the field, allowing DBs to make a play on the ball. The second play of the second quarter was a deep pass that was intercepted. Walters, the WR, was uncovered and had a lot of ground. If Sage throws the pass so Walters straightens his route out and puts the pass 5 yards deep in the endzone, it goes for a TD, or at the worst, an incompletion, because the DB doesn't have a chance to make a play on it. This quote, about his 4th quarter TD pass, pretty well sums up his hesitancy to air it out.
"Andre' ran a great route," Rosenfels said. "I saw that he had 3 yards on him
and threw it. I thought I overthrew him, but he ran that sucker down."
Overall, Sage had an effective day. The Raiders had been allowing about 175 yards passing, and had allowed 6 TD passes through 7 games. Sage's numbers were 180 yds and 1 TD, which is pretty good for a backup QB making his third career start.
Look for Matt Schaub to start next week against the resurgent Saints.
The Texans' Record Setting Season
Best record through 9 games: 4-5 (.444) 2007, 2004
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