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Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 6:

Blitzing Joe Flacco: The Texans generally get good pass pressure without extra rushers. A lot of that has been because of end-turned-linebacker Mario Williams. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Texans have 21 sacks when rushing four or fewer players since the start of 2010. Williams recorded 10 of them, and no other player has more than 4.5. Williams is out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle. Can Houston get to Flacco with a standard rush? If it can’t, will defensive coordinator Wade Phillips call for more blitzing? How the Texans try to disrupt Baltimore’s quarterback will be a big story line in Texans-Ravens.

Get MJD cranking: The Steelers have given up some big run yards this season, including 150 yards to Houston’s Arian Foster. To win at Pittsburgh, the Jaguars will need Maurice Jones-Drew to carry a big share of the load. He’s gained more than 80 yards in every game so far. That’s a rare feat; only Edgerrin James (2005), Priest Holmes (2003) and Robert Smith (1996) have done it over the last 15 years, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Jacksonville’s offensive line has been inconsistent and injuries have caused them to change things up. Tackles Eugene Monroe and Guy Whimper have been limited at practice this week.

Defensive backfield in doubt: Cincinnati rookie quarterback Andy Dalton and rookie receiver A.J. Green have developed a pretty good connection so far. The Colts will have to rely on their pass rush to throw Dalton out of rhythm, because their struggling secondary is a mess. Their best cornerback, Jerraud Powers, is probably out with a hamstring injury. That means Green will be working against the likes of Jacob Lacey, Terrence Johnson and Chris Rucker. It’s a group that did not have much success at all against Dwayne Bowe and the Kansas City Chiefs receivers a week ago.

Tight end- and running back-reliant: Matt Schaub threw for 416 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Raiders, but only 99 of those yards went to wide receivers. Schaub is the only quarterback since 2001 to throw for 300 yards in a single game to just tight ends and running backs. Although the team added Derrick Mason, Gary Kubiak and Schaub probably will continue to lean on Arian Foster, Owen Daniels and Joel Dreessen. They can win featuring those guys in the passing game, provided they get plays after intermission as well as before. Houston has outscored the competition 90-25 in the first half and been outscored 70-37 in the second half. They have scored 6 points in the third quarter. It doesn't say much about their ability to make any adjustments.

Mindset: While the Titans enjoy a weekend off, everyone involved in the run game should be preparing to return to action absolutely determined to get things cranking. They simply cannot be the worst run team in the league and remain an AFC playoff contender. Chris Johnson has to show far more determination and get back to running downhill. All his blockers and play-caller Chris Palmer have to get to the root of the issue and solve it. Five games is plenty for them to understand what is happening, what is not happening, and why.

HOUSTON -- The questions about toughness are getting tiring, but they are not as tiring as the effort it takes to answer them.

When the Houston Texans had held off the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 17-10 win at Reliant Stadium Sunday, outside linebacker Mario Williams limped slowly onto the field for postgame handshakes. He looked more like a beaten man than a winner.

“I’m tired man, I was tired,” he said. “I had nothing left. I was so tired. I’m a big dude.”

One game doesn’t do away with a reputation, but after this one it’s hard to question the Texans’ toughness. The big dude had two sacks as he and his defense swarmed a patchwork offensive line to drag quarterback Ben Roethlisberger down five times. The offense did its part too, making room for Arian Foster to churn out 30 carries for 155 yards and a score.

“[Pittsburgh] is one of the most physical teams in the NFL,” Foster said. “They’re known for their defense, they pride themselves on their defense and they played well today. They’re a tough group of guys. I’m sore. But we believe we’re a good team, we really believe that. We don’t need anybody else on our side, just the 53 guys and coaches in that locker room. And it’s going to be a fun year.”

Said Antonio Smith, the defensive end who’s playing as well as anyone in Wade Phillips’ 3-4 front: “Their O-line, I love playing against them. They’re dirty. They fight. They want to finish you after every play. They want to talk to you. They want to act mean. And that’s why we give it right back to them.”

Behind the swarming defensive front, the Texans put their top cornerback, Johnathan Joseph, on the Steelers’ most dangerous receiver, Mike Wallace. Wallace had four catches for 77 yards, numbers the Texans could survive while limiting Big Ben to 16-for-30 passing for 206 yards with no touchdowns and a game-sealing pick.

“Our front seven were eating,” safety Danieal Manning said.

Roethlisberger rolled out of collapsing pockets like usual, but on the snaps where he bought time he didn’t find any back-breaking plays. On the ground, meanwhile, the Steelers managed 5.4 yards per carry using three different backs, but never really found a run rhythm.

Houston had its chances to come apart. Nine penalties for 64 yards hurt, handing the Steelers two first downs, eliminating 33 yards of Houston offense on undone plays, making moot a field goal block returned for a touchdown, and washing away an interception.

Foster was only the third back since 2001 to top 150 yards against the Steelers, joining Curtis Martin (174 in 2003) and Priest Holmes (150 in 2001).

“He was a challenge for us and he won,” Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley said.

Foster played his first full game of the season after dealing with hamstring issues and took more than a full load. Kubiak said he was surprised the back was able to take 30 carries. His backup, Ben Tate, left the game with a groin injury, which meant Chris Ogbonnaya got some snaps and his first two NFL carries.

Being able to run as Foster did meant the Texans could stay on schedule and keyed a game in which Matt Schaub wasn’t sacked, was hit only once and survived the loss of Andre Johnson to a hamstring injury.

As good as Tate had been in Foster’s place, Foster is simply a better combination of power, speed and an understanding of the team’s scheme.

“Arian’s a special player,” right tackle Eric Winston said. “Arian’s a special player now.”

Big wins have prompted big belief before, and people who’ve jumped on the bandwagon have then been bruised when dumped off it. Owner Bob McNair said after the win he doesn’t know if the team’s had a bigger victory, but players hardly echoed the sentiment. They know they should beat these Steelers right now.

They talked about the fun they’re having, which made you want to believe they can keep having it.

“We’ve been talking about it the three years since I’ve been here, but the belief is finally happening,” said Smith. “The swagger is finally starting to come around. We believe when we come into games we’re not the underdog. We come in here to beat each and every team we play, no matter who it is.

“There is no wishing. … I think we have every component that we need to be a championship team and the only thing we need to keep working on is ourselves and believing in ourselves.”

Three backs who’ve run for 1,000 yards on the same team sounds like a rarity.

But after writing about the Texans and Arian Foster, Derrick Ward, and Steve Slaton Monday I asked Stats & Info how often it’s happened and they took it to Elias. Apparently, it’s not so uncommon, especially when Michael Bennett (who ran for 1,296 yards for Minnesota in 2002) is involved.

There have been three instances of a team having three 1,000-yard rushers in just the last five years.

• 2008 Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- Michael Bennett, Warrick Dunn and Cadillac Williams
• 2008 Washington Redskins -- Shaun Alexander, Ladell Betts and Clinton Portis
• 2007 Kansas City Chiefs -- Michael Bennett, Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson

Foster and Ward are definite for the Texans. If Slaton sticks, they’ll be added to this list. He has to rank fourth at best right now, behind Ben Tate.

Arian Foster won the rushing title for a bad 6-10 team that gave up a lot of points.

This left me wondering how difficult -- and perhaps uncommon -- it is for the league’s most productive running back to come from a losing team that spent a fair share of time playing from behind and needing to throw the ball.

The answer, from Keith Hawkins of ESPN Stats & Info, is that it’s not all that uncommon.

Here is a list of the running backs since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 who have won the league’s rushing total despite playing on a losing team.


A few points:

• It’s a lot rarer if your name isn’t OJ Simpson or Barry Sanders.
• Foster was just the fourth back to do it under the current playoff format, installed in 1990.
• Foster was just the sixth back to do it since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978.

By Football Outsiders’s adjusted numbers , Foster was still the best running back in the NFL. (Also mentioned here: Austin Collie and Randy Moss, both in not great ways.)

Other Foster notes on a truly remarkable season:

• His 1,616 rushing yards were the most by an undrafted player in NFL history, topping Priest Holmes 1,615 for Kansas City in 2002.
• He is the third player in NFL history to record 1,600 or more rushing yards and 600 or more receiving yards in a season. He finished the year with 1,616 rushing yards and 604 receiving yards. The others were LaDainian Tomlinson (1,645 and 725 in 2003) and Holmes (1,615 and 672 in 2002).
• He won the title over Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles by 149 yards.
• He tied Tennessee’s Chris Johnson with eight 100-yard games.
• His 231-yard effort in the season opener versus Indianapolis (9/12) was the best in the league, and his 180-yard performance against Jacksonville (1/2) was the fourth-best individual rushing game of the season.

Chris Johnson’s 39-yard touchdown run early in the Titans’ blowout of St. Louis was his seventh rushing score of 20 or more yards, ESPN Stats & Information informs me.

That’s just one shy of the single-season NFL record shared by Jim Brown (1958) and Terrell Davis (1998).

Johnson also topped 100 yards rushing for the eighth consecutive game, breaking the franchise record of seven held by Earl Campbell. He also set a new Oilers/Titans record for scrimmage yards, with 186 boosting his season total to 2,017. Campbell has 1,981 for the 1980 Oilers.

Johnson’s 2,017 yards from scrimmage are the fourth most through 13 games in league history, behind O.J. Simpson in 1975 (2,120), Priest Holmes in 2002 (2,104 and Walter Payton in 1977 (2,051). Brown had 2,008 in 1963.

Here’s a breakdown of where Johnson stands 13 games into the season compared to where Eric Dickerson was at the same point in 1984, when he set the all time single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards.

It's hard to fathom what Johnson's doing.

But here's one concern looking ahead: Vince Young's run-threat presence and overall play helped Johnson take his production to a different level. Young left Sunday's game with a hamstring injury. If he's unable to play next week against Miami or beyond -- the Titans finish with games against San Diego and at Seattle -- will it have a bearing on what Johnson does or doesn't do?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Chris Johnson isn’t concerned with Brett Favre, Peyton Manning or Drew Brees.

The Titans’ second-year running back joked Wednesday after practice that he intends to launch an MVP campaign soon.

“Of course I should be in the conversation,” he said. “And I’m about to start a campaign, an MVP campaign. Everything. When is the voting?”

And while he expects the Titans to fulfill the prophecy he offered after the Titans' first win that they would win 10 in a row and make the playoffs, he said it shouldn’t have to come true for him to win the honor.

“I don’t understand that,” he said “MVP, that’s an individual goal, that’s not a team goal. Last year, my team, we had a first-round bye, went to the playoffs and all that and they still gave Matt Ryan [offensive] rookie of the year. So it shouldn’t have to go on how good your team is doing.”

He also said he’s not sure a 2,000-yard season is a necessity, though he’s currently on pace for 2,030 rushing yards. That number is too far away for him to think about much now, he said.

Johnson will be pleased to know he's moved up in Mike Sando's weekly "MVP Watch."

Voters who prefer one of the quarterbacks of a playoff team for MVP might look to Johnson for a different award -- offensive player of the year.

The MVP and offensive player of the year have been the same player for the four of the last five seasons. Last year Manning was MVP while Brees was offensive player of the year.

In the five seasons before that, a quarterback was MVP while a running back was offensive player of the year four times.

Marshall Faulk was OPOY twice when Kurt Warner was MVP. Priest Holmes won the second award when Rich Gannon was MVP in 2002. The same scenario played out for Jamal Lewis when Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-MVPs a year later.

“That’d be good too,” Johnson said of possibly being offensive player of the year. “But I want MVP.”

Chris Johnson’s pace is a big topic, and if he keeps it up he'll finish with 1,940 yards. Eric Dickerson set the league record with 2,105 yards in 1984 with the L.A. Rams.


Here are the current standings of the rushing defenses CJ will face the rest of the way:

• Houston: 14 (tied)
• Arizona: 8
• Indianapolis: 14 (tied)
• St. Louis: 28
• Miami: 7
• San Diego: 23
• Seattle: 11

According to ESPN Stats & Information, he’s also on pace for the highest yards per carry for a primary running back with at least 100 carries in NFL history.


And his 631 yards in his last three games rate as the fifth-best three-game rushing binge in league history: Deuce McAllister had 665 in 2003, Marshall Faulk and Priest Holmes each had 643 in 2001 and Tiki Barber has 641 in 2005.

A sleepy Johnson told Dan Patrick he doesn’t get caught from behind, after a game he hurts all over, he thought Bud Adams’ salute reflected the Titans’ attitude and Vince Young’s brought the Titans some swagger.

Here’s a link to the interview courtesy of Sports Radio Interviews.