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INDIANAPOLIS -- The Colts of Chuck Pagano will gradually get bigger.

He spoke respectfully of the success the small and nimble Colts of Bill Polian, Tony Dungy and Jim Caldwell had. But at the scouting combine he referred to an Al Davis mantra he picked up -- “It’s a big-man game” -- while emphasizing that doesn’t completely discount little, fast guys.

But part of getting big and part of being big in the NFL ties to an age-old football formula: To win, you’ve got to run and stop the run.

I asked him Thursday about his offensive philosophy, and here’s what he said:

“You watch the Steelers play, right? I’ve always said this and I learned this from my dad watching him coach growing up: You’ve got to run the football and have to stop the run to be successful at any level. So we’re going to be able to run the football, and like I said at my first press conference, you’ve got to be able to throw it also. So a good combination of the two. We want to be explosive, we want to be physical, we want to be tough, we want to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, most specifically up front with the offensive line.”

Pagano and GM Ryan Grigson will have a lot of work to do to shape an offensive line that can win like that, and they may not have the running backs who can be a key to that formula, either. (Incidentally, the 2011 Steelers threw the ball better than they ran it, and defended the pass better than they slowed the run.)

Plenty of teams win in today’s NFL with below-average run games and run defenses.

• The Super Bowl champion New York Giants were the NFL’s worst rushing offense in the 2011 regular season and ranked 19th in run defense.
• A year before, the Packers won the Lombardi trophy with the league’s 24th-best run game and 18th-ranked run defense.
• And while the 2009 Steelers defended the run well, ranking third, they were hardly a dominant rushing offense, finishing No. 19.

Pagano seems like an old-school guy. I understand the stance and the talk. But hopefully he and his staff will see that winning football, at least for right now, has a lot more to do with having a top quarterback and being able to hit opposing quarterbacks.

The new coach came to Indianapolis from Baltimore, where the Ravens made a habit of playing good run defense and getting a pretty good share of their offense out of Ray Rice.

While they advanced to the AFC title game twice during Pagano’s four years on the staff, they failed to win the conference or the Super Bowl.

Ultimately, owner Jim Irsay wants to see his Colts do more than that.

Samari Rolle’s endorsement of Chuck Pagano was unequivocal.

The former Titans and Ravens cornerback was with the Ravens in 2008-09, when Pagano coached Baltimore’s defensive backs.

Pagano just emailed Rolle last week, and Rolle was thrilled to learn from his wife on Wednesday that Pagano is the new head coach in Indianapolis.

“He’s detail-oriented, but at the same time, he’s not always talking to you like a coach; he’s talking to you like a man, like you two are on the same level,” said Rolle, who played 10 games for Baltimore in 2008 and was on injured reserve in 2009. “He trusts you. He trusts what you think about the defensive call, about your technique. He lets you be who you are.

“When we were on the practice field, he was one of those guys Ray Rice would mess with, guys from all positions would mess with. He would joke with them and that type of thing where, most of the time, you don’t even speak to half the position coaches on the team unless you have to.

“I think he’ll do a great job. I’m happy for him. I emailed him to congratulate him. I think the only tough part is the fact that he’s going to the Colts, and there is a lot of uncertainty there.”

Some more highlights of my chat with Rolle about Pagano:

On personnel: Expect Pagano to play to the strengths of the people he inherits and to try to gain favorable matchups. The Ravens simplified things more than people think in ways that simply got their best people in the best positions.

Rolle rates Pagano as a “great adapter.” He expects Pagano ultimately will want the Colts to field a bigger defense but will know getting it will be a gradual process.

On offensive approach: “Oh, Chuck likes to run. He likes to run, and he believes in keeping the defense fresh. I think if anything, his philosophy is going to be like coach [Jeff] Fisher’s was in Tennessee,” Rolle said.

On the reasons players like him: He listens to hip-hop. He loves joking around with the fellas. Pagano coached at Miami when Rolle was at Florida State, and when they were both with the Ravens, they went back and forth about the rivalry all the time.

"He’s got a great football memory,” Rolle said. “He remembers scores, years. He’s fun-loving. He’s very, very down to earth.”

On potential assistants: Hue Jackson, recently fired after one season as coach in Oakland, coached Baltimore quarterbacks in 2008-09.

“I could see [Pagano] reaching out to Hue Jackson to be his coordinator," Rolle said. "Hue was there with Chuck, and they had some great battles during one-on-ones, some talking wars. I think Hue would be a good person; he might have gotten a raw deal in Oakland. Hue knows football, and he knows offensive football.”

On possibly working with Andrew Luck: Rolle likes the idea of Pagano being married to Luck, if the Colts move away from Peyton Manning, the way John Harbaugh is married to Joe Flacco, Rex Ryan to Mark Sanchez, Jim Schwartz to Matthew Stafford and Ron Rivera to Cam Newton.

“That’s one of the big pluses, I think, when you come in there with a quarterback at the same time, the degree of his success, that will probably determine the success you have,” Rolle said.

On what kind of media personality Pagano will have: "I don’t think he’s a guy who doesn’t like talking,” Rolle said. “The one thing he’ll probably get tired of is having to address all the questions about Peyton. But you ought to give him some time to get adjusted to it.

“He’s got a great personality. He’s not going to make a mockery of your question or be sarcastic. He’s down to earth. I think he gets you guys.”

BALTIMORE -- The equipment truck just outside the Houston Texans' locker room sounded in need of a tuneup. It chugged loudly and unnecessarily in a tunnel at M&T Bank Stadium, doing its part to drown out the ugly end of a breakthrough season.

But the Texans spoke up proudly about the season that had just crashed to a close, talking of the disappointing suddenness of losing 20-13 to the Baltimore Ravens and falling just short of a trip to play the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

“Everybody sees the potential that this team has now,” said running back Arian Foster, who sliced through Baltimore’s vaunted defense for 132 rushing yards. “I think we gained a little respect in this league this year and it only continues to grow from here. We have a young team, a talented team and I think the upside is tremendous.”

Still, opportunities like this one are hard to come by and missing out on them fills a team with regret.

In a regular-season loss here on Oct. 16, the Texans saw the Ravens really come after the quarterback. But with rookie T.J. Yates under center rather than veteran Matt Schaub, Baltimore backed off, looking to complicate things with coverage rather than pressure.

And the hosts got what they needed, making the conventional pregame wisdom come true: a rookie quarterback wouldn’t be able to win here.

Yates threw three interceptions that turned into 10 points. The real killer of the trio was No. 3. Houston had the ball at the Ravens’ 38-yard line at the two-minute warning. The coverage showed just a single high safety and that dictated Yates to look to Andre Johnson deep down the right side.

But Yates failed to convince that lone safety, perennial Pro Bowler Ed Reed, to linger in center field. Reed raced to the right side of the end zone, went up and pulled in a pass intended for Johnson.

“You can’t coach a kid enough as a quarterback how good No. 20 is in the middle of the field and he found out the hard way today,” Texans coach Gary Kubiak said.

Said Yates: “I learned pretty quickly that just because I read the right coverage, it may not work. Ed Reed makes up for so much. He is all over the place. You may be making the right read, but Reed will make a play anyway.”

It shouldn’t have come down to a single scenario.

After they fell behind 17-3, the Texans really took control of the game. The defense sacked Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco five times and made him very uncomfortable. Cornerback Johnathan Joseph blanketed receiver Torrey Smith, who made one 9-yard catch. The Ravens didn’t break a run longer than 9 yards. Eight times in 15 possessions the Ravens punted after only three plays. The Texans produced a big goal-line stand at the end of the third quarter.

But Houston couldn’t find a takeaway to offset its giveaways -- the three picks and a fumbled punt by Jacoby Jones.

They popped the ball out twice, but fumbles by Flacco and Ray Rice were recovered by the Ravens.

“If they would have just bounced our way I think we would have got a whole other outcome,” defensive end Antonio Smith said.

In time, the Texans will come to appreciate a landmark season. They captured the AFC South crown, earned the franchise’s first playoff berth and won a wild-card round playoff game over Cincinnati before falling just short against the Ravens.

Because of the way it played out, they left town convinced they were the better team that just didn’t play better.

Tired as they may be, they’ll be tossing and turning Sunday night and beyond, running through plays they could have made that would have made things different.

“I’m not going to get a lot of sleep tonight, I know a lot of guys on this team are not going to get a lot of sleep tonight,” said Foster, who traded jerseys with Ray Lewis after the game. “It’s what we do for a living, it’s how we defend our legacy, how we write our story.

“And it matters. It matters to me. It matters to these guys in this locker room. It’s one of those things that’s going to haunt you until you can get that taste out of your mouth Week 1 of next year.”

Players are accustomed to routine and always expect to win. They go about their business expecting the pattern to continue. Everything tells them that Monday morning should be about review and recovery and the start of a plan for what’s next.

But now, nothing’s next.

“It’s weird,” linebacker Brian Cushing said. “I don’t think anyone wants to stop playing football in here and I think that’s a different feeling than we’ve ever had in this locker room.”

Wait 'til next year is the familiar refrain of every talented team that comes up short.

The Texans said it Sunday, still hurting. The sentiment will grow stronger as time passes, putting distance between them and the details of this loss.

“Coming into an environment like this, you have to play clean,” safety Glover Quin said. “We didn’t play clean on offense or defense and they won the game.

“Next year will be different. This game will be at our house.”

Reputations last, and I don’t think many people think of the defensive-minded Baltimore Ravens as a big-play offense.

The Texans did their part to change that in the regular-season loss in Baltimore on Oct. 16 — Joe Flacco threw a 51-yard pass to Torrey Smith and a 56-yard pass to Anquan Boldin and Ray Rice had a 27-yard run.

“You got to give them credit,” Gary Kubiak said. “Flacco put up a lot of deep balls that they went up and got and made the play that we did not make. They have been a big-play offense. They’re running the ball so well with Rice, and Vonta (Leach) is doing just a hell of a job, so it sets up for them to get the ball down the field when they do play action, those type of things. We got to stop the run first. You better stop the run against these guys first, or you’re not going to get on the field. Stopping the big play with their receivers was an issue for us the first time, and hopefully we can correct it this time.”

Have they really been a big-play offense? I thought it was Kubiak paying the typical over-the-top tribute to an opponent, but I asked Matthew Willis of ESPN Stats & Information for a run down.

The Ravens have had 13 20-yard rushes this season: Nine from Rice, three from Ricky Williams and one from Flacco. Here are the five longest.

Rice – 70, Week 17 at Bengals
Rice – 67, Week 13 at Browns
Rice – 59, Week 11 vs. Bengals
Rice – 53, Week 3 at Rams
Rice – 51, Week 17 at Bengals
Flacco’s longest was 31 yards, Williams’ was 28.

The Ravens had 17 30-yard completions, and 45 of 20-plus yards. Here are the five longest:

Flacco to Torrey Smith, 74, Week 3 at Rams
Flacco to Anquan Boldin, 56, Week 6 vs. Texans
Flacco to Ray Rice, 52, Week 4 vs. Jets
Flacco to Smith, 51, Week 6 vs. Texans
Flacco to Smith, 49, Week 11 vs. Bengals

Simple and obvious formula for the Texans: If they give up the sort of big plays that they put on that list, they can’t win Sunday. If they don’t, they’ll have at least a chance.

Three things to know about next Sunday’s Houston Texans-Baltimore Ravens divisional playoff game:

1. Complete effort required: When the Texans lost in Baltimore on Oct. 16, they had a 14-13 lead in the third quarter. Then they gave up 16 unanswered points. In the fourth quarter, Houston managed just three first downs and didn’t string together a drive of more than 37 yards. And that was with Matt Schaub still healthy and playing quarterback. He threw for 220 yards and a touchdown while taking four sacks. The Texans are 0-5 all time against the Ravens, and their first breakthrough won’t come this time at M&T Bank Stadium if they don’t play well for a full game. Baltimore is undefeated at home and spent the whole season working to earn home-field advantage in the playoffs, which they have against everyone except New England.

2. Limit big plays: The Ravens are hardly a team built on the ability to make big pass plays down field. But the Texans made Baltimore seem that way. Joe Flacco threw for 305 yards thanks to connections of 56 yards to Anquan Boldin over Johnathan Joseph and 51 yards to Torrey Smith over Kareem Jackson. Ray Rice chipped in with a 27-yard run on the final Ravens touchdown drive that put the game out of reach. The Ravens looked like a big-play machine against a defense that did a good job limiting such things for most of the year and finished as the No. 2 unit in the NFL. Andre Johnson didn’t play in the regular-season game for Houston, so the Texans will have their own big-play element in the lineup.

3. Pro Bowl backs: Two of the AFC’s three Pro Bowl running backs will square off here in Baltimore’s Rice and Houston’s Arian Foster. Rice runs behind fullback Vonta Leach, who was an All-Pro for the Texans last year and is an All-Pro for the Ravens this year. Houston had the No. 2 run game in the NFL, Baltimore’s was No. 10. The team that slows the opposing star back would seem likely to move on to the AFC Championship Game. But they finished the regular season awfully even. The Ravens allowed 92.6 yards a game and 3.5 yards a carry; the Texans were at 96.0 and 4.1.

Mike Sando’s final MVP Watch is out and you can peruse it here.

If I had an MVP vote, I’d use it on Aaron Rodgers. If it was a three-deep ballot, mine would be Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady.

Maurice Jones-Drew had a phenomenal season for the Jaguars. But Sando knocked him off his final list as he parted ways with players from losing teams.

I don’t have an issue with that.

I think MJD is incredibly valuable. No non-QB in the league accounted for nearly as large a percentage of his team's yards.

But the Jaguars could have easily lost 11 games without him. And part of that huge reliance on him is a result not of him forcing them to give him the ball, but of them having nary another consistently viable option to throw or hand the ball to.

Without Jones-Drew, the Jaguars probably wouldn’t have won the five games they did. But five games aren’t enough, and he suffers for being on a bad team.

As Sando goes 10-deep on his weekly post during the season, he creates a secondary question: Who’s the most valuable non-quarterback in the league?

In order on his ballot: Detroit receiver Calvin Johnson, Baltimore running back Ray Rice, New England tight end Rob Gronkowski, Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald and New Orleans running back Darren Sproles.

All but Fitzgerald are in the playoffs, and the Cardinals managed an 8-8 finish.

It’s hard for me to make the case for Jones-Drew as having more value than any of those guys.

I’m guessing many of you will feel differently about a guy who impressively ran through stacked boxes all season long.

Barring a crazy development, Maurice Jones-Drew is going to win the NFL rushing title.

It’s an incredibly impressive feat considering the 4-11 Jaguars have spent a lot of time playing from behind and have the league’s worst passing offense by a large margin. We covered some of that context a few weeks ago.

He talked on a conference call Tuesday night, after he learned he was a Pro Bowler for the third consecutive year. I liked that he said he wasn’t bothered by not being the starter. Ray Rice of the Ravens drew that assignment. He reminded us he started last year when Arian Foster was more deserving.

Heading into the final game, MJD has a 128-yard lead on Philadelphia’s LeSean McCoy.

Jones-Drew is sure to get plenty of carries against the Colts Sunday, and he ran for 114 yards on 25 carries in the first meeting between the teams.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said of likely winning the title in such a bad year for the team. “It’s something obviously growing up that’s what every running back wants. I think what we’ve done, though, is shown that there is no quit in our team. We’re facing eight- and nine-man boxes every week, and so to get that and obviously be up in the top in the league rushing where there’s always two or three extra guys in the box, it definitely shows that our guys are doing a great job and they deserve to get the recognition of being one of the probably top offensive lines in the game.”

He rewarded the linemen, his fullback and his primary blocking tight end with Gucci watches. The seven primary guys involved in blocking for him have black diamonds in their watches.

Jones-Drew has accounted for 46.5 percent of the Jaguars offense through 15 games, the highest percentage in the NFL. In 11 of 15 games, he has accounted for at least 40 percent of the club’s offense and at least 50 percent in seven games.

Rice is in second place on that list, accounting for 36.8 percent of his team’s offense.

Jones-Drew’s percentage is impressive, but it also shows how overly reliant the Jaguars have been on him. They need to get that number down by adding significant offensive weaponry. Less can be more, and extend his career, going forward.

Some additional notes on Jones-Drew’s season:

• In the previous 16 seasons, the Jaguars have never had a player finish in the top three in the NFL in rushing yards. Mark Brunell (4,367 passing yards, 1996) and Jimmy Smith (116 receptions, 1999) are the only two players in franchise history to lead the NFL in one of the main statistical categories.
• Jones-Drew is 136 yards from surpassing Fred Taylor’s single-season franchise record of 1,572 rushing yards in 2003.
• Jones-Drew is likely to wind up as the only current NFL player to have three straight seasons with at least 1,300 rushing yards.
• In addition to leading the NFL in rushing yards, Jones-Drew also ranks among the NFL leaders in several statistical categories: rushes (1st, 318), rushing touchdowns (T-11th, 8), touchdowns (10th, 11), yards from scrimmage (3rd, 1,807), first downs (2nd, 86), rushes of 10-plus yards (2nd, 38), rushes of 20-plus yards (T-10th, 8) and offensive touches (1st, 360).
• In the Jaguars’ past five games, Jones-Drew has averaged 145.4 yards from scrimmage. Three of his top 10 career games have come in 2011. He had a season-high 188 yards from scrimmage (97 rushing, 91 receiving) on Dec. 5 against San Diego, the third-most of his career.

Thoughts on the Indianapolis Colts' 24-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens and M&T Bank Stadium:

What it means: The Colts forge on toward 0-16 with their 13th loss of the season, never really threatening the Ravens. A week after Dan Orlovsky provided some encouragement in his work bringing the Colts back from a large deficit in New England, he was terrible. He threw 20 incomplete passes, connecting on 17 for 136 yards, while taking four sacks and throwing an interception. He hit Jacob Tamme for a touchdown on the last play of the game, fumbled three times (though Indy recovered them all), hit on nothing longer than 13 yards and posted a 53.4 passer rating. The Colts have made it through their toughest stretch of schedule and could face rookie quarterbacks in their next three games.

What I didn’t like: How many tackles did the Colts miss on Ray Rice alone? A lot. Also, how does a team get beat by a throw back across the middle like the one Joe Flacco found Dennis Pitta on for a 7-yard touchdown?

A bit of credit: The Colts went for it on fourth down four times and they converted three times. It makes sense when there is nothing to lose. It’s also made necessary when you go two-for-14 on third down.

Illustrating ugliness: The Colts had 12 first downs to the Ravens’ 24. The Colts averaged 2.9 yards per pass play. The Colts held the ball for only 23 minutes and 52 seconds. Seven of the Colts’ 11 possessions were four plays or fewer.

What’s next: The Colts host the Titans on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. Tennessee won the first matchup 27-10 on Oct. 30 in Nashville.

» NFC Final Word: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 14, with large thanks to ESPN Stats and Info:

Workhorse: Houston Texans running back Arian Foster has taken on a huge load during their six-game win streak. He has scored seven touchdowns since Week 7, as many as anyone in the NFL. He’s got 147 rush attempts, most in the league, in that time period while averaging 101.8 rushing yards. He’s also been the team's primary pass target when they’ve been without Andre Johnson, who has a new hamstring issue. When Johnson was out, Foster was the team’s leading receiver with 32 targets, 26 receptions and 427 yards.

Scoring issues: The Jacksonville Jaguars have not scored more than 20 points in a game this season. That streak extends to 14 games dating to the 2010 season. If they don’t get to 21 or more on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at EverBank Field, they will tie the Cleveland Browns of 2008-09 for the longest such streak since 2001. Only the St. Louis Rams have fewer points per game (11.7) than the Jaguars (12.7) this season. But the Bucs have given up 350 yards or more in nine consecutive games. Can the Jaguars find a way to get a lead? No team has spent more time trailing this season than the Buccaneers, who have been behind for 475 minutes and 22 seconds. The Bucs have trailed for 43 more minutes than the Colts, the next worst team.

Elements and points: Sunday in Nashville is the final game of the regular season in which the New Orleans Saints will play outdoors. New Orleans is 2-2 in games played outside this season. The forecast for Sunday: Sunny with a high in the 40s. I’m not seeing playing outdoors as major issue in this game. The temperature may not be the only thing in the 40s if Drew Brees is working against minimal pass rush and if cornerback Jason McCourty is out after a head injury. The Tennessee Titans know they’re going to have to score to stay in this one.

Serving up Rice: The Indianapolis Colts are 30th against the run. Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is second in the NFL with 1,474 scrimmage yards this season. Rice ranks third in the NFL in rush yards and his fullback, Vonta Leach, deserves some credit. ESPN Stats and Info says Leach has been a lead blocker on 173 of Rice’s 208 rushes, including all of his NFL-high nine rushing touchdowns. No other running back-fullback combo has been together for as many rushes. The Colts are newly depleted at cornerback. Second-level run-stopping help from the secondary will probably be undependable.

And also: The Saints have scored on 49.6 percent of their offensive possessions this season. Since the start of 2007, only the 2007 New England Patriots finished with a higher scoring percentage. … Matt Hasselbeck has averaged 5.0 yards per attempt in his last three games, the lowest number among quarterbacks with at least 30 attempts. … This season, the Cincinnati Bengals are 1-5 against teams that currently have a winning record. They are 6-0 against teams currently with a losing record. … The Jaguars have lost their last two games against NFC South opponents, scoring 10 points in each game.

BALTIMORE -- How many of these games can we watch unfold, predict how they will unravel, and already know what the players will say?

As the Baltimore Ravens ran their 4-minute offense through Ray Rice and got a touchdown to pull away from the Texans in the fourth quarter, anyone who watches the Texans on a regular basis was thinking something similar. They had to be. Or maybe some have grown numb to it by now.

It’s as difficult for the players to say the same sound bytes as it is for the fans to swallow them. Sunday’s 29-14 loss didn’t make any of it less old, less stale, less predictable or less maddening.

“We feel we are a playoff-caliber team, we deserve to be one,” receiver Kevin Walter said. “We go out there and have a hell of a week and practice, but that doesn’t matter. You’ve got to get it done on Sunday, especially against a team like this.

“Baltimore’s been there, every year. They are always in the playoffs. We did it once this year [at home] against Pittsburgh. But we’ve got to go on the road in a tough environment like this and get it done.”

Even after they didn’t, look at the AFC South. The teams are 0-7 over the last two weeks. Houston is 3-3 heading for Nashville and a matchup with the 3-2 Titans. If they don’t get receiver Andre Johnson back for that game, they should get him back a week later. Meanwhile, Jacksonville (1-5) and Indianapolis (0-6) have not won a game between them since opening day.

The Texans have two games with the Titans left on their schedule. Three other games qualify as mildly threatening: at Tampa Bay, against Atlanta and at Cincinnati. The Texans are capable of losing to anybody, of course, but the road map should be one they can navigate.

Even after ugly losses to Oakland and Baltimore over the last two weeks, even with flawed DNA that doesn’t appear repaired and even without Mario Williams it’s hard to emphatically say Houston can’t win the division and break through to the playoffs. At worst the Texans figure to slug it out with the Tennessee, a team with plenty of questions of its own.

How close are the Texans to the Ravens, a team they also lost to last season -- in overtime at Reliant Stadium?

“We’re right there,” safety Glover Quin said. “You saw the game. [With] a five-point lead in the fourth quarter, they made some plays and we didn’t. Are they better than us? No. Did they play better than us today? Yes.”

Is this a conversation we have far too often? Before DeMeco Ryans steps in, allow me to answer: yes.

Said Ryans: “We’re right there, that’s the frustrating part. We have to close the game out on our terms. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that in my career, but it’s the reality of it and it has to be done.”

Numerically, things looked just fine in several key departments. The Texans had two takeaways and protected the ball. They were better on third down. They ran for roughly the same average as the Ravens did.

But they failed to find the big plays like Torrey Smith's 51-yard catch over Kareem Jackson, Anquan Boldin's 56-yard catch over Johnathan Joseph and Rice’s 27-yard run on the final touchdown drive that put the game out of reach.

Maybe it would have been a different story if Matt Schaub had Johnson to throw to, but we’re not here to talk about hypothetical situations. And to their credit the Texans didn’t lean on his absence as an excuse.

“Sometimes it’s all too familiar, especially standing on the sidelines seeing what’s going on and knowing that you’ve been there before,” inside linebacker Brian Cushing said, a bandage on the bridge of his nose where he gashed it last week. “It’s frustrating not being able to close it out.”

All that said, confident professional athletes need to maintain faith. And working a cramped visitors locker room at M&T Bank Stadium, I didn’t hear any wavering there.

“I feel great [about our chances] because I feel it’s still early,” Cushing said. “We’ve got big one coming up next week where we can really control it and take the [division] lead like we’re supposed to …”

“I just wish we could play more consistent as a team. Maybe when we have teams where we want them, go for the kill, go for the win. So far we haven’t been able to do it. But it’s a long season. Hopefully we will be able to do that.”

Outside linebacker Connor Barwin didn’t even use the word “hopefully.”

“There is nothing symbolic about this or anything,” he said. “Today they made the plays and we didn’t. I’m very confident still that we’re going to make the plays in the games to come.”

I don’t want to say it’s a bad thing. It’s what he should say. It’s what you want to hear.

It’s hard, nevertheless, not to wonder, why exactly?

BALTIMORE -- Thoughts on the Houston Texans' 29-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.

What it means: The Texans lost their second game in a row, and the enthusiasm over their 3-1 record seems so, so long ago now that they’re 3-3. They’re out of first place in the AFC South because the 3-2 Titans had the week off.

What I didn’t like: Joe Flacco is hardly the best quarterback the Texans will see, but twice in the second half, the Texans allowed deep completions. Torrey Smith caught a 51-yard ball over Kareem Jackson and Anquan Boldin grabbed a 56-yard throw. On the first a defender was bearing down on Flacco, on the second he got hit by Antonio Smith. The Texans can ill afford to give up such plays, and they cause some flashbacks to last year.

What I liked: Both of those big gainers didn’t result in touchdowns. The Texans stopped Baltimore from getting in the end zone, forcing field goals that allowed them to stay within a score.

What else I didn’t like: After those big pass plays and field goals, the Ravens managed to get Ray Rice going. His 27-yard run set up a Ricky Williams touchdown that made it 26-14 with 4:01 left. A 12-point deficit with one timeout remaining against the Ravens on the road is a tall order. The offense failed to find the sort of big plays it needed to keep up when it needed them. Andre Johnson sure could have helped.

What’s next: The Texans head for Nashville and a big AFC South matchup with the division lead on the line. Tennessee is coming off a bye. Will Johnson return from the hamstring injury that has cost him two games?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Thoughts on the Titans 26-13 win over the Ravens at LP Field.

What it means: The Titans are nowhere near as bad as they looked opening day in Jacksonville. (And the Ravens aren’t nearly as good as they looked when the beat the Steelers.) Tennessee found big plays even as Chris Johnson couldn’t find room (24 carries for 53 yards). Matt Hasselbeck played winning football behind solid protection, making good throws to Kenny Britt and Nate Washington on big days for the two receivers, and the defense showed it can stand toe-to-toe with a physical line.

What I liked: The takeaways. Alterraun Verner and Jason McCourty had interceptions and Jordan Babineaux recovered a fumble forced by Karl Klug. McCourty’s came off a Cortland Finnegan tipped ball. Finnegan got his hands on several.

What I didn’t like: Poor tackling allowed Ray Rice’s 31-yard catch and run TD and the kickoff coverage team flailed when David Reed went 77 yards just before intermission. Johnson simply couldn’t find room, but somehow Javon Ringer did.

Telling: Mike Munchak and Chris Palmer were aggressive on a fourth-and-1 deep in Baltimore territory in the third quarter. Ringer took a pitch and scooted into the end zone for a touchdown that put Tennessee up two scores, 17-10.

What’s next: The Titans host Denver at LP Field as Tennessee looks to continue establishing something at home.

ESPN.com’s NFL writers rank the top 10 running backs in the league today. Next week: Top 10 pass-rushers.

When it came to deciding who we think is the NFL’s best running back, everyone representing the NFL Blog Network chose between Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson at the top of the ballot.

Everyone except AFC West blogger Bill Williamson, that is.

Williamson’s second-place vote for Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles bumped Peterson to third on his ballot. So instead of Peterson splitting the top spot with Johnson, he came in second by a mere point -- 76 to 75.

Johnson joins Houston receiver Andre Johnson as tops at his spot in our positional power rankings.

“I squeezed Charles in between Johnson and Peterson because I think Charles may be rising some and Peterson may be falling just a tad,” Williamson said. “We all know running backs have short shelf lives, so any little indication of slippage could be significant.

“I know Johnson slipped some in 2010, but this is still a highly productive player who has plenty left in the tank. I think Johnson gives defensive coordinators more Tuesday night headaches than any tailback in the league right now. I get to see Charles quite a bit, and he is simply explosive. He truly can score any time he touches the ball.”

Full disclosure: I very nearly put Charles second, too, though had I made the move it would have pushed back Johnson, not Peterson -- and given us that tie. Ultimately, I put Peterson first because I think he’s largely resolved his biggest issue, fumbling, while Johnson regressed in 2010 as a pass-catching threat. I think Charles is fantastic, but he hasn't approached the workload of AP or CJ yet, so I put him third.

The overall ballot created a tie for third between two other top-flight backs, Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew and Houston’s Arian Foster, giving the AFC South three of the top four backs in the poll.

Foster was dinged by an eighth-place vote by me (love him, but one year is not a big enough sample size for a lead back), while Jones-Drew was hurt by an eighth-place vote by NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert.

"Maybe next time MJD will think twice about crossing an NFC North player,” Seifert said. “Seriously, his Twitter criticism of Jay Cutler played no role in my decision. As I did last week with Andre Johnson, I'll plead unfamiliarity. I don't have anything against Maurice Jones-Drew. As an NFC North divisional blogger, I haven't had many opportunities to see him play. First-person observations tend to have a bigger impact on your judgment. Plus, I wanted to give the Jaguars' fan something to get upset about."

Charles finished fifth, with the second-place vote from Williamson and No. 10 vote from NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas, who also cast the lone vote for Charles’ backfield partner, Thomas Jones.

Yasinskas put Jones, who was with the New York Jets in 2007-09, two spots ahead of Charles.

Yasinskas said he didn’t want to give too much weight to flavor-of-the-year candidates and still wants to see more from Foster and Charles before really anointing them.

“That’s why I based my ballot mainly on looking independently at combined rushing totals of the last two years and the last three years and then drawing conclusions,” Yasinskas said. “Foster’s had one good year and Charles has had two. I tried to focus on guys who have been consistently productive for at least two years and preferably the last three years.

“That thinking led me to cast the lone vote for Thomas Jones, who didn’t make our top 10. I’ve got no regrets about that vote. Jones’ numbers dipped last season and there is no doubt he’s nearing the end of his career. But his numbers in the previous two seasons were outstanding, and when you combine them with his numbers from last year he still stacked up well compared to most running backs over two- and three-year spans, which were the time periods I tried to focus on.”

Jones, 32, and LaDainian Tomlinson, 31, were the oldest backs to draw votes. Seifert placed Tomlinson 10th.

Otherwise the panel leaned to youth.

Among the 12 backs who made our top 10 list, based on ties, Michael Turner (29), Steven Jackson (27) and Frank Gore (27) rank as the old men. The other nine are 25 or younger.

Turner edged Jackson for sixth, making every ballot. AFC East blogger Tim Graham didn’t include Jackson in his voting.

“I couldn't bring myself to vote for Jackson because he averaged only 3.8 yards a carry, scored six touchdowns and had little impact in the passing game,” Graham said.

Ray Rice has a big cushion for eighth while Rashard Mendenhall finished ninth, with two seventh-place votes but three voters not including him.

Gore, LeSean McCoy and Darren McFadden finished tied for 10th, while Jones, Peyton Hillis and Tomlinson got votes but didn’t make the final list.

I found it tough to pass on Gore, but he played in only 11 games in 2010 before landing on IR with a hip injury. There was such stiff competition, so I leaned on guys who were more durable.

“Gore has certainly played at a high level longer than Rice, Turner or McFadden,” NFC West blogger Mike Sando said. “He's produced across systems for a team that has had a different offensive coordinator every season of his career.

“He's never had a quarterback to take pressure off him. Defenses have known what was coming, and Gore has kept coming anyway. It's bitten into his production and taken a toll on his body, but he has produced.”

The majority of these decisions were clear-cut for me, including deciding between the top two. But after Michael Turner, this list became very difficult to compile.

I was torn between Rashard Mendenhall, Jamaal Charles and LeSean McCoy for the last two spots. For me, a true barometer when judging a running back’s greatness is consistency over a long stretch of time -- though I realize that running backs’ life spans are very short. And Mendenhall, Charles and McCoy have not demonstrated that consistency. I left Charles off the list because he isn’t the clear lead dog on his team -- although he certainly should be.

Two other backs I’m very high on, Jonathan Stewart and Beanie Wells, obviously have no case for being on this list, but they do have the skill sets to be among the best in the league.

An all-time great who I thought was washed up, LaDainian Tomlinson, could very well convince me that he belongs back on this list if he continues to perform as well as he has for an extended stretch. What Tomlinson is doing is pretty remarkable, but I also think we need to keep it in perspective. He is in the ideal offense to succeed, with a hammer lead-blocking fullback, the best center in football, outstanding overall blocking, a quarterback who needs the safety blanket check-down receiver that Tomlinson provides and a playcaller dedicated to the run. Just look at how different Thomas Jones has been in Kansas City instead of New York. Still, Tomlinson has completely blown me away.

It's too early to include Houston’s Arian Foster among the top 10 running backs, but what he has done in 2010 is very impressive. I must see more from him, however, to put Foster with the big boys. Foster, the leading rusher in the NFL with 564 yards, has durability concerns and looks to be nicked up. He isn't special enough to be the type of guy who can be counted on week to week, but his downhill, no-nonsense running style is exactly what Gary Kubiak wants in his zone-blocking scheme. (Check out Jeffri Chadiha’s Hot Read on Foster.)

Here are my top 10 running backs.

1. Adrian Peterson, Vikings: He is noticeably better than he was a year ago in all phases of his game. And he was the best back in the league last year. I said it then, and I will say it now. Peterson is an all-time great and clearly the best overall running back in football.

2. Chris Johnson, Titans: Johnson has been up and down this year, but some of that has to do with his supporting cast. He did look like the 2009 version of himself in Week 5. There isn’t a more dangerous player in the game.

3. Steven Jackson, Rams: Jackson recently eclipsed the 7,000 rushing yards mark. Just think how many he would have on another team. Jackson contributes in every way possible.

4. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars: I actually worry that MJD might, just might, be showing the very first signs of decline to his lofty game. I hope I am wrong about that, because he is a joy to watch and is remarkably consistent. Jones-Drew is a touchdown machine who can beat you as a runner or receiver.

5. Frank Gore, 49ers: The only knock I have on Gore is durability, as he seems like a lock every year to miss a game or three with a lower-body injury. But he is a very special talent who can put a football team on his shoulders. It looks like he is going to have to for the 49ers to rebound.

6. Ray Rice, Ravens: This past week, we finally saw the Rice of 2009. He really does everything well at the running back position. If anything, he should move up this list soon.

7. DeAngelo Williams, Panthers: Wow, do I wish that we all could see Williams in Green Bay this year. Instead, he is in an absolutely dismal situation on one of the worst offenses in the league. Since Williams should be a free agent after this season, next year I might just get my wish. I bet he wouldn’t complain either.

8. Michael Turner, Falcons: Turner is a perfect fit for Atlanta’s power running game and they tend to go as he goes. For a big back, he breaks a lot of long runs, but he offers little in the passing game.

9. LeSean McCoy, Eagles: McCoy has come into his own. He is now stronger and understands the NFL game much better. Remember, last year he was one of the youngest players in the league. He’s a dual threat with rare elusiveness. And he really fits the Eagles’ offense. I am a believer.

10. Rashard Mendenhall, Steelers: Mendenhall has not been spectacular during the first four games this season, but he has gotten a ton of attention from opposing defenses because the Steelers didn’t have a quarterback to speak of. Prediction: The next 12 games will justify this ranking. He is quietly coming into his own and dripping with natural gifts.

» NFC Big Question: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Does a record-setting running back and arguably the league’s most explosive player deserve a giant raise -- even if he’s heading into just the third season of a five-year contract?

Chris Johnson certainly thinks so and has said so.

The Titans running back hasn’t been part of the team’s offseason workouts this spring and did not join in on the first couple OTA sessions. Johnson said after he topped 2,000 rushing yards in 2009 that he’d stick with working out on his own because it helped produce good results.

Clearly, he’s making a statement by staying away.

The Titans are limited by a rule that allows for only a 30 percent raise from year to year. That’s base salary. It can be circumvented by bonus money, but it would take a huge bonus to make it a fair- market deal. Teams are understandably reluctant to craft a contract with so much guaranteed.

Here’s a recent post from Andrew Brandt that explains the economics.

Johnson got a $7 million bonus when he signed his original deal as the 24th pick in the 2008 draft. His base salary this season will be $550,000.

I spoke with Johnson’s close friend, Jacksonville receiver Mike Sims-Walker, about CJ during the Jaguars’ recent minicamp. The two grew up together in Orlando. They are training together with Tom Shaw, an expert on speed.

“He’s looking pretty good,” Sims-Walker said of Johnson. “We work out together three or four times a week. We go on the road [and] we still work out, like for a whole week. We were working out in Vegas and everything. He’s still getting his work in.”

What’s Johnson’s mood and how focused is he on the contract?

“I don’t think he’s mad, but I wouldn’t say he’s happy,” Sims-Walker said. “He’s taking his time. He hired an agent and he’s letting him handle that. That’s what CJ hired him for, that’s what he’s paying the man for, to make the business decisions that he feels are best with Chris.”

One concern from the Titans' side is how Johnson bounces back from the heavy workload that got him over 2,000 yards last season.

Sims-Walker says Johnson’s already proved what he can do in consecutive seasons with a 1,228-yard effort as a rookie and the 2,006 yards last year.

“How much more does he have to do?” Sims-Walker asked. “We all know this is a production business. You get paid the way you play. ... He well exceeded his contact, we all know. He’s probably one of the lowest-paid starting running backs in the league. He’s just trying to get paid how he plays.”

Sims-Walker overstates one thing there: Other young running backs who are starters drafted in later rounds haven’t produced like Johnson, but aren’t making more than him. That list includes guys like Ray Rice, Matt Forte, Jerome Harrison, Steve Slaton, Jamaal Charles, Ahmad Bradshaw, Shonn Greene and LeSean McCoy.

As for the Titans' remaining 12 OTA dates, Sims-Walker said his guess is that Johnson won’t make any of them.

But his sense is that Johnson will show up for training camp.

“That’s when you get the mandatory fines and all that. I don’t know if he’s taking it that far,” Sims-Walker said. “I think he’ll show up. But hopefully he’ll get to camp with a [new] contract ...

“They can give him a big signing bonus and still deal with 30 percent. He’s worth offensive-player-of-the-year money, that’s the award he won, right? At least he should be the highest-paid running back.”