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Don’t miss Tim Graham meditating with Ricky Williams.

Houston Texans

I was very interested in what Matt Schaub had to say about play-action working for a team that didn’t run well last year.

Fatherhood’s keeping James Casey’s mind off his injury, says Jordan Godwin.

Ryan Moats was cut to make room for Earl Mitchell, who signed, say John McClain and Godwin.

The offensive line is looking to shed the finesse label, says Daniel Gotera.

The Texans will add some temporary suites to Reliant Stadium, Alan Burge says.

Special teams and coaching questions from Battle Red Blog.

Indianapolis Colts

Ten questions on the Colts, from John Oehser.

It’s too early to put Pierre Garcon on a list of underpaid players, says Nate Dunlevy.

Peyton Manning took questions from high schoolers and Indy Sports Nation was there.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Daryl Smith excels at being obscure, says Vito Stellino.

Chris Steuber looks at the top 10 young Jaguars.

Vic Ketchman wants to see tackling drills in training camp.

Tennessee Titans

The Titans start up OTAs again next week, says Jonathan Hutton.

A very detailed look at expectations for Chris Johnson, from Andrew Strickert.

HOUSTON -- Some quick early impressions after watching the Texans in an organized team activities session that got pushed into their practice bubble by some serious rain.

• As a group the running backs look good –- which they are supposed to. Steve Slaton is in a red shirt to discourage any contact as he gets back from a neck injury. He’s lighter. Further down the depth chart, Chris Henry has bulked up. Ben Tate is still catching up after missing early time. Arian Foster is still at the head of the line and could put me in a spot where I have to give him a bit more credit, though I am weary of banking on much from him off a few good games at the end of 2009. Ryan Moats is the old man of the group and he’s just 27. One OTA practice should tell me little, but I can’t help but feel a little better about their depth.
• This was just the second day of the kicker competition, and after a draw in round one, Kris Brown was a bit better than Neil Rackers. Brown hit five of five from 38 yards, Rackers four or five with a couple narrowly inside the right upright. I love a kicker competition -- because I don’t need a lot of help to see who’s doing better. This should be a good one, but it’s hard to replicate the sort of pressure the Texans need to be sure they can handle in a way Brown didn’t last year. Gary Kubiak is certain the guy who’s not kicking for him will be kicking for another team.
• Brian Cushing is working as the starter. Kubiak said he won’t mess with the lineup through the remainder of the offseason since Cushing is going to be around for 12 games. In camp the coach will start to juggle, and he forecasts a three-way battle to sub for Cushing between Xavier Adibi, Kevin Bentley and Danny Clark for a four-game starting stint on the strongside.
• I don’t know what becomes of young long snapper Ryan Weeks or undrafted tackle Steve Maneri. But I feel sure that they will be telling their children and grandchildren about moments like today, when each had one-on-one coaching from Hall of Fame lineman Bruce Matthews. Matthews, a quality snapper, helped Weeks early and stayed late to work with Maneri on pass-protection drops.
• Matt Schaub looked crisp and confident, and I saw way more of that from backup Dan Orlovsky than I did this time last year. The visual matched up with what I’d read about Orlovsky, who was third behind Schaub and since-departed Rex Grossman the previous year, appears more equipped to play if needed.
• Kubiak said he wanted to bring some chaos to practice, and since the team was inside, he used crowd noise for the first time this offseason. It was loud and ran pre-snap to a second after a receiver caught a pass or a running back was to the second or third level. It left me with a headache. I’m tough and will shake it off as soon as a Diet Coke finds me.

For a devout run team, runs for no gain can actually be purposeful. A team’s not happy to get them, of course. But it believes such runs say, “You may stop us sometimes, but more often than not we’ll get you.”

When the Titans struggled early last year, I looked closely at Chris Johnson's propensity for runs for no gain or losses.

Even in a 2,000-yard season in which the Titans rebounded to finish 8-8, Pro Football Focus says Johnson had no gain on 22.6 percent of his carries -- the 14th highest number in the NFL.

The Titans swallowed those because Johnson’s home-run potential (heck, grand-slam potential, really) more than offset the no-gain runs in the big picture.

But the two worst backs in the league at getting beyond the line of scrimmage didn’t create such offsets. And what do Donald Brown (29.8 percent) and Steve Slaton (29 percent) have in common?

Well neither got a full load of carries, as Brown worked behind Joseph Addai and Slaton’s season was cut short by a neck injury. Both their teams finished better than the Titans, too. And that was largely because they each had far more threatening pass attacks centered around Peyton Manning and Matt Schaub.

The Titans might try to rebound from a no gain or loss by giving the ball to Johnson again. Indianapolis and Houston could better afford no gains on the ground knowing they’d be able to make up for the missed yardage in the air.

PFF shared its larger spreadsheet on no gains with me.

Other players of note in the division with at least 100 carries: Ryan Moats got no yards on 17.8 percent of his carries, Maurice Jones-Drew 18.9 percent, Addai 20.1 percent,

Slaton recently appeared on KILT in Houston and talked about his recovery from neck surgery and his intention to play lighter, as he did in a big rookie season.

We’ve seen little overall action on restricted free agents, and no RFA from the AFC South has signed an offer sheet anywhere.

I think teams should be more active in this department, as I discussed here.

Shockingly, no one in power listened to me there.

It’s news when a restricted free agent signs his tender, sure. I saw several of those from around the league flashing across Twitter during my recent vacation.

But the real news would be one of them not ultimately signing it. I’m not going to devote too many blog posts to RFAs following through on their only real option. We’ll see more and more of these soon.

The deadline for signing an offer sheet with another team is Thursday.

Then, if a guy really wants a chance to be traded during the draft, he’s got to be under contract when calls are made and the paperwork needs to be turned quickly. Think he creates a lot of leverage by not signing the tender?

On June 15, old clubs can pull tender offers to unsigned RFAs and still keep exclusive rights by substituting an offer of 110 percent of 2009’s salary.

Here is the status of RFAs who were tendered in the division.

Houston

• DL Tim Bulman -- Signed tender
• OT Rashad Butler
• TE Owen Daniels
• RB Ryan Moats -- Signed tender
• S Bernard Pollard -- Signed new contract
• LB DeMeco Ryans -- Signed new contract
• G Chris White

Indianapolis

• S Antoine Bethea
• S Melvin Bullitt -- Signed tender (per Scout.com)
• DT Antonio Johnson
• OT Charlie Johnson
• DT Dan Muir

Jacksonville

• DT Atiyyah Ellison -- Signed new contract
• LB Clint Ingram
• DT Montavious Stanley -- Signed tender

Tennessee

• DE Dave Ball -- Signed tender
• DT Tony Brown
• TE Bo Scaife -- Signed tender
• LB Stephen Tulloch
• DT Kevin Vickerson
• RB LenDale White

Houston Texans

Running back Ryan Moats signed his tender with the Texans on Wednesday.

Pro Football Weekly weighs in on the kicking competition between Kris Brown and Neil Rackers.

Indianapolis Colts

Mike Chappell tackles a number of Colts-related issues in the latest edition of his mailbag.

Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News ranks the NFL quarterbacks, and only one comes in ahead of the Colts’ Peyton Manning.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Michael C. Wright says if C.J. Spiller is available when the Jaguars pick at No. 10, it could test GM Gene Smith’s draft strategy.

Kassim Osgood is looking forward to new opportunities in Jacksonville.

Tennessee Titans

Quarterback Vince Young will be a part of the team’s “Titans Caravan XIII” when it kicks off on Monday.

Jim Wyatt revisits the idea of Albert Haynesworth returning to Tennessee.

Houston Texans

Potential unrestricted free agents: CB Dunta Robinson, WR Kevin Walter, RB Chris Brown, DT Jeff Zgonina, G Chester Pitts, S Brian Russell, S Nick Ferguson, LS Bryan Pittman, LB Chaun Thompson, QB Rex Grossman, LB Khary Campbell, G Tutan Reyes, T Ephraim Salaam, P Matt Turk.

Potential restricted free agents: DL Tim Bulman, S John Busing, OT Rashad Butler, TE Owen Daniels, RB Ryan Moats, S Bernard Pollard, LB DeMeco Ryans, G Chris White.

Franchise player: None.

What to expect: I don’t think the Texans will jump out and make any monumental moves. But by deciding not to tag Robinson they created another hole and saved themselves big dollars. With needs at corner, running back, free safety, interior offensive line and defensive tackle they may have more than they can address in one draft. That means they could jump out for one significant free agent – like they did last year with defensive lineman Antonio Smith -- and maybe another less expensive one or two.

Indianapolis Colts

Potential unrestricted free agents: MLB Gary Brackett, K Matt Stover.

Potential restricted free agents: WR Hank Baskett, S Antoine Bethea, S Melvin Bullitt, OL Dan Federkeil, CB Aaron Francisco, LB Tyjuan Hagler, CB Marlin Jackson, CB Tim Jennings, DT Antonio Johnson, OT Charlie Johnson, LB Freddy Keiaho, DT Dan Muir, CBPR T.J. Rushing.

Franchise player: None.

What to expect: Brackett is priority one and the team has indicated a plan to pay him as an upper-echelon guy. The restricted list includes a lot of key guys who will remain big factors next year. Indy is not a team that looks to bring in many outsiders for big roles and it won’t start now. Bill Polian’s said the Colts will sit back and see how things unfold in the new capless landscape.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Potential unrestricted free agents: DE Reggie Hayward, G Kynan Forney.

Potential restricted free agents: DT Atiyyah Ellison, LB Clint Ingram, DL Greg Peterson.

Franchise player: None.

What to expect: The Jaguars are draft-reliant, but will also shop for bargains in free agency, hoping to plug a couple holes with high-character guys with upside who fit what they are doing. As for a big splash, it’s unlikely based on their recent busts with big-name free agents like Jerry Porter and Drayton Florence and the direction they’ve moved since.

Tennessee Titans

Potential unrestricted free agents: DE Kyle Vanden Bosch, C Kevin Mawae, LB Keith Bulluck, TE Alge Crumpler, CB Nick Harper, CB Rod Hood, DE Jevon Kearse, S Kevin Kaesviharn.

Potential restricted free agents: DE Dave Ball, DT Tony Brown, TE Bo Scaife, LB Stephen Tulloch, DT Kevin Vickerson, RB LenDale White.

Franchise player: None.

What to expect: The Titans will undergo a youth movement, especially on defense where Vanden Bosch and Bulluck, who’s recovering from ACL repair, are going to be allowed to walk. Mawae been told his only chance to return is as a backup at a backup price. Brown, Scaife and Tulloch are important guys they’ll want to retain. Beyond that, expect mostly bargain shopping.

Restricted free-agent tenders have to be done before midnight ET. Here's what's out so far:

Houston

• DL Tim Bulman – Right of first refusal.
• S John Busing – Not tendered.
• OT Rashad Butler -- Third.
• TE Owen Daniels – First and third.
• RB Ryan Moats – Third.
• S Bernard Pollard – First.
• LB DeMeco Ryans – First and third.
• G Chris White – Right of first refusal.

From John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.

Indianapolis

• WR Hank Baskett
• S Antoine Bethea – First.
• S Melvin Bullitt
• OL Dan Federkeil
• CB Aaron Francisco
• LB Tyjuan Hagler
• CB Marlin Jackson
• CB Tim Jennings
• DT Antonio Johnson
• OT Charlie Johnson
• LB Freddy Keiaho
• DT Dan Muir
• CB/PR T.J. Rushing

Bethea info from Adam Schefter.

Jacksonville

• DT Atiyyah Ellison
• LB Clint Ingram
• DL Greg Peterson

Tennessee

• DE Dave Ball – Second.
• DT Tony Brown – First.
• TE Bo Scaife – First at 110% or nearly $4.9 million.
• LB Stephen Tulloch –First.
• DT Kevin Vickerson –Second.
• RB LenDale White –Second.

From Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean.

It’s a whole new offseason world starting March 5, and we have no experience from which to predict what happens in an uncapped year. There are enough restrictions on the players’ side to offset the Wild West so many initially projected.

One area I am really curious to see is restricted free agency. Because there are fewer unrestricted free agents (it takes six years to get there now, not four), will teams be more protective of their RFAs and more aggressive in terms of signing RFAs from outside to offer sheets?

I certainly think a creative front office that can go after the right guys can lure them away or at least get a trade conversation going.

Teams must tender their RFAs by the end of March 4. Here are the levels of tags:

With no CBA by March 5, and we aren’t expecting one, here are the RFAs for each team in the AFC South, according to the NFLPA.

Houston

• DL Tim Bulman
• S John Busing
• OT Rashad Butler
• TE Owen Daniels
• RB Ryan Moats
• S Bernard Pollard
• LB DeMeco Ryans
• G Chris White

Indianapolis

• WR Hank Baskett
• S Antoine Bethea
• S Melvin Bullitt
• OL Dan Federkeil
• CB Aaron Francisco
• LB Tyjuan Hagler
• CB Marlin Jackson
• CB Tim Jennings
• DT Antonio Johnson
• OT Charlie Johnson
• LB Freddy Keiaho
• DT Dan Muir
• CB/PR T.J. Rushing

Jacksonville

• DT Atiyyah Ellison
• LB Clint Ingram
• DL Greg Peterson
• DT Montavious Stanley

Tennessee

• DE Dave Ball
• DT Tony Brown
• TE Bo Scaife
• LB Stephen Tulloch
• DT Kevin Vickerson
• RB LenDale White

Through the regular season this slot was occupied by a divisional stock watch report: Three up and three down.

Before it’s put entirely to bed, I thought I’d run down the season for you.

Houston Texans

Rising: 11

Falling: 13

Appeared in both categories: Matt Schaub, Kris Brown, Ryan Moats

Leaders: Andre Johnson (three risings), Brian Cushing (two risings), Owen Daniels (two risings), Schaub (two risings, two fallings)

Assessment: Seven selections involved the run game, a big issue all season. Johnson matched his Titans namesake, Chris Johnson, for most times named as a riser in the division.

Indianapolis Colts

Rising: 16

Falling: six

Appeared in both categories: Pierre Garcon

Leaders: Dallas Clark (two risings), Reggie Wayne (two risings)

Assessment: Obviously I tried too hard to avoid Peyton Manning since he was often an obvious selection. He only made risers once. Among the 16 risers were 11 different players.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Rising: 11.5

Falling: 11

Appeared in both categories: David Garrard

Leaders: Garrard (two fallings), Gerald Alexander (two risings)

Assessment: I think I underplayed Maurice Jones-Drew (one rising) as I did Manning, not wanting to make the obvious selection of the already well-known big name, especially as he’s the singular star of the team. Five fallings involved the team’s anemic pass rush.

Tennessee Titans

Rising: 10

Falling: 17.5

Appeared in both categories: Vince Young, Rob Bironas

Leaders: Chris Johnson (three risers), Young (two risers), Kerry Collins (two fallers), LenDale White (two fallers)

Assessment: The team’s 0-6 start and 59-0 loss in New England really hurt it in the fallers category where it dominated early on.

NFC South maven Pat Yasinskas obtained the list that lines up with this report about the 212 players scheduled to be unrestricted free agents in 2010, who will instead be only restricted free agents if a new labor deal isn't reached.

Stinks to be these guys who stand to lose a lot of leverage, and in many instances, a lot of money.

Houston

• FS John Busing
• OT Rashad Butler
• TE Owen Daniels
• RB Ryan Moats
• SS Bernard Pollard
• MLB DeMeco Ryans
• C Chris White

Indianapolis

• WR Hank Baskett
• FS Antoine Bethea
• FS Aaron Francisco
• OLB Tyjuan Hagler
• CB Marlin Jackson
• CB Tim Jennings
• OT Charlie Johnson
• LB Freddy Keiaho
• CB T.J. Rushing

Jacksonville

• OLB Clint Ingram
• DT Montavious Stanley
• WR Troy Williamson

Tennessee

• DE Dave Ball
• DT Tony Brown
• TE Bo Scaife
• MLB Stephen Tulloch
• DT Kevin Vickerson
• RB LenDale White

» NFC Draft Rewind: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

» Draft class lists: Indianapolis | Jacksonville | Houston | Tennessee

Houston Texans

Best get: Not everyone was sold on Brian Cushing coming out of USC, often because of his injury history at USC. He missed most of camp hurt and has missed a lot of practices, but none of it has gotten in the way of his being an impact player every Sunday. The Texans need more defenders and more players in his mold. He’s a legitimate defensive player of the year candidate.

Worst unaddressed spot: The Texans had plenty of reason to expect they had a feature back in Steve Slaton, but completely misread their situation after that. Interior line injuries and a second-year slump for Slaton have made a second back even more important, and Chris Brown, Ryan Moats and Arian Foster all have proved incapable of handling the pressures of the work. A second running back ranks as one of the team’s highest priorities in free agency or the 2010 draft.

Still uninvolved: Tight end James Casey came in as a versatile fifth-rounder who was going to be a unique weapon for head coach Gary Kubiak and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan to tinker with. He’s got six catches for 64 yards in 11 games. He needs to have more of an impact, given that the Texans lost top-flight tight end Owen Daniels to a season-ending knee injury.

Indianapolis Colts

Still to be determined: First-rounder Donald Brown has shown he will be a good NFL player. But he’s missed five games with injuries, including the last three. He’s more capable than Joseph Addai of breaking off a big run. The question: Does Brown understand that looking for the big gain isn’t worth risking a play resulting in second-and-12. If Brown is healthy, he could see a lot of touches in the last two games. The Colts are 14-0 with just 59 carries, 263 yards and two TDs from their top pick. (They haven’t gotten much out of second-round defensive tackle Fili Moala, either.)

A perfect fit: Fourth-round receiver Austin Collie, not Minnesota’s Percy Harvin, leads all rookie receivers in catches. Collie's nabbed 53 passes for 567 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s a perfect fit for the Colts' system, and adopted the necessary work ethic to win over and work with Peyton Manning. Whether Anthony Gonzalez re-emerges for the post season push or not, Collie’s crucial to it.

Best special teams addition: The Colts had eight touchbacks in 2008. With rookie punter Pat McAfee taking over kickoffs from Adam Vinatieri, they have 18 with two games remaining. Better kickoffs are a big factor in coverage improvements under new special teams coach Ray Rychleski. McAfee’s also got a net punting average of 38.0 yards, less than a yard off former Colts' veteran Hunter Smith’s number from last season.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Long-term solutions: Eugene Monroe and Eben Britton were the top two picks and have played the bulk of the season at left and right tackle, respectively. They have not been consistent, but the team loves their skill sets and upside. And early work means they’ll get to the levels the team projected when spending such high picks on them sooner rather than later.

Eighth-rounders: First-year general manager Gene Smith needed additions beyond his draft class and found a couple: Cornerback William Middleton out of Furman and linebacker Russell Allen from San Diego State are undrafted free agents who made the team and have been contributors. In the nationally televised Week 15 Thursday night loss to the Colts, Allen led the team with 12 tackles. Smith is down a second and seventh rounder in 2010 because of trades, and he hopes to hit on some undrafteds again, and annually.

Three is key: Smith did great work in the third round, landing two small school players who’ve established themselves as productive starters with upside. Cornerback Derek Cox from William & Mary has not been intimidated by anything or anyone. Defensive tackle Terrance Knighton from Temple has been a stout and reliable run stopper.

Tennessee Titans

Biggest breakthrough: Since 1998, the Titans have spent draft picks in the top three rounds on Kevin Dyson, Tyrone Calico, Courtney Roby, Brandon Jones and Paul Williams. Dyson was involved in two of the franchise’s biggest plays in 1999 and did OK otherwise, but none of them solved the team's long-standing woes at receiver. First-rounder Kenny Britt is a great combination of size, power and speed who goes and gets the ball. Britt seems like he can be a consistently productive weapon.

Disappearing act: The Titans gave away a second-rounder to draft tight end Jared Cook in the third, and in camp he seemed like a great addition. Then he suffered an ankle injury, faded and never really re-emerged. Long-term he’s still very compelling. But the Titans sure could have used a jolt from him during their 0-6 start.

An heir: Gerald McRath seems comfortable and been effective as an outside linebacker when needed. He will start the rest of the way and, after bulking up in the offseason, stands to inherit the spot of either David Thornton (breaking down) or Keith Bulluck (free agent who tore an ACL in Week 15) next year. If both veterans are gone (a likely scenario), the second replacement needs to be a free agent or a draft pick.

The Texans haven’t done well to run the ball to get the lead. In a big win over Seattle, they showed they can’t run it well while trying to hold a lead either.

Up 24-7 after a first half with 364 yards (just 28 of which came on the ground), the Texans managed just 86 yards (57 on the ground) after intermission.

“We got a lead there, and once we got in the fourth quarter we’re trying to work the clock a little bit, and if we can get a couple of first downs running the football, keeping the clock going, we can keep our defense off the field and eat some clock up,” quarterback Matt Schaub told the Houston press. “That was the situation where we have to rise to the challenge and get those first downs and we weren’t able to do that for a few of those series.”

Gary Kubiak hasn’t yet said what he plans to do at running back. But last week before the game, he said he intended to get undrafted rookie Arian Foster five touches while looking for him to use those to earn five more. Foster wound up with a team-high 13 carries but only 34 yards.

Putting together two good halves has been an issue for the Texans on multiple occasions.

“I think one of the problems we had offensively is being able to control the game running the football,” Kubiak said. “So you’re sitting there with a big lead and for us to line up and pound the football team right now, I wish I could tell you that we’re confident in doing that but we’re struggling so it makes it hard for us to control the football game from that standpoint.

“We’re not going to quit attempting to do that, and at least last week with the position we were in, we were able to get Arian a bunch of carries and continue to try to get better at running the football. But we’re going to try to stay balanced even though it’s been very difficult because we’ve been throwing the ball so well. But it’s important to our team that we try to stay somewhat balanced.”

Sunday against the Rams, I won’t be surprised to see a game that looks similar to Seahawks-Texans.

I’d like to see Kubiak rely on Foster more when the Texans try to run. They know what they have in their other healthy backs -- Ryan Moats and Chris Brown -- and should see if they think Foster can be a legitimate third back or more next season.

The Texans entered 2008 determined to improve in turnovers.

And while the offense still gives the ball away too much -- nine interceptions and seven lost fumbles -- the defense has gotten better at takeaways with eight picks and nine fumble recoveries.

“We’re much better on the defensive side of the ball,” Gary Kubiak said. “I think we’re plus-one as a football team. Defensively we’ve done our part, offensively we haven’t. We’ve gotten sloppy with the ball, especially the last three weeks.”

"I think we were doing pretty well up until that point and started turning it over. When we’re not doing things well it usually starts with that. That’s a big challenge for us to try to find a way to protect it and you don’t have to look any further than [the Titans]. Over the course of the last three weeks, I think [they] have had one turnover and [they] win three games in a row. Those things usually go hand-in-hand in this business."

Only one NFL defense has recovered more fumbles than the Texans’ nine -- Atlanta, with 11.

A fumble could well be a decisive development Monday night at Reliant Stadium when the Texans host the Titans. Tennessee has only lost five fumbles this season and will be looking to strip Steve Slaton and Ryan Moats when they get the ball.

Weller Ross in Knoxville, TN writes: Hey Paul, I was just wondering why with all the talk about Randy Moss going up against a rookie cornerback (Jerraud Powers) this week no one (at least not from everything I've seen and read) has pointed out the fact that the Colts defense has already faced both Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson this year. If someone were asked to make an argument for two receivers better than Moss, those would likely be the two receivers chosen. Well Fitz and Johnson combined for 179 yards and no touchdowns total against the Colts. I'd think that if Moss was held to 90 yards and no TDs the Colts would win the game. Am I missing something here? Is there a reason this has yet to be pointed out? Moss has Wes Welker to help him out, but Fitz had Anquan Boldin as a sidekick and Johnson's Robin (Kevin Walter) is, in my opinion, pretty underrated. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and how well you think Powers will do matching up against Moss. Thanks, Weller

Paul Kuharsky: Good points. Gets you in the mailbag. I’m not concerned about Powers. I think he’s very good already. Tim Jennings has been far less steady.

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Scott in Houston writes: Your quote on the question of whether (Antoine) Bethea touched the loose ball while he was out of bounds during the tackle of (Ryan) Moats:"My feeling was that it was awfully hard to be so definitive about that piece of it, and I thought it was sorted out correctly."It takes indisputable visual evidence to reverse a call on the field, and I've yet to hear anyone say that there was indisputable evidence that the tackler was inbounds when he touched the loose ball (or that he didn't touch the loose ball at all; in fact, the picture you linked from Alan Burge shows without a doubt that the Colt was touching the ball). If, as you say, it was "awfully hard to be so definitive", then by the rules of replay, the Texans should have kept the ball, right? Had the play been ruled a fumble/Colt recovery on the field, then the "awfully hard to be so definitive" replay would not have been enough to overturn the call. But that's not how it was ruled on the field. Indisputable evidence is required to reverse, and I think your "awfully hard" statement is an agreement that such evidence was lacking.

Paul Kuharsky: What they were looking to reverse was fumble or no fumble, not in bounds or out of bounds, that’s what a lot of people are missing. And the fumble evidence was indisputable.

Once they reverse to fumble, they officiate the play going forward. And the picture seemed to show the ball hitting Bethea, it’s didn’t definitely show him touching it.

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Eddie Garrison in Pensacola, Florida writes: Wouldn't you say (and I actually think you have) that the Colts issues at running the ball factor more on the line not getting the job done and not on (Joseph) Addai or (Donald) Brown? It looks to me when the holes are there both Addai and Brown hit them good and gain good yardage. When they are not there, no good yards come. That’s to be expected from every back in the NFL, why all the negativity in Indy for Addai recently? Is it due to (Peyton) Manning and the Colts air assault always being on fire it seems and from time to time they struggle to run the ball in games? Thanks in advance.

Paul Kuharsky: Yes, I have said it and believe it. I think Addai can fall into being a bit tentative at times, but generally takes too much heat. Brown is very promising and has had some great flashes already. He certainly could have helped them a bit the last two weeks.

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Dustin in Stanford CA writes: Hey Paul, In your Titans' Midseason Report you mentioned that (Ryan) Mouton and (Jason) McCourty were not close to ready to fill in when injuries hit. Do you think they will be viable options long term? Or do they just not have what it takes?

Paul Kuharsky: Way too early to say. I know people like definitive answers on guys halfway through their first seasons, but you just can’t get them on most rookies at this stage.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky

The Sporting News’ midseason All-Pro Team.

Houston Texans

• Several Texans are tackling the TV and radio games, says David Barron.
• A replay of John McClain’s chat.
• Alan Burge wasn’t satisfied with Mike Pereira’s explanation of the Ryan Moats fumble play and challenge.

Indianapolis Colts

• Sport Illustrated’s cover story, where Peter King tries to get inside Peyton Manning’s helmet.
• The Colts added cornerback Anthony Madison to help with depth, says Mike Chappell.
• New England will mix things up, writes Phil Richards.
• Dwight Freeney’s enjoying chasing a record, says Michael Marot.
• Tom Brady is back to himself, says Mike Chappell.
• Manning says the Patriots are as good as they’ve ever been, writes John Oehser.
• A year removed from their knee injuries, Manning and Brady are ready to square off again, says Larry Hawley.
• Mutual respect abounds, says Tom James.
• A Q&A with Dallas Clark on the team’s Web site.

Jacksonville Jaguars

• Bryan Smith will start at defensive end in front of Quentin Groves as the Jaguars continue to look for solutions up front, says Vito Stellino.
• A loss to the Jets would drop the Jaguars behind a big cluster of teams fighting for playoff spots, says Michael C. Wright.
• It’s a two-minute league, says Vic Ketchman.
• Breaking down the offense’s struggles in the red zone, with Jonathan Loesche.

Tennessee Titans

• William Hayes is making strides, says Gary Estwick.
• Good stuff from Chris Johnson on having a big year during a bad season, from Jim Wyatt.
• Johnson had lunch with Faith Hill, says Terry McCormick.
• Rod Hood’s play gives Nick Harper more recovery time, says Wyatt. With Hood playing well, does Jeff Fisher stick with his usual practice and go back to Harper when he’s ready?
• Buffalo will have Trent Edwards back at quarterback.
• Terrell Owens may not play against the Titans.