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Yes, the start of training camps is two months away, but it’s never too early to consider the coming season. A look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Texans in 2012.

Dream scenario (12-4): Quarterback Matt Schaub and receiver Andre Johnson return from injuries and have exemplary seasons, providing big plays that sync up beautifully with another excellent campaign by running back Arian Foster. New starters at right guard and right tackle take over and play well and the offensive line continues to be a team strength, providing time for Schaub and room for Foster. They show it’s about the scheme and players with the traits that fit it, not necessarily about the specific people in the lineup.

In conjunction with the excellent offense, Wade Phillips’ 3-4 defense picks up where it left off, swarming opposing quarterbacks and finding big plays that tamp down offenses just about every week.

This talented, deep squad does not get caught up in success and shows it can stand toe-to-toe with teams like the Packers and Patriots. In so doing, the Texans give Houston something it’s never had before: a Super Bowl team.

Nightmare scenario (7-9): Schaub either can’t stay healthy or can’t return to form and he or T.J. Yates winds up throwing more to rookie receivers who struggle than to Johnson, who battles another round of leg injuries. The right side of the offensive line proves a huge issue as the team loses any hint of the cohesion that was such a key in 2011. That means trouble for Foster as well, and he doesn’t break through to the second level nearly as often as we’ve become accustomed to.

Defensively, the Texans can’t generate the kind of consistent pass rush they mounted last season as offenses do a better job countering than they did in Phillips’ first season heading up the 3-4. The secondary is asked to hold up too long and an injury to Johnathan Joseph leaves them susceptible at cornerback, the one spot where they lack depth. Opposing quarterbacks find too many big plays against them.

The return games are worse, not better, with Jacoby Jones now playing in Baltimore.

A nearly unanimous pick to win the AFC South before the season, the Texans fail to make the playoffs.

Did the Chargers do enough on defense?

If the San Diego Chargers are going to end a two-year playoff drought and coach Norv Turner and general manager A.J. Smith are going to save their jobs, the defense must make strides.

The unit was the worst in the NFL on third down last season, and it lacked fire.

Improving the defense was one of the primary goals in the 2012 offseason. Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky, who some in the organization believe was a major reason for the unit's lack of success, was fired, and linebackers coach John Pagano replaced him. Pagano reminds some of former successful San Diego defensive coordinator Wade Phillips because of his approach.

The team signed underrated former Baltimore linebacker Jarret Johnson in free agency and concentrated on defense in the draft.

San Diego drafted South Carolina pass-rusher Melvin Ingram, Connecticut defensive tackle Kendall Reyes and LSU safety Brandon Taylor in the first three rounds. All three players are expected to contribute right away.

Ingram is highly regarded and has a chance to make an instant impact as a pass-rusher, which the Charges badly need. If these players develop quickly and Ingram is as polished as expected, the Chargers should be much more effective defensively.

Take a college defensive end and shift him to outside linebacker in a 3-4, as Houston and Wade Phillips will do with Whitney Mercilus, and the player tends to look a lot stronger.

“Anytime you look at those guys, and they play defensive end in college, they’re going against huge offensive tackles,” Phillips, the Texans defensive coordinator, told the team’s press. “He’s 260 pounds, so they’re not going to look as strong against them with their three-point stance, but they look a lot stronger when they’re rushing the passer on third down in those situations.

“When you play them at outside backer, which we project him as, now he’s playing against tight ends and backs and so forth. You just got to determine there (are) sometimes those guys in college. I had Shaun Phillips who was the same way. They said he was too small because he played against offensive tackles, but he also rushed the passer against those same offensive tackles that are all being drafted, and he beat a lot of them this past year.”

Phillips and the Texans rate Mercilus as a natural pass-rusher, who comes into the league with more experience and skill using his hands than second-round outside linebacker Brooks Reed brought into the NFL a year ago.

Houston’s not concerned that Mercilus only had one year with big production at Illinois.

“But if he did the same thing again for another year, he’d been a top-10 pick (in 2013) without a doubt,” Phillips said. “A lot of people are saying, ‘Yeah, it’s only one year.’ But to me, when a guy shows he can do all those things, I don’t think he’s going to lose that.”

The Houston Texans were fortunate once Mario Williams went down last year.

Connor Barwin and rookie Brooks Reed played too much, but they didn’t just hold up, they excelled. The two outside linebackers in the first-year 3-4 scheme were keys to a consistently swarming pass rush.

They’ll get some relief from the team’s first-round draft pick, Illinois’ Whitney Mercilus. Listed as a defensive end by most, he’s an outside 'backer for Houston.

The Texans thrived largely because of their pass rush in 2011, as they won the AFC South and made the playoffs for the first time. Enhancing the pass rush is never a bad thing.

Undoubtedly, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips endorsed the pick. And he nudged the front office in a good direction last year when J.J. Watt and Reed were the first two picks.

Based on that recent record, I’m inclined to be just fine with this decision, especially with Kendall Wright gone.

The Texans hope to re-sign Barwin, but he’s a year away from free agency and there is no guarantee they are able to keep him. So Mercilus will serve as insurance for that loss, too.

It's a smart brand of roster building that can be beneficial both now and later.

INDIANAPOLIS — With the NFL scouting combine under way, a look at some storylines that will develop at Lucas Oil Stadium and the meeting rooms in the Indiana Convention Center.

Hello Mr. Luck: Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck was here briefly during Super Bowl week for a Gatorade promotion. But his podium session Friday will be viewed as the first of many times he will dissect his play at LOS, which everyone expects will become his home stadium when the Colts draft him first overall at the end of April.

Will the Jaguars fall in love with Quinton Coples? A year ago, virtually every analyst had the Jaguars taking defensive end Ryan Kerrigan in the first round. And that’s what they would have done if they had not jumped up with a trade to take Blaine Gabbert. Now it looks like the team will be paired with North Carolina defensive end Couples. Do the Jags develop the same affection for him that they did for Kerrigan a year ago?

Barron’s health: Mark Barron is recovering from double hernia surgery. Does the lack of field work here and at the Crimson Tide’s pro day affect his draft stock? And can that be a positive thing for the safety-needy Titans, who pick 20th and would have to consider him if he lasted that long? After Barron, the position doesn't offer a great deal in the draft.

Houston’s needs: The Texans are the least likely team in the division to add a significant outsider in free agency, because they have salary-cap issues. Their draft needs could be shaped by what happens with their own pending free agents. If Mario Williams leaves, they’ll need another outside linebacker for their 3-4. If Chris Myers gets away, center becomes an issue. But more than anyone in the division, the Texans should set up to be able to draft the best players they see. Being unpressured by a giant need is always somewhat of a relief.

Learning philosophies: Colts general manager Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano have been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work to get their house in order and lay the groundwork for their plans. We should start to learn more about their philosophy and intentions in the coming days. How far can they take a hybrid 3-4 in the first year? What will an offense under a new staff look like? And what kind of players here can make those schemes go?

The influence of Khan: Jacksonville general manager Gene Smith is now preparing for his first draft with a new boss. Shahid Khan has said he’s all in, so the Jaguars could do some significant spending in free agency before the draft arrives. If Smith was lacking in any resources before, such things should not be an issue now.

Webster’s influence: A year ago, Ruston Webster had a big influence over the Titans' draft, and it produced a very good looking class. Now Webster has been promoted to general manager. So this draft won’t only have his fingerprints on it, it’ll have his signature on it. He’s a highly respected personnel man who appears to be a steady, methodical guy who can find productive people who fit what Mike Munchak and his staff want to do.

Phillips’ opinions: In his first year as the Texans' defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips had a big influence on the Texans' draft. End J.J. Watt and outside linebacker Brooks Reed were giant contributors in their rookie seasons. The Texans showed great defensive depth, but can still stock up help at every level of the defense. Can Phillips help general manager Rick Smith and the front office tab a few more top-flight contributors?

Thin spots: Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. says he sees safety as the thinnest overall position and offensive line as less than stellar. That’s bad for Tennessee and Indianapolis as both teams need help at both spots. That’s good for Houston and Jacksonville, which did good work filling safety spots in 2011 and won’t have a lot of offensive line work, though the Jaguars' pass protection needs to improve.

The St. Louis Rams wanted their next general manager to work well with new head coach Jeff Fisher.

They found a candidate whose history suggests that will not be a problem.

Atlanta Falcons director of player personnel Les Snead, who accepted the job Saturday, has worked with four head coaches and two interim coaches during a Falcons tenure dating to 1998. Dan Reeves, Bobby Petrino, Jim Mora and Mike Smith were the head coaches. Wade Phillips and Emmitt Thomas were the interim coaches.

Snead's ability to rise through the ranks with the Falcons across multiple regimes and an ownership change suggests he's adaptable. The Rams hired Fisher to remake the team. They wanted a GM to provide the personnel expertise to facilitate the transformation.

Snead worked under Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff most recently. He replaces former Rams general manager Billy Devaney, who had also come to St. Louis from the Falcons' front office.

Snead, listed by the Falcons as 37 years old entering the 2011 season, is about 15 years younger than Fisher. He was a tight end at Auburn from 1992-93, where he played with NFC West alums Chris Gray and Frank Sanders.

The Rams did not immediately announce the hiring. Snead interviewed over the phone for the San Francisco 49ers' GM job a year ago, but the team hired Trent Baalke instead.

Thoughts about Chuck Pagano’s introductory press conference spun off of tweets from media and bloggers who saw it or heard it, or tried to as I did.

@JacobTamme: Streaming video is refusing to stream.

PK: Same here, bro.

@JMV1070: For those of you that wanted a retread. @JimIrsay said "nope".

PK: Laudable, particularly since the available retreads were not all that attractive.

@mg_indy: Pagano says his first priority is 2 get 2 know each of his players. "Family" & 'trust' thru "relationship building" is very important 2 him

PK: To hear his former players talk about him, his new ones will love him on a personal level.

@AdamsonAshley: Pagano says he wants to get to know every single person here. From the people who cook the food to the people who clean the building.

PK: That’s reverse Bill Polian, who I don’t sense was big on chatting with the cooks or janitors. Maybe that’s unfair. But his was a closed circle.

@chrishaganfox59: Pagano: "be loyal, be trustworthy, be dedicated."

PK: Admirable goals.

@chrishaganfox59: Pagano: "I'm here to serve."

PK: Aiming to serve from a high-ranking post rather than to be served is an incredibly smart approach that I am anxious to see in play. He’s different than Tony Dungy, for sure, but that sure seems like a similarity.

@ACwishtv: Pagano: "We're here to build each other up"

PK: Again, the sort of thing a lot of people will be excited to hear.

@18to88: I resent this talk of culture change within the organization, to be honest. This team did nothing but win for a decade.

PK: This is a very noteworthy point. I think the talk of culture change is tied to the way Polian operated. It’s not the best way to operate, and it ultimately blew up. But as Nate Dunlevy is pointing out here, we shouldn’t forget that out of the way he operated came an exceptional degree of success.

@ColtsAuthority (three tweets): If Wade Phillips can go into Houston and stand up Mario Wiliams, with the two great pass rushers we have here I don't see the problem. Just because we may line up and they may say they're a 3-4 team, we could be an odd 3-4 look on second down and lord only knows on 3rd and seven-plus.

PK: Very good point and very smart to refer to what Houston just did. Too much is made of hos guys are identified versus what they are asked to do. If (Dwight) Freeney and Robert Mathis are on the field, they’ll be rushing the passer.

@ColtsAuthority (five tweets): Pagano: Promise to wreak havoc. We just cut our guys loose. We're going to do a great job here... we have some explosive athletes. We will add to that and evolve, as drafts go by and free agency goes by. I think players like to play that way. We never ankle-weighted our players This is a reaction game. You don't have time to think. You see, you react, and you run. That's the kind of guys we have here now and will bring in. We want to be aggressive. We want to dictate the tempo defensively. We want them reacting to us and not vice versa. We will have schemes in place that allow our players to play to play and be aggressive.

PK: Just what you’d expect a defensive coach who’s got a good reputation with his peers and his players to say.

@ColtsAuthority: Pagano: No. Over the course of 28 years of coaching you develop relationships. You have a list of people from coordinators on down. There's a volume of really good coaches out there. There is quality people here. I will take time to talk to them and if it meshes and they're a part of our vision we can move forward from there. I don't foresee any problem putting together the best staff in the NFL.

PK: A little ambitious. Most of the best NFL assistant coaches are not available. But he should be aiming high and intending to land great people.

@AdamsonAshley: Just met Pagano's wife and 2 of his 3 daughters. Lovely fam...the girls say it's really weird to see their dad looking so important up there

PK: It’s funny, we tend to forget at a big moment like this for an organization what it probably like through the eyes of family.

@TribStarTJames: In meeting with Indy media after presser for Chuck Pagano as new head coach, Irsay said PManning should have kept issues "in house."

PK: They went a long stretch in this press conference without mentioning Manning by name, which can certainly be read as disrespectful. If this is the end, you want to send Manning out the right way. And the right way doesn’t start with suggesting you should dictate the terms of the exit strategy conversations. Also, is the proper way to take on Manning not keeping things in house to break your own policy for where to discuss it? Or since Manning did it first it’s OK for you to do it now too?

@LovinBlue: @JimIrsay STOP ignoring Manning & his legacy. The approach is hurting fans more than helping them move on. Honor past while looking forward.

PK: I think she raises a valid point.

We’ll wait until next week to start building the All-AFC South Team, and you’ll have a big chance to offer input there.

This week we’ll pass out hardware for individual awards.

Drum roll please:

Player of the year: Johnathan Joseph, Texans cornerback. Runner up: Brian Cushing, Texans inside linebacker.

Joseph, Cushing and Antonio Smith were the players I sorted through here, and you can make a case for any of them. While the Texans were a better defense at every level, it was the secondary that had the biggest room for improvement. Joseph’s ability to match up with a team’s best receiver eased the pressure on everyone else in the secondary and helped transform a miserable pass defense into an excellent one. In the Texans’ playoff loss in Baltimore he blanketed Ravens receiver Torrey Smith, rendering him a non-factor.

Offensive player of the year: Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars running back. Runner up: Arian Foster, Texans running back.

It’s hard to fathom that Jones-Drew was the NFL rushing champ considering that defenses could regularly key on him without fear of any real threat from the passing offense, which ranked dead last in the NFL. He showed no signs of wearing down and averaged 100 yards a game. It felt like a waste on a five-win team. Foster missed some action early with hamstring issues or he would have likely challenged Jones-Drew in rushing yards. He’s a tremendous combination of power and speed and does excellent work as a pass catcher.

Rookie of the year: J.J. Watt, Texans defensive end. Runner up: Brooks Reed, Texans outside linebacker.

Watt was installed as a starter the moment the Texans drafted him and was an impactful player from his first snap. A relentless player, he was a force against the run and the pass and played beautifully in concert with the rest of the defensive front. His ability to get his hands on balls at the line of scrimmage turned into a monumental interception return for a touchdown in the playoff win over Cincinnati. Reed filled in very well after Mario Williams was lost for the season and may actually help the team decide Williams is expendable.

Best assistant coach: Wade Phillips, Texans defensive coordinator. Runner up, Mel Tucker, Jaguars defensive coordinator.

Phillips was a factor in the personnel decisions that brought Joseph, Danieal Manning, Watt and Reed into the fold for Houston. In his first year as defensive coordinator, he injected a huge dose of confidence into the Texans defenders and wisely drew up schemes that featured guys’ strengths and marked their weaknesses. The sort of turnaround the defense made in one year is practically unheard of. In Jacksonville, Tucker was given a huge boost with new personnel, but as he took over play-calling from Jack Del Rio, he excelled.

Best position coach: Dave Ragone, Titans receivers coach. Runner up, Vance Joseph, Texans secondary coach.

Ragone had no experience working with receivers coming into this job, but did fantastic work. He deserves a great deal of credit for the vast improvement and maturation of Nate Washington and the emergence of Damian Williams as a threat and Lavelle Hawkins as a guy who did some good things with the ball in his hands. In his first season with the Texans, Joseph helped some guys regain confidence while overseeing a successful move of Glover Quin from corner to strong safety.

Executive of the year: Rick Smith, Texans general manager.

He had lots of help, but completely nailed free agency, signing Joseph and Manning rather than Nnamdi Asomugha. And the top of the draft was fantastic, with Watt and Reed. As Houston suffered injuries at running back, receiver, linebacker and even punter, the Texans showed good depth and an ability to fill in holes with quality outsiders.

Best unit: Texans offensive line. Runner up: Texans linebackers.

Led by center Chris Myers, who may be the division’s most unsung player, Houston’s offensive line blocked consistently well for the run game and protected three different quarterbacks well. Left tackle Duane Brown and right tackle Eric Winston both earned mentions on various All-Pro teams. Antoine Caldwell filled in nicely when Mike Brisiel missed time at right guard. The Texans linebackers, even without Mario Williams, did spectacular, work stuffing the run and swarming quarterbacks all season long.

Worst unit: Jaguars receivers. Runner up: Colts cornerbacks.

Mike Thomas might be a No. 2 receiver and can certainly be a good No. 3, though his play in 2011 dropped off after he got a contract extension. But Jason Hill, who started as the No. 2 guy, wound up getting cut and guys like Jarett Dillard, rookie Cecil Shorts, Chastin West and Kassim Osgood did little to show they were NFL-caliber guys. Blaine Gabbert suffered the consequences. The Colts were insufficiently stocked at corner, though Jacob Lacey bounced back well late in the season after he was benched.

Most improved: Nate Washington, Titans receiver. Runner up: Connor Barwin, Texans outside linebacker.

Washington’s maturation was remarkable. An excitable guy really calmed down and settled in working under offensive coordinator Chris Palmer and Ragone and with Matt Hasselbeck. Washington figured to be better with those guys while working as the No. 2 behind Kenny Britt, but Britt was lost for the season early on and Washington wound up with a 1,000-yard season and seven touchdowns. I give him the nod because I didn’t believe he had untapped upside. That was not the case with Barwin, who the Texans have expected to be a pass-rushing force since they drafted him in 2009.

Most disappointing: Chris Johnson, Titans running back. Runner up: Marcedes Lewis, Jaguars tight end.

I don’t care what sort of defenses are offered up for Johnson. He simply did not run as hard after coming out of a holdout with a giant new contract. There were other issues, but too often he appeared to lack fire and desire. In the rare instances he wound up in a one-on-one situation he was hardly the threat he’s been in the past. If he doesn’t bounce back in 2012, the contract will turn out to be disastrous. Lewis was supposed to be transformed by his MMA training during the lockout. If it impacted him, it made him worse. Expecting another 10 touchdowns was unreasonable. Producing none was unacceptable.

Best position revamp: TIE, Jaguars safeties and Texans safeties.

Both teams were terrible at the position a year ago and despite a draft class that was incredibly thin, reshaped the spot with great results. The Texans shifted Quin from cornerback and he was very solid alongside free-agent addition Manning. The Jaguars signed Dawan Landry from Baltimore and traded for Dwight Lowery, shifting a guy who’d played mostly corner to play with Landry. Applause to both teams for fine work addressing a trouble position.

Surprise of the year: T.J. Yates, Texans quarterback.

The finish in the playoff loss to Baltimore was a big disappointment. But Yates took over a good team when Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart went down in quick succession and played beyond what could reasonably be expected from a fifth-round rookie quarterback.

Colt of the year: Pat Angerer, middle linebacker.

As Indianapolis was not mentioned here at all, we create this category for the Colts. Angerer showed himself to be a quality starter who has to be in the lineup going forward. That may mean the end of Gary Brackett, the veteran middle linebacker who was hurt in Week 1 and missed the season. Angerer is a rangy, instinctive player who’s sure to impress new general manager Ryan Grigson.

I’ve been on the road quite a bit and haven’t really gotten a feel for what Tampa Bay fans think of the Buccaneers’ coaching search.

But I was e-mailing back and forth with “The Fabulous Sports Babe’’ of ESPN Tampa Bay Radio (1040 AM) this morning and she said her callers aren’t excited about who the Bucs are talking to.

That’s understandable. Mike Sherman, Jerry Gray, Brad Childress, Wade Phillips and Marty Schottenheimer aren’t exactly Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy or Bill Parcells. Sherman, Childress, Phillips and Schottenheimer have been moderately successful in previous stops as head coaches, but none of them have won a Super Bowl. Gray, Tennessee’s defensive coordinator, never has been a head coach.

But it doesn’t look like Cowher or Parcells want to coach and Jeff Fisher, the hottest coaching candidate this year, isn’t coming to the Bucs.

They’re not going to get someone who is going to excite the vast majority of the fan base, but that is not entirely a bad thing. What is clear is the Bucs are looking for someone with extensive experience.

Gray’s a longtime assistant and the other four have plenty of experience. That’s what this young team needs right now. The Bucs apparently are going after the opposite of what they just had. They fired Raheem Morris, who didn’t have a ton of experience and wasn’t mature enough in his first stint as a head coach.

Going forward, the Bucs need maturity and experience. They also need structure and discipline. Sherman, Gray, Childress, Phillips and Schottenheimer may not wow fans.

But all of them are experienced and mature. Even more than “the wow factor,’’ experience, maturity and a steady hand at the top is what the Bucs need most.

Sherman, Gray, Childress, Phillips and Schottenheimer all fit the profile of coaches that could bring order to a franchise that had none in the 2011 season. In the long run, that profile could be better than bringing in a coach who can wow the fans.

We will do an All AFC South team after the Texans' season ends, and I will definitely solicit your input when we get to it. That's always an exciting time.

On the heels of the All Pro Team announcement last week, I wanted to share the votes I cast for the annual Pro Football Weekly/ Pro Football Writers of America awards and All-Pro Team. This ballot was due before the playoffs kicked off Saturday.

Here’s a rundown of how I factored in the AFC South:

Assistant coach of the year: Wade Phillips, Texans. I’ll be surprised if Houston’s defensive coordinator isn’t the winner here. His role in the team’s personnel additions and his implementation of the new 3-4 scheme transformed a weak, scared defense into a juggernaut that ranked No. 2 in the NFL.

All-Pro: Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, Texans center Chris Myers, Texans tackle Duane Brown, Texans inside linebacker Brian Cushing and Texans cornerback Johnathan Joseph. Jones-Drew was the lone player from the division on the AP All-Pro first team, and deserved it. Perhaps a little heavy on Houston, but all four of those guys were consistently excellent.

All-AFC: All the All-Pro guys plus Houston tackle Eric Winston, Indianapolis defensive end Robert Mathis and Jacksonville linebacker Daryl Smith. Winston was very good, Mathis remains a terror and Smith was really excellent surrounded by better people.

All-Rookie: Houston defensive linemen J.J. Watt, Tennessee defensive tackles Karl Klug and Jurrell Casey, Houston outside linebacker Brooks Reed. Watt is a Pro Bowl caliber player already. And Reed helped offset the loss of Mario Williams. Klug and Casey weren't the same impact level, but they played a lot and contributed a lot, and guys like that make this team.

A notes on one omission: Texans GM Rick Smith could win executive of the year. But I didn’t want to go overboard with Houston, and actually thought Bengals owner Mike Brown had a near perfect year as he shed Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, drafted A.J. Green and Andy Dalton and fleeced Oakland in the Carson Palmer trade.

On the heels of a great day for the Houston Texans comes a scary development.

Per John Clayton, Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will interview Friday for the vacant head-coaching job in Tampa Bay.

Phillips had undergone a spectacular career renaissance in Houston. Fired as head coach in Dallas during the 2010 season, he’s shaped a 3-4 scheme and influenced personnel decisions for Houston and overseen the team’s climb all the way to No. 2 in the NFL defensive rankings.

He’s a leading candidate for any assistant coach of the year award, and got my vote in a Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers of America ballot I submitted on Saturday.

The Texans went two games without him late in the regular season after he had kidney and gallbladder surgery, losing both with linebackers coach Reggie Herring filling Phillips’ post. He’s still not fully recovered, and players spoke after Saturday’s win over Cincinnati of wanting to succeed for him.

“From the scheme to his attitude and just his mindset, that’s really just taken over this defense,” linebacker Brian Cushing said. “To see him there, still not 100 percent, but out there and battling every day, you can tell he’s hurting still. Just how much he misses football and wants to be out there for the guys, we just want to play well for him.”

Phillips has a strong connection to Houston, and this would be a difficult gig for him to walk away from. But he has said his aim is to get a top job again.

Saturday he wasn’t letting on that anything was in the works, he was just reveling in a big day.

“It’s really special for the city,” Phillips said after the 31-10 win over the Bengals that earned the Texans a trip to Baltimore. “I’m a Houstonian and I think it’s great for the city and that’s the way I feel. I mean, I’m a fan, too, and it’s great for all of us.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Houston Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is on the radar for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they search for a head coach, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported.

I’d heard some rumblings on this last week and Phillips was the guy I was referring to Friday when I was talking with ESPN Tampa Bay Radio’s “The Fabulous Sports Babe’’ and said there was one potential candidate who could raise some eyebrows.

That’s because Phillips had seemed to be a forgotten man as people talked about candidates for the Tampa Bay job and other openings around the league. Phillips has had some success as a head coach and has done a remarkable job with Houston’s defense this season.

You could make the case that Phillips is the “hottest’’ name we’ve heard so far in Tampa Bay’s search. We know the Bucs have interviewed Mike Sherman and Jerry Gray. Phillips has had more recent NFL experience and success than Sherman and Gray never has been an NFL head coach.

Mortensen also reported that the Bucs have interest in Cincinnati defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and former NFL coach Marty Schottenheimer.

But age could work against Phillips, 64, and Schottenheimer, 68. But the Bucs do appear intent on going in a different direction after firing Raheem's Morris, whose age and maturity became issues as the Bucs went on a 10-game losing streak to end the season.

HOUSTON -- The stadium rocked. A struggling team rebounded. Another rematch was set in motion.

A tie to the old era of Houston’s NFL football beamed.

“It’s just a great feeling to know that Houston’s back,” proclaimed Bum Phillips, coach of the Luv Ya Blue Oilers and father of Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.

The Texans' best players played best Saturday at Reliant Stadium in a 31-10 thrashing of the Bengals that propelled Houston forward in the NFL playoffs to a Jan. 15 game in Baltimore. Houston lost to the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on Oct. 16, 29-14.

After clinching the AFC South with a Dec. 11 victory at Cincinnati, the Texans sputtered, dropping their final three regular-season games, though the finale meant nothing to their playoff standing.

“We kind of got back to what we were doing during that seven-week stretch [Oct. 23 through Dec. 11, when we were 7-0],” coach Gary Kubiak said. “We played great defense, we found a way to run the ball, we never really hurt ourselves as a team. That was the key.”

The game had plenty of heroes, including efficient rookie quarterback T.J. Yates and cornerback Johnathan Joseph. Three of the team’s other top players, though, produced first-rate efforts worth a deeper look.

Running back Arian Foster: After Foster popped an 8-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to tie the score at 7-7, he changed sports as he celebrated.

A Lakers fan who apologizes to Houstonians for his NBA affection, he was talking to fans via Twitter during a recent Lakers-Rockets game. If the Rockets won, he pledged he’d do a touchdown celebration paying homage to them.

The Lakers won and got him off the hook. But Foster decided to follow through with the idea anyway. He celebrated with Hakeem Olajuwon’s “Dream Shake” -- a hard stop with a ball fake, followed by a reversal and fade-away jumper he tossed over the crossbar.

Foster finished with 24 carries for 153 yards and two scores. He was only the third undrafted running back in league history to eclipse 100 yards in his first playoff game, joining Ryan Grant (2007) and Paul Lowe (1960).

The Texans’ blocking was tremendous. According to ESPN Stats & Information, 102 of Foster’s rushing yards came prior to initial contact. That’s two-thirds of his total.

The second touchdown, a 42-yard ramble, was his most impressive run of the day. He got to the right sideline and looked to have no chance to stay in bounds. But he followed one good block and surprised strong safety Chris Crocker with his balance and ability to navigate the sideline as he slowed down, then hit the jets.

“I guess he thought I was going out of bounds,” Foster said.

Defensive end J.J. Watt: Shortly after Jake Delhomme signed with the Texans on Nov. 30, the veteran quarterback was running the offense at a walk-through. Watt batted down several of his passes at the slow-paced practice, and felt guilty for doing so.

“He was kind of mad at me,” Watt said. “And I was like, ‘That’s kind of what I do, that’s my thing.’”

He did his thing to Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton with 52 seconds left in the first half, but rather than knocking down the ball thrown from point-blank range, he caught it. And before many people on the field realized where it was, he was carrying it to a 29-yard touchdown that put Houston ahead 17-10.

Coaches and teammates said while reporters and fans don’t see it, Watt snares balls like that all the time at practice.

And while several pass-catchers wouldn’t go so far as to say they’d struggle to make the same play, the guy with the best hands on the team wasn’t too proud to say otherwise.

“It’s almost impossible,” fullback James Casey said. “You’re so close to the ball and obviously the guy is throwing it hard to have it on that trajectory. To be able to catch it like that is remarkable, that’s why you never see it happen.

“Guys bat balls down but they don’t actually catch it. I’d catch zero out of 10. Maybe out of 100 I’d catch one every now and then just getting lucky.”

Watt followed up that giant play by tracking Dalton as he fled the pocket and sacking him on the final play of the first half.

It was Watt’s first touchdown since high school. He didn’t score one as a tight end at Central Michigan or as a defensive end at Wisconsin.

Denver’s Von Miller or San Francisco’s Aldon Smith will win defensive rookie of the year, but Watt didn’t trail them by much in terms of overall initial impact. Miller will have a chance to match Watt’s postseason pace in a game Sunday.

Receiver Andre Johnson: He missed nine games this season with two different hamstring injuries. The Texans gave him a chance to knock some rust off last week. But he and Yates were out of sync for a good portion of this game.

The always-calm Johnson has been waiting for a playoff game since 2003, when he was the Texans' top pick in the franchise’s second season. He admitted to being antsy and overly anxious to make a play. After one failed pass attempt, he returned to the bench and slammed his helmet to the turf.

Late in the third quarter, though, he and Yates made a connection that sealed the game. Lined up on the left, Johnson put a double move on Adam Jones, who bit, slipped and moved laterally instead of back as he recovered.

Johnson was wide open and Yates delivered a ball that hit him in stride for a 40-yard touchdown that gave the Texans a 24-10 lead.

In the end zone, he stopped and looked to be enjoying a contemplative moment to take it all in and consider all that had come in his career before the big moment.

But that wasn’t it at all.

“I’ve jumped in the stands a few times here and I’ve been grabbed by the facemask and everything,” he said. “So I was kind of thinking about jumping, that’s what the pause was for.”

He jumped.

The play had about put Reliant Stadium into orbit, but Johnson made it safely back to Earth.

» Wild-Card Final Word: Bengals-Texans | Lions-Saints | Falcons-Giants | Steelers-Broncos

Three nuggets of knowledge about Saturday's Bengals-Texans wild-card game:

Yards after contact: Per ESPN Stats and Info, the Bengals defense allowed 2.0 yards per rush before contact this season, the third-lowest total in the league. But Cincinnati is allowing 1.9 yards per rush after contact, seventh-worst in the NFL. The Texans led the league with 1,133 yards after contact this season. Ben Tate ran well against the Bengals in the regular-season game (eight carries for 67 yards with a 44 yarder) and quarterback T.J. Yates had a giant 17-yard run on the game winning drive. Arian Foster had just 41 yards on 15 carries. Given a second chance against Cincy coming off a week’s rest, I think Foster won’t just slip off defenders when he’s taking handoffs but also after pulling in receptions.

Hands up: The Texans led the league with 19 passes batted down, largely thanks to their work against Andy Dalton on Dec. 11, when they got their hands on eight. Dalton had the most passes batted or defended this season (79), while the Texans led all defenses with 94 defended passes. The Bengals are likely to call a lot of three-step drop quick throws. Defensive linemen and outside linebackers can’t usually get to the quarterback that quickly. So the next best thing is to pull up and look to get a paw on the ball. Odds are defensive coordinator Wade Phillips finds more ways to fluster Dalton than Dalton finds solutions to what the Texans try to do to him.

No mo: The Texans don’t come into the playoffs with momentum, as they’ve lost three in a row. This year’s Texans and Broncos are the seventh and eighth teams to reach the playoffs after losing their final three games since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Each of the previous three teams to enter the postseason on a losing streak of at least three games won its first playoff game: The 2009 Saints won Super Bowl XIV, the 2001 Raiders advanced to the divisional playoffs and the 2000 Vikings made it to the NFC Championship Game.

» Wild-Card Final Word: Bengals-Texans | Lions-Saints | Falcons-Giants | Steelers-Broncos

Three nuggets of knowledge about Saturday's Bengals-Texans wild-card game:

Ending playoff droughts: While the Texans are in the playoffs for the first time in their nine-year existence, the Bengals are enduring a much longer wait. Cincinnati has the longest active NFL streak without a playoff victory, going 20 years, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The Bengals' last postseason victory came in the 1990 wild-card playoffs against Houston -- and that's the Oilers, not the Texans. On Saturday, Cincinnati will look to end that draught that has spanned 7,768 days. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis is trying to end his own personal losing streak in the postseason. If he falls to the Texans, Lewis would become the first head coach to lose his first three playoff games since Wade Phillips dropped his first four before earning a postseason win in 2009.

Making the tackle: If the Bengals can stop the Texans and the NFL's second-ranked running attack, they have a good shot at winning. To do so, Cincinnati has to fix a run defense that has crumbled down the stretch. In the first 10 games of the season, Cincinnati allowed 88.6 yards rushing per game. In the past six, the Bengals have given up 131.5. The run defense bottomed out in the regular-season finale when it got lit up by the Ravens' Ray Rice for 191 yards on the ground. The problem comes down to tackling, or the lack thereof. According to ESPN S&I, the Bengals are allowing 1.9 yards after contact per rush, seventh-worst in the NFL. With running backs Arian Foster and Ben Tate, the Texans lead the league with 1,133 yards after contact this season.

Avoiding the swat team: Elias Sports Bureau confirms that this marks the first postseason game since the 1970 merger to have rookie quarterbacks starting for both teams (Andy Dalton for Cincinnati and T.J. Yates for Houston). Dalton rarely has to worry about getting knocked down. The Bengals allowed the fourth-fewest sacks in the NFL this season. His biggest concern is having his passes knocked down. Dalton had the most passes batted or defended this season (79), including eight against the Texans on Dec. 11, according to ESPN S&I. That's not unusual for Houston, which led all defenses in defending passes (94).