For years, fans and critics have been picking the Houston Texans as the next \u201cbreakthrough\u201d team. Last season the club fell well short of expectations, winning just six games. <\/p>\n
But with some changes on defense, is Houston officially ready to make The Leap?<\/p>\n
Last season \u2013 6-10 The Texans boast one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL. They ranked third in yardage last season, and all the key parts are back for another tour of duty. Arian Foster was last year\u2019s surprising new star, as he led the NFL in rushing with 1616 yards. <\/p>\n Foster added 18 total touchdowns, and he\u2019s looked just as impressive during limited preseason action so far this season. <\/p>\n There\u2019s no reason to believe Foster won\u2019t once again dominate opposing defenses, though he may get a few less carries. <\/p>\n Second-year back Ben Tate returns after missing last year with an injury, and he\u2019s looked sharp as well\u2014giving Tate some handles will reduce wear and tear on Foster.<\/p>\n The passing game is just as good. Matt Schaub threw for 4370 yards and 24 touchdowns while completing 63.6 percent of his passes\u2014and was considered somewhat of a disappointment. <\/p>\n How many teams would love to have those kinds of numbers and be dissatisfied? His best target is Andre Johnson, who may well be the best receiver in the NFL. Johnson (1216 yards in 13 games) is an elite playmaker, and his life will be even easier with the return of tight end Owen Daniels, who missed time last year with an injury. <\/p>\n Throw in Kevin Walter and Jacoby Jones at receiver, and Houston is stacked.<\/p>\n On offense, anyway. Defense is another story. Houston allowed the fourth-most points in the NFL last year, which crippled the team\u2019s playoff hopes. The Texans owned the NFL\u2019s worst pass \u201cD\u201d, something that\u2019s expected\u2014or at least fans are hoping\u2014to improve in 2011. <\/p>\n Wade Phillips has been signed as defensive coordinator, and there\u2019s potential for major steps forward with him helming that side of the ball. Say what you want about Phillips as a head coach, but he\u2019s always been a great coordinator; he knows his X\u2019s and O\u2019s as well as anybody.<\/p>\n Phillips will have a few new toys to play with. Houston signed former Bengals cornerback Jonathan Joseph, who automatically becomes the team\u2019s No. 1 cover man. Joseph may not get the publicity of some of the NFL\u2019s other top corners, but he\u2019s still an excellent improvement over anything the Texans have had over the past several years. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n But Joseph alone won\u2019t be enough to save the secondary. Houston also spent a couple of draft picks on cornerbacks, including Miami\u2019s Brandon Harris. Harris has played well throughout training camp and the preseason, and it looks like he\u2019s close to locking down the nickelback role.<\/p>\n Houston also wisely used the draft to fortify the defense, spending its first five picks on defenders. Defensive ends J.J. Watt and Brooks Reed are expected to help give the pass rush some depth, though some pundits believe Reed was a reach with the 42nd overall pick in the draft. <\/p>\n They\u2019re needed to deliver a push on the line since top-rusher Mario Williams is moving to linebacker. Williams has 44 sacks in his past four seasons\u2014including nine a year ago\u2014so switching him to a new position is quite risky. So far, though, Williams has looked relatively comfortable in his new spot.<\/p>\n Another major key on defense will be the return to form of Brandon Cushing. Cushing missed the first four games of the season with a suspension. Perhaps that derailed his training, because Cushing ran out of steam over the final few weeks of the season. <\/p>\n He made just 13 total tackles during the final three weeks of the year; to put that into perspective, Cushing racked up double-digit tackles six different times in his rookie year alone. That\u2019s the Cushing Houston needs if the defense is truly going to improve.<\/p>\n The offense is loaded\u2026 but is the defense ready to get better? Phillips is a proven coordinator, so we\u2019re betting there\u2019s at least some improvement. The Texans might need Indianapolis to stumble if they\u2019re going to sneak into the playoffs, however.<\/p>\n Stick with Cappers Picks NFL articles all season long folks! We pump out TONS of daily articles for our NFL bettors! <\/p>\n Ready to start NFL Gambling Online<\/a> today?<\/p>\n Quick article and 2011 nfl prediction by Ian Van Den Hurk detailing the Houston Texans 2011 Season win total odds for over under nfl betting futures\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":26683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[51659,45240,1783,51660,51661,1618,2517,50412,14500,15915,12419,15910,15912,51662],"class_list":["post-42363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-2011-texans-season-win-total-odds","tag-45240","tag-houston-texans","tag-houston-texans-betting-odds","tag-houston-texans-predictions-2011","tag-nfl-futures","tag-nfl-gambling-online","tag-nfl-handicapping-predictions","tag-nfl-over-under-betting","tag-odds-houston-texans-season","tag-overunder-season-win-totals","tag-texans-odds","tag-texans-win-total-lines","tag-texans-wins-2011"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42363"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42429,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42363\/revisions\/42429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nProjection this season \u2013 9-7
\nTexans Super Bowl XLVI Odds \u2013 +2500
\nTexans 2011-12 AFC Odds \u2013 +1000<\/strong><\/p>\nHOW IT STANDS NOW:<\/h3>\n
Season Win total Prediction: 9-7<\/h3>\n
**CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR ONLINE NFL HANDICAPPING PREDICTIONS & WEEKLY SELECTIONS**<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"