When the Texans' 2003 schedule came out during the offseason, one game stood out from the rest. Today was to be the first time that Texans QB David Carr, who was the first pick in the 2002 NFL Draft, and Falcons QB Michael Vick, who was the first player chosen in the 2001 NFL Draft, faced each other.
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Davis breaks through the Falcons' defense for one of his many long gains in the afternoon. |
Despite neither player starting the game, fans got exactly what they wanted in the second half. Carr replaced injured QB Tony Banks at the beginning of the half, while Vick made his long-awaited season debut later in the third quarter, when he filled in for QB Doug Johnson.
With two of the NFL's youngest and most-promising signal-callers
trying to lead their respective teams to victory, there was no
shortage of excitement inside Reliant Stadium. Amidst all of the
hoopla surrounding both playmakers' dramatic appearances,
though, another up-and-coming NFL star ended up stealing the
show.
Texans rookie RB Domanick
Davis finished with a game-high 101 rushing yards on 24
carries (4.2 avg.) and added two touchdowns to lead the Texans
to a thrilling 17-13 victory. It was his fourth 100-yard rushing
game of the season, and his fifth rushing touchdown of the year,
which is a Texans' season-record.
While Davis rushed for 49 yards in the first half, he showed his
true value in the latter portions of the game after Banks had
left with a broken hand.
Carr stepped in to take Banks' place, but he noticeably
struggled with a shoulder injury. On his first pass attempt,
Carr bounced a ball to WR Jabar
Gaffney.
"It's one of those things, from your legs up you feel
pretty good," Carr said. "Then you go to throw it and
it bounces in the dirt. I had to ask people on the sidelines,
'Did that get tipped?' But it didn't get tipped. It was just a
bad ball."
Nevertheless, Davis shouldered the Texans' offensive load by
contributing on a variety of run plays and short screen passes.
The four-time NFL Rookie of the Week gave the Texans their first
lead of the game with a seven-yard touchdown run on the Texans'
first drive of the third quarter. On the team's ensuing possession,
Davis ran for a two-yard score to put the Texans up for good
17-7.
With most of the game's hype focused on the young quarterback
showdown, Davis turned the attention to himself and proved yet
again that he deserves to be considered along with Carr and Vick
as one of the NFL's premier young offensive talents.
"I
always have to deal with people saying that I'm too small or
that I'm a third down back or a special teams player,"
Davis said.
"No, I can play running back every down and now they
are finding out what I can do.
I am just going to keep doing what I have been doing."
With the win, the Texans are now 5-7 and have surpassed their
win total from their inaugural 2002 season. Additionally, there
are still four games remaining in the season for the Texans to
build on the accomplishment.
"Anytime you start thinking about what our goals are at the
beginning of the season, certainly one of those goals is we want
to be better than we were last year," K Kris
Brown said. "It's exciting for us to already have
eclipsed the win total from last year with four games left to
play. It's just something to build on.
"Now, our focus is the last four games. It starts next week
at Jacksonville. The most important thing is for us to try to
get that back-to-back win, which we haven't been able to
do."
The Texans have tonight to enjoy their win before returning
tomorrow morning to lift. They will start preparing for
Jacksonville on Wednesday.
