2008 Houston Texans season

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2008 Houston Texans season
Owner
Reliant Stadium
Results
Record8–8
Division place3rd AFC South
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro Bowlers

The 2008 Houston Texans season was the franchise's 7th season in the National Football League (NFL) and the 3rd under head coach Gary Kubiak. Though the Texans lost their first four games of the season, they rallied and won five of their last six games, to finish with an 8–8 record for the second consecutive year.

The 2008 season also marked the Texans' first appearance on Monday Night Football.

Offseason

Coaching changes

Head coach Gary Kubiak entered his third year with the Texans. Alex Gibbs, who implemented his successful zone blocking scheme with the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons joined the staff as the assistant head coach, replacing Mike Sherman, who left to become the head coach at Texas A&M. Kyle Shanahan, son of Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, took over as the offensive coordinator in place of Sherman.

Player additions/subtractions

Additions:

Subtractions:

Draft

2008 Houston Texans draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 26 Duane Brown * 
OT
Virginia Tech
3 79 Antwaun Molden  CB Western Kentucky
3 89 Steve Slaton  RB West Virginia
4 118 Xavier Adibi  LB Virginia Tech
5 151 Frank Okam  DT Texas
6 173 Dominique Barber  WR Minnesota from Baltimore
7 223 Alex Brink  QB Washington State
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

The Texans had seven selections in the

2008 NFL Draft. The Texans originally had five before the draft after having traded their second round selection to the Atlanta Falcons to land quarterback Matt Schaub and their sixth-round pick to the Denver Broncos for center Chris Myers. The Texans traded their first-round pick with the Baltimore Ravens
for their third and sixth-round selections along with their first-round pick.

Staff

2008 Houston Texans staff

Front office

  • Founder, chairman and chief executive officer – Bob McNair
  • Vice chairman – Philip Burguières
  • Vice chairman –
    D. Cal McNair
  • General manager – Rick Smith
  • President – Jamey Rootes
  • Director of pro personnel – Brian Gardner
  • Associate director of pro personnel – Bobby Grier
  • Director of college scouting – Dale Strahm
  • Coordinator of college scouting – Mike Maccagnan

Head coaches

  • Head coach – Gary Kubiak
  • Assistant head coach/offense – Alex Gibbs
  • Special assistant to the head coach – Bob Karmelowicz

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Head strength and conditioning –
    Dan Riley
  • Assistant strength and conditioning – Ray Wright

[1]

Roster

2008 Houston Texans final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad


Rookies in italics
53 active, 12 inactive, 8 practice squad

Schedule

Preseason

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 August 9 Denver Broncos W 19–16 1–0
Reliant Stadium
Recap
2 August 16 at New Orleans Saints W 31–27 2–0
Louisiana Superdome
Recap
3 August 22 at Dallas Cowboys L 22–23 2–1 Texas Stadium Recap
4 August 28 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 6–16 2–2 Reliant Stadium Recap

Regular season

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 September 7 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 17–38 0–1
Heinz Field
Recap
2 Bye[A]
3 September 21 at Tennessee Titans L 12–31 0–2
LP Field
Recap
4 September 28 at Jacksonville Jaguars L 27–30 (OT) 0–3
Jacksonville Municipal Stadium
Recap
5 October 5 Indianapolis Colts L 27–31 0–4
Reliant Stadium
Recap
6 October 12 Miami Dolphins W 29–28 1–4 Reliant Stadium Recap
7 October 19 Detroit Lions W 28–21 2–4 Reliant Stadium Recap
8 October 26 Cincinnati Bengals[A] W 35–6 3–4 Reliant Stadium Recap
9 November 2 at Minnesota Vikings L 21–28 3–5 Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Recap
10 November 9 Baltimore Ravens[A] L 13–41 3–6 Reliant Stadium Recap
11 November 16 at Indianapolis Colts L 27–33 3–7 Lucas Oil Stadium Recap
12 November 23 at Cleveland Browns W 16–6 4–7 Cleveland Browns Stadium Recap
13 December 1 Jacksonville Jaguars W 30–17 5–7 Reliant Stadium Recap
14 December 7 at Green Bay Packers W 24–21 6–7 Lambeau Field Recap
15 December 14 Tennessee Titans W 13–12 7–7 Reliant Stadium Recap
16 December 21 at Oakland Raiders L 16–27 7–8
Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
Recap
17 December 28 Chicago Bears W 31–24 8–8 Reliant Stadium Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFC South
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
(1) Tennessee Titans 13 3 0 .813 4–2 9–3 375 234 L1
(5) Indianapolis Colts 12 4 0 .750 4–2 10–2 377 298 W9
Houston Texans 8 8 0 .500 2–4 5–7 366 394 W1
Jacksonville Jaguars 5 11 0 .313 2–4 3–9 302 367 L2

Regular season results

Week 1: at Pittsburgh Steelers

Period 1 2 34Total
Texans 0 3 01417
Steelers 7 14 14338

at

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Texans began their 2008 campaign on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the first quarter, Houston trailed early as Steelers RB Willie Parker got a 7-yard TD run. In the second quarter, the Texans continued to trail as Parker got a 13-yard TD run, while QB Ben Roethlisberger completed a 13-yard TD pass to WR Hines Ward. Houston ended the half with kicker Kris Brown getting a 34-yard field goal. In the third quarter, the Texans continued to trail as Parker got a 4-yard TD run, while Roethlisberger and Ward hooked up with each other again on a 16-yard TD pass. In the fourth quarter, Houston replied with QB Matt Schaub completing a 14-yard TD pass to WR Kevin Walter. Pittsburgh responded with kicker Jeff Reed nailing a 44-yard field goal. The Texans closed out the scoring with a game with a 4-yard TD run by Schaub.

With the loss, Houston began its season at 0–1.

Week 2: Bye Week

The Texans were originally scheduled to play the

Reliant Stadium by Hurricane Ike
, the game was postponed until Week 10. This allowed both Houston and Baltimore to take their bye week.

Week 3: at Tennessee Titans

Coming off their unexpected bye week, the Texans flew to

LP Field for a Week 3 AFC South duel with the Tennessee Titans. In the first quarter, Houston struck first with kicker Kris Brown getting a 44-yard field goal. The Titans responded with RB LenDale White getting a 2-yard TD run. The Texans answered with Brown kicking a 24-yard field goal. In the second quarter, Tennessee increased its lead with QB Kerry Collins completing a 9-yard TD pass to TE Bo Scaife. The Texans answered with rookie RB Steve Slaton
getting a 6-yard TD run, but the PAT failed. The Titans closed out the first half scoring with White's 1-yard TD run.

In the third quarter, Tennessee added onto its lead with kicker Rob Bironas nailing a 44-yard field goal. In the fourth quarter, the Titans sealed the win with CB Cortland Finnegan returning an interception 99 yards for a touchdown.

With the loss, Houston fell to 0–2.

Week 4: at Jacksonville Jaguars

Period 1 2 34OTTotal
Texans 3 7 710027
Jaguars 7 3 710330

at

Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida

Still searching for their first win of the year, the Texans flew to

Jacksonville Municipal Stadium for a Week 4 AFC South duel with the Jacksonville Jaguars. In the first quarter, Houston trailed early as Jaguars FB Montell Owens took a fake punt and ran 41 yards for a touchdown. The Texans got on the board with kicker Kris Brown getting a 27-yard field goal. In the second quarter, Houston took the lead as QB Matt Schaub completed a 30-yard TD pass to rookie RB Steve Slaton. Jacksonville ended the half with kicker Josh Scobee
getting a 46-yard field goal.

In the third quarter, the Jaguars retook the lead with QB David Garrard completing a 16-yard TD pass to WR Matt Jones. The Texans tied the game with Schaub completing a 5-yard TD pass to WR Kevin Walter. In the fourth quarter, Jacksonville responded with Scobee's 40-yard field goal. Houston retook the lead with Schaub hooking up with Walter again on an 8-yard TD pass. However, the Jaguars got the lead again as Garrard got a 5-yard TD run. The Texans tied game on Brown's 47-yard field goal. However, in overtime, Jacksonville sealed Houston's fate as Scobee nailed the game-winning 37-yard field goal.

With the loss, the Texans fell to 0–3.

Week 5: vs. Indianapolis Colts

Period 1 2 34Total
Colts 10 0 02131
Texans 0 17 3727

at

Houston, Texas