Oakland Raiders

Early Betting Lines On NFL Weeks 1 Through 16

It's always good to get in on something at the beginning, at the ground floor. In the world of sports wagering, for bettors equally long on hubris and illness (gambling is a sickness, my friends), some betting outlets realize that no time is too soon to put out lines on NFL games. The draft just en ... More >>

NFL Free Agency 2013: "Dead Money" Overview

As a concept, the NFL salary cap is a fairly easy one to understand. Unlike the NBA, with its myriad of loopholes, exceptions, and fine print that allow teams like the Lakers and, well, almost everyone else to zoom past the artificial "cap", the NFL is a simple hard cap. What you spend is what what ... More >>

Joe Flacco Has A New Contract: Next Big Thing Or Next Cautionary Tale?

On December 16, the Baltimore Ravens lost their third game in a row, 34-17 to the Denver Broncos in Baltimore to drop to 9-5 on the season and virtually clinch a relatively ho-hum four seed in the AFC. On that day, their starting quarterback, Joe Flacco, completed 20 passes on 40 attempts for 254 l ... More >>

Desmond Bryant's Mugshot Ends The "Best NFL Mugshot Ever" Debate

The Super Bowl is a few weeks into the rear view mirror now, OTA's are a few months away, so for NFL players we are in the first "Crime Season" of the NFL calendar. Crime Season occurs in dormant weeks and months where undisciplined players really don't have anything to do except get into trouble wi ... More >>

AFC Playoff Projections, Week 7: First One Onto The Colts Bandwagon!

When Peyton Manning and the Broncos stormed back with 35 unanswered points in the second half of their 35-24 Monday night win against the Chargers this week, they accomplished a few things: 1. They tied an NFL record for the largest comeback win by a road team in NFL history. 2. They evened their ... More >>

The Mean, Evil, Bored & Ashamed Faces on 13 NFL Team Logos, Ready for Their Close-Ups

Our long national nightmare, otherwise known as the football offseason, is nearing an end. Exhibition Preseason games are in full swing, for better or worse. (If you watched all -- or even most of -- the Cowboys' 3-0 win over Oakland Monday, seek help.) Still, the appearance of the pads and unis i ... More >>

Criminals and Killers Love/Hate the Raiders, Cowboys and Sooners

During Monday's sentencing hearing for Brian Kerstetter, the 33-year-old white male who was found guilty of targeting a random African-American man at a downtown Houston bus stop, the prison-bound Kerstetter couldn't help himself from blasting a certain loved/loathed NFL franchise. "I'm not a hate ... More >>

NFL Draft WARNING Label: JaMarcus Russell 2007 Draft Footage

The day is finally here. Tonight at 7 p.m. all of the analysis, evaluation and conjecture will end (temporarily) and the hopes and dreams of 32 young men will come true. It is the first round of the NFL Draft, and for fans of everyone except the Jets it is another day of hope that your team is trend ... More >>

NFL Week 17 Viewing Guide -- What in the Blue Hell Each Game Means

"College football has the best regular season of any sport, and the lack of a playoff is one big reason why." -- Bill Hancock, Executive Director, Bowl Cartel Championship Series That's my favorite inane argument against a college football playoff -- that somehow the existence of a playoff cheapens ... More >>

5 Quick Thoughts On The Great Carson Palmer Heist

Carson Palmer: Now rehabbing his rep​It's weird, as great as the National Football League has been, the one thing that the NBA and, to an even greater extent, Major League Baseball have had over the NFL for as long as I can remember is a compelling trade in-season trade deadline. In-season fo ... More >>

Raiders 25, Texans 20: One Step Forward, One Step Back

Be sure to check out the rest of our pics from Sunday's game. When one step forward is immediately followed by one step back, perpetual mediocrity is the usual result. It has defined the Gary Kubiak era of Houston Texans football, and it reared its ugly head again on Sunday. Yes, the Texans (3-2) ... More >>

Houston Texans Game 5 -- 4 Winners, 4 Losers (This Doesn't Go Well For Jacoby Jones)

Be sure to check out the rest of our pics from Sunday's game. As we were driving slowly down Murworth to park in the Teal Lot before the Texans game on Sunday, my girlfriend Amy and I noticed a father with two boys (presumably his sons) around the ages of nine or ten stopped on the sidewalk having ... More >>

The New Normal

The Texans start operating like a bona fide NFL team.

Thursday NFL Free Agent Update: Is Wade Phillips Still Missing?

What's more glamorous, dude: New York or Houston?​As I type this, it's 4:36 p.m. on Thursday and the Texans' free agency activity still can be summed up as follows: 1. Backup offensive tackle Rashad Butler 2. Backup wide receiver Jacoby Jones 3. Backup Matt Leinart No cornerbacks, no safeti ... More >>

More Rex Ryan, the Ryan Leaf Trilogy & NFL Best Bets

Rex Ryan: Can you smell them from here is the question​Two more shopping days left. I need money. You need money. So let's get to winning. And by winning let's find a way to weave more Rex Ryan "foot fetish" talk into a handicapping discussion. Can we do this? (Can we touch them? Can we sm ... More >>

NFL & College Football Best Bets -- How Ebenezer Scrooge Saved Me

Ebenezer in the house​I went to the Alley Theater last night and saw A Christmas Carol. Fantastic production and actually my first time ever seeing it in any venue, let alone the Alley. For the completely un-Christmased of you out there, Carol is a tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, a grumpy curmudge ... More >>

Houston Texans -- The Green Mile, 5 Winners and 5 Losers

Texans fans: Enjoy it today, resume griping tomorrow​The Texans beat the Chiefs on Sunday afternoon 35-31 to move to 4-2 for the first time in the history of the franchise, and I for one am going to enjoy it. Seriously, try to stop me. You can try and bring me down with your texts and tweets and ... More >>

College Football and NFL: Weekend's Best Bets (One Day Early)

Brett Favre: Readying the "elbow tendonitis" excuse?​If you're keeping score at home, it was not a pretty week for society. In no particular order, in the last seven days, the following occurred: -- Much like the self-handling of his own Johnson (and we have the pictures to prove it), Brett Favre ... More >>

Texans 31, Raiders 24: With A Running Game Like This, Johnson Has Time To Rest

Photo by Aaron M. SprecherMario Williams kept up the pressure​It only took one offseason and one Arian Foster to transform the Texans' running game from shaky to the club's foundation.As a result, the Texans on Sunday allowed star wideout Andre Johnson to rest his ailing ankle and saw their offens ... More >>

Our Year

Will Texans make it to playoffs?

Game Time: JaMarcus Russell -- The Raiders' "Purple Drank"

Svelte, he ain't.​His Wikipedia profile merely describes JaMarcus Russell as follows: JaMarcus Russell is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. Right about now, the only items that are true in that statement are Russell's first and last names, because as of Monday morn ... More >>

Game Time: The Decade's Five Most Lucrative Miracles

​First, I want to wish everybody out there a very happy holiday, and thank all of you who have read my stuff here on HoustonPress.com since I started up a couple months ago, especially those of you who leave comments (even if you think what you've just read is utter drivel, and you're telling me ... More >>

Texans 16, Rams 13: Staying Alive

​It's often noted how the difference between the 7-7 Texans and an 11-3 powerhouse is two Kris Brown kicks and two conversions of a single yard. Turns out, the difference between 7-7 and 1-13 isn't all that great, either. As the Texans seem to do in late-season road games where they're hea ... More >>

Game Time: The Cable Guy

​For most of his tenure in Oakland, Tom Cable has been your run-of-the-mill, overmatched, "dead man walking" NFL head coach. When he was hired last season in the wake of Lane Kiffin's firing, the things that jumped out at me about Cable were:-- His only head coaching experience consisted of four ... More >>

You Know It's Bad When Losing To The Texans Isn't As Bad As It Gets

​So you're Tom Cable and you're the coach of the moribund 1-3 Oakland Raiders.You've just a lost a football game to the Houston Texans, the team which started the legend of Mark Sanchez. And not only did your team lose 29-6 to the Texans, but you were outcoached by Gary Kubiak, a guy who, in his ... More >>

At Long Last, Texans Play According to Plan

​For a franchise that has spent its entire existence searching for signs of turning a corner, the Texans on Sunday showed as many as they ever have. On the field, the Texans did what they never seem to do - win big in a game they're supposed to, routing the hapless Raiders 29-6 at Reliant St ... More >>

Funny Girl

Jokes of the Female Persuasion

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Hooters and Houston Texans

I'm in a Hooters in downtown Phoenix, Arizona and the Houston Texans are losing to the Oakland Raiders. And I'm the only one in the place watching the game. The requisite Redskins fans are scattered about, watching the Redskins on a majority of the TVs - really, is there any place besides Dall ... More >>

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Hooters and Houston Texans

I'm in a Hooters in downtown Phoenix, Arizona and the Houston Texans are losing to the Oakland Raiders. And I'm the only one in the place watching the game. The requisite Redskins fans are scattered about, watching the Redskins on a majority of the TVs - really, is there any place besides Dall ... More >>

Texans-Raiders: Don't Bet on Black

Lots of you don't like what I write about the Texans. You think I'm too negative. That I don't give the team proper credit. Hell, some of you have actually written that you want me to die. To which I respond, if you want homers who are always positive, go over to the Chron. I try to take a more ... More >>

Texans-Raiders: Don't Bet on Black

Lots of you don't like what I write about the Texans. You think I'm too negative. That I don't give the team proper credit. Hell, some of you have actually written that you want me to die. To which I respond, if you want homers who are always positive, go over to the Chron. I try to take a more ... More >>

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Were You Ready for Some Boring Football?

I can't believe I wasted over three hours of my life watching the Houston Texans last night. Sure, they won the game 30-17, but damn, that was an awful game to watch. I found the document review I was working on to be more interesting than most of that game - and you attorneys out there know that ... More >>

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: This One Was All Kubiak

NFL Review, Week Four: Cowboys Lose, and Bitch

If Only the Texans Were Bad in a Fun Way…

NFL Review, Week Three: Bad Challenges, Tricky Snaps and Playboy Bunnies

John Royal's NFL Power Rankings

John Royal’s NFL Season Picks

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 17: Are the Texans Half Empty or Half Full of It?

John Royal's NFL Picks, Week 14: Longest. Season. Ever.

John Royal’s NFL Picks, Week 13: Rushing More Than Ricky Williams

John Royal's NFL Picks, Week 11: Andre Johnson Is Back, But Take the Saints Anyway

John Royal’s NFL Picks, Week Ten: Georgia (the Country, Not the State) Loves the Texans

(Texans vs. Raiders) (Pats vs. Colts) = Pass the Prozac Please

John Royal's NFL Picks, Week Nine: Getting Rid of the Hired Help, Going with the Raiders

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week Eight: Staring Zeus in the Eye, Daring Him to Flinch

John Royal’s Pigheaded Pigskin Picks, Week Six: Loving and Hating the Cowboys

John Royal's NFL Picks, Week Four: Betting on the Houston Texans. What? Why Are You Surprised?

Scoring the Super Bowl

NFL Films' music may be stirring, but these songs tell the real story of the big games