Monday Night Football is always a bright stage to play on and the Texans showed they were up to the task beating the Titans 31-17.

The Good

-Despite taking four sacks, Deshaun Watson had a great game. He was 19/24 for 210 yards and two touchdowns passing. He also had nine carries for 70 yards and a touchdown rushing. We finally saw good Deshaun for a complete game.

-Lamar Miller came to play. He flashed his speed, and even kept his balance, on his 97-yard touchdown run. The run game has been good most of the season. Alfred Blue, A.K.A. Great Value Arian Foster, has been a steady change of pace back as well. The team totaled 282 yards rushing.

-DeAndre Carter has added spark to the return game for the Texans. His first kick return went 30 yards and his first punt return went for 25 yards. He’s provided a much needed injection of adrenaline to a severely lacking area for this team.

The Bad

-Pass interference against Justin Reid in 1st quarter was a terrible call. Reid didn’t “significantly hinder” the receiver from catching the ball as the NFL rule book states. That 33 yard penalty put the Titans in field goal range to take a 3-0 lead.

-Booger McFarland is an idiot! He said Whitney Mercilus is playing a new role. No he’s not you unprepared talking puppet! He’s playing the same role he’s played the last few years. He just hasn’t been as effective coming off his injury that shut him down last season!

-Despite the win, the defense finally forced a turnover with under a minute left in the game. I know the team did what it came to do in getting the win, but they could’ve at least forced more than one turnover.

The Ugly

-Titans tight end Jonnu Smith caught a 61-yard touchdown pass off a busted coverage to put them up 10-0. He chipped blocked on the outside, turned around, caught a five yard pass, and ran up the middle of the field almost untouched. It was Tyrann Mathieu who appeared to blow the coverage.

-Julien Davenport had his 13th penalty called on him and 10th accepted. He leads the league in both categories. I don’t doubt that he’ll eventually be a serviceable tackle one day, but his technique needs help. He is a very raw, but gifted, small school project after all.

-The Texans organization, and more importantly the city of Houston, lost a good guy in team founder and owner Bob Mc Nair. My only encounter with him was funny. He told a joke about the quarterback position when Brian Hoyer was here. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a good man. To disparage a man’s name simply because he said a few untimely things isn’t cool.

8-3 and now three games up in the division is a great place to be for the Texans. It’s time they prove themselves worthy of the record they have by making a deep playoff run. This isn’t some “win for Mr McNair” type of deal. This is more about them proving themselves to the league that they’re to be taken seriously. Until this team makes at least an AFC title game appearance, or better, I won’t be as impressed.