The Houston Texans lost their top tackler two weeks ago when inside linebacker Brian Cushing went down with a season-ending knee injury. A week later, they were embarrassed by the Green Bay Packers, 42-24, on their home field as Aaron Rodgers threw six touchdown passes, Houston quarterback Matt Schaub threw two interceptions, the Texans couldn't run the ball and their special teams faltered.
Earlier that day, the Ravens outlasted the mistake-prone Dallas Cowboys, 31-29. In the process, they lost their leading tackler (inside linebacker Ray Lewis) and best cornerback (Lardarius Webb) to season-ending injuries, allowed more than 200 rushing yards for a second straight week and hung on to a victory only after Dallas dropped a pass on a two-point conversion attempt and missed what would have been a game-winning field goal.
It was just one week in the topsy-turvy NFL, but neither team exited last Sunday looking like a Super Bowl contender or the class of the AFC. Yet when the conference's only two winning teams play today at Houston's Reliant Stadium, the winner will improve to 6-1 and become the frontrunner in an AFC marred by mediocrity.
"We know whenever you get a chance to seize or take control of the [conference], you have to do that," Ravens tight end Ed Dickson said. "We have a chance to go on the road in a hostile environment and get on top of the [AFC]. We got a chance to go be No. 1 in the [conference]. We're treating it like any other game, but deep in our minds we're thinking about that."
Why shouldn't they? Even after playing just six games, even after losing two of their best defensive players and watching their once-intimidating defence continually get gouged, the Ravens start today two games better than everybody else in the conference aside from the Texans.
Seven of the AFC's 16 teams, including the entire East division, take a 3-3 record into the weekend. It marks the furthest into an NFL season that a conference has just two winning teams.
"I think the longer you are around, the less surprised you get," veteran Ravens centre Matt Birk said. "You realize that there is parity, and I think being a player, you understand that every team is good, every team is talented. Every week there are a few games that surprise ... but we're only six games in. There's a lot of football to be played."
Today's game is a rematch of an AFC divisional playoff game from last season, and it features numerous subplots: The Texans have never beaten the Ravens in six tries. Arian Foster and Ray Rice are two of the game's best all-purpose backs. The Ravens' Vonta Leach, Jacoby Jones and Bernard Pollard return to Houston, where they used to play. Both defences face questions about how they'll hold up in the absence of their top tackler and emotional leader.
More than anything else, the game could serve as a showcase of the state of the AFC. Even with recent issues and key injuries, the Texans and the Ravens have played well enough to look down at a host of teams that have been unable to sustain any consistency as they near the midpoint of the season.
Because his team had its first early-afternoon home game of the season last Sunday, Ravens coach John Har-baugh had a chance to go home and watch games that he usually wouldn't have gotten to see. Harbaugh came away marvelling at how closely matched teams in the NFL are.
"We see a lot of good football teams," said Harbaugh, whose team's past five games have essentially come down to the final possession. "It's crazy. Every game goes down to the wire. I don't know how these coaches do it in this league."
Texans coach Gary Kubiak says it's too early to draw conclusions.
"There is great balance in this league," he said. "Everybody has a good core of players, and yet, everybody in this league goes through tough times with injuries and those types of things, which can change things week to week.
