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Even with last week’s huge swing in fortunes by the Bills Kevin Johnson Color Rush Jersey , Giants, Seahawks, Lions and Browns, there remain lots of questions about each of them.At least they aren’t winless.Then there are the projected contenders who are struggling through three games: New England, Atlanta, Green Bay, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and the Chargers.Several figure to get going: the Patriots always seem to, and get Julian Edelman back in Week 5; the Packers when Aaron Rodgers is healthier; the Steelers if things ever calm down in the locker room.Unfortunately, the injuries that have ravaged the Falcons might be too much to overcome.Still, they have a win, which is more than Houston , Oakland and Arizona can say. Man, are things getting ugly in those places.“It’s frustrating,” says Texans coach Bill O’Brien, whose team has been outscored only 74-59. “It is, but that’s the way it is. That’s the NFL. These are close games and it’s the team that doesn’t beat themselves that ends up winning, and we’ve been beating ourselves too much.”As have the Raiders , who can’t hold onto a lead. They are the second team in the past 20 seasons to start the season with three straight losses after leading the first three games at halftime.“Nobody cares right now. They want results,” returning coach Jon Gruden insists. “We want to win. I think the players see a lot of things to be confident about, but we know we got to finish football games much better.”The Cardinals need to start and finish games much better. They were blown out in their first two matches, then led Chicago for most of last Sunday’s game before folding.“The guys are disappointed, they’re down, but they understand right now it’s still early,” new coach Steve Wilks says. “We need to find a way to finish football games, as we did not do (Sunday).”Wilks is correct that it is still early, and 0-3 is not a sentence to purgatory for the remainder of the schedule. Last season, the Chargers began 0-4 and nearly made the playoffs.The difference between these three 2018 stragglers and the 2017 Chargers is, for one, talent.Let’s start with Oakland.RAIDERSWhen Gruden and upper management opted to deal Khalil Mack, it not only was a massive hit to the linebacker position Joel Heath Color Rush Jersey , but to the entire defense. Super defenders such as Mack are like a Tom Brady on the other side of the ball, making everyone around them better.His departure created a major void in the locker room as well. Sometimes a player is worth whatever he’s asking, or close to it. This seems to be such a case.Opponents can run on the Raiders, and there’s virtually no one to fear as a pass rusher. Oakland has a total of three sacks and one takeaway.Only Buffalo in the AFC has scored fewer than the Raiders’ 52 points. The passing game hasn’t flopped, but Derek Carr has been picked off five times already; he threw 13 last year. Marshawn Lynch, to his credit, has three rushing touchdowns, but otherwise the ground game has been mediocre.All of that enthusiasm in the Bay Area has been dampened by the Mack trade and the 0-3 record. Should the Raiders fall to the Browns on Sunday, whatever honeymoon period Gruden had would be over.CARDINALSThis is the least surprising of the early collapses. While Arizona went 8-8 last season, it lost so much offensive firepower and brain power that having scored 20 points so far 鈥?the next-worse team is Dallas with 41 鈥?isn’t shocking.Coach Bruce Arians, all three quarterbacks, including solid veteran Carson Palmer, and wideouts John Brown and Jaron Brown are all gone. The new attack installed for Wilks by Mike McCoy has been a dud despite the presence of versatile running back David Johnson, who missed all but the opener last year, and all-time receiving great Larry Fitzgerald.Only the Jets have more giveaways than Arizona’s seven, and now rookie QB Josh Rosen gets the call. He likes to gamble, which could lead to a lot more turnovers.The defense under Wilks can get to the quarterback. It hasn’t done much else, though.TEXANSThis slump is most confounding.Unlike the Cardinals, the Texans got back a ton of skill in J.J. Watt 鈥?the NFL’s best defender when he has been healthy 鈥?Whitney Mercilus and Deshaun Watson. Many prognosticators picked them to win the AFC South or contend for a wild card in an improved division.Instead, the Texans have been perhaps the biggest disappointment of September. Watson hasn’t been nearly as dynamic as in his six starts of 2017 before tearing up his knee. The offense has sputtered badly in the red zone.Watt had a big second half against the Giants last Sunday, the first time he’s looked like a star.Of the three winless teams, though, Houston would seem to be the best bet to get headed in an upward direction.“There’s no magic dust, there’s no magic wand we can just say, ‘Hey, wave this magic wand and everything’s going to be OK,'” O’Brien says. “It’s hard work, it’s trying to figure out what we do best, do it better, and the things we’re not doing well, either stop doing them or figure out how to improve them.“There’s no other way out of it. There’s no choice. … You have to go to work and you have to figure it out. That’s sports Greg Mancz Color Rush Jersey , that’s life and that’s the way it is.”___ HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans have matched a franchise record for most consecutive wins and are the first team since the 1925 New York Giants to win seven straight games after opening a season 0-3.Despite this impressive streak, they’re far from satisfied and know they’ll have to continue to improve to get their eighth win in a row when they host the Tennessee Titans on Monday night.“We understand that it’s going to be tough each and every week, and we understand that all 31 other teams don’t really care what we’ve done in the past,” Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson said. “It’s about what we do this week. We don’t believe in the hype. We just grind and go out there and prepare and try to play our hardest to get a win.”Coach Bill O’Brien agreed with Watson and said he stresses to his players that things could go downhill quickly if they focus on what they’ve already done instead of worrying about their next opponent.“You’re always looking to improve. No doubt about it,” he said. “I think that’s what the league’s all about. Who can get better the fastest, who can be the team that improves the fastest as the year goes on? I think every game there’s going to be chances for improvement, and we definitely have to improve.”The Texans, who lost to Tennessee in Week 2, have a two-game lead in the AFC South over the Titans and Colts, who are both 5-5.Houston beat the Redskins 23-21 last week for its second straight two-point win after downing the Broncos 19-17 on Nov. 4 before its bye. The Titans have had an up-and-down two weeks after beating New England 34-10 on Nov. 11 before Indianapolis routed them 38-10 last week.“The Houston Texans are a true example of handling adversity and moving forward. They lost 3 in a row early on, everybody thought their season was over and all of a sudden they’re on top of the division and might be fighting for a bye depending on where they’re going,” Tennessee linebacker Brian Orakpo said. “They’re on our schedule now. We lost one, chance to redeem ourselves.”Some things to know about Tennessee’s Monday night visit to Houston:PROTECT THE QBMarcus Mariota was sacked four times in the first half alone before being knocked out of the game last week just before halftime with a stinger. Now the Titans face the Texans with Houston defensive end Jadeveon Clowney healthy instead of watching from the sideline as Clowney did in Week 2 when these teams met.Mariota and the Titans hope the quarterback will be available Monday night, though he’s waiting for a nerve in his throwing arm to settle down.If Mariota doesn’t start, that would mean Blaine Gabbert gets his third start this season and second against the Texans.GETTING INVOLEDWide receiver Demaryius Thomas hasn’t made much of an impact since being traded to the Texans from Denver on Oct. 30 after Will Fuller suffered a season-ending knee injury. The nine-year veteran had three receptions for 61 yards in his debut, but didn’t have a catch on two targets on Sunday. O’Brien took the blame for his limited work.“It’s not Demaryius,” O’Brien said. “I have to do a better job of getting him more involved. He’s working hard, he’s a good pro and we need to do a better job of getting him the ball a little more.”PEES BACKTitans defensive coordinator Dean Pees rejoined the team Tuesday after leaving the team’s last game with a medical issue. Coach Mike Vrabel is trying to limit the 69-year-old coach’s hours at the team headquarters in Pees’ return to work.Having Pees available and calling blitzes and coverages from the coach’s box in Houston could provide a nice boost to a defense that was dissected by Andrew Luck last week. The Titans allowed a season-high 38 points, dropping from the NFL’s top scoring defense to second overall.Orakpo said hearing Pees had been taken to a hospital shook the Titans.“Man, that was definitely a scary scene to be a part of,” Orakpo said.WATT AND CLOWNEYClowney and J.J. Watt have combined to be one of the league’s most feared defensive duos this season. Clowney has 12 tackles for losses, 14 quarterback hits, 6 1/2 sacks and two fumble recoveries, including one for a touchdown. Watt has 10 sacks, 12 tackles for losses, 17 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles and has swatted down two passes.Vrabel is very familiar with Clowney and Watt after working as an assistant with the Texans from 2014-17. But he rarely had both players on the field at the same time when he coached in Houston because of various injuries to the two players. He was asked if he’s happy to see that they’re finally both healthy and playing so well this season.“I think 14 games out of the year, I’d probably feel pretty good for them, but there will be two of them when I don’t,” Vrabel said. “They’re good people. I thought I had a good relationship with both of those guys.”