(Sports Network) - Fans of the Houston Texans have been riding the emotional rollercoaster from the day the season started, and Gary Kubiak and his charges simply refuse to let them off.

A team that came into 2009 carrying immense expectations was destroyed at home by rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets (24-7) in Week 1, but recovered to beat the defending AFC South champion Tennessee Titans on the road (34-31) the very next week.

After winning that one, Kubiak and company laid a major egg at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars (31-24), but offered up their most complete performance of the year the following week against the Raiders (29-6).

One Sunday later, the Texans put themselves in a 21-0 hole at Arizona, came back to tie, and eventually lost (28-21) to the Cardinals. True to form, Houston went to Cincinnati and outclassed the first-place Bengals, 28-17, to erase the sting of the Cardinals loss.

The message Kubiak was sending his team in the wake of the impressive win is the same one that ever-nervous supporters of the Texans should heed: never get too high or too low, because you never know exactly what's coming around the next curve.

"I don't think you turn the corner in one game," cautioned Kubiak. "I think our guys understand that. They're learning more and more each week how hard it is to win in this league. The difference is a few plays here and there."

In this case, many of the Texans' "few plays" were made by Matt Schaub and the offense.

Against a Cincinnati team that had built its 4-1 record through five weeks largely on the back of its defense, the Texans ran up and down the field to the tune of 492 yards, including 392 and four touchdowns through the air for Matt Schaub. Andre Johnson and Steve Slaton both went over 100 receiving yards in the game, and tight end Owen Daniels caught two touchdown passes in the triumph.

"We are executing our plays and doing what we do naturally," said Schaub, who has a 102.7 passer rating and is throwing for more than 300 yards per game through the first six weeks. "We are making plays downfield. I can't talk enough about our offensive line and how it allows me to step up and have time...There are two young offensive guards in there."

Though there have been inconsistent elements of the Texans offense during the team's 3-3 start, there is no question that Houston supporters are losing a greater deal of sleep over the state of the defense. But that area added plenty of value on Sunday, as NFL rushing leader Cedric Benson was held to 44 yards on 16 carries, while the Bengals committed three costly turnovers on the afternoon.

"We went smaller this week up front," said Kubiak. "We've had five ends and three inside players, and it scares you, but we've been more active. Give (defensive line coach) Bill Kollar a lot of credit, he has done a hell of a job with that rotation."

The elephant in the room following this win is the fact that the 2009 roller- coaster pattern says the Texans are supposed to lose in Week 7. The San Francisco 49ers, with a 3-2 record and tied for the lead in the NFC West, will be the opponent trying to deny the Texans their first two-game losing streak of the year, while also sending Houston to 1-3 at home on the campaign.

A win over the Niners would offer a little more proof that the Texans are beginning to emerge from their inconsistent shell, but this is not a team that can afford to take this game, or any future contest, for granted.

"[Football] is about the long haul," said Kubiak. "We have to come back next week and be just as good."

COLTS: Everyone knows about the quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts offense.

Peyton Manning is on a short list of the league's MVP and Offensive Player of the Year candidates through the season's first six weeks, having guided Indianapolis to a 5-0 start and posting five consecutive 300-yard games in the process.

A 300-yard outing against the winless and defensively-deficient St. Louis Rams this week will give Manning a piece of the NFL record for consecutive 300-yard games, currently shared by Steve Young, Kurt Warner, and Rich Gannon.

But how good the Colts can be going forward might have as much to do with Manning as with the quarterback of the team's defense - safety Bob Sanders.

Sanders, the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2007, has missed the entire season to date while recovering from offseason surgery on his right knee. In total, the hard-nosed Iowa product has been out of the lineup for 40 of a possible 85 games during his five-year NFL career, but there is no underestimating the impact of Sanders when he is in the lineup.

Sanders could be on hand when Indianapolis takes the field in St. Louis this week, and while the Colts have been very good without him, it can definitely be argued that their stock takes a boost into the stratosphere with the safety in the lineup.

"He is hungry, there's no question about that," said coach Jim Caldwell of Sanders last week. "I think he's been preparing diligently. He looks good out there. He's moving around. He looks like Bob. So we're all anxious. When he gets comfortable with where he is and what he's doing, we'll get him in there at some point in time."

Sanders himself, meanwhile, seems to be taking a cautious approach to a potential return.

"As a player, you always want to play, but you've also got to be a little realistic about your injuries and your surgeries and all that," Sanders told the Indianapolis Star. "I'm just taking my time and when I'm ready and it's time to get out there, I'll definitely be out there."

JAGUARS: The season will not end today, but if it did, the Jacksonville Jaguars would be in the playoffs.

Though few NFL observers would rank the Jags as one of the top six teams in the AFC at the moment, a run through the league wild card tie-breakers gives the Jags (3-3, 2-1 in the AFC) a nod over the similarly 3-3 Texans, Jets, and Ravens for the No. 6 seed in the conference.

Now, the fact that Jack Del Rio's team required overtime and a healthy dash of good luck this past Sunday to earn a 23-20 win over the winless St. Louis Rams - arguably the NFL's worst team - would fly in the face of the contention that Jacksonville has the ability to stay in the postseason picture for the long haul.

And that skepticism would seemingly be shared by the Jaguars' notoriously fickle fan base, which showed up in record-small numbers (42,088 announced, 38,425 in actual attendance) that would probably cost some athletic administrator his/her job if such attendance was announced down the road at the University of Florida.

Is this an immensely likeable team? Probably not. Is it a good team? The jury's out. Though for the third time in four weeks, Jacksonville was a winning team, and that has to be worth something, right?

Maurice Jones-Drew, who had publicly questioned the club's pass-heavy offensive approach in a 41-0 loss to the Seahawks the week before, carried 33 times for 133 yards and three touchdowns against the Rams, with two of the scores coming during a fourth quarter that saw Jacksonville rally from deficits of 10-6 and 17-13 to make it to the extra session.

"MoJo talked about wanting the ball and we got it to him plenty," said Del Rio of Jones-Drew after the win. "I thought he was special today."

Pertaining to his previous outburst, the diminutive running back claimed it was never really about him.

"I said something to make people understand how I felt about losing," said Jones-Drew. "Guys felt the same way. Everybody was pretty much supportive. I didn't say I wanted the ball. I just said we needed to run the ball."

Which means, presumably, that Jones-Drew won't be upset if he touches the ball six times at Tennessee in Week 8, as long as the Jags win? Hmmmm...perhaps we'll see, though Jones-Drew is certainly talking up the team concept at this stage.

"We have to stay hungry," said Jones-Drew. "We can't be satisfied with this victory. I think guys understand it's hard to win in this league."

TITANS: So this is what rock-bottom looks like.

Though some might have thought a 22-point home loss to the Indianapolis Colts in a nationally-televised affair the week before was actually the sub-basement for the Tennessee Titans, Jeff Fisher's club found another layer of bedrock underneath.

The Titans' snowy 59-0 loss at the New England Patriots on Sunday tied the post-merger record for the league's biggest blowout, tied with a 59-0 win for the Rams over the Falcons in 1976, and sent the franchise to 0-6 for the first time since the 1984 Houston Oilers opened the year at 0-10.

"I am very disappointed obviously and embarrassed to say the least," said Fisher, whose team will not lose in Week 7 thanks to a bye. "We played a very good football team, but that wasn't us out there today so...we've got, as I said, a lot of work to do. And we'll make the most of the time this week to get things done."

Even at 0-6, there is hope for the Titans.

After an injury-riddled secondary was forced to go to battle with Canton-bound quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the last two weeks, none of the signal-callers featured by the team's next three opponents - Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Buffalo - are going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame without a ticket to get in.

What's more, cornerbacks Nick Harper (forearm), Cortland Finnegan (hamstring) and safety Vincent Fuller (forearm) will all have a chance to return in Week 8.

And for his part, Fisher still sounds optimistic.

"Things have turned for the worse awfully quick for this franchise, and it's my job to get it straightened out. And that's what I'm going to do and that's what I'm going to continue to do. We have a lot of talented players in that room, but as I told them, whether you're a first year rookie or a 15 year vet, like Kevin [Kaesviharn] or Kerry [Collins], this just doesn't happen. It's not good and doesn't get any worse, but if we've bottomed out here, then all we can move is up and that's what we're going to do."