Surprise, surprise

Two weeks into the season, the Houston Texans might be the NFL'S biggest surprise.

They won their opener, which was against the lousy Jacksonville Jags, but there are some of us who were convinced the Texans would become the first team in league history to have an 0-17 season.

Then, what do you know, on Sunday they were within three points of the Cleveland Browns early in the fourth quarter before falling 31-21.

Being a legitimate contender that suffered a heartbreaking defeat in Week 1, the Browns were expected by some to beat the Texans by 10 touchdowns, not 10 points.

Dave Culley has to be considered an early candidate for coach of the year.

Until now, anyway.

Surely the Texans are about to come crashing to earth. On Tuesday, Culley confirmed that Davis Mills will be his starting QB for this week's showdown with the Carolina Panthers.

With Tyrod Taylor (hamstring) “day-to-day,” Culley would like nothing more than to tap Deshaun Watson on the shoulder, but because of the legal problems he's facing, the Texans know they have to cut ties and can't risk their ace-inthe hole getting injured before they make a trade.

So Watson has been deactivated like he was in Weeks 1 and 2, and leading the Texans under the Thursday spotlight will be a third-round pick who made his debut last Sunday in relief of Taylor, completing just eight of 18 passes for 102 yards.

Talk about early surprises.

Meanwhile, not falling into that classification is news out of Pittsburgh that Ben Roethlisberger's status is in doubt. He's dealing with a left pectoral injury that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says “will affect his ability to prepare for Sunday's home divisional game against the Bengals.

Tomlin has Mason Rudolph next on his depth chart.