When the Texans host the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night it will be a matchup of Houston’s quarterback of the future in Deshaun Watson and one of the many failed quarterbacks of the team’s past in Brock Osweiler.It will be Osweiler’s third straight start in place of Ryan Tannehill Mike Gesicki Jersey , who is out with a shoulder injury.Watson is healthy after dealing with lung and rib injuries and helped the team to its fourth straight win last week after an 0-3 start to leave the Texans in first place in the AFC South.The Texans traded up to draft Watson with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 draft to take over at the position after trading Osweiler to Cleveland just one difficult season after signing him to a $72 million contract. Osweiler spent last season with the Broncos before joining the Dolphins this year.Osweiler was supposed to be the answer to Houston’s longtime woes at quarterback, but instead ended up being the worst free-agent signing in the franchise’s short history. He was benched in December of his first and only season with the Texans when he’d thrown three interceptions before halftime of a game against the Jaguars. Tom Savage started the next two games, but got a concussion early in the second one and the Texans looked to Osweiler again.He played well to help Houston to a win in the wild-card game over Oakland. But his three interceptions doomed the Texans in a 34-16 loss to New England in the next round and he was sent packing a couple of months after that.Osweiler, who is 1-1 as a starter this season, knows everyone will be talking about his time in Houston this week, but insists he isn’t worried about it.“There’s going to be a lot of outside noise trying to make a situation bigger than what it really is; but at the end of the day … my one season I had in Houston, I look at it as a successful season,” he said. “We won our division and we won a playoff game.”He said he hasn’t spoken to Houston coach Bill O’Brien since the trade, but that he has “great respect” for him and the Texans.“There’s no hard feelings,” Osweiler said. “There’s no ill-will … (I’m) focused just on playing a good football game Thursday and doing whatever this football team needs me to do to help them get a win.”Although the Texans went 9-7 in Osweiler’s one season, some of his former teammates don’t have very fond memories of his time in Houston.“He’s not here anymore, so I don’t really care for him,” defensive end Jadeveon Clowney said. “We didn’t win a lot with him. Trying to go against him now. Try to get after him this week up front make him rattled in the pocket, hope he’ll throw a couple of interceptions.”While the Texans were certainly disappointed that Osweiler didn’t work out after he signed that huge contract, they’re happy with how things worked out considering that his failure led to them drafting Watson.The 23-year-old Watson said he didn’t know a lot about the revolving door the team had at quarterback in the years before he was drafted. But he does understand how excited fans are to have him and about his potential to be the franchise quarterback this team has long searched for.“It’s been awesome just to feel that love and just have people consider me as a franchise quarterback and they want me here Cameron Wake Jersey ,” he said. “So, I’ve just got to continue to focus on what I can do to help this team win.”Some things to know about the Dolphins-Texans game.EARLY ARRIVALThe Dolphins flew to Houston on Tuesday, a day earlier than usual. Coach Adam Gase decided to tweak the schedule because in the Dolphins’ two most recent Thursday night appearances, they lost at Cincinnati 22-7 in 2016 and at Baltimore 40-0 last year.Gase conceded he’s still trying to figure out the best way to prepare on a short week.“I’m the wrong guy to ask on that, considering that I think we’ve scored seven points and given up 60-something,” he said. “We’re trying something new this year.”MILLER’S MIAMI TIESHouston running back Lamar Miller was born and raised in Miami, went to college at Miami, was drafted by the Dolphins in 2012 and spent his first four seasons there before signing with the Texans before the 2016 season.Miller, who had his first 100-yard rushing game since 2016 last week, said he’s trying to approach Thursday as any other game, but admitted it might mean a little bit more because of his history.“Of course, I want to do good because I played there and I’m from there,” he said. “So, I’m going to try and do whatever I can to put us in the best spot to win this game.”KEY MATCHUPMiami cornerback Xavien Howard is likely to spend a lot of time covering DeAndre Hopkins, who is tied for third in the NFL with 707 yards receiving on 47 catches.“I see he likes to push off a lot Jason Taylor Jersey ,” Howard said. “He likes to get physical. That’s going to be part of his game.”Howard said that’s fine with him.“Oh, yeah. I’m a physical corner,” he said.Howard is tied for the league lead with three interceptions. As the Miami Dolphins approach the annual college draft, and eventually, the Summer training camp season and accompanying waiver wire scramble, we can now begin to conjecture how some of the..." As the Miami Dolphins approach the annual college draft, and eventually, the Summer training camp season and accompanying waiver wire scramble, we can now begin to conjecture how some of the defensive players still remaining on the roster might be used in the various schemes and defensive fronts that the team reportedly plans to use going forward. Contrary to popular belief, head coach Brian Flores’ old team, the New England Patriots, only used a base 3-4 alignment a relatively small percentage of the time in recent seasons, often opting for a 4-2-5 or 3-2-6 personnel grouping much of the time, to counter the wave of quick hitting, short passing offenses that has sprouted up across the league the past few years. If we assume that the Dolphins plan on adopting a similar approach with Miami’s defense Nat Moore Jersey , this sets up the same ‘good news/bad news’ equation that every team faces when going with larger, heavier down linemen and taller, rangier outside pass rushers.As many of our readers know, I’ve always been a staunch supporter of the base 4-3 defense. Why? Because it’s the simplest and easiest to employ, and it’s generally much easier to plug and play younger, less experienced guys, including late round draft picks and undrafted free agents. Before they invested four first round draft picks in what is arguably the finest linebacking unit in the NFL (they now run a 3-4), the Chicago Bears were known for having a stingy 4-3 defense that routinely saw second and third string players step in, with hardly a drop off in efficiency. The other reason for my having been a proponent of the 4-3 is because I watched the Dolphins squander Dan Marino’s best years without ever really being able to stop opposing teams, when they ran a horrible version of the 3-4 in the mid to late 1980’s.When legendary defensive coordinator Bill Arnsparger left the Dolphins after the 1983 season, any real chance of Miami being able to parlay Marino’s passing prowess into a championship went with him. As the Dolphins’ AFC East counterparts, the Jets and Bills have rightly figured out, if you’re going to go with a base 3-4, you had better make sure you have the players to make it work.Just as their inability to field a competent 3-4 unit during much of the 80’s led to long stretches of mediocrity, Miami’s stubborn insistence on sticking with a finesse based Mark Duper Jersey , zone blocking offensive style has doomed them in recent years, having to go up against the physical defensive fronts of the Jets, Bills and Patriots. So, what kinds of physical attributes are required for a base 3-4 defense, and do the Dolphins currently have any of those guys on the team?NFL teams will often take guys who were DT’s in college and transition them out to 3-4 defensive ends in the pros, and take players who were defensive ends in college and project them out to outside linebacker in the NFL. The Dolphins did this in 2010, with their first two draft picks, Jared Odrick and Koa Misi. Misi played for the Dolphins for seven seasons, and was generally regarded as the more consistent of the two. Odrick played five seasons in Miami, his best year coming in 2011, when he notched six sacks. The primary job of the down linemen in an odd front is to tie up blockers and allow the linebackers to flow to ball and make plays. The main weakness of a base 3-4 is that the outside linebackers have to be exceptional athletes, and be able to do several different things. They have to help set the edge against the run, rush the quarterback and be able to at least show some ability to cover the shorter receiving routes run by the backs and tight ends. This is why so many edge rushers are selected early in the draft every year, many of whom don’t pan out. It’s a boom-or-bust, high risk/high reward position. For every Von Miller or Willie McGinest drafted Mark Clayton Jersey , there are two or three Eric Kumerows or Aaron Maybins.That’s the bad news. The good news is that, challenging though it may be to find outside linebackers who can flourish in a base 3-4, this defense is widely known for taking mediocre middle linebackers and turning them into good inside linebackers and taking good middle linebackers and turning them into great inside linebackers. Players like Kiko Alonso and Raekwon McMillan could really shine as ILB’s in this new defense. The three main traits needed for a dominant middle linebacker are instincts, range and the physicality to shed blockers and stone ballcarriers at the line of scrimmage. Neither Alonso nor McMillan possesses superior instincts, while Alonso has the speed but not the physicality, and vice versa for McMillan. Put them both on the field together as ILB’s, though, and you just might have something special.I honestly don’t know whether the Dolphins will keep any of the defensive linemen currently on the roster beyond this season. Fan favorite Davon Godchaux probably has the best shot at sticking somewhere; perhaps fellow line mate and 2017 draftee Vincent Taylor makes it at one of the defensive end positions. At this point, though, you’ve got to figure that both of these guys are probably little more than cheap stopgaps until the Dolphins can find someone better. We shall see. Expect the Dolphins to add defensive linemen and outside linebackers early and often in the draft the next couple of years, while they try to sort out what they have at inside linebacker, in terms of who stays and who goes. That’s the wrap for today, have a great week, everybody.