League-leading numbers speak volumes, Schaub doesn't

What's the toughest challenge in the NFL? Blocking Dwight Freeney on third-and-long? Covering Andre Johnson in man coverage? Slowing the New Orleans Saints passing attack?

Nope.

Matt Schaub tries to do something he hasn't done the past two seasons -- stay healthy and on the field. (Getty Images)

It's this: Trying to get Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub to talk about himself.

I dare you to try.

I have, several times. And every time, Schaub reverts to that team-speak, praising his teammates rather than focusing on his own talents.

In an era of look-at-me players, he's the exact opposite. Nice guy, just not a lot of pizzazz.

One can try all kinds of angles to get him to talk about his fast start, and no matter the route traveled, he always ends up back in the same spot.

Team-speak.

So when I talked to him this week, I flat-out asked him. "You don't like talking about yourself much, do you?"

He paused, chuckled, and went silent for a second. Then he said, "Not particularly."

Why not?

"It's all about team," he said. "One guy doesn't get it done. It's about 53 guys getting it done. It's not just about me."

Hate to tell you this, Matt, but it is about you. Schaub leads the NFL in both passing yards and touchdown passes. It's not Peyton Manning or Drew Brees or Ben Roethlisberger topping either of those categories, although Brees and Manning have played only six games to Schaub's seven.

Manning might fill your airwaves with commercial after commercial, but you can't even get Schaub to fill a notebook.

"I'd rather all the attention be on the team," he said.

Schaub's about as exciting as a PTA meeting. If he keeps going at his current pace, the excitement will pick up.

Andre Johnson is every bit as quiet as Schaub as he plays the lead-receiver role for the Texans. Johnson is now getting his due as one of the league's best, but it's taken some time. Schaub isn't as good at his position as Johnson is at his, but he's getting there, and it's time people started paying attention to what he's doing.

After seven games, Schaub has 2,074 passing yards, 12 more than Roethlisberger, to lead the NFL. That puts him on a pace for 4,740 yards, which would be the seventh best total all-time -- better than any season Warren Moon ever had in a Houston Oilers uniform running the Run and Shoot. Schaub has thrown for 300 yards or more in four games this season. He also has five games with two or more touchdown passes, with 16 on the season.

The 16 touchdown passes have already surpassed his career high, which was the 15 he threw in 2008.

Texans coach Gary Kubiak comes from the Denver Broncos style of offense, which is to run the ball and then hit pass plays over the top. But the Houston running game, expected to be a strong point with Steve Slaton, has not clicked this season -- as many Fantasy players can attest.

That has put more pressure on Schaub and the passing game. The Texans have passed it 249 times -- second to the New England Patriots (284 times) -- and have run it 184 times. They are third in the NFL in passing and 30th in rushing.

"We still want to run the football," Schaub said. "But on Sundays we've been given chances to attack teams with the pass, and we've done that."

When I went to Houston this summer for camp, I asked Kubiak about Schaub. Late last season, Schaub returned from an injury and put up big numbers, which was a hint that he might be ready to take the next step.

"When he's on the field, he's been a really good player for us," Kubiak said.

When he's on the field. That's been the knock on Schaub so far in his career. After coming to the Texans in a 2007 trade from Atlanta, where he started a total of two games, Schaub missed five starts in each of his first two seasons with Houston.

Some of those have been because of questionable hits -- players have been fined nearly $100,000 for shots on Schaub -- and he also missed a game with a virus.

When he rolled his ankle in a preseason game this summer, it brought on that oft-heard question in Houston:

Is Matt Schaub injury-prone?

"It is what it is," Schaub said. "I've missed 10 games the past two years, so I know it's there. So far this season, I've been there for my guys."

My guys. His teammates. It's never "me" with him. And it never will be.

Schaub seems right out of central casting when it comes to robotic football players coaches love, rarely talking about their own exploits.

Go ahead, take a shot. Here's a bet you can't get him to come close to talking about himself, but his play sure is screaming loudly.