When it comes to Winning, 2011 was supposed to be all about Charlie Sheen. Just ask his intellectual property lawyers.

But for the Houston Texans, Winning follows a slightly more conventional man: 64-year-old defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. With Phillips calling the plays for the Miracle Defense, the Texans are a 10-3 team that scares any offense in its way. Without Phillips, Houston's an 0-2 team racked with more self doubt than a gawky teenager — one that's capable of letting Dan Orlovsky drive 78 yards for the win, one that resembles the frightened bunch that finished 6-10 last season before Phillips signed on.

To a man, the Texans swore this was more coincidence than cause and effect, that the defense didn't change with Phillips in a hospital gown.

But Antonio Pierce — a man who knows a little bit about defense — isn't buying that.

The former New York Giants middle linebacker turned ESPN analyst took to the airwaves to say that the Texans will be fine — when Phillips returns.

"Their confidence will come back when Wade Phillips comes back," Pierce said on ESPN Radio.

Phillips is expected to be back for the Texans' regular season finale against the Tennessee Titans Sunday at Reliant Stadium — trying to bring Winning into a New Year. He spent a few hours working at Reliant on Monday — his first time back with the defensive players, his guys, since he went into the hospital for kidney and gallbladder surgery. The hope is for Phillips to coach from the press box on Sunday (he's not ready to return to his regular spot on the sidelines yet).

Having the defensive savior back in charge would add some juice to a game that's meaningless to the Texans as far as playoff positioning. The AFC South champions are locked into the No. 3 seed, set to host a first-round playoff game the weekend of Jan. 7-8. In fact, the Texans are the only team in the AFC playoff picture that cannot move up or down based on the results of this Sunday's games.

The only question is which team will be the sixth seed heading to Reliant: Cincinnati, Oakland, Tennessee or the New York Jets?

That and which defense will show with Phillips back in the building. It'd be easy to say that Phillips' return is all about confidence, but don't discount the strategy.

Phillips used Johnathan Joseph — the $50 million, pro-bowl-level cornerback — to shadow opposing teams' top wideouts throughout his 13 games as defensive coordinator. If a star wide receiver was going to beat the Texans, he was going to have to beat Joseph. But last Thursday night in Indianapolis, the Colts best receiver, Reggie Wayne, found Kareem Jackson on him on the decisive drive.

And Wayne beat Jackson badly twice — on a 44-yard catch that changed everything and on the 1-yard touchdown catch that stole the game with 00:19 left.

Would Jackson ever have been assigned Wayne on the telling point drive with Phillips calling the defense? It's enough to make one wonder, even as Phillips' presence draws the attention.

Phillips can no longer literally stand front and center — for now. But that doesn't mean he's any less commanding.

"It was like the aura," Texans defensive end Antonio Smith said. "We were making jokes about it on the practice field (Monday). It was like as soon as you heard Wade’s voice — because at first I didn’t know he was in the meeting room, and then I heard him speak on the microphone, because normally he’s standing up on the stage, but now he’s sitting down — and it was just like instant calm.

"Everybody was calm. It’s a surreal type of thing. I can’t explain it. We joke about it though. There ain’t no explanation.”

Pierce, who won a Super Bowl with a hyperactive defensive coordinator (Steve Spagnuolo), would argue that it's actually an easy explanation. Pierce says that taking the coordinator away from a defense can change up everything and shake even a top unit's belief.

Offense Not So Lucky

The Texans offense and struggling rookie quarterback T.J. Yates cannot count on such a return jolt. For while wide receiver Andre Johnson is expected to take the field when the Texans return to practice Wednesday, it could be a very limited engagement.

It doesn't take a hard look at the official team transcript of Johnson's Monday press session to see a tormented star who is just hoping to be able to play in the playoffs at this point.

"We’re just trying to see how this week goes, see if I can make it through the week, first of all, without any soreness or anything like that," Johnson said. "Like I said, today went fine. I’ll be doing a little rehab (Tuesday) and I’ll go back at it on Wednesday. Hopefully every day continues to get better and better.

“I would like to be out there. I would like to at least get a game under my belt before heading into the playoffs, but like I said, we’ll just see how it goes through the week."

Johnson's missed three straight games with his latest hamstring injury and he's only played in six of the Texans' 15 games overall. There are no ready saviors for this Matt Schaub-less offense.

Like everyone else, they'll have to put hope in Wade.