It was a great run

Maybe a little respect, finally?

  I had to take a couple days to reflect on the season and how it ended. I'm going to take a shot, first of all, to some "fans" (I use that term loosely) and their reactions to a certain player before giving my, hopefully, inspirational post.

I don't care how big a mistake is, the behavior I saw on the news was unacceptable. You can look at the film of the game and see that Jacoby Jones was already beating himself up in the worst possible way. The man has played his heart out. I'm not going to lie and say he's been 100% in every game he's played but t6he man has made huge plays and had great games. Regardless of his record, death threats and burning of jerseys on the mans property is going completely out of bounds. I am ashamed of this type of behavior from this city. I grew up in this city and have never seen such retched behavior. I hope those people are found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.


Now to the rest of the post. This was certainly a powerful year for the Texans organization. I don't recall ever hearing of a team taking so many key loses to field personnel and still making it to the second round of the playoffs, especially the QB and primary receiver.

TJ has earned the title of future of the Texans even if he has to back up Schaub for another year or two while building knowledge and experience on the NFL. I don't know what is to come of Mr. Yates. After giving an impressive and respectable start to his pro career, I'm sure there are some team looking to rebuild that might be drooling over such a young man and his potential. Honestly, I think Kubiak would be insane to let this man go without a fight. Yates could continue developing under Schaub or he could be thrown to the dogs to rebuild on his experience on the fly. Either would probably be effective. Still, if Yates were moved to the top of the list (I do not see Kubiak making that move, just yet) I think Schaub should be offered an assistant coaching position to help develop the kid.

I know it nay seem that I am advocating replacing Sachaub but that is not where I am going. I'm just living in the reality of the NFL and the fact that personnel changes can and do happen for the good of the team and people with far more experience and knowledge of the game, than I, make these decisions and I am looking at possibilities. It would just be a horrible change to let such potential as Mr. Yates just walk away.

At wide receiver, Andre being out for most of the season forced the team to understand that they cannot allow themselves to rely on a single man to make big plays and "take us all the way". I take nothing from Andre Johnson, he is a superb athlete and amazing receiver. The reality of the situation is that one man cannot be expected to take on that role for the long ball. Walter is great as well but to get to the point, the Texans need to build on that position. Now comes the constructive criticism for Jacoby.

Jacoby Jones is fast. The man has moves. He does have two major issues that can be corrected, though. 1) is his lack of ability to let the last play go. 2) He needs to better develop situational awareness. Let's look at 1. If Jacoby starts off with a good play or two, he continues to build on his own momentum. That is a great trait to have. Where I have noticed is that he is overly critical of himself and if he starts off a game with 1 or 2 rough plays, he holds on to it the rest of the game, that is dangerous for himself and the team. The first point is something that Jacoby will have to work on as part of who he is as a person, the second is something that can be coached. He can be kept as a work in progress or...


Mario! Don't think wrong about how this starts but Super Mario is the beast that this defense needs to keep things going in the right direction. Brooks Reed stepped in and did a wonderful job. We need to find a way to keep his talent on the field but Mario really needs to be put back in his old place and with Barwins productivity, he needs to stay on the field. Money needs to be spent and I understand that some people will need to go to open the wallet and still stay within the salary cap.


Foster must get paid! I hate to stir something like this up but the man has earned a paycheck. something positive needs to happen for this man by way of contract. Bob McNair seems like a good guy but he needs to understand that losing talent (See: Leach) as a result of having a tight wallet can come back to haunt you. If we want to make it to the Superbowl next season, we need to retain and build on the solid talent we have.

Keep in mind, I'm no professional trained analyst, I just call it as I see it. Sometimes, that's what we need to make good decisions ;o)

Enjoy the off season, guys, you've earned the rest and will needed. Next year you will have a couple more games to win. 

Still a lack of respect for Houston

Texans win first playoff game in franchise history but everyone is talking about the Saints?

The Saints have been there and done that. It's really not big news that they would have won in the first round of the playoffs. The Texans, on the other hand,  have fought tooth and nail working through losses of one key player after another to make an improbable appearance in the in the playoffs only to win, big, in the first round. Still, any news organization not in or around Houston want to talk about the Saints win.

At some point, the nation will have to come to terms that the Texans have finally shaken off the baby shoes of being the newest expansion team to a force to take seriously. As happy as the team and the city of Houston are about Saturdays playoff win, we can't take our eyes off the ball.

We need to keep a one up, one down attitude through the playoffs. One game up, one game down with a 'W' in end. Making our way through the playoffs we must focus on the fact that every team we play next will be more difficult than the last as they are the next team for good reason. Never lose respect for the potential of ANY team. Also, never fear what what we can do. The Texans have proven they know how to do what needs to be done but must not lose track of the fact that every team they play also has learned what they must do. We just have to be confident but not cocky about what we know.

Next Sunday we go to Baltimore to play a team that has found a way to hurt us in the regular season. It's time to show we are better than we were, then. Rice made a mockery of us in our last meeting and talked smack the whole game. This game gives new meaning to the concept of going into their house and punching them in the mouth to make a statement of our own. Mr. Rice needs to learn what it is to be humbled and not to talk too much to the wrong people.

Flacco looks like he needs to get out and run more. The Texans D should act as his personal trainer and make sure he feels he has to run for his life the whole game. Get that heart pumping, Joe! Texans corners and safeties need to look for gifts thrown down field and make sure those gifts are returned. None of this will be an easy task but the sweat and the pain will be well worth it when you walk off that field knowing 53 more guys now have good reason to show you respect in the future.

Let's go Texans. It's time to do work!

Heading into the playoffs

Let's stick with it!

We are going to stick with the "Can't go into the playoffs timid" theme for the post. As is known, there are individual players on the Texans teams that have playoff time and Superbowl rings. Those will be the "pace cars" for the rest of the team heading into the playoffs.

From what I've heard, the Texans have been making changes and additions to their playbook. New moves are always good in post season, no one will have had time to learn or defend against them. Not sure if my previous posts had anything to do with things I've heard over the past week but it's good to know the organization is thinking along the lines of opening things up and tweaking things to fit the people on the field.

I hate to maker predictions in post season mainly because every team makes drastic changes to how they do things. However, in this case, I see no reason the Texans cannot win the first round. Both teams are playing with rookie QBs. Dalton has more time in the pros as a starter than Yates but The Texans, under Yates, did pull out a last minute drive the last time they met for a win, in the Bengals house.

Besides the rumors of new plays and improvements in practice, the Texans will have A. Johnson back which will heavily improve the long ball capability of the Houston Offense. This will force the Bengals defense to open up space at the line in order to cover 'Dre  and the Bengal D hasn't been all that exciting against the run, as it is. Spreading the ball around might be a bit easier for the Texans especially with a healthy James Casey tossed into the mix. Casey can help keep the TE positions fresh in the games by giving more options to switch people out and still be effective in the air.

Do I really even need to bring up the Texans Defense? Honestly, they have played a little more conservative in the last few regular season games but we can hardly expect that type of attitude going into the post season. These guys will be pumped! Cushing plays best when he feels he has been wronged. Getting snubbed for the Pro bowl has apparently brought out the beast in him. According to Antonio Smith "He's (Cushing) going to destroy everyone".

Speaking of Smith, his "Ninja" persona has been bitten by a werewolf as he will, in post season, turn into the "Lycan Wolf Ninja". Lycans are far different than werewolves as the Lycan wolves are more wolf like with a human stance and much stronger/muscular in appearance.

Considering these two getting pumped then add the wild man beast, Connor Barwin and Mr. Wild hair rookie freaks of natures Watt and Reed and I'm not so sure I'd want to be an offensive back going into the AFC post season if I had to face these guys.

I am not one to leave out those that will make a difference but the guys I have mentioned are the ones I've heard the most from in recent weeks. I take nothing from any of the other guys and if ANYONE think DeMeco Ryans won't be a force to recon with, you might want to reconsider your thought processes.

All that being said. I can't find a timid link from anyone that will be on the field come Saturday. Let's just open up the playbook and get nasty, this is the dawn of the age of the Texans!