A Texans Playoff Game For The Ages

Like much of Houston, was watching the Texans AFC wild card playoff game with the Buffalo Bills.

So many folks were glued to their televisions that I heard or saw no cars rolling up or down the streets of my neighborhood during the roughly three hours the game was on

I was not a happy camper during the first half as the Texans stunk up NRG Stadium with one of their patented slow starts.   Deandre Hopkins was being shut out, and the one pass he caught in the first half he fumbled

Down 13-0 at halftime, visions of Houston area Cowchip fans hatin' danced in my head and only added to the frustration of watching what was looking like another Bill O'Brien orchestrated early round playoff failure.

 They spotted the Bills a 16-0 lead before hitting the comeback trail started by a JJ Watt sack that forced a Bills field goal, woke up the Texans and the NRG Stadium crowd. 

The Texans then scored 19 unanswered points to take a 19-16 lead. 

Buffalo fought back and got into position deep in Texans territory to kick a game tying field goal, but the Texans defense once again rose to the challenge and forced two huge losses, one on a 4th and 27 play to give the Texans the ball deep in Buffalo territory with a chance to close out the game 

Instead of kicking the field goal that would have put them up by six points, the Texans went for it on 4th and 1 and failed.   Buffalo said thank you very much for the reprieve and drove down the field with no time outs to get the Steven Hauschka field goal to send the game into overtime. 

After both teams failed to score on their initial overtime possessions, then came the drive that will forever live in Texans playoff lore. 



Next week we play the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round, and we'll see if the Texans can keep the momentum going

Houston Texans 2017 Training Camp Starts Today

Today the Houston Texans make a little franchise history as their 2017 training camp opens in White Sulphur Springs, WV in the cooler Appalachian mountain climate at the Greenbrier resort until August 17.

The Greenbrier has a $30 million training facility that was built for the New Orleans Saints, who trained there for the last three seasons until they returned back to Louisiana this season.
 

It's the first time that the Texans have ever held training camp outside of the city of Houston, and the Greenbrier itself has some interesting history of its own.

If the United States had ever been nuked, underneath a wing of the Greenbrier hotel was a until 1992 secret fallout shelter and bunker that would have housed the federal government.

Construction of the 112, 544 square foot bunker began in 1958 and was completed in 1961.  It was kept in constant readiness for World War III by a team of undercover government employees.  

A May 31, 1992 Washington Post article leaked that closely guarded Cold War secret, and The Bunker 720 feet under the West Virginia Wing of the hotel was decommissioned in 1995.

What we Texans fans want to know is are the Texans ready to threepeat as AFC South champions, is JJ Watt ready to play and make last year's number one rated defense better, and whether Tom Savage or Deshaun Watson will be the Texans starting quarterback when they open the 2017 NFL season at NRG Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Houston Texans Open 2016 NFL Training Camp Today

In a sure sign that the start of the NFL football season is rapidly approaching, training camp for my fave NFL ballers the Houston Texans starts today at the Houston Methodist Training Center across the street from NRG Stadium.

Rookies reported on July 25, and the veterans had until July 30 to report.    There's an open practice today, and others are scheduled for August 2, 3, 7, 8 and 18.  The Texans are scheduled to travel to Santa Clara, CA for joint practices with the San Francisco 49ers August 11-13 in advance of their August 15 preseason game at Levi's Stadium, and have another joint practice in Houston with the New Orleans Saints on August 18 in advance of their August 22 home preseason game with the Saints.

The Texans will also face the Arizona Cardinals at NRG Stadium on August 28 before taking on in their final preseason game the hated Arlington Cowchips at the Jerrydome on September 2.

There's a cautiously optimistic air for Texans fans like moi as this season approaches and the clock ticks down to their September 11 home opener at NRG Stadium with the Chicago Bears.

The defending AFC South Division champs will have a new quarterback in Brock Osweiler and Lamar Miller at running back instead of the departed Arian Foster.

There's something else the Texans have desperately needed in more speed on the offensive side of the ball and WR help for Deandre Hopkins that they hope rookie wideouts Braxton Miller and Will Fuller will provide to satisfy both needs in addition to consistent play at quarterback.

The Super Bowl will be played at NRG Stadium this season.  The Texans have a championship level defense anchored by All-everything JJ Watt.  Did they make enough moves in the offseason to improve the offense enough to get them there?  

We'll see.

Um Bob, Guess You Forgot Some Texans Fans Want HERO

With early voting in our 2015 city elections starting on Monday, we have people, organizations  and companies starting to get off the sidelines and declare one way or the other which way they lean in terms of supporting Prop 1 or HERO,

I was shocked and angered to discover as a longtime ride or die Houston Texans fan that Texans owner Bob McNair is contributing $10,000 to the anti-HERO Forces of Intolerance

McNair has donated to Republican political campaigns in the past, but you would think as the hosts for the 2017 Super Bowl scheduled to be played in NRG Stadium, he would have stayed on the sidelines in this fight.

Instead, McNair has revealed by this action that he is a human rights oppressor, and discrimination against people who don't look like him inside the Houston city limits is okay in his book

Guess you forgot as you wrote that check to enable discrimination inside our city a portion of the Texans loyal fan base is made up of TBLG Houstonians like myself and our allies.  You just spit in our faces and the faces of every Houstonian who sees the wisdom of having a local remedy for combating discrimination in our Code of Ordinances like the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

Some of your Texans fan base wish to keep our local non-discrimination ordinance, and it's aggravating to see that the owner of my hometown NFL franchise that I have supported since their 2002 entry into the league has joined the side of the human rights oppressors

And yeah, I'm more than a little pissed off about this boneheaded move by you to become a transphobic human rights oppressor.  I'm  even more determined than ever to ensure that the non discrimination ordinance I fought along with a team of Houstonians to get passed last year that covers 15 categories, and has been irrationally fought tooth and nail by you Republicans wins on November 3.

Because the Texans didn't join the league until a year after I moved to Louisville in 2001, I have yet to set foot inside NRG Stadium for any Texans game, be it a preseason, regular season or playoff game.

Because of your reprehensible action that I see as an attack upon my very humanity, my human rights, and the human rights of the 56% of Houstonians who have filed discrimination complaints under HERO until it was suspended by the GP controlled SCOTX, looks like that's not going to happen for me anytime soon,

Nor will I be wearing or purchasing any more Texans apparel until you come to your senses

Sarah Thomas' First Regular Season NFL Game Was In H-town

Didn't find this out until this disastrous Texans home opening game was nearly over, but some NFL history was made in Houston today.

The NFL officiating crew working today's Chiefs-Texans game at NRG Stadium included Sarah Thomas, the first woman hired as a full time referee by the NFL

This was her first regular season game a a rookie NFL official, and Thomas was the line judge in this Chiefs-Texans game.  The line judge is responsible for spotting the offsides calls on the line of scrimmage.

She was better than three of her male counterparts who missed two pass interference calls Kansas City committed against the Texans along with another end zone downing call that nearly went against the Texans but they sorted it out.

You're doing a good job as an official when the commentators DON'T call your name, and she's also downplaying her trailblazing role as the NFL's first female full time official

Considering her journey to get to the NFL and the trailblazing things she accomplished as a collegiate official, won't be shocked if Thomas is making history as part of a Super Bowl officiating crew.

2013 Texans Watch-Arrgh, Another Loss

The Texans were on NBC's Sunday Night Football in a pressure packed Battle Red Night matchup against their AFC South rivals the Indianapolis Colts (5-2) at Reliant Stadium.   They had to win this game to have any shot at making the NFL playoffs or else.

Case Keenum was making his second start overall and first in front of the home crowd and didn't disappoint. After taking the opening kickoff on the third play of the game Keenum threw a perfectly placed 62 yard bomb that caught a wide open Andre Johnson in stride for his (unbelievably) first touchdown of the season. 

The Texans built a 21-3 halftime lead as the Keenum to Johnson connection did major damage to the Colts in the first half.  Johnson headed into the locker room after a monster first half with seven catches for 190 yards and three receiving touchdowns. 

As both teams headed to the locker room, Texans coach Gary Kubiak collapsed on the sidelines and was taken to one of the nearby Med Center hospitals for observation.

With Wade Phillips acting as the interim head coach, the Texans pushed the lead to 24-6 before the Colts started making another one of their patented comebacks behind Houston homeboy Andrew Luck.   The Colts scored 21 unanswered second half point to take their first lead with four minutes left in the fourth quarter on a 9 yard Luck pass to TY Hilton.  

Texan kicker Randy Bullock had a chance to send the game into overtime with a 55 yarder on the last play of the game, but missed it wide left for his third missed field goal of the contest and another gut wrenching loss.

Keenum was 24-30 for 350 yards and three TD's with once again ZERO interceptions, but unfortunately the Texans sixth straight loss dropped them to 2-6 and probably for all intents and purposes out of playoff contention.

They head to Arizona next week to play the Cardinals and attempt once again to end the longest losing streak since the rock bottom 2-14 season in 2005. 

2013 Texans Watch-Close But Another Loss

I along with many ride or die Texans fans are not happy about the four game losing streak that our NFL ballers entered Kansas City with that has the potential to ruin what was supposed to be a Super Bowl season for us.  

Instead the Texans are staring at the possibility of missing the playoffs and Gary Kubiak's coaching chair is getting a little warmer.   

With Matt Schaub definitely out for this game Kubiak finally did what much of the fanbase wanted him to do and start Case Keenum at quarterback. 

And Case delivered.   He not only showed his ability to extend plays and scramble out of trouble to get yards as he did during his NCAA record breaking UH career, he kept this game competitive to the point they had a chance to win it.   Even better, Case was 15 for 25 for 271 yards and a TD in his first NFL start and had ZERO interceptions.

There was a little more fight in the Texans after that pathetic performance against the Rams last week and they were down 14-10 at halftime.   But a tough game got even tougher as Arian Foster was forced to leave the game with a first quarter hamstring injury and Ben Tate joined him on the sidelines later.  LB Brian Cushing was lost with a torn LCL and broken leg in the third quarter.

Despite the injuries and no running attack the Bulls on Parade did their job and kept the Texans in the game.  When they forced Kansas City to punt with 1:46 left in the game the Texans had the ball deep in their territory and the table was set for the storybook comeback to end the game.

But KC linebacker Tamba Hall stripped Keenum from behind on the Texans 2 yard line and Derrick Johnson recovered the fumble to seal the narrow 17-16 Kansas City win and leave them the NFL's lone unbeaten team at 7-0

With their fifth straight loss the Texans limped into their bye week at 2-5 and are assured to go 0 for October.  They return to action at Reliant Stadium November 3 in a nationally televised Sunday Night clash with our division rivals the Indianapolis Colts.        

Here's hoping Keenum is the starter in that game, too.

2013 Texans Watch-Comeback!

In an opening game that had me wanting to throw stuff at the television at times, I got to watch a little Texans history at the end 

The Texans had a not so wonderful start to their 2013 NFL season in the Monday Night Football nightcap with Matt Schaub getting his initial pass of the season batted and intercepted deep in Texan territory and the Chargers quickly cashing it in for the opening touchdown.

The Texans trailed 21-7 at halftime and after the Chargers took the opening third quarter kickoff and rammed it down their throats for a 28-7 lead.

After that the Texans woke up and started playing football.  The Bulls on Parade shut down the Chargers offense for the rest of the game and Matt Schaub and company scored 24 unanswered points to orchestrate the biggest Texan comeback in their history. 

It was capped off by a game winning field goal by kicker Randy Bullock for the 31-28 victory and was also the first time they have ever beaten the San Diego Chargers as well

I'd rather have less stress while watching my fave NFL ballers, but it was nice to see them claw, scratch and fight their way out of a self created hole and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. 

The Texans play their home opener at Reliant Station Sunday against the Tennessee Traitors.   Hopefully they won't be getting off to an abysmally slow start in that game and that is not a trend.

     

2013 Texans Watch-Victory Over The Vikings

The 2013 NFL preseason got off to a successful start for my favorite football team despite ten starters watching it from the Mall of America Field sidelines either due to coach Gary Kubiak's decision or injury.

The Texans escaped with no further injuries and a 27-13 win over the Minnesota Vikings to open their preseason slate. 

As befits the first preseason game it was sloppy at times on both sides of the ball with some missed tackles, dropped balls and the like but got better as the game progressed. 

Matt Schaub was 5-for-5 for 34 yards on his opening drive in this Super Bowl or bust season in which he has pressure on him to elevate his level of play to help the Texans get to New Jersey this February. 

The game was turned over early to the second and third string players fighting to make both  teams or solidify roster spots.  One player that Houston fans were anxious to see play is first round draft pick DeAndre Hopkins and he didn't disappoint.

On the Texans first touchdown drive of the preseason that ate up 6:02, took 12 plays and went 85 yards Hopkins capped it off with a leaping catch of a TJ Yates pass for a 34 yard TD.  Yates finished his time in the game by going 13-of-21 for 151 yards with that TD while Case Keenum was 13-of-18 for 125 yards and a two yard bootleg toss to Lestar Jean that put the Texans up 20-13 early in the fourth quarter  

Keenum also led another TD drive capped off by a five yard Ray Graham TD run to put the Texans up 27-13.

The Texans didn't turn the ball over in this game while picking off two passes and recording four sacks of Viking quarterbacks. 

3.5 of those sacks were courtesy of starting nose tackle Earl Mitchell and his backup Terrell McClain.  It's another position Texans fans are watching since Shaun Cody left for Philadelphia.

Next up for the Texans is their preseason home opener at Reliant Stadium on August 17 against the Miami Dolphins. 
 

2013 Texans Watch-Texans Preseason Schedule

My fave NFL ballers have been in training camp preparing for a Super Bowl or Bust season and to add a third consecutive AFC South Division championship banner to the Reliant Stadium rafters as a starting point. 

The Texans will start playing their scheduled preseason games this week in Minnesota with the Texans traveling to the Twin Cities to play the Vikings on August 9.

They will then play their first preseason home game in Reliant Stadium against the Miami Dolphins on August 17 and a nationally televised one on FOX against the New Orleans Saints on August 25. 

The Texans close out their preseason by heading up I-45 to the Jerrydome to play the Arlington Cowchips.

And yep, gearing up to defend my 2012 NFL prognostication title as Michael Watts of the Michale Rant blog and I prepare to do battle for the third consecutive season 

Bu back to the Texans.  The road to East Rutherford, NJ starts Friday night.

2012 Texans Watch-End Of The 2012-13 Playoff Road

After sending the Cincinnati Bengals home with a 19-13 playoff win at Reliant last week the Houston Texans returned to the scene of the NFL butt kicking five weeks ago in Gillette Stadium with a chance to host the AFC Championship game on the line after the Angry Birds upset the Denver Broncos 31-28 in double overtime Saturday. 

At halftime it was looking pretty good for Texans Nation only being down 17-13 to the defending AFC champs.  That was until the Brady Bunch took the second half opening kickoff, ramped up their high octane offense another notch and scored 14 unanswered third quarter points to bump the Patriot  lead back up to 31-13. 

The Texans rallied but a critical interception thrown by Matt Schaub was converted into the backbreaking early 4th quarter TD that put the Patriots up 38-21 and the Texans in a hole too deep to climb out of.   To their credit the Texans fought and clawed their way back into the game and narrowed the deficit to 38-28.

 They almost recovered the onside kick to give them another opportunity to put points on the board late in the 4th quarter but unfortunately ended their season where last year's did with a 41-28 loss in the Divisional round of the playoffs.

It's another frustrating 'wait till next year' moment for Houston NFL fans just wanting to see their team play in the Super Bowl and win it.   

The Texans took major strides this year in becoming an elite team.  They won the AFC South for the second straight year.  They are sending eight players to the Pro Bowl.  They won a franchise record 13 games and were the dominant team for most of the 2012 season until their late season slide cost them the number one seed and the opportunity to have their playoff run start in the divisional round at Reliant Stadium instead of having to play in the wild card round. 

They are good enough to beat the teams they need to beat.  It's the New Englands and Green Bays of the NFL world they're having trouble with right now that they need to step up and consistently beat in order to get to a Super Bowl.   And don't look now, but Indy rebuilt and retooled their team ahead of schedule.

So now it's up to owner Bob McNair, GM Rick Scott, Head Coach Gary Kubiak and the rest of the Texans coaching staff and management to make the necessary changes to the team starting with the 27th pick in the upcoming NFL draft so they can do precisely that and remain a consistent NFL title contender.

The Texans need to handle their off season business and do what they need to do to get to the next level in their franchise development where NFL pundits are no longer dissing and dismissing the Texans, but praising them.

2012 Texans Watch-Bah Humbug!

The 12-2 Texans had a couple of things on their NFL to do list today before they kicked off their last regular season home game at Reliant against the Minnesota Vikings.  

One of those tasks was to slow down a rampaging Adrian Peterson who was only 294 yards from breaking Eric Dickerson's all time single season rushing mark of 2105.   The second was to clinch home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs by defeating the Vikings, a team they were 0-2 lifetime against.

Well, they got half the job done today.   The Bulls on Parade defense did their job and held Peterson to 85 yards rushing, but the offense was pathetic, lacking a sense of urgency and alarmingly flat for a team that had a chance to handle their NFL home field business. 

The 23-6 lump of coal loss in our Christmas stockings means that next week's finale against the Indianapolis Colts is not only a must win game for the now 12-3 Texans, the starters are now going to have to play some significant minutes to do so.  A loss at Lucas Oil Stadium drops them all the way to the number three seed and has them playing road games in the playoffs against New England and Denver instead of in the climate controlled confines of Reliant Stadium. 

Then again, if they don't get their act together on the offensive side of the ball, it might be a short playoff run no matter where they play the game.

2012 Texans Watch-Back To Back AFC South Champs!

My fave NFL ballers put on their deep steel blue uniforms, shook off the beatdown they received at the hands of the New England Patriots last Monday and welcomed Andrew Luck back home by pinning him and his Indianapolis Colts with a loss at Reliant.


The 29-17 win clinched the AFC South title for the second straight year for the Texans.  They rolled up 417 yards of offense in this game, with Arian Foster leading the way with 165 yards rushing on 27 carries and Andre Johnson catching 11 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. 

The Bulls on Parade also showed signs of getting back to normal with JJ Watt getting closer to Houstonian Michael Strahan's single season NFL sack record of 22.5.   JJ is having an NFL defensive MVP type season and is at 19.5 sacks after taking Luck to the Reliant Stadium turf three times. 

The Texans also received an early Christmas present a few hours later when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Patriots 41-34 in Foxborough.


All the 12-2 Texans have to do is win one of their two remaining regular season games against either the Minnesota Vikings or the regular season finale versus the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium and they will clinch the number one seed and home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

Congrats on winning the AFC South title for the second season in a row.  But the eyes of every Texans player and fan are turned east toward New Orleans.   They took a major step toward making that happen today.

2012 Texans Watch-Ouch! 11-2

The Texans played arguably their most important game in their franchise history yesterday when they showed up in Foxborough, MA with their liberty white uniforms and 6-0 road record to take on the defending AFC champion New England Patriots.

And unfortunately stunk up the joint.  

The Patriots scored on their first three drives and cruised to a 42-14 loss that ended the Texans six game winning streak.   It was also their first loss in AFC conference play. 

While the Texans wanted to win this game and get some national respect in the process, it's tough to beat the Pats in Massachusetts in December.  It's even tougher when you turn the ball over, don't score on your first four first half possessions and when you do create Patriot fumbles you fail to recover them. .

Despite the blowout loss, my fave NFL ballers 11-2, are still holding the number one seed in the AFC and by winning their remaining three games against the Minnesota Vikings at Reliant and their home and away AFC South games against the Indianapolis Colts can clinch it.

They can clinch their second straight AFC South title by beating the Andrew Luck led Colts this Sunday.  

2012 Texans Watch-The 11-1 Texans Clinch A Playoff Spot

The Houston Texans continued their best season in franchise history  as they ran their record to 11-1, sacked Jake Locker six times and forced six turnovers in a 24-10 demolition of the Tennessee Titans Traitors at LP Field.

And oh yeah, they won their sixth straight game and clinched their second straight playoff trip in the process.

The Texans ran their record to a spotless 6-0 when they wear their liberty white road jerseys and swept the Titans in both AFC South Division games   They still have a pair of AFC South games left on their schedule with the surprising Indianapolis Colts that nay determine if they repeat as AFC South Division champions, but at 4-0 in the division they are well on their way to doing so.

The Texans are an unbeaten 9-0 in AFC conference games, but that is about to get severely tested.

The win over the Traitors sets up a titanic Monday night showdown at Gillette Stadium with the defending AFC champion New England Patriots that will determine whether the AFC road to Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans runs through Reliant Stadium.   They already own the tiebreakers over the other AFC division winners thanks to wins over Baltimore and Denver and when they leave New England next Monday would like to have the tiebreaker over the AFC East champs when that game is concluded.

Well, the entire nation will get to watch and see if the Texans can handle the Brady Bunch..

2012 Texans Watch-Giving Thanks For Another OT Win

The Detroit Lions have been playing NFL games on Turkey Day ever since 1934 while this was the first ever in Houston Texans franchise history.

The Lions came into this one with a 4-6 record and a decade long losing streak in Thanksgiving Day NFL tilts while the Texans walked into Ford Field with an NFL best 9-1 record. 

But the Lions gave them a fight in a wild game with some controversial plays.  Texans fans aren't liking the first quarter play in which NFL bad boy Ndamukong Suh's foot connected with Matt Schaub's groin after being taken down by a Texans offensive lineman or the 21-14 halftime deficit our boys wearing the liberty white road uniforms found themselves in. .

But the play that ruined Detroit area Thanksgiving dinners was in the third quarter.  Justin Forsett was tackled by two Lions players on a run and was clearly down at the 50 yard line as the replays showed.  But Forsett didn't hear the whistle, got up and sprinted the rest of the way to the end zone for an 81 yard TD that narrowed the Texan deficit to 24-21.

The scoring play would have been automatically reviewed and probably taken off the board but an incensed Detroit coach Jim Schwartz threw his challenge flag on the field.  That negated the auto review, allowed the Texan TD to stand and earned a 15 yard unsportmanlike conduct penalty for the Lions on top of it.     

The Texans made them pay for that critical mistake by eventually driving 97 yards and scoring the tying Arian Foster TD with 1:55 left in the game. 

After a Jason Hansen 47 yard field goal attempt to win the game in overtime and get their coach off the hook clanked off the right upright and dropped back to the Ford Field turf, with 2:20 left in overtime Texans kicker Shayne Graham hit the field goal to win the game. 

For all you Detroit fans complaining about the call, your team had opportunities to win the game.  Considering some of the jacked up calls and bad breaks that have cost Houston NFL teams games in the past, I prefer to think of it as the NFL karmic wheel bending toward football justice for long suffering Houston NFL football fans.


That wild OT win sent the Texans to 10-1, kept them a spotless 5-0 on the road, and if a few teams lose on Sunday the Texans could clinch a playoff spot by the time they head to Nashville to take on the Tennessee Traitors on December 2.

2012 Texans Watch-Whew!

When the Texans played and easily beat down the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-7 back on September 16 they were laser beam focused on that game because they knew the Jags always play them tough and they wanted to get a win in the young season against a divisional opponent .

Afterr the hard fought win against the Chicago Bears, this had all the makings of a trap game.  The Texans first ever Thanksgiving Day appearance in Detroit looming and they were playing a Jacksonville Jaguars team they had beaten four straight times and who hadn't won in Houston since 2009. 

After the Texans efficiently torched the Jaguars on their opening drive to lead 7-0 and the Bulls on Parade defense knocked Jacksonville QB Blaine Gabbert out of the game on the Jags initial drive, it looked like this one was going to be over by halftime.  

The Jaguars had other ideas. Chad Henne came off the Jags bench to spark what turned out to be an entertaining but anxiety producing game for Texans fans.   They matched the Texans score for score as the Texans missed opportunities such as a 50 yard field goal clanking off the left upright that would have put the Texans ahead 20-17 at halftime.

But Jacksonville stormed out of the locker room and made some big plays of their own to forge a 34-20 lead with less than 6 minutes to go in regulation time. 

The Texans finally woke up and Matt Schaub hit 16 straight passes to erase the 14 point deficit.   The Texans defense also decided to join the party, forced a three and out late in the fourth quarter and Schaub guided the offense in position for Shayne Graham to kick the game winning field goal with 5 seconds left in regulation time.  A false start penalty and a badly shanked 47 yard field goal try later sent the game into overtime and sent Texans fans reaching for the Maalox.    

After the teams traded field goals it was Andre Johnson to the rescue.  A flanker screen turned into a 48 yard TD that ended the game, capped a 14 catch 273 yard career day and gave the Texans a thrilling but nerve wracking 43-37 win.  

Matt Schaub also had a career day with 527 yards and give touchdowns, falling just short of Norm Van Brocklin's NFL passing record of 551 yards but tying the Houston Oilers Warren Moon for second on the all time passing yardage list. .

More importantly, it moved the Texans to 9-1, allowed them to stay atop the AFC South Division, keep the best record in the AFC  and stay on track for home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

2012 Texans Watch-Texans Win Soggy Defensive Showdown

My fave NFL squad took their AFC best 7-1 record into a prime time televised showdown last night with the 7-1 NFC North leading Chicago Bears at a rain soaked Soldier Field that not many pundits gave them a chance to win.  

The sports media chatter before kickoff was talking about how great the Bears defense was and ignoring my Houston NFL homeboys, but when this game was over the Texans were the team that emerged victorious.

The Texans Bulls on Parade defense sent a message they are pretty good as well.  They forced four Chicago turnovers, knocked Jay Cutler out of the game with a second quarter concussion and held the Bears to two field goals.  The Texans generated enough offense thanks to Arian Foster's 102 yards on 29 carries to score the game's only touchdown in the second quarter that lifted the Texans to a 10-3 lead and on the path to ending the Bears six game winning streak.  

And oh yeah, with the 13-6 win the Texans moved to 8-1 on the season, bumped their all time franchise record against Da Bears to a spotless 3-0 and stayed unbeaten on the road in the 2012 season.  

Next up for the Texans is another AFC South Division game at Reliant Stadium with the Jacksonville Jaguars 

 

2012 Texans Watch-Mario Who?

The Houston Texans greeted their former number one overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft when he returned to Reliant Stadium with his Buffalo bills teammates and a $100 million free agent contract in hand.

The Texans had the last laugh as the easily rolled to a 21-9 victory to get the second half of the NFL season off to a successful start.  .

But it wasn't without plucking the nerves of the Reliant faithful as my fave NFL squad got off to a sluggish and nerve racking start as they came out of their bye week.  They watched Mario Williams sack Matt Schaub and have five tackles in his return to Houston and noted the scoreboard showed a narrow 7-6 at halftime thanks to three defensive red zone stops that only yielded for the Bills six points.

The Texans finally got the offense in gear in the second half as Arian Foster rushed from 111 yards and a touchdown against the worst run defense in the league and Andre Johnson caught eight passes for 118 yards to take control of the game and cruise to an AFC best 7-1 record.

The Texans can't afford a slow start against next week's opponent when they travel to Chicago to take on the bears at Soldier Field under the bright spotlight of another NFL Sunday night football game.

The two things the Texans have in their favor is they have never lost (2-0) to the Bears and they want to atone for stinking up the joint in their inaugural appearance on NBC's Sunday Night Football

But that game should be fun to watch.

2012 Texans Watch-Nevermore!

When the 2012 schedule was first released, this was a game Texans fans were looking forward to ever since that gut wrenching divisional round playoff loss in Baltimore back in January. 

After my fave NFL ballers came down from the unbeaten ranks with an embarrassing 42-24 thud on national television at home to Green Bay, the Texans players were looking forward to it as well.

The Texans fans also got the opportunity to welcome Jacoby Jones back to Reliant Stadium and let him know we still haven't forgotten that boneheaded play that set in motion that playoff loss.  The injury script was also flipped this time as the Ravens defense was missing Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb, and had other key players such as Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata nursing nagging injuries.  But there was good news on the injury front for the Ravens in that Terrell Suggs did play for the first time this season

The Ravens kept an interesting tendency going of being a formidable team at home but average on the road.  They've also had trouble over the last two weeks stopping the run.  

The Texans had no empathy for the plight of the NFL ballers from Baltimore as they put on the battle red uniforms, woke up from sleepwalking through last week's game and made the Ravens see red.

The Bulls on Parade defense swatted passes, sacked Joe Flacco four times including one for a safety, and picked him off twice.

One of those interceptions was the Jonathan Joseph pick six that broke the game wide open and was part of a 20 point second quarter explosion that led to a satisfying for Texans fans 43-13 blowout win.   

It was not only the first victory ever against the Ravens, it was the most points a Texans team has ever scored against an opponent.   It also gives the Texans the best record in the AFC at 6-1 going into their well deserved bye week and earned me some crabcakes from one of my friends in Baltimore. 

The Texans will get to watch everyone else play in Week 8, then get ready for their Week 9 home game at Reliant Stadium against the Buffalo Bills.

Hope this team I saw today hangs around until February 4, 2013