2012 Texans Watch- 5-0!

Last week in expressing how deep his support for Mittens was, NY Jets owner Woody Johnson said he would rather his football team lose than Mitt Romney lost this presidential election..  

Well Woody, the Houston Texans helped you out on that score on national television.  On November 6 the American electorate will determine the other part of your statement.  

But back to discussing my fave NFL squad.

In only their fifth Monday Night football appearance ever and their first since that heartbreaking 34-28 overtime loss in 2010 to the Baltimore Ravens, the Texans kept their 2012 season perfect with a 23-17 win at Met Life Stadium over the struggling but determined New York Jets.  

It was also the first win ever in Texans franchise history after five tries against the Jets.

Arian Foster has 152 yards rushing on 29 carries and a touchdown, but the Bulls on Parade and especially JJ Watt made life miserable for Mark Sanchez.  

Watt had two sacks to take the NFL lead in that category, six tackles overall and three tipped passes.  One of those tipped passes led to a critical red zone interception that led to a 17-7 Texan halftime lead.

The Jets gave them a beter game than people expected including a 100 yard Joe McKnight kickoff return for a TD after the Texans had taken a 20-7 third quarter lead, but they didn't have enough offensive firepower to beat a Texans team that was not on their 'A' game tonight.

The Texans next game is their debut on NBC Sunday Night Football at Reliant Stadium against the Green Bay Packers.

2012 Texans Watch- 4-0!

In the 30 plus year the Team Formerly Known as the Houston Oilers played inside Loop 610 they never started a season better than 2-0. 

There was the 1993 season when they started the season 0-4 and reeled off twelve consecutive wins to capture the AFC Central Division title and home field throughout the AFC playoffs.

Then they lost to Kansas City in their opening home playoff game. .  

The Titans and Bud Adams are Nashville's problem now, and the Houston NFL team I root for wears deep steel blue instead of columbia blue.

After two consecutive road games the Texans returned to Reliant Stadium wearing those deep steel blue uniforms and trampled the Tennessee Titans Traitors.  

The Bulls on Parade not only knocked Tennessee QB Jake Locker out of the game on the opening series after turning him into a quarterback sandwich, but had two pick sixes by Kareem Jackson and Danieal Manning to turn a 14-7 nail biter into a 38-14 win.

JJ Watt added two sacks and a fumble recovery to this dominating showing by the Texans defense to help the Boys in Deep Steel Blue remain the only unbeaten team in the AFC and win another division game.

Their schedule toughens up a bit over the next three weeks before they get their bye week.  Next up is the Monday night clash at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets, then consecutive home games at reliant Stadium against the Green Bay Packers and a rematch of the AFC Divisional round playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens. .

But they accomplished the mission we Texans fans wanted for them today in beating the Tennessee Traitors. 
  

2012 Texans Watch-Texans Mile High Win

I got back home from OUT on the Hill just in time to watch my beloved Texans take on a long time nemesis in Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.  

There are some connections between the two teams.   Texans coach Gary Kubiak before coming back home to take the job was a backup QB and offensive coordinator for the Broncos, and Texans General Manager Rick Smith also got his start with the Broncos organization.

They marched into Invesco Field at Mile High in their liberty white uniforms with a chance to not only stay unbeaten in this young NFL season, but prove they were serious contenders in the AFC for that Super Bowl berth in New Orleans.

They also had a chance to erase some old demons.  As Tebow lovers are well aware of, the last Texans trip to Denver in 2010 birthed the Tim Tebow legend at their expense and resulted in a come from behind loss for my favorite NFL ballers.  They have also never beaten a Payton Manning quarterbacked team in his home stadium prior to Sunday and had a 2-19 record overall against him.  

But Peyton hasn't faced the Bulls on Parade defense either.  . . 

The Texans got off to a slow start, giving up a safety and a field goal to spot the Broncos an early 5-0 lead before the offense woke up, dusted off the big play part of their playbook and dropped a 63 yard bomb to Andre Johnson to take a 7-5 lead they never relinquished thanks to the Bulls on Parade defense.

JJ Watt and the Bulls on Parade defense made life miserable for Peyton Manning.  Watt had 2.5 sacks while Matt Schaub threw for four touchdowns in this game as the Texans sprinted out to a 20 point lead before the Broncos mounted a furious comeback that just like in Atlanta a week earlier fell six agonizing points short. 


The 31-25 Texan win means for the first time in team history they start a season 3-0.  They have a chance to build on this win with a division game against the hated Tennessee Titans Traitors in Reliant Stadium Sunday.  

2012 Texans Watch-Bulls On Parade Run Over Dolphins

In yesterday's season opening game against the Miami Dolphins the Houston Texans had Arian Foster, Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub on the field in their liberty white uniforms for the first time since 2011. 

My favorite NFL ballers are considered by some pundits as serious contenders to be the AFC representative for Super Bowl XLVII that will take place down I-10 east in New Orleans February 3. 

The Texans players have embraced the heightened expectation of the media and long suffering Houston area NFL fans and adopted a 'Super Bowl or Bust' mantra.  They wanted to get the chase for Super Bowl XLVII and their second consecutive AFC South title off to a fast start in front of the 71,566 people at Reliant Stadium.

It was the second-largest crowd ever for a Texans home game (largest was last year's Pittsburgh game) and the sold out Reliant Stadium crowd got to enjoy the unveiling of the 2011 division championship banner.  But it was the Dolphins that looked more like the team that went to last year's AFC playoffs thanks to Ryan Tannehill, their rookie quarterback from Texas A&M.  

The Dolphins took an early 3-0 lead and stymied the Texans offense for most of the first quarter.  The Houston natives were getting restless over the missed tackles and dropped passes from our hometown NFL ballers and gave the Texans some boos for it.. 

Then the 'Bulls On Parade' Defense took over in the decisive second quarter.   Johnathan Joseph got the first of three interceptions off of Tannehill that led to the game tying 35 yard Shayne Graham field goal.  

On the next series JJ Watt tipped a Tannehill pass to the waiting arms of Brian Cushing.  That led to a drive capped off by a 14 yard sprint by Arian Foster for the go ahead touchdown.  

Watt then swatted Tannehill's next pass from scrimmage and cornerback Kareem Jackson came down with it at the Miami 27. Richard Marshall then was called for pass interference and Foster plowed into the end zone from the 1 yard line for his second touchdown of the day. 
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Tannehill handed off on Miami's next play from scrimmage, but that didn't work either because Glover Quin forced a Daniel Thomas fumble which Danieal Manning recovered at the Dolphins 31 with 28 seconds left before halftime. Schaub threw a pinpoint pass to the end zone to Andre Johnson, who made the acrobatic catch over the Dolphin defender for a 24-3 halftime lead.

After the 72 yard third period Thigpen punt return that chopped the lead to 24-10, the Texans got busy and added two more Graham field goals to secure the 30-10 win.   It also extended the Texans record against the Dolphins to a perfect 7-0 and made it the third consecutive year they've opened the NFL season with a win.

"It wasn't pretty," Schaub said. "Anyone in our locker room can tell you that we can play much better than we did today."   We fans know y'all can play better than this and I'm glad the Texans feel the same way. . 

Next up is a trip to Jacksonville to play our first road and AFC South Division game of the young season with the Jaguars.  But getting better is mandatory because your schedule isn't going to get any easier.

2012 Texans Watch-The Schedule Is Out

The NFL released the 2012 regular season schedule yesterday evening and one of the things I was wondering about was how much national television exposure would my hometown NFL franchise get this year.

Winning the AFC South for the first time, making the playoffs, beating Cincinnati and losing an agonizingly close game to the Baltimore Ravens with our rookie third string quarterback does wonders for your NFL TV credibility.

Turns out five Texans games will be nationally televised, and for the first time in franchise history the Texans will play on Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions.

Here's the 2012 Texans schedule

	Sun, Sept. 9	vs. Miami Dolphins	CBS	1 p.m.
	Sun, Sept. 16	at Jacksonville Jaguars	CBS	1 p.m.
	Sun, Sept. 23	at Denver Broncos	CBS	4:15 p.m.
	Sun, Sept. 30	vs. Tennessee Titans	CBS	1 p.m.
	Mon, Oct. 8	at New York Jets	ESPN	8:30 p.m.
	Sun, Oct. 14	vs. Green Bay Packers	NBC	8:20 p.m.
	Sun, Oct. 21	vs. Baltimore Ravens	CBS	1 p.m.
	Bye
	Sun, Nov. 4	vs. Buffalo Bills	CBS	1 p.m.
	Sun, Nov. 11	at Chicago Bears	NBC	8:20 p.m.
	Sun, Nov. 18	vs. Jacksonville Jaguars	CBS	1 p.m.
	Thu, Nov. 22	at Detroit Lions	CBS	12:30 p.m.
	Sun, Dec. 2	at Tennessee Titans	CBS	1 p.m.
	Mon, Dec. 10	at New England Patriots	ESPN	8:30 p.m.
	Sun, Dec. 16	vs. Indianapolis Colts	CBS	1 p.m.
	Sun, Dec. 23	vs. Minnesota Vikings	FOX	1 p.m.
	Sun, Dec. 30	at Indianapolis Colts	CBS	1 p.m.

It is not going to be easy   Since we won the AFC South last year we get a schedule heavy with first place and playoff teams.   In addition to that, the interconference division rotation this season has the  AFC South matched up against the tough NFC North, which is why we got the Thanksgiving game with the Lions.

They also have a December game with the AFC champion New England Patriots, a rematch with the Baltimore Ravens in Reliant Stadium, and face our old nemesis Peyton Manning when they travel to Denver in Week 3 of the season.  

And yeah, our annual AFC South division hatefests with the Tennessee Titans Traitors.

If you're wondering if Michael Watts and I will be having our NFL prognostication battle in 2012, we sure are.  

Last season I erased a 4 game deficit in the final two weeks of the season to tie him for regular season pigskin prognostication bragging rights, and my goal is to wear the crown in 2012.
 
If any other bloggers want to join us, let either one of us know by August and we'll lay out the prognostication ground rules for you.

But I'm really looking forward to the kickoff of the 2012 NFL season  because my NFL squad is considered a favorite to win it all, and the Super Bowl will be played in New Orleans

How cool would that be for us long suffering Texans fans if it happened?

2011 Texans Watch- Texans Season Over

Like most of the city of Houston I was tuned in to the Ravens-Texans playoff game in Baltimore to see if my fave NFL footballers could finally get their franchise first victory against the Ravens in their first road playoff game and move on to the AFC championship game against the New England Patriots.

Things were looking great from a Houston vantage point with the opening 60 yard kickoff return by Danieal Manning that led to excellent field position, an early 3-0 Texans lead and the first of the numerous three and outs forced by the 'Bulls on Parade' defense on the anemic Ravens offense.

But in a play that will live in Houston NFL playoff infamy and ranks right up there with the 1988 Oiler 'Stagger Lee' playoff game against Denver, Jacoby Jones inexplicably tried to field a bouncing Sam Koch punt deep inside the 15 yard line and muffed it, setting up the Ravens first TD and altering the momentum of the game.

The Texans found themselves trailing 17-3 in the first quarter before they flipped the script in the second quarter. The offense started riding Arian Foster's legs (Bob McNair and Rick Smith, pay the man) and began to sustain some drives and score to narrow the deficit to 17-13 at the half.  

The Texans defense continued to play lights out football.  They sacked Joe Flacco five times, held Ray Rice to 60 yards rushing and kept the Ravens offense in check. 

Their stellar play included a fourth and one stuffing of Ray Rice on the goal line to keep the Ravens out of the end zone in the third quarter, but they just didn't make that one play they needed on the offensive or defense side of the ball to get them the win.

The three TJ Yates interceptions didn't help in that regard either, but they were in that game until the Hail Mary that wasn't answered glanced off Kevin Walter's shoulder with 11 seconds left in the game and with that the Texans inaugural playoff run under some challenging circumstances and season ended with a 20-13 loss

Since it's King Day, I'm going to borrow his words to explain how I'm feeling in terms of my fave NFL team at this moment.  "We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."

The finite frustrations and disappointment of this loss will subside but I and other Texans fans have the infinite hope that we will finally see our team bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Houston.

If the Texans get either in the draft or free agency another cornerback so they can move Kareem Jackson to safety, a second speedy deep threat wide receiver or stud tight end to take some pressure off Andre Johnson, lock up Arian Foster and Mario Williams with contracts fair to them and everyone comes to camp in shape it's possible. 

A healthy Matt Schaub will aid those prospects immensely along with having defensive coordinator Wade Phillips here during the offseason to install even more wrinkles in the Texans 'Bulls on Parade' defense.

If the Texans stated goal for the 2012 NFL season is to ensure they are hosting AFC playoff games at Reliant Stadium they will have to go through a challenging schedule to get the 12 or 13 wins it will probably take to secure the AFC number one or two seed.   

The Texans will face the NFC North (Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago and Minnesota) in our interconference rotation. In addition to our home and away games with our AFC South foes (Indianapolis, Jacksonville and the Traitors) at Reliant Stadium we'll see Buffalo, Miami, Green Bay, Minnesota and the Ravens coming to H-town to play our defending AFC South champions..

The road schedule will have my fave NFL footballers putting on their liberty white road uniforms and facing New England, Denver, Chicago, Detroit and the New York Jets 
  .   

Something to think about Texans fans.  If they do make it back to the playoffs and through the AFC playoff bracket, Super Bowl XLVII will be in New Orleans on February 3, 2013 just a short 5 hour drive down I-10 east from here.

The 2012 NFL season starts in seven months and I can't wait..

2011 Texans Watch- Texans Getting Dissed And Pissed

This ESPN Sportsnation graphic says it all about what the rest of the country thinks about the Houston Texans chances to beat the Baltimore Ravens in our NFL Divisional playoff round matchup tomorrow.at M&T Bank Stadium

They are 0-5 all time against the Ravens, are playing their first road playoff game in franchise history and lost to them during the regular season 29-14.  

And oh yeah, the Ravens are 8-0 at home this season.

But as Herman Edwards famously said, that's why you play the games.

The Texans are getting pissed about the lack of national respect.   If I were the Ravens, I'd be very afraid about a talented team with a chip on its collective shoulders showing up at my place with something to prove.

2011 Texans Watch-First Playoff Win!

The Texans had the weight of a frustrating Houston NFL playoff history on their shoulders headed into their franchise first playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals.   The Bengals last playoff win came at the expense of the Houston Oilers in 1991.  

But as the Texans will remind you, the Oilers moved to Nashville.

JJ Watt's pick six just before halftime broke a 10-10 tie, ruined Andy Dalton's homecoming and shifted the momentum for good to my hometown footballers as they rolled to a 31-10 victory and joined a short list of NFL teams that includes the 2000 Baltimore Ravens that won their franchise debut playoff games.

But the historic playoff victory earned them a divisional playoff round rematch with a Ravens team that beat them 29-14 during the season.  Bear in mind the Texans had just lost Andre Johnson and Mario Williams for the season and Ray Rice ran wild in that game.

The Texans are also 0-5 against the Ravens

But it's hard to beat a team twice in the same season, and the Texans have no pressure on them because everyone and their grandmother expects the Texans to lose to Baltimore next Sunday

That's why you play the games.  

Heads up Baltimore Ravens fans, I have a little factoid for y'all to chew on..  Teams with the Number 1 or 2 seeds with a 13-3 record are only 5-8 in their first playoff game against an opponent who played during Wild Card weekend.

And oh yeah, sooner or later the Texans are going to beat the Ravens.   Be nice it if happens next Sunday.