Houston Texans: well kept secret hitting the mainstream
By andy
John Clayton of ESPN.com list your Houston Texans as one of his surprise teams for the 2009 season. Wow, really going out on a limb there, John.
The truth is those of us who follow the Texans on a week to week basis know exactly what this team has to offer. I think Texans nation is in agreement that this could and should be the year our team breaks through with its first playoff birth. While Clayton
I agree that we need to play better versus our AFC South rivals, although I anticipate that this team will improve on its 1-5 and 2-4 division records the past two seasons, respectively. Remember that Jacksonville (who we have historically faired best against in the division) needed to convert a fourth down just to send the first meeting to overtime. We all know what happened in the rematch, our first ever Monday Night Football game. Does anyone else agree that the Titans are not as scary without face stomper on their team? Now that we are safe from Sage whirly-birding away a win or two I would rather expect us to finish at least .500 or better in the South.
It goes without saying that the Texans will need to get off to a better start than last year especially given the fact that two of our first three games are against division rivals (again). As Clayton points out, we have faired pretty well against the rest of the league the past two seasons and given our opponents 2009 should be no different. I know this is the NFL and things change from year to year so I apologize in advance to the Niners, Seahawks, Raiders, Rams, et al. Let me just put it this way, if we can’t beat the teams we’re supposed to beat than we’re not a playoff team anyways.
Hold on one sec, I just looked over Andre Johnson’s gamelog from last season for the 20 millionth time and I started to get giddy. Anyways…
As always our success this season will completely depend on health. If we can keep Schaub on his feet and he plays (dare I say) a full season, the offense will flourish and we will be in the playoffs. If not…let’s just say I fear what will happen when Orlovsky takes the field. Raise your hand if you thought Slaton would make it through the whole season, let alone be the most productive back in the AFC last season. I sure didn’t. I have to be honest, I am a little concerned with the team’s apathy towards addressing the RB depth this offseason so at this point I will chalk it up to pure faith in good ‘ol Kubiak and Smith. Let’s hope they know what they’re doing.
At the end of the day, I like our chances in 2009 (understatement). We had one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL last season and I don’t see a reason why that should not repeat itself. The defense was addressed heavily in the draft, and when you pair that with the fact that Mario, Demeco, Dunta and Co. have another year of seasoning under their belts we could be in store for a pleasant surprise on the other side of the ball. The fans are ready, the city is ready, and most importantly it appears that this team is ready. 2009 will surely be an adventure, hopefully with a happy ending for the Texans. In the words of the great Samuel L. Jackson: “Hold on to yo butts.”