Do Not Panic Houston Texans Fans! Keep Calm and Carry On.

Houston remained calm when Matt Leinart made his highly anticipated return to starting in the NFL, but it was cut short as the injury bug sunk his fangs back into the Houston Texans, Leinart injured his collarbone in the game, his first start since 2009.

Now, like many dedicated Texans fans, I watched the draft this year and thought it silly that we drafted another quarterback in TJ Yates from the University of North Carolina, now that we are scrapping the bottom of the barrel by signing Jake Delhomme. I told myself that the Texans had an amazing running game that would compensate for the lack of passing, but when a running team cannot run the ball, there is a huge problem, but Texans fans should rest assured in that TJ Yates comes from the UNC offensive system that is dashingly similar to Houston’s. He was drafted to the team for a reason, so to those of you that hit the panic button and are screaming that our hopes and dreams of a franchise first playoff birth,calm down!

Yates has been learning from Schaub in his short tenure with the team and the theme of the season is showing that rookies can play, 2011 is year of the rookie quarterback, from Cam Newton in Carolina, and Andy Dalton in Cincinnati, fate is on the side of Yates, with the knowledge gained from coaches and players alike, Yates can utilize the knowledge and hopefully can lead these Texans to victory, with interceptasaurus, Jake Delhomme and former Jets’ back up Kellen Clemens behind him, Yates is likely the last bastion of hope for Houston.

Brett Favre’s name has indeed been tossed around but he claims to be out of shape, and not ready to play football anytime soon, despite his greatness, I’d prefer not to see Favre in a Texan uniform, and as Toby Keith once sang, Brett Favre is not as good as he once was. Dismal seasons outside of Green Bay, and an unceremonious exit form the league in 2010 from Minnesota, Farve is not, and should not be in Houston.

With Tennessee creeping on us in the rear view mirror, the Texans need to put the pedal to the metal and continue trucking along, with obstacles in clear sight, the only way to find out if we are truly deserving of a playoff slot is to overcome this adversity, after not having Arian for the beginning of the year, losing  Mario Williams, arguably the defensive player on the team, and league.

A last resort, hasty move like this would certainly not be good for the team, if Brett Favre came to Houston, the media circus would certainly follow, disrupting the team, and thus causing more harm than good.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, no team has ever been successful without facing adversity, Houston cannot allow Tennessee to snag the AFC South lead away, we have Atlanta at home and go to Cincinnati to face the Bungles led by Andy Dalton, possibly two losses, but a close game it will be, we will see just how TJ Yates can do.

The scary fact standing out to me is that he was blanked the entire second half in Jacksonville, but in his defense, the Jacksonville defense played better in the second half and the game was in Jacksonville, but he did complete great passes, and played very smart for is first NFL start. A bode of confidence for the young man, and the expirence in Jacksonville gives him an idea of what to expect in the National Football League, now that he’s got his feet wet after his first game, it is only a matter of time before we see him display his talent.

The reps he got against the Jaguars will only help him against Atlanta, practicing his timing and learning more of the playbook this week will only help him more, thus preparing him more and making his start just a little less stressful on the young quarterback.

With AFC defensive player of the month and arguably one of the top tier defenses in the league in his back pocket to keep the game within reach, Yates has a plethora of talent surrounding him and can get the job done. Have faith in the young man, my fellow Texans and hope that  he will lead this team to greatness, and live up  to the hype that the people on twitter have given him, dubbing him the next Tom Brady. Although it is a very generous thing to bestow upon him, I believe it’s best everything is taken one smooth step at a time, Rome was not built in one day, and patience is a virtue. and very much indeed is the key to the success of the team.

– Richard Perez