Texans Demolish Baltimore

Oct 21, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub (8) reacts after a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens in the third quarter at Reliant Stadium. The Texans defeated the Ravens 43-13. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-US PRESSWIRE

After being embarrassed on national television by the Green Bay Packers, the Texans bounced back against an opponent equally as dangerous and strong. The Baltimore Ravens had an overall record of 6-0 against the Texans in the eleven season tenure of the Houston Franchise. The teams remain similar to their 2010 counterparts who met in a Monday Night match-up which the Texans lost in an overtime heartbreaker, and in 2011 the Texans’ playoff push was ended in Baltimore by losing to them for the third time in two years. In 2012, the Ravens were looking for lucky number seven, but the Texans had other plans, thanks to the chip on their should left after the debacle they were a part of against the Packers.

The Texans played a nearly flawless game, both offensively and defensively. The offense was slow to start, but kick-started when Connor Barwin recorded his first sack of the season in the endzone resulting in  safety. The Ravens were put in that position, not thanks to their own ineptitude, but instead due to the hustle of special teams beast, Alan Ball who downed the Donnie Jones punt within the ten-yard line.

The Texans offense and defense combined for 29 unanswered points after allowing the Ravens to begin the game with a 3-0 lead. The offense has shown this  season that no mater what, the team can light up the scoreboard.

I cannot put into words just how overjoyed and ecstatic I am about this team, this is THE best Texans team we’ve seen, the potential has been here since 2010, and I may even go as far back as 2009.

It just took the epic collapse of the 6-10 2010 season to allow the Texans to draft the pieces that they needed. Fast forward to 2012, I think this is the best professional football team overall the city of Houston has seen in all of its years, including the Oilers and Gamblers.

To blatantly misquote Forrest Gump, or make up my own quote: “Elite is what elite does” and elite is bouncing back from a deflating, and humbling loss to prove that you are indeed elite.

Quite frankly, looking at a stat sheet just does not do the team’s effort any justice whatsoever. With a high quality opponent such as the Baltimore Ravens, the Texans really proved their mettle, and have secured a tie-breaker over a potential playoff adversary for home field advantage.

Simply put, this game showed that the Texans can learn from their mistakes, and rapidly make adjustments on a week-to-week basis to better matchup against their upcoming opponent.

After this amazing victory, the Texans go into week 7 on a bye, and have two weeks to prepare for the so-called “judgement day” as dubbed by the $100-Million-Dollar Man, Mario Williams of the Buffalo Bills who will roll into town in week 8. Before we get ahead of ourselves, the Texans have to take this week one day at a time, as they would a normal week, and it gives the guys an extra week to heal up. Week seven was unbelievably entertaining, let’s enjoy the sweet taste of victory for now, as we get ready to come back for the second half of the regular season.

– Richard Perez