Houston Texans: Are the fans delusional?
By Randy Gurzi
The Houston Texans were a sort of Cinderella team in 2014 as they had a massive turnaround under first year head coach Bill O’Brien. They failed to make the playoffs, but there still seems to be a ton of optimism heading into the 2015 season.
More from Toro Times
- Houston Texans: Can Sean Payton really be the next head coach?
- Houston Texans Draft: Michael Mayer should be a no doubter at pick 12
- Houston Texans already telling fans the Davis Mills era is over
- Houston Texans have hand forced, waste no time in firing Lovie Smith
- Houston Texans: Pros and Cons of keeping Head Coach Lovie Smith
The fear for fans could be that the winning season that had no post season was simply a “moral victory,” which we all know in sports isn’t a good thing. If that is the case the team and fans could be set up for a disappointing season.
In fact, one writer at FanSided believes that not only is Houston in for a rough season, but that the fans are actually “delusional.”
Matt Verderame wrote a piece for FanSided NFL called NFL 2015: Five most delusional fan bases and ranked the Houston Texans as the fourth-most delusional of the 32 NFL teams.
"4. Houston TexansLast year, the Texans shocked everyone and went 9-7 under first-year head coach Bill O’Brien. Houston went 2-14 in 2013 and shook up the entire organization from coaching staff to quarterback, bringing in both veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick and youngster Ryan Mallett. Fitzpatrick ended up getting the lion’s share of the starts, but was moved to the New York Jets this offseason.Heading into 2015, the Texans fans have the belief that their team can make the playoffs. Frankly, the chances of that happening are slim and none, and slim just left town. Last year, the Texans beat the Jaguars twice, the Titans twice, the Redskins, Raiders, Bills, Browns and Ravens. Outside of Baltimore, all of those other teams were either full-blown rancid of highly-mediocre. Yes, the Bills went 9-7, but started EJ Manuel that day.Further to that point, Houston now plays a second-place schedule. The Texans also face a tough AFC East where no game will be easy, along with the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, along with the sad-sack NFC South. The Texans will need to win 10 games against a much tougher schedule with Mallett or Brian Hoyer under center."
Verderame makes some very valid points about the team having to play a tougher schedule this year after finishing in second place. However, he also claims the AFC East will be tough, but two of the teams in that division are also in his delusional fan base countdown.
I personally picked Houston to once again have a winning season, yet I could see the quarterback situation causing some issues, especially if the team does decide to go with Brian Hoyer at the helm.
There are several games on the schedule which could go either way, such as against Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami (who I also think should have made this list). Each season is hard to predict, so saying a schedule is tougher based on last season is a difficult call to make.
If Houston continues to run the ball as well as they have in the past and the defense takes the next step, they could truly outperform expectations again.
On the flip side, a weak secondary could suffer from so much change in one offseason and there was also nothing done to help the pass rush. It’s easy to be optimistic, but at the same time there are still plenty of question marks as the start of the 2015 season quickly approaches.
Toro Times is committed to giving a fan’s take on all things Houston Texans. And we believe it’s our staff’s unique and varied perspectives that makes us different than any other sports site on the internet. With that being said, getting our readers’ perspective on various Texans-related topics is essential for us to be successful.
Therefore, we’ll often use poll questions to gauge how our readers feel about a specific topic. Their answers not only influence our articles, but they also keep us in touch with what our fans actually think and feel about their beloved team. So, please considering giving your answer in the above poll and participate in the conversation below in our comment section.