Don’t laugh: The 2015 NFL Season could end with an all-Texas Superbowl
It’s the dream match up that we’ve all been waiting for…Houston vs Dallas in the Superbowl! We were robbed of the possibility of that matchup in 1993 when the Houston Oilers fell to the Buffalo Bills in the worst moment in Houston sports history, better known as “the comeback“.
The possibility, however may not seem reasonable to most, however I think that we are in a rare situation where teams for both cities have the potential to overachieve and coincidentally meet in San Francisco for the big dance. Before we proceed let me be clear this is a theoretical article, not to be confused with a prediction.
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We’re not about to discuss how the Cowboys could get there, let me simply refer you to our sister site The Landry Hat if you are interested in discussing Cowboys football (Texans fans you can put down the torches and pitchforks now). I’ll just say that they were strong last year and performed well late in the season. Who knows?
That being said let’s briefly discuss what it will take for the Texans to make the quantum leap into the Superbowl. Offensively speaking, the talent on this team is actually underrated if you ask me, at two key positions (quarterback and wide receiver). This year’s Texans team, on paper anyway, reminds me of one team that made it to the Superbowl despite having their pre-season championship odds being the laughing-stock of the league.
Some of you may recall the 2003 Carolina Panthers, which at the time was a very young expansion franchise. The Panthers offensively speaking were similar to this year’s Texans squad.
The Panthers had a quarterback who was a career backup taking over the starting quarterback role Jake Delhomme (Brian Hoyer) that most doubted could be an effective starter, a stud running back that had difficulty staying healthy Stephen Davis (Arian Foster), a young stud receiver with a chip on his shoulder Steve Smith (DeAndre Hopkins).
Defensively speaking the Panthers were loaded with a star-studded front seven, which included the likes of perrenial All Pro Julius Peppers (J.J. Watt) and a hard-hitting middle linebacker who was an absolute genius as a defensive field general Dan Morgan (Brian Cushing).
Carolina also had a proven coordinator in his first head coaching job who acquired a team that was the worst in the league, came in and changed the culture and did things “his way” in John Fox (Bill O’Brien).
Now that the characters are in place, let’s discuss the plot. The Panthers were not even predicted to make the playoffs despite a much improved season (7-9) after having the league’s worst record the year prior (sound familiar)?
The stars aligned themselves and the Panthers won the division, entered as a wild card team and made it to the Superbowl where they fell to the New England Patriots in an absolute dogfight (ironically here at NRG Stadium). If not for Adam Vinatieri‘s game winning field goal, who knows?
The point that I’m making here is that the Texans have the personnel to get the job done. Yes it would be great to have another Warren Moon type franchise quarterback as the signal caller, but that is no longer necessary to get to the next level.
If the Texans can just play defense as well as we all think they will and manage to keep the turnovers down, score when needed and control the time of possession anything is possible. It certainly would be great to meet the Cowboys in the Superbowl..and once you’re in the game, anything is possible. Keep an open mind as we kick off this season. An all-Texas Superbowl would be a great matchup for everyone to enjoy.