Heh, now that's the expectations of someone that has been a Texans fan since day one! I'm hoping for better, but that's what they do more often than not.
Did the opposition really improve? The Colts didn't really improve their OL or defense much, instead focusing on skill positions.
Solid point. The Jags draft just got kicked in the teeth but there's a chance that Bortles is less worthless this season.....maybe? The Titans......well they drafted Mariota, and that's special. The Colts ignored almost all of their absolutely glaring weaknesses and focused on their second strongest strength. Brilliance over there.
About the same. If Mallet turns out to be a NFL starting QB, then we could challenge the Colts for the division because our defense should be stout.
The nondivision schedule got harder since we were #2 in our division. On top of that, our division couldn't have been much worse than the historically bad 2014.
On paper, the non-division schedule is easier this year and the Jags are still the Jags and the Titans are still the Titans.
That's only two games, though. Instead of playing the AFC North and NFC East, they get the AFC East and NFC South. Those are both easier divisions (based on last year, at least) and that covers 7 games.
Seems to me you have a new qb and new WR. Won't know until after 3 games, but generally speaking, likely a lost season at 6-10. Anything is better than Fitz though. He's subpar at his best.
I don't mean to be a dick, but there's a very real, minority part of me that hopes Cush, Foster, and JJ go down in the preseason (with easily recoverable injuries) and Mallett and Hoyer have a fist fight and put each other in the ER for 6 months. Strip all the studs from "D" and start Tom Savage for 16 regular season games, and I think this team would have a chance at Hackenberg going forward. Assuming this hypothetical snake bit team doesn't end up with anything but hard tissue injuries and the like, I'd love to see the core going forward with a stud young QB to lead the charge, as opposed to another year where you have a ton of talent on the periphery, but another year with a gaping hole at QB. I'm not 100% behind this plan, but it seems awfully tempting to me. I can say I'd endure one more year of **** if it lead us out of the wilderness towards the promised land. Im any case, I'm enough behind this idea that if things are bass ackward from the word go I'll roll with it. The only thing that will piss me off is 8-8 and the definition of mediocrity - beating the chumps and getting blown out by the good teams. That I could not stand.
Playing the NFC south gives them a huge advantage in the wild card race. It's tough though because the AFC East has improved in the off season. Of course there is The Patriots who somehow managed to replace a 33 year old 330 lb defensive lineman with an equally big 22 year old stud DT in Brown. Don't know how the hell they did that but I guess that's how they got where they got. We all know how much rides on the QB this year. It's pointless to even really guess considering the lack of data we have for Mallet. Let's just hope for the best there. I think they have a solid shot at the playoffs but I don't think they'll make a huge play for the division. The Colts got better and they were already a better team last year. The Texans didn't really get better on paper but there is value in another year in this new system with this staff. We could see progression with every position. At the end of the day the NFL will surprise us like it does every year. The league has more change than any other big sport. I can't wait for it to come back and I hope the Texans give us something to cheer about.
Regarding the QB situation, I actually expect a good year from Mallett. Good enough for 10 wins at least. Regardung the future QB- if we want one in the draft, we'll get one. There should be better depth next year. I expect our defense to dominate. I hope Clowney is decent this year. That alone would be great. Also, to see Irish Chocolate do something in a game. Even if that something is get to trip someone by their shoelaces once.
