Here's my bright side: I'm so calloused to disappointment as a Houston sports fan that it's just not nearly as disappointing anymore to see a season fizzle out like this. I'm used to it. I expect it. You can only be disappointed when you have an expectation that isn't met. My expectation is that Houston professional sports teams will lose these sorts of games....that the biggest stage is reserved for teams playing for other fans in other cities. I expected more pain when they lost yesterday...but it never really came. As much as I wanted to believe the Texans were going to win yesterday, I knew full well they wouldn't....and for the very reasons that they didn't. Before the game yesterday, I could tell you (for the most part) how the Texans would lose AND what the coaches would say after the game about it. It's all just ridiculously predictable. More of the same next year, I'm sure.
my brightside? At least we didn't get teased by Matt getting hurt and missing the playoffs again or hanging in there with the Pats only to watch Brady win them the game. We know what Matt can and can't do and what this defense has rediculous trouble with and that's having **** for LBs. the not so brightside. We're capped out/
The season was effectively over when we lost to the colts 2 weeks ago. That loss was the end our our Superbowl dreams for this year. Yesterday's game was just a forgone conclusion, so I'm not as upset as some others. I've had 2 weeks to prepare for it. Sounds crazy on the surface, but I honestly think the loss to the colts 2 weeks ago was the most significant loss in franchise history.
Sentiment is felt by a lot of folks...but i still dont believe that it wouldve made a difference...The Patriots wouldve just been on a roll coming to reliant and just embarrassed us on our home field... They had two weeks to practice and get healthy...and boy did they execute...But see so did the Broncos, but the Ravens did something that shocked everyone...why couldnt our Texans do something with that remarkable run back by Manning??? Why did we do anything after we made Brady punt on his first 2 possessions?...Why didnt we get something accomplished after storming back into the game 17-13 at the half...what happened during the 3rd quarter??? And who the heck was Veereeen
Said the exact same thing. I agree completely, and not just because the implications of the loss meant that the Texans were not going to have home field advantage...but because of the way they lost and how putrid the offense looked, you could tell they weren't going anywhere.
This is the hard part. I don't see how we can improve unless we do really well in the draft. Smith better be on it. Cut, restructure, draft well, sign players at a discount.
against a team with NOTHING to play for no less! it's just baffling that the coaching staff and players could not muster up the urgency, but that really exemplifies this franchise in a nut shell - total lack of urgency. you see it in their personnel moves (early kubiak extension, hiring guys like bush, retaining guys like marciano, needing a historic season defensively before hiring wade), player moves (no competition for schaub, unwillingness to take flyers on talented FA's), and play calling (conservative, failure to properly use the no hundle when it was absolutely imperative). to these guys next year is always around the corner... and why not? it's not like anyone has ever had to worry about job security. mcnair has proven that your job is 100% safe unless you are performing at a historically bad level. and it's an attitude that permeates the entirety of the franchise, from front office to coaches to players.
The bright side is that I don't have to spend money on the AFC championship game at reliant and the superbowl.
where is the notion we are capped out coming from? there are some interesting decisions to be made in the offseason, but if you were to replace all of our 2013 FAs at replacement level salaries aside from Glover Quin (~$4MM) we would be sitting at a little over $90MM. That would be before any cuts or re-structures. isn't the 2013/14 Salary Cap project at around $121MM?? what am I missing?
Absolutely correct. The culture of this organization was poisoned long ago by McNair's indulgence. When it was obvious Kubiak was out of his league, McNair extended him. When Schaub had a season ending injury and hadn't even proven that he was fully recovered, McNair extended him. If he likes you, you have nothing to prove, you are in. This team has practiced "losing locker room" speeches for years. The scripts are memorized. To me, this is the only explanation for their lack of intensity. New England brought their "A" game the first time; Houston brought their "C" game. Game over. Repeat, same result. Why else can this team not get up for critical games. Vikings, can't quite wake up; Colts, just not that interested. Pats, do we have to play again? The lack of talent, I can deal with. The lack of motivation and "fire," that tics me off.
Kubiak's specialty is offense. He will fix the problems next year. This was probably one of his worst offensive teams here in Houston, at least in the 2nd half. Defensively, Cushing will be back and the D will be solid, if not elite. It used to be that Kubiak's teams had an elite offense and crappy D. The script was flipped a bit this year, though we have been concentrating our drafts and free agent pickups on that side of the ball.
Ditto. I was much more crushed last year after the Ravens loss (even though it was unrealistic to expect us to go far with Yates) and after the Colts loss - that loss convinced me that we had virtually no shot at going to the Super Bowl this year. If you can't win with that much on the line against a team with nothing real to play for, you're not going to win in the playoffs. The brightside is that we'll lose less key starters this offseason, and maybe even add some key starters as upgrades. And it cannot be understated how big of an impact the Cushing loss had. More than any injury we had last year IMO, on par with losing Schaub.
Look on the bright side, if the Patriots win the Superbowl, they will prob. make one of those sweet highlight videos. We will be all over that! Lots of "on camera time" for our defense!:grin:
Even with the late-season slump, this team scored more points than any previous Texans team. It had 6 pro-bowlers, including one of the AFC's best running backs and its best receiver. And they were perfectly healthy. Which brings up the question of why he couldn't fix the offense this season? Do they need more pro-bowlers? A new system entirely?
Plenty to be happy and proud about...and I'd rather be a team that comes up short in the playoffs then the bottom dwellars and ones that fall just shy of the postseason. But with more success come higher expectations...and I worry that this is as far as Kubiak, Wade and Schaub can take us. Hope they take a hard look at what worked and didn't and try to bring more versatility to both sides of the ball. They started to become much too predictable.
