Week 1: Chicago Bears (0-0) @ Houston Texans (0-0)

I live in Dallas and it sucks; I am going to have to stream the game like I did all last season

 

Just need Clowney/Watt/Mercilus to be as disruptive as the Broncos front line and the Texans are SB contenders.

 

Its just odd that its the only Texas market that behaves that way. They'll typically just go with the A game, regardless of who it is, over the Texans.

Meanwhile, Houston does cater to the scores of Cowboys fans in the market... and will typically get them on regardless. Of course there's more Cowboys fans in Houston than Texans fans in Dallas... but I'd presume that's also the case in Austin, San Antonio, the Valley, etc... and yet they still respect the fact that Houston is a Texas city.

 

I've been saying it for a while now, the Broncos are so successful because their best defensive player is an OLB. That is the best place to get your pass rush from, especially in Wade's defense. If only Mario had stayed healthy his last year with the Texans. The Texans OLBs absolutely need to be disruptive. They can't leave it to the d-line.

 

So now "solid" to you is a guy who throws for only 178 yards and still manages to throw 2 interceptions? <70 QB rating is "solid"?

Damn I REALLY hope Brock is more than "solid" if that's what you are basing it on.

Yes, and I see that as a fluke, they were 19th the season before that WITH their WR1, they were 18th the season before that. Maybe that one year was an outlier, maybe it's evidence that they are an offensive juggernaut, my money is on it being an outlier.

We'll find out soon enough.

 

Need an entire front 7 to be great. The problem this team still has is rush defense, at least from the looks of it so far. Until they solve that part, it won't be a dominant defense like the Broncos defense was last season.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Will Fuller, Akeem Dent, J.J. Watt, Derek Newton all practicing for third consecutive day</p>&mdash; Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronWilson_NFL/status/774287985122488334">September 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Shots at the Fins:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lamar Miller on Texans' offense: 'They use you to your skill set' <a href="https://t.co/dVFyrsYvBL">https://t.co/dVFyrsYvBL</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonChron">@houstonchron</a></p>&mdash; Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronWilson_NFL/status/774271825857552385">September 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

That has Jerry Jones written all over it. I guarantee he's spoken with Fox about not wanting the Texans brand permeating into DFW, so he doesn't want Fox to show them.

 

Perhaps... but even Jones knows that there is absolutely zero chance the Texans brand could ever cause one bit of a dent to the DFW market. Like throwing a pebble into an ocean. In the 70's-80's, when the NFL/Super-bowl era was still relatively young, the state of Texas was up for grabs... but the Cowboys saw to it that it wouldn't be for long (compounded with the Oilers shortcomings).

If anything, wouldn't he try to weigh more influence on the Austin/SA markets? They're still overwhelmingly Cowboys territories... yet the local CBS (and fox when needed) will usually pick up the Texans.

 

Perhaps, and of course this is pure hypothetical conjecture based on zero factual evidence, it was a compromise he struck with Fox? Show them anywhere else you want, just not Dallas? Fox doesn't want ratings to suffer so they want to show relevant teams in relevant markets......it literally makes no sense why they would forego showing the OTHER Texas team over a loosely relevant game like Packers-Jaguars.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bears listing Kevin White, Kyle Long &amp; Kyle Fuller as Questionable, isn't the same as past years.<br><br>NFL did away with the Probable label.</p>&mdash; Jayson Braddock (@JaysonBraddock) <a href="https://twitter.com/JaysonBraddock/status/774305875339145216">September 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

It's not just fox. The Texans mostly play on CBS.

Local tv stations decide who they want to show. They have pretty much always shown the game that most of the country sees rather than the Texans.

Also, most markets won't put any game head to head with the home team. When Dallas plays a non national game, there will rarely be another game on at the same time in the DFW area (and all teams have a blackout rule if it's a home game). Same applies in Houston... There is no noon CBS game this week because of the blackout rule.

It's not ratings. It's arrogance?

 

Take that one fluke interception away and his rating goes to 103. Small sample size, but a good performance given that it was his FIRST start ever against an elite defense. Yes, he played very well.

And the reason for the Panthers improvement is that Cam has taken his game to another level. The Broncos, just like they did in the Superbowl, limited him greatly. The Panthers will put up plenty of points this year.

 

LOL.

He was lucky to not get picked two other times.

The what if game is fun.

But he played horrible and the numbers back it up.

 

Mediocre. Not horrible. We saw horrible the last time the Texans played a meaningful game. With that defense, mediocre is good enough.

 

Oh so now it's a "fluke" when someone does a bad job of throwing the ball and it's picked?

Also, Cam certainly didn't look like his game was "to another level" last night....I think it's too early to say that what Cam did last year was more than an outlier.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Duane Brown ruled out</p>&mdash; Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronWilson_NFL/status/774339885196902400">September 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Texans rookie Will Fuller: 'I feel real good' <a href="https://t.co/VFCzm4F2pJ">https://t.co/VFCzm4F2pJ</a></p>&mdash; Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronWilson_NFL/status/774328737575776256">September 9, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

69 QB rating was what Ryan Mallet did all last year.

He was horrible.

He missed some really easy throws and froze when he got blitzed.

 

And it's funny that the same people who are trying to excuse an interception on a bad throw that didn't clear the defender are the same who blamed Mallett for passes that bounced off of WR's hands and into the hands of defenders. It seems the "Elway is a genius" narrative has even infested Texans fans.

 

To be fair, anyone would have a hard time playing to their highest level while taking 5+ uncalled head shots. He took a beating and not all of it was legal.

But did you see his athleticism when he scrambled 3 yards towards the sideline to get that 1st down?! or the accuracy of that pass on the bubble screen!