Nope. As rezdawg said, even though we won, there were plenty of improvements that can be taken from this game. The coaches are going to watch tape, look at the mistakes, and coach the players of the right play to make. As fans, we are happy to see the Texans win a tough game but we're discussing aspects of the game that we'd like to see improved. There's nothing wrong with that. Players can be emotional, but they have to play within the game. They can't make costly mistakes that can take points off the board. It's stupid football. The players can celebrate and get fired up, but they can't be making dumb penalties like that. I guarantee you that Manning will learn from this because even he realizes it was stupid. Your analogy means nothing, too. Try telling that analogy to the coaches or owners of football teams who base decisions on millions of dollars. There are improvements to be made on all sides of the ball. Just because they beat the Steelers doesn't mean they should celebrate and take the week off. And I still stand by my comments that Joseph should have knelt on that interception. Any coach will tell you the same. It is smart football.
Unless you're up by one point and the other team is out of timeouts. Not applicable yesterday, but that's the one scenario where it is smart.
I'll agree with you in part. I do remember a game within the last few seasons where they had an interception late in the game and the guy took a knee 1 or 2 yard line instead of getting the touchdown. Offense got into victory formation, game over. Everybody lauded the move. But I hardly think people would have criticized him heavily if he ran it in for a score. It's not the smartest thing to do, but it's not dumb. Dumb is Ronnie Brown throwing the ball away on a 1 yard run into the endzone. Dumb is Desean Jackson celebrating and tossing the ball away before reaching the endzone. Dumb is Sage Rosenfels going airborne diving for a first down. What Joseph did wasn't, and I'm betting about 90% of players in that situation would have done the same thing. Quite frankly, if Joseph's interception and touchdown had counted, and the team still couldn't hold onto the lead, well there would have been plenty of other people to blame for that.
Here's what it feels like from our end: "Us" - (post game reaction) "Them" "Ric" "Us" "Ric" Notice how "our" posts generally kick off with positives and negatives...but the negatives are spliced out and become the endless debate. All of a sudden, the only thing "we" are talking about are the negatives. I'm sorry some disagree, but I'm not John McClain and give the entire team straight A's for wins and straight F's in losses. There are positives and negatives to take away in every game. And those negatives are being voiced as "concerns" and "areas in which we can improve" - not a single person is ranting about how "Schaub sucks" or "Manning should be benched" (exception - plenty would still like to see Kareem walk across Antartica in boxers.) You say you're "challenging" the posts, but when you keep saying we shouldn't bring up concerns in the preseason, in the 4th week of the season, after any victory, after the Saints loss (but it was close! we were good for 3 quarters!)....it comes across as Captain Censorship on a message board. If you said things like: "I guess there are things to be concerned about, but who cares! I'm just happy we beat the freaking Steelers and are 3-1!" You could just leave it at that, make the exact same point, and we could all move on without devolving into a giant urine party.
I can only remember Maurice Jones Drew taking a knee on a breakaway play. He took a knee so they could drain clock at the 1 yard line and finish the game with a field goal. But they were down 1 or 2 points IIRC. Here this score wouldve put the Texans on top by 2 scores. The odds of the Steelers quick striking with a runback or bomb and then successfully onside kicking it and then bombing it again are as infinitesimally small as mishandling a kneeldown and turning it over. But this is all hypothetical so why bother arguing the difference between an A+ play and an A play? To say "these smart decisions are what separates winners from losers" or whatever is ridiculous because it's such a rare occurrence in the first place. And if there ever was a case with similar circumstances where it separated a win from a loss, I think we'd all like to see.
Yep, guy surprised me. Great personality when in front of a mic. Arian Foster on NFL network: http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-med...-Network/90cec6a3-795f-4e16-83ae-d07628f15891
Finally got around to watching the game. I haven't kept up with this thread, but I've been listening to sports radio. People have been drooling all over Foster, and deservedly so. He was nothing short of phenomenal on Sunday. But we knew what we were going to get out of him. It's pretty much expected at this point. I think the real story of the offense was Daniels. What a frikken stud. Probably the best game I've seen him play yet. He's not as flashy or athletic as Gonzales, Gates, or Davis, but I'm almost tempted to put him in that class. On a lot of plays it looks like the defense just forgets to account for him, he's so wide open. He can throw blocks with the best of them too. I like Dreesen, but the team is just miles better in ever aspect of the game when OD is out there. Our OLBs looked really get after it. I had my reservations about Mario, but the dude is just a straight up beast. How can a guy that big be so fast and athletic? Barwin looks just as good on the other side. To think people thought Reed was close to winning his job. Scary thing is, you can tell they're getting better after every game. This D isn't at their peak yet, folks. Manning made some really dumb mistakes, but there's a fire in him that I really like. He's like Pollard, but with actual ability. Also, Joseph makes his receiver just disappear. I dunno how we survived without him last year. Oh wait...we didn't. Random note, I completely forgot that we had an offensive coordinator. Had to look up his name. I forgot it already. What's the point of even having an OC? We all know he's just there to keep Leinart company. Must be the easiest job in the world.
Damn, STEELERS LB HARRISON TO MISS 'NUMBER OF WEEKS' James Harrison will have surgery Wednesday for a broken eye socket, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. Big break for the other 2 AFC south teams, Titans and Jags who are about to play the Steelers.
Wow, Duane Brown broke Harrison's eye socket? Holy smokes. That's a far cry from what happened when he faced him his rookie year. Any word on Rothlisberger's sprained foot?
I think you're ripping a string of unrelated ideas from their original context and and conveniently lumping them together. Concerns after 2 preseason games on the backend of a truncated offseason have no connection to eye rolling over concerns after a 3-1 start. And you won't find a single post of mine condemning any expressed concerns following the Saints game, as I was among those concerned with how the 4Q played out and specifically called out Schaub's performance (which was terrible). When concerns manifest themsleves in a way that leads to losses, they're fair game. They're fair game regardless, and no less legitimate whatever the outcome; it's just that after 10 years of nothing BUT concerns... emjohn, I'll readily agree to some sanctimony on my part; I'm not blameless here by any means. And I never meant to suggest people *shouldn't* post concerns; rather, my intent was to question why. If it came off as "censorship," I apologize. We've had 10 years to hone our complaining; let's bask a little bit and worry about concerns when concerns start biting us is all I'm sayin'. But please don't conveniently water down *a lot* of divergent comments and then stamp a "SEE?!!?!" on them as if you've proven your own point. And please don't further mix things up by jumping on a nearby high horse and throwing this all on me as if I just started to randomly call people out for no good reason. If only I'd done EXACTLY as YOU suggested.......... that's bush, man.
Want to see some photos from this game? I shot it for Sports Talk 790, my published photos of this game, can be found in a 61 image gallery on their website. Below is a sampling of my work: 1. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5DII_5658b by groovehouse, on Flickr 2. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - XTi_9978b by groovehouse, on Flickr 3. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5D_5700b by groovehouse, on Flickr 4. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5DII_5860b by groovehouse, on Flickr 5. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5DII_5804b by groovehouse, on Flickr 6. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5DII_5790b by groovehouse, on Flickr 7. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5DII_5923b by groovehouse, on Flickr 8. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5DII_5919b by groovehouse, on Flickr 9. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5DII_5786b by groovehouse, on Flickr 10. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5DII_5819b by groovehouse, on Flickr 11. Texans vs Steelers - Houston, TX - 10.02.11 - 5D_5828b by groovehouse, on Flickr
