I remember how people were scoffing when Mario said his goal for the season was to break the sack record...
To me, the coolest thing about this season was that we managed to finish 8-8 despite all the injuries. But the silver lining of all those injuries is that some of our young guys had a chance to really get some good development in. Had all our secondary remained healthy, I don't know if Bennett would have gotten nearly the playing time he did. Now, fingers crossed, if Dunta can come back strong sometime in the middle of next season and regain his status as CB stud, then all the sudden our secondary is a huge plus instead of our biggest weakness. Demps showed he has the potential to put some fear into those guys that go across the middle. So while I still don't have a lot of confidence in our safeties to cover, they can hit, and if our cornerbacks can do their job covering, then that should be good enough for a top 10 secondary unit, I think. Also, Andre Johnson quietly performed spectacularly this year when he was healthy. Had he remained healthy all year long, his numbers in the 9 games he played in extrapolated out to 1512 yards and 14 TDs, good for 1st in the league and 4th in the league respectively, amongst receivers. Plus, look at our record when he plays and doesn't. The team was 6-3 when AJ played, 2-5 when he didn't. Seems pretty clear to me what makes this offense go. If he can stay healthy all next year. Boy howdy. He might finally cement himself as a top 3 receiver in the league in everyone's mind, not just Texan fans.
STILL MADE THE PLAYOFFS! That amounts to something ... So of course, that's the Texans fault, right? You play the hand you're dealt. Split hairs all you want. Spin it however you want. Most experts when we were 5-7 said that the Texans would be lucky to split but, would not be surprised if they did not win any. TB game, even McClain was saying 24-20 Bucs. Same with the Broncos game. The only game they flopped over the last month was surprise, in Indy. In light of the fact we had more injuries or at least more key player/starter injuries than any team in the NFL, obviously that would affect our continuity which it did. Without Green, for at least six weeks there our running game was nonexistent. Consequently, we did not win much after the Carolina game for the next 5-6 weeks. Like I said, spin it however. Bottom line, the old Texan teams would have just packed it in and said better luck next year but, Kuby would have none of that. Of course, you probably would not even give Kuby credit for that because, we did not finish above .500 or factor into the playoff picture. I personally think that the Texans are in great shape for the future because Smitty and Kuby will be anything but complacent and content until they bring Houston a SB Trophy. That's what will make the difference. Kuby has changed the culture of the football team. It's different, they're different but obviously there are still holes in this team that need REAL solutions and not just stop gap ones. Next year, potentially will be much more challenging than this year especially going against the NFC Norris division and Cincy and Pittsburgh. Despite your doubting Thomas POV, we are getting better whether or not you choose to believe that or not. I'm just saying ...
Am I suppose to care about what McClain' predictions are? And I know it's not the Texans fault Garcia didin't play, but he is the key to that offense. So it would of made a huge difference if he did play. Just saying. My post from another thread if you didn't see it(updated records): Our wins this year... Home vs. the Chiefs (4-12) Away vs. the Panthers (7-9) Home vs. the Dolphins (1-15) Away vs. the Raiders (4-12) Home vs. the Saints (7-9) Home vs. the Bucs (9-7) Home vs. the Broncos (7-9) Home vs. The Jaguars (11-5) This team may be getting better, but so is everyone else and we can't beat good quality teams. And also our road wins are against garbage. ------- I like our core group of young players also, but I just don't see enough for this team to be playoff worthy. It might be a couple more years.
Well, that this an example of expectations already being raised. Just a few short years ago, it was just get a win any win. I understand your POV on quality wins. Like I previously said, we lost too many key players in key positions to seriously factor into the playoff picture. Despite all that, if we would've won in Cleveland we could have made things very interesting. Yes, considering we only won 2 road games, agree mostly garbage. But, you have to start somewhere. First order next year play more consistent and cut down the turnovers and we automatically improve by at least 2-3 games IMO.
So, I was checking out houstonprofootball.com this afternoon and saw all the scores listed there, and wondered if the Texans were outscored this year by their opponents or not. Then I wondered how it looked as the season progressed. As it turns out, they were outscored by 5, 384-379. It got pretty ugly once Dunta was out. <table><tr><td align=center> </td><td align=center colspan=2 align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77><b>Score</b></td><td align=center colspan=2 align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD><b>Cumulative</b></td><td align=center><b>Ahead</b></td><td align=center><b>Differential</td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 1</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>20</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>3</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>20</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>3</td><td align=center>Texans</td><td align=center><span style="color: blue"><b>17</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 2</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>34</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>21</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>54</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>24</td><td align=center>Texans</td><td align=center><span style="color: blue"><b>30</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 3</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>24</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>30</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>78</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>54</td><td align=center>Texans</td><td align=center><span style="color: blue"><b>24</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 4</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>16</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>26</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>94</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>80</td><td align=center>Texans</td><td align=center><span style="color: blue"><b>14</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 5</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>22</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>19</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>116</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>99</td><td align=center>Texans</td><td align=center><span style="color: blue"><b>17</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 6</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>17</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>37</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>133</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>136</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-3</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 7</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>36</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>38</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>169</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>174</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-5</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 8</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>10</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>35</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>179</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>209</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-30</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 9</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>24</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>17</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>203</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>226</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-23</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 11</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>23</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>10</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>226</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>236</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-10</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 12</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>17</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>27</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>243</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>263</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-20</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 13</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>20</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>28</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>263</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>291</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-28</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 14</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>28</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>14</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>291</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>305</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-14</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 15</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>31</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>13</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>322</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>318</td><td align=center>Texans</td><td align=center><span style="color: blue"><b>4</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 16</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>15</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>38</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>337</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>356</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-19</b></span></td></tr><tr><td align=center>Week 17</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>42</td><td align=center bgcolor=#FFFF77>28</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>379</td><td align=center bgcolor=#DDDDDD>384</td><td align=center>Opponents</td><td align=center><span style="color: red"><b>-5</b></span></td></tr></table> I'm curious as to how this compares to other years, especially 2004, but not curious enough to do another one of those!
