That's what is a little frustrating at this point. They were so damn close to looking very good for an 11-5 record and a spot in the playoffs. Yet, they couldn't stop a 4th down play and then we had the infamous "RosenCopter" play. For the 2 bad stretches that this team has gone through, they've looked pretty damn good otherwise. I'll give credit where it's due. Richard Smith may have saved his job over the past few weeks. This defense was simply pathetic for most of the 1st half of the season. I guess the light came on and he realized that his team was built to be the aggressor. Once they figured that out, the defense has been much improved. Give Kubiak an extension...especially if they finish 9-7. This week might just be the toughest test yet, though. Going on the road to a terrible Oakland team after an emotional victory. Might be difficult to get the team fired up. He has to make them believe how important it is to the team and the city to finish with a winning record. Give us something to believe in for next season...
Except my understanding is that many of them don't actually live in Houston. For those that do...the hurricane hit on a Friday...the game that Sunday was cancelled. It was 9 days after the storm hit that they played their next game. MOST of the city had power 9 days out. Most of us were back to work 9 days out. Their next game was a road game. Could they have been distracted by what was going on back home?? Sure. But these aren't Galveston residents we're talking here who lost everything or watched their lives float away. They were inconvenienced with no power, perhaps...or they had to get a contractor out to repair a roof. But I think the talk of how this storm impacted this team is overblown...I think, unfortunately, it meant we played the Ravens later when they were better.
they do during the season; many near the stadium, so if ike did that to reliant, i'm guessing they were hit pretty hard, too. and you're discounting how much it disrupted practice and preparation; how much it tore a hole in their season - they lost a bye week, had the flow of their schedule interrupted in its second week... for a young team facing a brutal opening schedule, those are big, big factors. throw in whatever they dealt with personally and there's a good possibility they were elsewhere mentally. and, frankly, they played like it that day - dropped passes, penalities, turnovers - ok, they turn it over all the time, but....
maybe. i look back to how they were playing towards the beginning of the season, though, and i have hard time arguing there are L's where there should have been W's.
Aren't you married? Come on, you don't think the impact on their wives and kids was impactual on their being ready to play a game? To get around town, to get clean water, gas, grocieries? DD
huh? i don't think anyone's arguing that... i don't fully agree with DD's contention; i think ike had AN impact. but i think the caliber of competition was a bigger factor.
how many of these guys are married and have kids, dd? they're the youngest team in the league. people who could afford to got their families out of town. pro football players can afford to.
I am not blaming the losses completely on that, but I do think it was a distraction and when you are dealing with such razor thin margins between wins and losses, you can not afford to have any distractions. DD
maybe i'm misunderstanding you. if it doesn't impact W's and L's, then why is the impact of Ike worth talking about when you're looking back over a schedule and dreaming of what might have been?
like the cowboys this last week?? these are real human beings..there are distractions every week. i don't think ike was nearly the distraction you do...and i live here.
i think it negatively impacted their performance in the tennessee game; i'm not going to go so far as to assume that normal preparation would have definitely led to a victory... but they were still in the game, down 12 and inside the tennessee 20, with 2 minutes remaining. and though i initially thought it might have been a blessing getting baltimore later in the season; in hindsight, they may have been "easier" to handle in week 2. and then there's the issue of them having to play indianapolis without the benefit of a bye, as originally scheduled. getting an extra week to prepare for manning is a good thing. so i think ike has definitely impacted their season.
all good points. i'm totally with you on the ravens thing...that's the one in particular i think has the best ike related argument. but i still don't feel like that's a likely win. the colts game was lost in spite of ourselves...i don't think sage gets that helicopter to work any better with or without more prep time! that game and the miami game sorta cancel themselves out to me.
it was the second colt game, in indianapolis. i'm a strong proponent of, "you are what you record says you are" - but the rosenfels/colt game... that's an exception; a 1-in-a-100 freak occurance. to me, MIA cancels out JAX - two games that could have gone either way. that colt game.... that should have gone one way. and you know, everyone ended up collpasing that day - but had we held on to the football... it's likely our D, the crappy one everyone wanted blown to bits, would have held manning and the colts to 10 points.......
Look, the girls won a good game, but the Giants aren't the same team they were a few weeks ago. They're hurting, but thats another story. good luck with Baltimore and at Philly. Back to the topic though. Yeah distractions do play into it. I'm not saying we would've won, but it had to play into it. Andre dropped two TD passes on seperate drives. Thats pretty uncharacteristic. Also didn't at least one of the guys have problems at their house from Ike? I think it was Mario, not sure though.
Please don't ever confuse me for a Cowboys fan. I'm the biggest hater of all things Dallas you'd ever have the great pleasure of speaking to. Was only pointing out that there were all sorts of distractions for them this last week..and it didn't seem to matter. I have a difficult time believing Andre dropped 2 passes because a storm hit.
Happy to know that. Sorry for the confusion. I would hate that as well. No, but that wasn't like him. I can definitely see them being distracted those weeks. Who knows though. The only win I can say we should've had was the Sage collapse. As funny as it sounds, I think this season will help Matt be a better player in the coming years.
even if the storm disrupted his practice time, diminished his reps and screwed with his normal preparation?......
Are you kidding me? This GM has been great so far. There is 2 major issues with this team. The QB's throw wayyy to many interceptions. And our defense is so random. I think Schaub gets 1 more season, DC gets the boot.
yes. the man is a professional and an exceptional athlete. those are catches he makes without practice. man, this hurricane is really overblown in this discussion. we've seen people deal with far greater distraction..particularly the death of loved ones proximate to game time...and do more sensational things than catch a football.
