a team is what it is. they had no business losing the idianapolis game*, sure; at the same time, they had no business winning the miami game - this woulda, shoulda, coulda has a way of evening out over the course of a season. (*and while, yes - they were a play away, and then probably a coin flip away, from winning the jacksonville game - i don't think we can so easily place that one in the "should have won" category. rememeber, garrad did the same thing to the steelers last year in the playoffs; it wasn't like we built a giant lead and then gave it away in the final four minutes. i think the better team that day won.) they're 5-7. if they can win out (not impossible), they'll finish the year 8-4. if they win 3 of 4 (a real possibility), they'll finish 7-5 after an 0-4 start in which they lost one of those 4 in OT and another in a fluke collapse. that's pretty doggone commendable. they had a brutal 4-game opening stretch, compounded by the hurricane. far too many people dismissed this and assumed this was 2005 all over again. it's not. this is a team with a future. if you bailed after the colt game, you've missed some really good stuff. next year, they draw the NFC west - the far and away worst division in football. they also draw the afc north which, right now, is playing one of the easiest schedules in the last 15 years (per football outsiders, and yes: they're playing the nfc west). so i expect the jets, dolphins and bills to all slide back to the norm in '09. meanwhile, the patriots are no longer THE PATRIOTS. and if we do indeed finish in 3rd place, we'll draw cleveland and oakland next year, too. if jacksonville's regression isn't a one year anomaly; if the colts don't return to their early '00 dominance and remain, at last, beatable... so its very conceivable that 8 of our games will be against teams that posted losing records in '08 (that includes two against JAX and the assumption BUF's slide will continue), including two current 2-win teams, a 3-win team and 4 games against current 4-win teams (includes two against JAX). its still on paper, but i'll be shocked if the texans don't threaten the playoffs next year. it's all lining up for them; should be fun.
Great post, Ric. One correction is that they play the AFC East, not the North. I hope they can really make that next step next year!
Packers have the 27th ranked run defense. That's worse than Indy and Jacksonville. If the Texans keep pounding the rock, the GB defense will wear down and Slaton will go bonkers in the fourth quarter. We can't fall behind by too much, though. If we have a deficit of 10 or more points then the Texans will be forced to pass to catch up. As we know, bad things happen when our QBs throw too much.
Current weather report Good news is that the wind won't be much of a factor. Slaton should be able to have a good game but throwing the ball shouldn't be that much of a hindrance. I see no reason why they can't move the ball...
HOLY ****! Is this the Texans?! Matt staying in the pocket till the last second to throw the 50yrd TD to who else? None other than Kevin Walter. Gotta love it! GO TEXANS!!!! <-------Me!
Suprised there wasn't a measurement before that 3rd down.... also looks like the offense thought they had a first down up till the last second. Another Kubiak game management error.
Man, think GB is determined to test our secondary, or what? How many 15+ yd attempts is that already?
