MCL sprain is certainly a hell of a lot better than I feared when I saw CJ Fiedorowicz go down. Hopefully it's a mild sprain and he'll be back at it quickly. If he can keep looking like he did in the first half yesterday then he could become one hell of a weapon.
Didn't he come back at some point yesterday in the second half? Or did my eyes deceive me... pretty sure he did.
The post two above you basically is... indicating there won't be much hoopla (in his mind) over a season where they win a weak division, win a playoff game, and then lose the next round. Plenty of people thought the 2011 and 2012 seasons were disappointments due to their inevitable playoff loss (despite one being with a 3rd string rookie QB).
In my opinion, it's a disappointment in the sense that if we had Schaub instead of Yates, we might have gone to the Super Bowl. But, winning a game in the playoffs is an accomplishment regardless of how you got there. The Texans had good teams in those two playoff seasons...everyone is disappointed in losing, but that doesnt mean the team was no good. You don't fluke your way to top 4 in the conference. Now, if the Texans go 8-8, make the playoffs, and lose by 3 touchdowns in the first round...yeah, the team isnt very good. But winning 12-14 games in the regular season...doesnt make sense for anyone to bash the team.
IMO, Denver and New England have firmly established themselves to be in a tier above everybody else in the AFC thus far. Now, certainly things can change as the season goes on. In 2012, everybody considered the Texans to be in that top tier... until the season wore on and certain deficiencies got exposed. 2011 was disappointing with the hindsight that Schaub would have been an upgrade over Yates... then again, they very well could have still ended up going 10-6, winning against Cincy, and losing to Baltimore on the road. Its just strange as to why people would continue to even follow this team... if they know that there's only one very unlikely option that satisfies them. Strange.
To me, I want to see progress, growth and a good plan. I was pretty happy with most of the Schaub/Kubiak years, every Morey year before last year, and the Lunhow Astros. Even though there have been no championships and not even playoffs for Astros. The Texans right now kind of remind me of the later McLane years, no real good plan, just reaching for guys hoping and praying it works, with GMs and coaches using short term moves to survive another year.
But the NFL is unlike any of the other two sports. Teams not only rebuild/reload on the fly... but they're expected to rebuild on the fly. Playoff teams (and in some cases champion teams) come out of nowhere almost annually. The Kubiak era was unique in that they started out at a worse-than-expansion team level (thanks to the god-awful Casserly years/decisions that set-back this franchise at least 3 years)... thus he got a lot longer leash since it took him 2-3 years to undo a lot of mistakes/accumulate viable talent. Its also why once he finally got a viable team together.... they were in cap hell and had to already start letting go of people, despite not even really winning yet. In the end, the normal 4-5 year prime was only 1-2 years. IMO, anybody who's accustomed to watching the NFL has to take each season on as an individual entity. Certainly foundations get established that promote some sustained excellence... but unless your coach is Bill Belichick, every team is going to have their ups/downs, their attempted quick-fixes, their out-of-nowhere stars, and a strong possibility that who a team is to start the season is vastly different than who they are to end the season.
