http://deadspin.com/5858842/ Dear Lord! The Texans Are Gonna Be The AFC’s Top Seed In The Playoffs Man, football is weird, huh? If the season ended today, the Houston Texans and Cincinnati Bengals would be the two top seeds in the AFC playoffs, and that's peculiar. Neither of those teams made the playoffs last year, if you'll recall, and neither one has won a playoff game in a long time. (Houston has never even appeared in a playoff game in its nine years, and Cincinnati hasn't won a playoff game in 20 years.) Thing is, Cincy has four games left against the Steelers and Ravens, two teams better than the Bengals, per Football Outsiders' rankings. They also have a game against the Texans. The Bengals could pretty easily lose all five and wind up 9-7, perhaps out of the playoffs. But how 'bout those 6-3 Texans? Remaining, for them: Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Carolina, Indianapolis, and Tennessee. Atlanta and the Bengals are the only ones in that bunch with winning records. Per the Outsiders, Houston's better than all of those teams. The Texans haven't lost since a spanking in Baltimore, four games ago, and it's likely that they won't lose again. Many of their wins have been big—they beat the Colts by 27, Titans by 34, and Browns by 18—and many of their losses close—by five to Oakland, in the wacky Al Davis Memorial game, and by seven to the Saints. I know, I know what you're saying. Houston ****s the bed every year and goes 8-8. Matt Schaub is so bald and bland. Andre Johnson's still injured. Mario Williams will be injured for the entire season. Gary Kubiak is Gary Kubiak. But, jeez, look at that bunch of games remaining. Maybe the guy with that tattoo knew what he was doing. Houston's real. Real enough to lose to the Jets or Ravens in the divisional round, anyway.
Hope the Bengals win the North. Houston, San Fran, Oakland, and Cincy all in the playoffs? 3 of them with a 1st round bye? That would be fun. Maybe if I pray hard enough, Buffalo can sneak in there too.
Don't get overly confident just yet. I don't care that Tennesee is struggling and the rest of the division is crap, the fact of the matter is we haven't been in this situation before, and Gary Kubiak is still the Head Coach of this team.
not sure where to post this, but an interesting read none the less... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...11/09/texans.defense/index.html?sct=nfl_wr_a3
from the article: "And if you can't stop opposing passers, you can't win games in the NFL -- no matter how many stars you have on offense." mind blowing. I was led to believe that good qbs should be able to lign up as cornerbacks, safeties and defensive tackles, even make a game winning kick every now and then. On the game notes, that jetblast so kindly provides, I read that our passing game has been top three since 2008 in front of the packers and patriots. Now we have a top defense! Most balanced team in the nfl! =) Granted, Schaub has to return to probowl form(ie Andre needs to return the line up.). The writer used the word remarkable to describe what wade has done with the Defense. As a texans fan that watched a 40 year old mark brunell break the consecutive completions record, as a texans fan that witnessed tebow drop 350 yards, I feel that the word "remarkable" is an understatement. Wade has performed miracles with this D, at least three of them. In catholicism, Wade would be on his way to becoming a saint.
A happy Sunday scenario. If the Texans win, Ravens lose to Seattle (Ravens have struggled against sub-par teams on the road) and Bengals lose to Pittsburgh then the Texans will have a half game edge as the AFC's number 1 seed going into their bye week.
2/3's of happy Sunday scenario complete with Texans winning and Cincy losing. Seattle up early 10-0 on Baltimore.
I'm officially okaying the hype. Especially since we're finally about to rest, reload, and our deep threat returns in two weeks.
Ravens are down 7-22 to the Seahawks. If they lose, we would be sitting atop the AFC as the number 1 seed, albeit for one week only since we are on our bye week and the Ravens play next week. Am I correct?
