On a scale of 1-10 how strongly do you feel about. . .

[Hervoyel]

Originally Posted by Vinny

The Texans are better than all of those teams. Defense. Defense is why they are better than all of those teams. The front-7 play is dynamite and Phillips knows how to coach man coverage. I don't know if anyone remembers me questioning the techniques coached by Gibbs, but I linked the thread if you are interested. Coach Phillips has the team playing sound fundamentals unlike those defensive coaches that are now known as the FOG. Friends of Gary. This version of the Texans will be 10-3. Book it Dano.

You know, after the initial shock of this I was thinking we go 2-1 over the next three games. I saw a united effort at Jacksonville, an odd home loss to Atlanta, and then a great road win against an overrated Bengals team.

Now I'm starting to think we're going to be ok and I'd like to change my vote here to 3-0 on this stretch. I'm feeling confident that Leinart is going to be good and as you pointed out our defense is really the difference maker.

The Texans can do this! 10-3 here we come!

[Rey]

Originally Posted by Vinny

The Texans are better than all of those teams. Defense. Defense is why they are better than all of those teams. The front-7 play is dynamite and Phillips knows how to coach man coverage. I don't know if anyone remembers me questioning the techniques coached by Gibbs, but I linked the thread if you are interested. Coach Phillips has the team playing sound fundamentals unlike those defensive coaches that are now known as the FOG. Friends of Gary. This version of the Texans will be 10-3...Book it Dano.

Wow Vinny...

That's pretty high confidence coming from you...

Edit: And now Herv has changed his vote....

:KoolAid:

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

You know, after the initial shock of this I was thinking we go 2-1 over the next three games. I saw a united effort at Jacksonville, an odd home loss to Atlanta, and then a great road win against an overrated Bengals team.

Now I'm starting to think we're going to be ok and I'd like to change my vote here to 3-0 on this stretch. I'm feeling confident that Leinart is going to be good and as you pointed out our defense is really the difference maker.

The Texans can do this! 10-3 here we come!

The V-tea is better than the mythological kewl aide. The Falcons aren't a good road team and when we go to Cincy our defense will put All Pro Joseph on rookie wonder A.J. Green, give Dalton multiple looks and keep the Bengal offense to two FG's and a TD. The Jags? They have a miserable offense and a good but not outstanding defense...They will be no match for a top 5 defense and Andre, Foster, Tate and the O-line. Leinart will just throw 15 -20 times and call it a day.

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by Rey

Wow Vinny...

That's pretty high confidence coming from you...

Edit: And now Herv has changed his vote....

:KoolAid:

This team reminds me of the 49er team that beat Dallas in the playoffs then went on their historic little run of playoff appearances and titles. Everyone expected Dallas to dispatch the 49ers back then. The 49ers were mediocre for so long then bam, all of a sudden they go from a team nobody talked about to a Super Bowl team...just like that. Seemingly out of nowhere they changed their entire National perception almost overnight. The local fans would probably argue otherwise, but Nationally, there was a sudden switch of what most people around the Nation thought of that franchise.

Now, I don't compare the players, qb's or coaches, just how the Nation perceives this team. Nobody really thinks we can do anything but fold our tents so nobody (Nationally) really puts any stock in us (yet) despite what they see on the field and on paper (for the most part). I think we are in the midst of blowing up our National perception and forming a new identity like the caterpillar forming a chrysalis, transforming into something beautiful. We are no longer the caterpillar.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Vinny

The Texans are better than all of those teams. Defense. Defense is why they are better than all of those teams.

The Jags have a top 5 defense, so do the Bengals. I know we're #1 right now, but those aren't gimmie defenses.

The Falcons have a top 5 rushing defense.

I don't think the next three games are in the bag, write it down, we're gonna win them.

I've got to see Lienart myself before I can determine what kind of drop off it's going to be. But more than just Lienart, I'm worried about our OL. Jacksonville is going to overload the line & dare Lienart to beat them.

While I like our chances, those two big boys in the middle gave us trouble vs Tampa & their edge rushers made Eric & Duane earn their money.

Jacksonville is going to be ready to play. After the way we embarrassed them at Reliant, I bet they'll play their Super Bowl Sunday after next.

I still think we finish 11-5 or better, justs don't know how we're going to do it.

[Rey]

Originally Posted by Vinny

This team reminds me of the 49er team that beat Dallas in the playoffs then went on their historic little run of playoff appearances and titles. Everyone expected Dallas to dispatch the 49ers back then. The 49ers were mediocre for so long then bam, all of a sudden they go from a team nobody talked about to a Super Bowl team...just like that. Seemingly out of nowhere they changed their entire National perception almost overnight. The local fans would probably argue otherwise, but Nationally, there was a sudden switch of what most people around the Nation thought of that franchise.

Now, I don't compare the players, qb's or coaches, just how the Nation perceives this team. Nobody really thinks we can do anything but fold our tents so nobody (Nationally) really puts any stock in us (yet) despite what they see on the field and on paper (for the most part). I think we are in the midst of blowing up our National perception and forming a new identity like the caterpillar forming a chrysalis, transforming into something beautiful. We are no longer the caterpillar.

Yeah...I think so too...

I voted 7 the day of the Schaub news, but now that I've had time to think about it and read some other perspectives I think I am closer to an 8.5-9.5.

This is a good team and the teams that we will be facing don't really scare me. Leinart is the wild card for the rest of the season though.

[Norg]

now lookin at it

not to sure in terms of this part of the sechudle these 3 games are much tougher then the last 3

@jags vs ATL @Cincy


VS CAR @indy vs Ten

if we can win 2 of the top 3 and win all the rest we are lookin a tnumber 1 seed

if we go 1-2 and then win all the rest maybe looking at a wildcard game

at this point with schaub going down i just wanna get into the playoff healthy ....... and if resting some starters the last two games means that so be it

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

The Jags have a top 5 defense, so do the Bengals. I know we're #1 right now, but those aren't gimmie defenses.

The Falcons have a top 5 rushing defense.

I don't think the next three games are in the bag, write it down, we're gonna win them.

I've got to see Lienart myself before I can determine what kind of drop off it's going to be. But more than just Lienart, I'm worried about our OL. Jacksonville is going to overload the line & dare Lienart to beat them.

While I like our chances, those two big boys in the middle gave us trouble vs Tampa & their edge rushers made Eric & Duane earn their money.

Jacksonville is going to be ready to play. After the way we embarrassed them at Reliant, I bet they'll play their Super Bowl Sunday after next.

I still think we finish 11-5 or better, justs don't know how we're going to do it.

Bengals just lost their best CB Leon Hall. He is out for the season. I watched the Steelers convert just about every single 3rd and long they had vs the Bengals. They are thinking about using pacman jones to replace him...that's lol talk where I come from. They have a good unit, but they aren't that impressive when you watch them. The Falcons have a decent rushing defense but their pass defense isn't so good, plus they are not a good road team. They really struggle vs good teams on the road. This just in...but we are now a good team.

If Jville is playing their SB against us, I have bad news for them. They start Gabbert and their wr's blow. They have too much suck on offense to beat this team.

[/quote]

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Norg

at this point with schaub going down i just wanna get into the playoff healthy ....... and if resting some starters the last two games means that so be it

The Titans are 5-4. They'll need 3 losses before Week 16 before we can think about "resting" players.

@Atlanta (must watch game for all of us)
Tampa
@Buffalo
New Orleans
@Indy
Jax
@Houston

That may be a possibility.

[welsh texan]

The Titans go into a really tough part of their schedule now, I think ATL on the road for them is a much tougher prospect than our home game against them.

Tampa aren't as bad as we made them look at the weekend. I trully believe they are in the same range as the Titans.

Then @ Buffalo although Buffalo have slid a bit I'm sure they can be a real threat to the Tits.

And we've seen for ourselves what NO can do, and we really made them work for it up until our D got tired late in the game, what they'll do to the Titans is anyones guess.

I find it hard to see the Titans doing any better than 2-2 over that stretch, and tbh I'd say that would be a good return for them.

That would put them at 7-6, although I really want to believe they could end up 6-7 when that bit of the schedule is done.

We would only need to go 2-1 over our 3 game run and that would make the division a virtual certainty. 9-4 vs 7-6 with Indy left to play.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by badboy

Gary has to keep the playbook simple. No scripted plays. handoffs and short, accurate passes but run the ball. We have 3 power backs. Use them. Defense? Unleash the Kracken!

Actually after reading this

http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/s...-steelers-game

(thank you gtexan02!)
I feel much better about the script. A helluva lot of work goes into building that thing. And they go over it with the QBs - including why the plays on the script are there and why they should work - during the Monday QB meeting. It's a long read, but very good. There's also some insight into how Wade crafts his defensive game plan too.

I'd rep gtexan again if I could.

[The Pencil Neck]

Originally Posted by badboy

Gary has to keep the playbook simple. No scripted plays. handoffs and short, accurate passes but run the ball. We have 3 power backs. Use them. Defense? Unleash the Kracken!

We are one of the most efficient teams in the league at scoring on our opening drives and you want to scrap the script? Really?

[The Pencil Neck]

If we get through these three games without a loss... we could run the freaking table.

The thing is... we could do it. I won't be surprised if we do it.

But I expect to lose at least one and possibly two of these games. So I put a 6. We can do it but with the vagaries of life in the NFL, I'm not absotively sure about it.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by The Pencil Neck

We are one of the most efficient teams in the league at scoring on our opening drives and you want to scrap the script? Really?

Most people don't even understand what coaches refer to as scripted plays. They think it is "the ninth play will be X" no matter the situation rather than "on the first 3rd and 5 we will do X."

[Rey]

How strongly are you feeling right about now? This thread was made before Schaub got hurt...

Still feeling the same about our chances?

I think I voted 7 when we made this three weeks ago....

Of course we've won a few games since then, but I'd probably go up to an 8.7. If we can get past Cincy unscathed I think we'll do it...

[ziggy29]

Originally Posted by Rey

Of course we've won a few games since then, but I'd probably go up to an 8.7. If we can get past Cincy unscathed I think we'll do it...

Since the OP was asking about our chances of going 10-3, I'm thinking that being 9-3 now, if we can get past Cincy I'd feel 100% about our chances of 10-3...

[Rey]

Originally Posted by ziggy29

Since the OP was asking about our chances of going 10-3, I'm thinking that being 9-3 now, if we can get past Cincy I'd feel 100% about our chances of 10-3...