[NFL.com] Houston Texans have yet to be tested

[b0ng]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...ed-this-season

Houston Texans have yet to be tested this season

By Marc Sessler
Around the League Writer
Published: Sept. 16, 2012 at 04:55 p.m.
Updated: Sept. 16, 2012 at 06:03 p.m.

Print

Through two weeks of this young season, the Houston Texans have arrived as advertised.

Facing a soft early schedule, Houston beat up an iffy Miami Dolphins squad in the opener and kept the party going Sunday in a 27-7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

He's certainly right and I am now officially amped up to go see Peytons new digs at Mile High. How do you feel about it?

[TheMatrix31]

Part of the test is thoroughly handling teams you're supposed to handle.

Let's see what happens in Denver.

[The Pencil Neck]

You gotta beat the teams you're supposed to beat. We've done that so far.

Let's see what the Broncos do tomorrow night. Personally, I expect them to handle the Falcons pretty easily. The Forehead has, apparently, come back and is in good form. Personally, I think he's lost a bit off his throws but he's so damned smart that he's able to compensate for that.


I expect the game next week to be a really good test of where we're at. It's going to be a tough one. It's a game that a lot of people on this board already penciled in as a loss prior to the season -- I was not one of those people.

I think we win it and go 3-0 for the first time in team history.

[EllisUnit]

Originally Posted by The Pencil Neck

You gotta beat the teams you're supposed to beat. We've done that so far.

Let's see what the Broncos do tomorrow night. Personally, I expect them to handle the Falcons pretty easily. The Forehead has, apparently, come back and is in good form. Personally, I think he's lost a bit off his throws but he's so damned smart that he's able to compensate for that.


I expect the game next week to be a really good test of where we're at. It's going to be a tough one. It's a game that a lot of people on this board already penciled in as a loss prior to the season -- I was not one of those people.

I think we win it and go 3-0 for the first time in team history.

i think we surprise a lot of people and win it BIG !!!!!!

[kwayshauntay]

ask the patriots and the cowboys about soft schedules

[Norg]

i think yes this will be a good test but i still think our most important games are the two back to back prime time games


Vs packers and VS ravens


esp the ravens game that will prob be the morst important game of the season other then vs titans and @ titans

[BlueSteel]

I feel for Miami, nobody seems to want to give them any credit. They are a better team than the press is making them out to be.

Cannot wait for next week to see what excuses we get. "Broncos not a true test, Texans have an easy schedule, Blah Blah, Blah."

Oh well, a win is a win.

[EllisUnit]

All i kow is that the Dolphins won this week, pretty easily. Maybe everyone we have beaten isnt as bad as "we have made them look" and we are just better than a lot of people think.

So far the AFC in general looks ripe for the taking.

[welsh texan]

Next week at Denver...biggest game in franchise history?

In all seriousness though, I'm looking forward to going up against Peyton next week, Denver have a legit D and a legit O by the looks of things, Peyton looked good last week and I'll be watching with interest tonight to see how he looks again. He'll be on a short week which should give us some advantage.

I don't think the fins are as bad as we made them look last week either.

At the end of the day, the last number of seasons we've been handed brutal starts that have made it difficult to get off to a good record early in the season. This year we really need to capitalise on.

If we can start 5-0 it would be huge, a couple of tough games going into the bye which I'd hope to split and suddenly we'd be all set to take the top seed in the playoffs.

[HJam72]

Originally Posted by welsh texan

Next week at Denver...biggest REGULAR SEASON game in franchise history?

In all seriousness though...

I know you were joking, but I still just had ta fix for ya.

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by BlueSteel

I feel for Miami, nobody seems to want to give them any credit. They are a better team than the press is making them out to be.

Cannot wait for next week to see what excuses we get. "Broncos not a true test, Texans have an easy schedule, Blah Blah, Blah."

Oh well, a win is a win.

I agree the Fish are a much better team than many give them credit for.


They have a solid defense , and possibly the best DT pair in the entire NFL.


The common denominator between the first two games was poor QB play by both Gabbert and Tannehill. Outside of that , those two teams are pretty solid.


The Texans wont face a week QB in week three .... they'll face one of the games best.

Denver's defense is also pretty solid on all levels ... and along with that almost certain HOF QB , they can run the ball.


This game could come down to who has the ball last - the opportunity to score last.

[TejasTom]

Originally Posted by Corrosion

...
The common denominator between the first two games was poor QB play by both Gabbert and Tannehill. Outside of that , those two teams are pretty solid.
...

One thing I noticed last year was several teams played poor against us.

[Thorn]

Originally Posted by welsh texan

Next week at Denver...biggest game in franchise history? .

LOL. It's our Super Bowl.

[Trail.Blazr]

I understand what Sessler is saying and there is some room for debate, but he's right in the sense that Houston hasn't played a team that was remotely expected to be playing in January. So far, it's a blueprint for success, imho.

Recapping some of the sentiment on this board...
- Calling the Dolphins "iffy" is being a bit naive. The Dolphins are a tough team to beat. But even with a solid win on the scoreboard, a lot of peeps feel the game was closer than the score indicated. (I can recall the days when Houston was on the other side of that equation).
- Jags on the other hand, are an IR mess and I felt like Houston handled them as soundly as anyone should have expected.

So, with a "2 week tune up" out of the way, there are some things I like.

• 2-0 baby!! They are who we thought they were!
• No Significant injuries.
• 2 games for the O-Line to develop further
• Red Zone Scoring
• Teams still don't have much tape on the Texans, who've gone 2-0 with semi-vanilla play calling.
• Defense has given up 10pts total in 2 games :-)
• Kube's hasn't "outcoached" himself... (yet?) But then again, he hasn't had to.

These are my simple observations, that I believe bode well for this team gearing up for week 3, which I believe is our toughest week of the schedule. Denver, a team who won a playoff game last year with Tebow under center, has apparently "upgraded" with whom a majority of NFL fans would consider to be one of the best in the game, and whom I consider to be Texans' kryptonite... This Peyton led Bronco team has a high probability of competing for the AFC Championship this season. With my homer goggles on, Houston could very well be who they are playing for the Conference Championship game.

[gtexan02]

Originally Posted by Corrosion

The common denominator between the first two games was poor QB play by both Gabbert and Tannehill. Outside of that , those two teams are pretty solid.

After Gabberts first game against the Vikings (and throughout the preseason), most NFL commentators said he had turned the corner and was looking like the biggest turn around of the year. He played his best game as a pro in week 1

Tannehill's second game he had 300+ yards, multiple touchdowns, and a passer rating of over 100


I'm just saying the common denominator may be that we made them poor QBs

[Double Barrel]

I thought it was a fairly complimentary article.

We beat two teams that we were supposed to beat. That the Texans didn't shoot themselves in the feet and play down to lesser teams is a positive sign. They certainly made it look easy.

But like the article says, we have a stretch in the schedule that should reveal the heart and soul of the 2012 Texans. I think they have the potential to beat anyone, especially if they don't make stupid mistakes.

[MojoMan]

Maybe, but the Texan's defense is currently #1 in both total defense (196 ypg) and passing defense (124 ypg):

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/te...sition/defense

Not only are the Texans delivering the wins, the defense is delivering the stats as well. And the offense is also playing very well, even if it is not putting up pin-ball machine type numbers.

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

I'm just saying the common denominator may be that we made them poor QBs

I wont dispute that .... Tannehill actually looked good against the Texans until that second quarter meltdown and once they fell behind , he didnt stand a chance against that pass rush .... but Gabbert is who we thought he was , a scrub.

[The Pencil Neck]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

After Gabberts first game against the Vikings (and throughout the preseason), most NFL commentators said he had turned the corner and was looking like the biggest turn around of the year. He played his best game as a pro in week 1

Tannehill's second game he had 300+ yards, multiple touchdowns, and a passer rating of over 100


I'm just saying the common denominator may be that we made them poor QBs

I'm glad someone else said this because I was thinking the same exact thing. And don't forget Reggie Bush going OFF after being kept fairly quiet most of the game against us.

Unfortunately, the counter-argument is that it might not be that we were making them look that bad but rather that Minnesota and Oakland really are that bad and were making them look good.

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. The Raiders played the Chargers pretty hard and if it hadn't been for that whole long-snapper debacle could have been in that game. The Vikings, otoh, lost to the Colts.

I do think we made them both look worse than they actually are. But we might have broken Gabbert's psyche in the process and he might never recover.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by kwayshauntay

ask the patriots and the cowboys about soft schedules

Also, setting aside yesterday's shocker in NE, the Pats always seem to have one of the softest schedules in the league year after year after year, yet no one ever questions their place in the power rankings on the basis of their cupcake opponents. They always get the benefit of the doubt. I call b.s. on that.