Sunday Night Against Patriots?

[Bamaborn-Texasbred]

Call me crazy, but....

If the Texans run the table or lose only one of the next four games they might find themselves playing New England on NBC week 15. They would probably have to run the table, and that still wouldn't guarantee anything. I can dream if I want.

If the Texans win the next 4 against Buffalo, Oakland, NY Jets, and the Titans, they will be 7-6. That would make them a legit threat for a wild-card berth. Their remaining games would be at New England, at home against a Colts team that won't need a win at that point, and on the road against the hapless Browns. I can dream.

[TexansLucky13]

Big dreaming there, buddy.....

P.S. - Browns is a home game.

[Bamaborn-Texasbred]

Originally Posted by TexansLucky13

Big dreaming there, buddy.....

P.S. - Browns is a home game.

Even better! Thanks.

[Reddevil63]

They are all winnable games, but they havent won more than two in a row so I wouldnt get too excited. That being said, it was about this time last year the Dolphing started clicking and won their last 7.

[TexansLucky13]

We seem to play the Patriots pretty well, too. I just wish it were at Reliant. My two favorite teams.

[Double Barrel]

Love y'all's optimism, but I can't drink that koolaide right now. We have yet to even win back-to-back games this season, so what makes us think that they can win FOUR in a row? Considering the injuries we've sustained, the lack of depth, and the inconsistent play from week-to-week, I think this scenario is highly unlikely in spite of what is possible.

Of course I hope I am proven completely wrong, as I'd love to have some roasted crow in a few weeks when we're 7-6. I'll even cook and serve it!

[Reddevil63]

I like mine extra cripsy with a side of mashed potatoes

[WiiBrawler]

This Is How I would see it play out

Bufallo Bills-W 24-21
@Oakland Raiders-W 17-16
Tennesse Titans-W 17-14
New York Jets-L 14-17
New England Patriots-L 28-21
Indianapolis Colts-W 28-21
Cleveland Browns-W 14-10

So I have us beating the Bills in a game we Shouldwin because we are at home and we are getting things together, I have us winning at oakland, beating Tennesse because the home field should help us,here is where it gets tough,I have us losing at the New York Jets because the Jets are a good team, they completely out-played the Patriots on the road, and because they are a good team, I have us losing at the Patriots because Brady comes up huge in the clutch and probably will fighting in the division race,now here where it gets good, we come back to our home crowd for a huge game against Colts in Texan Fans eyes, we should win this game because the colts should be sitting their starters for the playoffs and they shoudnt care about this game,then we face our hated rivals the cleveland browns,i have us winning but we shoudnt take the browns for granted we all remember 2004 dont we?

So that puts us at 8-8 where many of us including me predicted us to be

So No Wild Card This Year, we will improve next year

[Double Barrel]

An 8-8 record this year would be HUGE, and would definitely set us up for a playoff wildcard run next year. I don't want to even entertain the thought, for fear of jinxing us.

[hollywood_texan]

The Texans beat the Dolphins and the Jags twice, and now this is somehow an 8-8 team?

This team still has big issues on offense when it comes to scoring quality points and getting quick drives together. The offense is too slow and predictable. Meanwhile, the defense still has a very thin secondary that can be easliy exposed. Combine that with the kicking and punting games that have turned to mediocre this season, and you have a team that could probably lose the rest of it's games a lot easier than going 5-2 here on out.

Probably what to watch is how the Texans do the next 3 games. The consensus seems to be they should win all three of these.

If the Texans are really has good as some of you think, they should beat the Bills and Raiders going away with Carr on the sidelines in the 4th quarter because they are winning the games going away.

[tsip]

JMO, but we'd better learn how to score some pts these next 7 games or it could get 'ugly.' Our defense has kept us in games lately. We avg more pts per game our 1st 4 games than our last 5--our last 2 were less than 12.

Kubiak has 'dumb downed' the offense to 'rock bottom' to minimize mistakes and keep 'frality of the mind' at a minimum, so we better hope our defense can continue keeping our opponents scoring at a minimum.

...and those Browns get no respect! Their 6 losses are by an avg of less than a TD per game...and, too, where are we going to 'suddenly' get all these pts to win 'all' these games? We're going to go from a 16 pt avg to over a 20pt avg ? Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think we've ever had a 7 game 'stretch' in our history that we avg 20pts...wow, this would be fun to see!!!

[kcwilson]

Originally Posted by hollywood_texan

The Texans beat the Dolphins and the Jags twice, and now this is somehow an 8-8 team?

This team still has big issues on offense when it comes to scoring quality points and getting quick drives together. The offense is too slow and predictable. Meanwhile, the defense still has a very thin secondary that can be easliy exposed. Combine that with the kicking and punting games that have turned to mediocre this season, and you have a team that could probably lose the rest of it's games a lot easier than going 5-2 here on out.

Probably what to watch is how the Texans do the next 3 games. The consensus seems to be they should win all three of these.

If the Texans are really has good as some of you think, they should beat the Bills and Raiders going away with Carr on the sidelines in the 4th quarter because they are winning the games going away.

Agree on this point... we still haven't been able to expose the middle of the field in the passing game... everything is along the sidelines, which is safe and I like what we have been doing.

We need to be able to use the middle of the field and find open spots in those zone coverages. Once we get to the 20 yard line, it seems as if everything is too congested for our short passing game.

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by Reddevil63

They are all winnable games, but they havent won more than two in a row so I wouldnt get too excited. That being said, it was about this time last year the Dolphing started clicking and won their last 7.

Didn't quite carry over to this year, did it?

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

An 8-8 record this year would be HUGE, and would definitely set us up for a playoff wildcard run next year. I don't want to even entertain the thought, for fear of jinxing us.

See above. Way too many things happen during the offseason regarding free agency turnover that it basically renders what happens the season before as bad indicator of what happens next season. Everyone thought Miami was a sure-fire lock to go to the playoffs because of that 7-0 run.

You're right . . . finishing 8-8 when they once 2-6 would be huge. But don't get caught up in the expectations.

[TexanFan881]

I really hope your right and this game is on Sunday night football. Would be the first game I get to see this year: by looking on the coverage maps I've gotten close but nothing yet. The Colts games are over and it's looking slim - only shot I think I've got is we get moved to Sunday night (unlikely if we can't improve a lot) or the game on December 3rd against the Raiders is on (only other game on at 3 is Seattle and San Diego I think). For the next few weeks it's just going to be me, nfl.com, the forums, and live radio (thanks to kshn.com). I'm pumped someone was able to find that site, now I get something to listen to . So hopefully we'll a game or two on here.

[TexanSam]

Looking at the week 15 schedule (http://www.nfl.com/schedules#week15), I think Philly vs Giants might end up as the Sunday Nighter. Would be great if the Texans won 4 in a row and they put us there, but we haven't ever won 3 in a row.

[joedinkle]

Here to burst all of the homer's bubbles. We will not beat the Colts or the Patriots this season, and the Jets are also unlikely. Why does everyone think we can beat the Jets?

[mexican_texan]

How do we play the Browns three years in a row in Houston? Shouldn't we go to Cleveland sometime?

[K.D.]

Well the Colts won't be resting their starters when we play them cuz they will have lost afew games by then. We will beat the bills,titans,jets but it's just something I think will turn the raiders game into their favor. As for the pats we WILL beat them, I garuuunteee! This is not a joke neither. The colts are gonna get out with a close one Manning engineered late in the game. Watch what I saying FELLA'S
TEXANS 4 LIFE DOGG!!

[sakebomb]

I hope your right but we haven't won two games in a row in two years.

[audibles]

Originally Posted by TexanSam

Looking at the week 15 schedule (http://www.nfl.com/schedules#week15), I think Philly vs Giants might end up as the Sunday Nighter. Would be great if the Texans won 4 in a row and they put us there, but we haven't ever won 3 in a row.

Couple of things to keep in mind here... (besides the obvious fact that it's going to be very difficult for an injury-riddled team to win four more games this year, much less the next four):

* the Sunday night game is typically decided the week before, so the result of the Titans game probably won't be known when NBC makes this decision.

* CBS and FOX can each protect a certain number of games from being taken by NBC; given that, I could see Philly/Giants being protected by FOX and Chiefs/Chargers being protected by CBS. If that happens, there aren't too many other compelling match-ups in Week 15. This is where the East Coast media bias could help us land the Sunday night game since it involves the Pats. I would say Steelers/Panthers would be the main competition, depending on their relative records.