Forget winning the division, we should now be playing for a 1st round bye!

[Kimmy]

Originally Posted by HJam72

OMG, that sounds good.

I think this may be "super fans" next tattoo. Must not drink Kool Aid (as much as I want too!)

[Hervoyel]

Oh yes, and you can bet we're not done losing this year. I don't expect us to win out but look at who our "rivals" for the #1 seed have left on their schedules?


In the East:

New England still has to play the Jets, Eagles, and Buffalo. Their "easy wins" remaining are Kansas City, Indy, Washington, Denver, & Miami.

The Jets still have the Patriots, Bills, Eagles, and Giants. They have easy games against Denver, Washington, Kansas City, and Miami.

Buffalo still has to play the Cowboys, Jets, Chargers, and Patriots with games against Denver, Miami, Tennessee, and Miami again rounding out their schedule.

I don't see any of those teams running the table. That division still has a lot of beating each other up to do.

In the North:

Baltimore plays Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, San Francisco, San Diego, and Cincinnati again. Easy games are Seattle, Cleveland (twice), and Indy.

Cincinnati has to play Pittsburgh (twice), Baltimore (twice), and Houston. They should be fine against Arizona, St Louis (that's what the Saints thought too), and Cleveland.

Pittsburgh still gets Baltimore, Cincinnati (twice), and San Francisco. They clean up on KC, Cleveland (twice), and St Louis. We've already beaten them though

The North also has a lot of division games where somebody is going to lose.

The West I don't even think we need to worry about (as far as the top seed goes). A team could win that division with a .500 record this year (and they say we play in the worst division in football?).

We take care of our business and good things will happen. We've never had a defense like this before. It's partly because we're playing bad teams but it's also partly because we're playing with so much intensity. We're giving these bad teams exactly what we're supposed to. Nothing.

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by Texn4life

There will be two 2 loss teams at the end of the day, and both of them will be in the AFC North. With the schedule we have we can definitely be in the top 2 at the end of the year. It's time that we start setting our expectations a little bit higher. Also, I want to give a big high five to the Bengals!!!!!

The Texans get to visit the Bengals in Cincy soon enough ..... they are a pretty damn solid team. Quite possibly the toughest game remaining on the schedule.

Originally Posted by TEXANS4MARIO

AND a sunday night game where we can watch the Ravens try and bring Big Ben down a notch. So tired of hearing that if they were completely healthy, they would have beaten the Texans. Injuries? You gonna talk injuries to the Texans.

I'd much rather have the Steelers beat the Ravens since the Texans have the head to head tie breaker Vs the Steelers but not against the Ravens.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

We have a schedule of "not impossible" opponents. We have our hardest games out of the way, or at least the ones that we all universally expected to be the hardest games. Our remaining "tough games" are all scheduled very nicely. Atlanta & Carolina we get here at home. We have a Bengals team on the road.

If we can beat Tampa Bay this week and go to 7-3 things look promising.

I'm thinking Paper Tiger. I remember playing them a couple of years ago, when they had the 2nd best run defense in the league..... 5 or 6 games into the season. We had one of our best running games that year.

I know it's a different year & all...... their defense is most likely better, but I think our run game is as well. 10 fold.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by fiasco west

Ha, I was thinking three games too but I'd replace the Panthers with the Bengals.

I think they have the defense and passing attack to really threathen us. Not sure about the Panthers defense...and Cam is prone to INTs as well and our guys get INTs.

He's also prone to extending plays & hitting Steve Smith in the endzone.

If our defense was as bad as the Titans' I'd be worried about Cincy... as it is, not so much.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

Because anything can happen in today's modern-day NFL.
Ask the Saints if they expected to lose to the Rams.
Ask the Chiefs if they expected to lose to the winless Dolphins.
Ask Belichick if he thought Eli would out-Brady, Tom Brady.

I count no chickens before they hatch.

Nobody is counting chickens.... it's all speculation. Herv wrote an excellent post. Every game, not just Texans' games, have a little extra meaning now.

It would be a fail... I think, a monumental fail..... if the Texans, or their fans, are satisfied with winning this weak division. Another win by us & another loss by the Titans, then winning the division is done.

You may not be thinking about it, but I guarantee you it's going to be all over Houston Sports Radio if we beat Tampa @Tampa

[fiasco west]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

He's also prone to extending plays & hitting Steve Smith in the endzone.

If our defense was as bad as the Titans' I'd be worried about Cincy... as it is, not so much.

Hopefully we beat both of them. Just that the Bengals have shown the ability to win games and Dalton is the real deal I feel, so is Green. I saw Dunlap go down and he was all over the place...they have a really good team this year.

[EllisUnit]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

Nobody is counting chickens.... it's all speculation. Herv wrote an excellent post. Every game, not just Texans' games, have a little extra meaning now.

It would be a fail... I think, a monumental fail..... if the Texans, or their fans, are satisfied with winning this weak division. Another win by us & another loss by the Titans, then winning the division is done.

You may not be thinking about it, but I guarantee you it's going to be all over Houston Sports Radio if we beat Tampa @Tampa

Agree with this. We need to secure homefield advantage for sure. It will make more of a statment than winning the divison will. I cant wait for the play-offs it will be so awesome to be able to cheer for my team in jan/feb.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

We take care of our business and good things will happen. We've never had a defense like this before. It's partly because we're playing bad teams but it's also partly because we're playing with so much intensity. We're giving these bad teams exactly what we're supposed to. Nothing.

The bolded is very important, I think. Yeah our schedule turned out to be pretty weak, our division turned out to be pretty weak... but it's not like we're shooting it out with any of these weak teams.

We're playing good, solid football on both sides of the ball & getting better every week.

[Giant Tiger]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

I've been negative for so long that I'm dying to be optimistic about this team. I'm not saying "We're going! Count on it!" I'm just saying that I think right now, this season we have just as much right to be optimistic as fans of any other team currently in contention for their division title.

We have a schedule of "not impossible" opponents. We have our hardest games out of the way, or at least the ones that we all universally expected to be the hardest games. Our remaining "tough games" are all scheduled very nicely. Atlanta & Carolina we get here at home. We have a Bengals team on the road.

If we can beat Tampa Bay this week and go to 7-3 things look promising.

It's the next game against Tampa Bay that worries me the most, probably because I'm not really confident in Kubiak keeping the players focused on the game with the bye coming up. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we need an in your face coach this week. If we win this game, we'll get a bye. I just hope the we don't come out flat.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Giant Tiger

It's the next game against Tampa Bay that worries me the most, probably because I'm not really confident in Kubiak keeping the players focused on the game with the bye coming up. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we need an in your face coach this week. If we win this game, we'll get a bye. I just hope the we don't come out flat.

The Bucs won't finish the season with a winning record.


This is a slam dunk for Kubiak.....

[EllisUnit]

Originally Posted by Giant Tiger

It's the next game against Tampa Bay that worries me the most, probably because I'm not really confident in Kubiak keeping the players focused on the game with the bye coming up. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we need an in your face coach this week. If we win this game, we'll get a bye. I just hope the we don't come out flat.

i feel pretty good with the way tate and foster have been running the ball. We can control the clock, Schaub dont need to force the ball. The defense stays rested. Things are looking up. I am not as concerned about focus as i used to be, we have the talent to win every week even if we have an off game.

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

The Bucs won't finish the season with a winning record.


This is a slam dunk for Kubiak.....

I think under estimating Tampa Bay is a mistake ..... They are a good team playing in a tough division. Cant overlook the fact that they won 10 games last year.

And its in Tampa ... which is a big factor.

[EllisUnit]

Originally Posted by Corrosion

I think under estimating Tampa Bay is a mistake ..... They are a good team playing in a tough division. Cant overlook the fact that they won 10 games last year.

And its in Tampa ... which is a big factor.

yeah i agree i think tampa is pretty good and will only get better, but i do however feel confident that tate and foster can carry us to victory. Remember we are doing all this without one of the top WRs in the NFL.

[Showtime100]

Originally Posted by Corrosion

I think under estimating Tampa Bay is a mistake ..... They are a good team playing in a tough division. Cant overlook the fact that they won 10 games last year.

And its in Tampa ... which is a big factor.

I couldn't agree more. They gave the Saints all they wanted today and as a Texan fan that's all I need to worry.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

Nobody is counting chickens.... it's all speculation. Herv wrote an excellent post. Every game, not just Texans' games, have a little extra meaning now.

It would be a fail... I think, a monumental fail..... if the Texans, or their fans, are satisfied with winning this weak division. Another win by us & another loss by the Titans, then winning the division is done.

You may not be thinking about it, but I guarantee you it's going to be all over Houston Sports Radio if we beat Tampa @Tampa

For the record, I think we have an excellent chance at having the best record in the AFC because I don't think any AFC team comes out of this season with fewer than four losses. The threats are the Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Pats, Jets, and Bills. Fortunately there is ample opportunity for them to knock each other off and, by so doing, help us.

But that means we cannot afford more than one more loss the rest of the way. With our remaining schedule strength, that's definitely possible.

I just don't like looking past the upcoming opponent.

But that's just me.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Showtime100

I couldn't agree more. They gave the Saints all they wanted today and as a Texan fan that's all I need to worry.

yeah, and that was IN the SuperDome.
And mobile QBs have always given us fits.
Don't sell TB cheap.

[Hervoyel]

Originally Posted by Giant Tiger

It's the next game against Tampa Bay that worries me the most, probably because I'm not really confident in Kubiak keeping the players focused on the game with the bye coming up. I hope I'm wrong, but I think we need an in your face coach this week. If we win this game, we'll get a bye. I just hope the we don't come out flat.

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

The Bucs won't finish the season with a winning record.


This is a slam dunk for Kubiak.....

One game at a time every week and all that but seriously, the game we should be worried about is the one after the bye. The most dangerous thing for a young team learning to deal with success is a week off to read their press and do interviews about how good they are. The scary game takes place in Jacksonville after the bye. How they deal with that will really tell us how far we've come.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by EllisUnit

i feel pretty good with the way tate and foster have been running the ball. We can control the clock, Schaub dont need to force the ball. The defense stays rested. Things are looking up. I am not as concerned about focus as i used to be, we have the talent to win every week even if we have an off game.

I think Kubiak should get a little kudos for finally learning how to mix it up with two running backs. This is the kind of running game he should be calling (or whoever is sending & subbing these two guys).

Keep them both fresh, & don't wait till the game is "over" before you lean on Tate a little bit. Using Tate early & often is like throwing the change up, they are totally different runners, both very affective & deadly.

Defenses won't ever get a break.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Corrosion

I think under estimating Tampa Bay is a mistake ..... They are a good team playing in a tough division. Cant overlook the fact that they won 10 games last year.

And its in Tampa ... which is a big factor.

I had no respect for their 10 wins last year.