Death to Google Ads! Texans Talk Tip Jar! 🍺😎👍
Thanks for your support!

Overall fan response not what I expected

badboy

badboy

Hall of Fame
It is probably just me but Texans just don't seem to be getting the fan explosion I expected and hoped for. Perhaps if I am correct, it is just caution by many fans to avoid that let down of "fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice...".

Even on this MB where I've come to expect rabid and vociferous comments defending a writer's opinion, the tone just seems to be flat recently. Maybe it is just the bye week, midseason spot we find ourselves in. 7-1 going to Chicago I was expecting an explosion of chest thumping. I have not seen the avalanche of new fans (so called bandwagoners) to this message board. I have even decreased my listening to radio talk shows as it is the same blah blah but seemingly little fan excitement. This is despite getting the "all important" national coverage and some admisssion that Houston does have an NFL football team. Heck we are even picked by some experts to go to that Heaven on earth called Super Bowl.

This came to an head after the game against Buffalo as the team played (what is the right word?) not as well as I expected. Well the fans did not react as I expected either; more like "well glad that one is behind us, but not a looking forward to Bears either". I am basically a take it one game at a time guy but where is the maniacal fan base that I lived through during Luv Ya Blue era?
 
I think the term is cautiously optimistic.

I'll feel a lot better about this season if we win in Chicago. But we need to beat Chicago and/or NE for me to really good about this team heading into the playoffs.
 
I agree with Stemp. Win or a really good showing this week and I'll be much more comfortable with our chances.

I think we are all kind of looking at who we've beaten and seen that it is not a great group of teams. We've also come out flat in a couple of games-one we lost.
 
I think the confidence in the idea that we are going to the playoffs has made the regular season start to feel a tad boring. Not saying it will be boring the whole rest of the season, but it just feels kind of "blah" in a relaxed and good way right now. We just beat somebody pretty handily without bringing our A game. I think we'll be up for the Bears, but it isn't game-day yet...

Presidential race might have something to do with it too. Most Texans ain't too happy right now.
 
badboy said:
It is probably just me but Texans just don't seem to be getting the fan explosion I expected and hoped for. Perhaps if I am correct, it is just caution by many fans to avoid that let down of "fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice...".

Even on this MB where I've come to expect rabid and vociferous comments defending a writer's opinion, the tone just seems to be flat recently. Maybe it is just the bye week, midseason spot we find ourselves in. 7-1 going to Chicago I was expecting an explosion of chest thumping. I have not seen the avalanche of new fans (so called bandwagoners) to this message board. I have even decreased my listening to radio talk shows as it is the same blah blah but seemingly little fan excitement. This is despite getting the "all important" national coverage and some admisssion that Houston does have an NFL football team. Heck we are even picked by some experts to go to that Heaven on earth called Super Bowl.

This came to an head after the game against Buffalo as the team played (what is the right word?) not as well as I expected. Well the fans did not react as I expected either; more like "well glad that one is behind us, but not a looking forward to Bears either". I am basically a take it one game at a time guy but where is the maniacal fan base that I lived through during Luv Ya Blue era?
Click to expand...

Just waiting for the playoffs.
 
I think the base and the muff-hugga bandwaggoneers -- as Dread calls them -- were a bit sidetracked by the election. I expect sports will find its way to the top of the local news and public discourse once the O-hangover wears off.
 
Do any cities who have a dominant football team display chest thumping? Fact is, when a team is terrible everyone has their own opinion on how to fix things so it leads to a lot more discussion. When the Texans are rolling along, doing what they're supposed to do, what are as fans supposed to say? We all agree that they're doing great and that special teams sucks.
 
I don't know about everyone else, but once we got past that farce of an election, I am really pumped about the Bears game!

I'm going to be at On The Rocks in the Woodlands with the Battle Red Freaks cheering on my Texans!!

Fan Up, baby! Go Texans!!!!:texan::gotexans1
 
Stemp said:
I think the term is cautiously optimistic.

I'll feel a lot better about this season if we win in Chicago. But we need to beat Chicago and/or NE for me to really good about this team heading into the playoffs.
Click to expand...


This^^^^

Each team we've beaten thus far, even the best ones, has either had overwhelming warts or have been beaten with an ugly stick immediately prior to coming to the dance.

We are meeting the one loss Bears in the midst of their successful 6 game run. Although their schedule of wins have also been against teams with questionable strength, if we manage to come out showing less of our warts and revealing more of theirs, you will probably begin to see more "rah rah" than you can stand.
 
I hear what your saying from a "general populace" standpoint, but I've never experienced a season like this one from a stadium attendance standpoint. People are coming out to the games and sticking around until the end like never before.
 
Vinnie said:
I hear what your saying from a "general populace" standpoint, but I've never experienced a season like this one from a stadium attendance standpoint. People are coming out to the games and sticking around until the end like never before.
Click to expand...

That's BS! I commented to my wife how embarrasing it was that the stadium was half empty during the 4th quarter of the Bills game. We have a city full of fair weather fans. I could understand if we were getting blown out, but we were winning. I don't see the mass exodus from other stadiums when I see them on TV. It's quite strange IMHO.
 
I think some of the enthusiasm was lost when the Packers came in and stole our lunch money.

Bears aren't really battle tested either, so why would a win over them mean much?

Of course I'd rather win than lose, but I'm just sayin'....
 
Rey said:
Bears aren't really battle tested either, so why would a win over them mean much?

Of course I'd rather win than lose, but I'm just sayin'....
Click to expand...

This is true. This is a good indicator where both teams stand.
 
We made the playoffs last year with a ton of injuries. Going into this year.. we have talked about going deeper in the playoffs and staying healthy.

I think that most folks are excited about the Texans and see us as a team capable of playing in the superbowl.

But we also look at last year and see how easy it is for a great team to become a "good" team with a few key injuries.

Basically.. until we are in the playoffs with all of our important starters playing.. im going to be a little subdued in my fanaticism. 1 or 2 injuries could easily turn this into a replay of last year. Which was great...dont get me wrong.. but I think we would all like to see us accomplish more this time around.
 
Bears opponents winning % is .368

Texans opponents winning % is .438

Kind of puts it into perspective when they say "we" havent played anyone. The longer the season goes on, the better/stronger the schedule looks. Miami didnt turn out to be as bad as anyone thought they were going to be and Indy looks like its actually going to be a little test as they are very much in the hunt for the one of the wild card spots. We play them weeks 14 and 16. I secretly wished we played Indy in the beginning of the season before Andrew Luck got 13 NFL games under his belt but, oh well.

We shall crush him anyways...
 
Cjeremy635 said:
That's BS! I commented to my wife how embarrasing it was that the stadium was half empty during the 4th quarter of the Bills game. We have a city full of fair weather fans. I could understand if we were getting blown out, but we were winning. I don't see the mass exodus from other stadiums when I see them on TV. It's quite strange IMHO.
Click to expand...

Most stadiums start to empty when the game in hand, either way.

But there is usually a larger exodus when the home team is losing.
 
I still dont get why there were so many empty seats last week... are people having trouble getting into the stadium, are y'all dead drunk in the parking lot or are people just not showing up for the game?
 
I live in Vegas, and most Texas transplants are from the Southern Oklahoma city of Dallas, so lots of Stars on the cars. However in a 2 week period I saw 3 cars with some form of Texan advert, and one dude walk in to Wal Mart with a Texans Hat.

Used to be the only thing I saw was the occassional tourist with a Texans jersey or hat roaming the Casinos.

Not sure if the success is drawing them out, or maybe a couple of more folks moved he from H-Town.

Either way sure would be nice to get a "Texans Bar" so I could hang out with like minded people.
 
Cjeremy635 said:
That's BS! I commented to my wife how embarrasing it was that the stadium was half empty during the 4th quarter of the Bills game. We have a city full of fair weather fans. I could understand if we were getting blown out, but we were winning. I don't see the mass exodus from other stadiums when I see them on TV. It's quite strange IMHO.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it was perfect, but it has been markedly better than years past. Both with people being in their seats before the game and staying until the end. This has been my honest observation on the season as a whole. I know people were taking off a little early during the Bills game, but come on. If you can understand people leaving if the Texans are getting blown out, you certainly can see it the other way as well, right? We were joking with each other in the seats about the only thing the Bills had left to try for in the 4th quarter was a 10.5 point cover and they couldn't even pull that off.
 
Just wait till it's closer to playoff time. You'll see Houston rocking, the bandwagoners will be out in large numbers. Regular season really doesn't matter to me. We're a lock for the playoffs, probably a lock for a 1st round bye... those are the first two things that matter. After that you can wish for getting the #1 seed, but it's not a requirement IMO. If this team is healthy and stays healthy in the playoffs, the sky's the limit.
 
I am thoroughly enjoying myself. Being a displaced Texans fan up here in Maryland has it's advantages.... assuming that we donkey stomp the Ravens (which we did!). I talk Texans and wear Texans apparel as often as humanly possible. Life is great!
 
Cjeremy635 said:
That's BS! I commented to my wife how embarrasing it was that the stadium was half empty during the 4th quarter of the Bills game. We have a city full of fair weather fans. I could understand if we were getting blown out, but we were winning. I don't see the mass exodus from other stadiums when I see them on TV. It's quite strange IMHO.
Click to expand...

I was a little surprised that the steady stream of Texans fans leaving at the beginning of the 4th quarter. This is FOOTBALL!! And we have a great team! You pay full price for a ticket to FOUR quarters of NFL football, why not enjoy it?!

Then again, I'm one of the folks who sat through every home game of the 2-14 season, never leaving our seats until the clock showed 0:00, so I might not be the best person to comment on these folks.

Malloy said:
I still dont get why there were so many empty seats last week... are people having trouble getting into the stadium, are y'all dead drunk in the parking lot or are people just not showing up for the game?
Click to expand...

At one point, the place was packed. I even mentioned to my buddy that I was surprised at how full the wine & cheese levels were packed. Those folks are usually inside enjoying the luxuries not afforded to rabble like myself, but they were mostly there in seats at one point in the game.
 
For me, it's the feeling that we might indeed have the best team . . . in the AFC.

But when we play NFC teams, I'm wondering just how good we really are. Like someone else said, Green Bay tempered my enthusiasm.

Da Bears will tell me a lot about this team. Until then, I'm keeping it in check.
 
For me, its higher expectations.

I found the buffalo game boring because I expected to win so surely. Going 16-0 is meaningless if you don't take home the Lombardi trophy
 
While I'm not going to say that I will celebrate a Super Bowl loss, I will certainly be as happy as a pig in mud if they just make it to the big game.

And honestly, this city will party so hard and hold those guys up as kings if they just make it to the Super Bowl. I could see the potential to lose focus because of all the hype and excitement of a city waiting many decades for the opportunity.

I think Stemp nailed the term, though: cautiously optimistic. We have been conditioned far too long to wait for the other shoe to drop. So let's see them clinch a playoff spot and win multiple playoff games before we assume anything.
 
its biz nas has usual we have done nothing yet we havent won the divison havent locked up the Number 1 seed havent won our div playoff game ....

so its still all hands on deck plusss i dont know about yall but im thinking long term i just dont wanna win this years SB i wanna be good from here on out like the steelers and the Pats i want the texans to be good all the way up to 2020

and with Matts and Andre age that worries me in 3 years they will be gone or retired ...so we are going to haveeeee to Hit strong on our draft picks
 
The reason is simple:


581.gif


Thanks to those **** faces, Houston will need to witness a Super Bowl win by the Texans to rid itself of pessimism.
 
HJam72 said:
I think the confidence in the idea that we are going to the playoffs has made the regular season start to feel a tad boring. Not saying it will be boring the whole rest of the season, but it just feels kind of "blah" in a relaxed and good way right now. We just beat somebody pretty handily without bringing our A game. I think we'll be up for the Bears, but it isn't game-day yet...

Presidential race might have something to do with it too. Most Texans ain't too happy right now.
Click to expand...
Very well put and is some of my feelings also.
 
pluusss the PLayoff game last year it was NUTZZZ in terms of noise so i expect i to be 2X more epic this year
 
Cjeremy635 said:
That's BS! I commented to my wife how embarrasing it was that the stadium was half empty during the 4th quarter of the Bills game. We have a city full of fair weather fans. I could understand if we were getting blown out, but we were winning. I don't see the mass exodus from other stadiums when I see them on TV. It's quite strange IMHO.
Click to expand...

People left the bills game in the 4th qtr Cause simply we didnt take the bills serious LOL ..if it was a closer game then yeah things would be different plus alot of people also like to hanf out in the bar areas or go back outside to thetailgate in the 4th
 
TexanSam said:
Do any cities who have a dominant football team display chest thumping? Fact is, when a team is terrible everyone has their own opinion on how to fix things so it leads to a lot more discussion. When the Texans are rolling along, doing what they're supposed to do, what are as fans supposed to say? We all agree that they're doing great and that special teams sucks.
Click to expand...

Sam you might not remember the craziness of Luv ya Blue but this city went berserk for two years. I mean strangers meeting by chance in an elevator or just anywhere immediately began talking Oilers. The only thing close to that was the Rockets 1994 and 1995. We may be a dominant thing but still baby new to it; so yeah chest thumping should be rampant. We are nowhere near Packer or Patriot fan expectations of an annual playoff appearance. Texans (people not the team) have always lived through sports from kiddie ball to majors. Having lost an NFL team and going through several losing and so so seasons with McNair's team, I just expect more at least for now.
 
Houston fans will always love the texans win or lose cause they are afriad of losing them like the oilers they dont want to Ever lose the texans
 
ItsMyFault said:
Just wait till it's closer to playoff time. You'll see Houston rocking, the bandwagoners will be out in large numbers. Regular season really doesn't matter to me. We're a lock for the playoffs, probably a lock for a 1st round bye... those are the first two things that matter. After that you can wish for getting the #1 seed, but it's not a requirement IMO. If this team is healthy and stays healthy in the playoffs, the sky's the limit.
Click to expand...
I can see the bolded if we were talking about basketball or baseball which goes on forever or Hockey that never stops but 16 games? The people I've watched football with go nuts. Yeah 3 adults sometime more yelling another Houston Texans first down. Yelling almost every play as if the players, coaches and referees could hear us or would care if they could. I also believe the Rocket fan is a different breed of cat than the Texan fan.

I don't read only the last chapter of a book and then say I had the experience the author was trying to give.
 
These are the remaining games on the reg. season schedule. Eight games left and five of them on the road. Depending on which version of the Texans decide to show up we could win all of them or lose most of them.

11/11 - Bears (anyone else scared of the Bears special teams vs. ours?? ...or Brandon Marshall against a somewhat gimpy J-Jo??)
11/18 - Jags (meh)
11/22 - Lions (Matthew Stafford and Megatron; don't laugh, Stafford has more passing yds than Aaron Rodgers or Matt Ryan)
12/02 - Titans (meh)
12/10 - Pats (errr... Brady, Thomas... 'nuff said)
12/16 - Colts (a pretty damn good rookie and a team playing inspired ball for their seriously ill head coach)
12/23 - Vikings (Adrian Peterson)
12/30 - Colts (see above, but hopefully we'll be playing 2nd & 3rd stringers)

And it's not just the offense that concerns me; if the defense that got embarrassed by the Packers is the one that shows up for the Bears, Lions, Pats, or Vikings (hell, the way Luck is playing, even the Colts) we could go on a losing streak. All those teams have a stud or two that could torch our secondary or gash our run defense (see comments next to each game).

So when we get past that murderer's row of road games, maybe folks will let loose...
maybe....
even then there are still things to fret about...

For example, I know if we go to Brady's place with a 10-2 record, I'll be very worried. Because that game will be for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

If we're 9-3 or worse when we go to Brady's place, we're playing for the second bye - or worse - because I don't see anyone on the Pats' schedule that can take them down before we play them.

All that to say, it's waaaaay too soon for chest thumping.
 
I knew somebody was going to start a Luv Ya Blue fanbase is better than a Texans fanbase someday.....this is that thread.....lol
next......
 
Big Lou said:
I live in Vegas, and most Texas transplants are from the Southern Oklahoma city of Dallas, so lots of Stars on the cars. However in a 2 week period I saw 3 cars with some form of Texan advert, and one dude walk in to Wal Mart with a Texans Hat.

Used to be the only thing I saw was the occassional tourist with a Texans jersey or hat roaming the Casinos.

Not sure if the success is drawing them out, or maybe a couple of more folks moved he from H-Town.

Either way sure would be nice to get a "Texans Bar" so I could hang out with like minded people.
Click to expand...


When we played the Broncos a few weeks back I was in Vegas at the Aria hotel/casino and we had more people with Texans gear on than any other team.

I think the support has been phenomenal and every home game has been packed, in years past when I enter the red lot 30 minutes before kickoff I could drive at least 10 empty rows before cars are parked. This year the entire parking lot if basically full when I enter(like I said around 30 min before kickoff).

It will continue to grow as we get closer to the playoffs and continue to win.
Specifically the support around JJ Watt has been incredible.
 
I live in Cowboys country, but I still see so many Texans gear. I don't remember ever seeing so many Texans merchandise. The response is great here.

Last year, if I wanted to watch a Texans game on the local channels, I wouldn't be able to. This year, I think they've broadcasted the Texans game every week here, except for 1 game.
 
badboy said:
I can see the bolded if we were talking about basketball or baseball which goes on forever or Hockey that never stops but 16 games? The people I've watched football with go nuts. Yeah 3 adults sometime more yelling another Houston Texans first down. Yelling almost every play as if the players, coaches and referees could hear us or would care if they could. I also believe the Rocket fan is a different breed of cat than the Texan fan.

I don't read only the last chapter of a book and then say I had the experience the author was trying to give.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean that in terms of fan response. I honestly don't know why I even included any of that in this thread.

What I meant by that is there's no reason to overreact over regular season games. We've seen the last two years where teams that have had injuries and average regular seasons still win super bowls. It's really how this team plays around week 14-17.

As far as fan response to the regular season goes, I definitely agree. Football's different, there's nothing that really comes close to it. I love Sundays.
 
Cjeremy635 said:
That's BS! I commented to my wife how embarrasing it was that the stadium was half empty during the 4th quarter of the Bills game. We have a city full of fair weather fans. I could understand if we were getting blown out, but we were winning. I don't see the mass exodus from other stadiums when I see them on TV. It's quite strange IMHO.
Click to expand...

Yeah, too many people bail half way through the 4th quarter. I remember the Falcons game last year a few in my section cleared out. And you're not gonna find a better down the stretch game than that.
 
I think we can expect to see a massive influx of "new" fans near playoff time, and especially if we can make a run in the playoffs.
 
badboy said:
Sam you might not remember the craziness of Luv ya Blue but this city went berserk for two years. I mean strangers meeting by chance in an elevator or just anywhere immediately began talking Oilers. The only thing close to that was the Rockets 1994 and 1995. We may be a dominant thing but still baby new to it; so yeah chest thumping should be rampant. We are nowhere near Packer or Patriot fan expectations of an annual playoff appearance. Texans (people not the team) have always lived through sports from kiddie ball to majors. Having lost an NFL team and going through several losing and so so seasons with McNair's team, I just expect more at least for now.
Click to expand...

Your last sentence holds the key to the problem.

A lot of folks had their heart ripped out when the Oilers left Houston. Maybe these folks have never recovered the way WE have?

For many people, they might have chosen other teams OR might have just give up on it altogether. Plus, with social media and smart phones we're not talking on elevators with people anymore...we're typing things onto a phone and interacting digitally now.

Those things might factor into the lack of buzz. If I want to chat it up about Texans football, I'm doing that here and not with random dude on elevator.

Different times.
 
GP said:
Your last sentence holds the key to the problem.

A lot of folks had their heart ripped out when the Oilers left Houston. Maybe these folks have never recovered the way WE have?

For many people, they might have chosen other teams OR might have just give up on it altogether. Plus, with social media and smart phones we're not talking on elevators with people anymore...we're typing things onto a phone and interacting digitally now.Those things might factor into the lack of buzz. If I want to chat it up about Texans football, I'm doing that here and not with random dude on elevator.

Different times.
Click to expand...
GP I think your post has much to do with it. I still strike up conversation with random folks wearing and NFl gear & lead into Texans but probably many do not do that.

I have stronger since of urgency/trepidation with Cody out now and OD probably reduced to just a few plays if that.
 
Double Barrel said:
I was a little surprised that the steady stream of Texans fans leaving at the beginning of the 4th quarter. This is FOOTBALL!! And we have a great team! You pay full price for a ticket to FOUR quarters of NFL football, why not enjoy it?!

Then again, I'm one of the folks who sat through every home game of the 2-14 season, never leaving our seats until the clock showed 0:00, so I might not be the best person to comment on these folks...
Click to expand...

I'm with you, I've never left early either. Good or bad, I stay til the end.
 
TejasTom said:
I'm with you, I've never left early either. Good or bad, I stay til the end.
Click to expand...

Heck, I always stay until the end even if it's a PS game, a basketball game, anything really. I can understand that some folks have other obligation afterward though.
 
some people dont like to get stuck in traffic some people go back to the parking lot to party and some people go upstairs to creep on da gurlz LOL
 
Stemp said:
I think the term is cautiously optimistic.
Click to expand...

Well, I think the truth of the matter is that we haven't done anything yet.

For us, who live & die BattleRed & SteelBlue, :koolaid: there is plenty to be excited about. But for the casuals & the muffhuggas... we haven't done anything yet.
 
Stemp said:
I think the term is cautiously optimistic.

I'll feel a lot better about this season if we win in Chicago. But we need to beat Chicago and/or NE for me to really good about this team heading into the playoffs.
Click to expand...

I'm feeling A LOT BETTER this morning!!!!


:koolaid:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top