My Fears

OK, I just want to get this out of my system. But we've played 1 game and that's probably not enough of a sample size to really know anything about what we've got with our team or what other teams have with theirs, but here are fears of mine...

1. The Colts actually suck this year. We're excited about beating the Colts because they've been the top dog of this division for a long time (except for a blip or two when the Titans have had good years.) But what if they really are suffering from the Super Bowl Loss Meltdown. What if they really suck this year and we just beat a sucky team and not the powerhouse we thought we beat? That would suck and devalue our thrashing of them and wouldn't be the springboard we think it is.

I mean, personally, I think that's what's happening to Washington right now. They beat a sucky Dallas team that beat themselves and now Washington fans think the Redskins have turned the corner and beaten this great team and that it's a sign of greater things to come. But most of us are pretty sure that the Redskin fans are delusional because they really just barely beat a crappy team that just proves that they're able to be a crappy team at home.

It would suck if we're the delusional ones.

2. Dennison broke our passing game. What if Kyle Shanahan's playcalling was the driving force behind Schaub's 4770 yard year and AJ's back to back 1500 yard years? What if Dennison is a hidebound run-first guy who fixes the run game but then can't dial up the right passing plays or doesn't have us coached up properly for our passing plays?

That would suck.

3. The wheels fall off. I think we've all been torched too many times by this team playing a good watershed game only to come out flat and lose to someone and have that loss totally devalue our supposed watershed. (The Titan/Jax games last year and then the Titan/Raider games the year before.)

4. Our defensive line. What if our defensive line only looked good because of the injuries to Saturday and Johnson? In the preseason, our lines looked good but only against the Cards and the Cowboys (with injuries all across their O-Line.) What if we can't get that same sort of pressure against other, healthier teams? That would suck.

5. Our offensive line. Now, I don't expect our offensive line to look as dominant as they did against the Colts every week. But what if the success our offensive line had is just an illusion because of how bad the Colts front 7 is? What if we can't continue to do this against more talented or bigger fronts? That would suck. It will be very interesting to see how we do against the Redskins because that will give us some indication of how we're going to play against 3-4's this season.

The Pencil Neck said:

OK, I just want to get this out of my system. But we've played 1 game and that's probably not enough of a sample size to really know anything about what we've got with our team or what other teams have with theirs, but here are fears of mine...

1. The Colts actually suck this year. We're excited about beating the Colts because they've been the top dog of this division for a long time (except for a blip or two when the Titans have had good years.) But what if they really are suffering from the Super Bowl Loss Meltdown. What if they really suck this year and we just beat a sucky team and not the powerhouse we thought we beat? That would suck and devalue our thrashing of them and wouldn't be the springboard we think it is.

I mean, personally, I think that's what's happening to Washington right now. They beat a sucky Dallas team that beat themselves and now Washington fans think the Redskins have turned the corner and beaten this great team and that it's a sign of greater things to come. But most of us are pretty sure that the Redskin fans are delusional because they really just barely beat a crappy team that just proves that they're able to be a crappy team at home.

It would suck if we're the delusional ones.

2. Dennison broke our passing game. What if Kyle Shanahan's playcalling was the driving force behind Schaub's 4770 yard year and AJ's back to back 1500 yard years? What if Dennison is a hidebound run-first guy who fixes the run game but then can't dial up the right passing plays or doesn't have us coached up properly for our passing plays?

That would suck.

3. The wheels fall off. I think we've all been torched too many times by this team playing a good watershed game only to come out flat and lose to someone and have that loss totally devalue our supposed watershed. (The Titan/Jax games last year and then the Titan/Raider games the year before.)

4. Our defensive line. What if our defensive line only looked good because of the injuries to Saturday and Johnson? In the preseason, our lines looked good but only against the Cards and the Cowboys (with injuries all across their O-Line.) What if we can't get that same sort of pressure against other, healthier teams? That would suck.

5. Our offensive line. Now, I don't expect our offensive line to look as dominant as they did against the Colts every week. But what if the success our offensive line had is just an illusion because of how bad the Colts front 7 is? What if we can't continue to do this against more talented or bigger fronts? That would suck. It will be very interesting to see how we do against the Redskins because that will give us some indication of how we're going to play against 3-4's this season.

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What if, what if, what if????.........

What if my Aunt had a ****? Then she'd be my Uncle.

Seriously?

Dude, relax. I think you have read the posts of a few confident Redskins fans that have joined our board the last couple of days, and you've let their confidence get in your head.

This isn't a scrub team. Last I checked, we do have some talent.

Relax.

My worst fear...



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houstonspartan said:

Seriously?

Dude, relax. I think you have read the posts of a few confident Redskins fans that have joined our board the last couple of days, and you've let their confidence get in your head.

This isn't a scrub team. Last I checked, we do have some talent.

Relax.

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I think most skins fans predict/expect an 8-8 season. I know my skins fan forum polls were overwhelmingly in that area. If Barron didnt hold then I think you would have seen a different emotional reaction from skins fans but win or lose last week, I think most skins fans would stick with their expectation of an 8-8 season. With that said, a lucky bounce here, a penalty there, and a team destined for 8-8 can become a 10-6 team.

If skins fans hanging their hat on the "any given sunday" mantra is confident, I guess where a bunch of cocky mo'fos.

TPN I understand some of your anxiety, and I think it is normal. The Texans have not yet proven to be the consistent good team. However, they have won 5 reg. season games in a row, and the mentality of this team just seems so different than past teams. I am not expecting a letdown from them. They know how big it would be to beat Shanny Sr again, and this time there is the added benefit of beating Shanny jr as well. This team plays big in games they feel are important to Kube's.

Very good post Pencil Neck. Me and a buddy were discussing the win on Sunday and we both agreed that the Colts looked just as bad as we looked good. Hard to say after just one game but I think it was a combination of us playing very well and the Colt (other than Peyton) looking absolutely terrible.

I definitely don't think that the pass game is broken. With our new found run game teams are going to have to make a choice on whether they want to keep rolling all that coverage to AJ's side of the field or commit an extra man to the box. AJ had his man burned for an easy walk in TD on a play action pass. Unfortunately Schaub got hit as he threw the ball and it came up short. I expect to see a lot more of that, hopefully we can keep Schaub upright next time.

I'm gonna take it one game at a time...

I'm not overly worried about any of that stuff, but of course all of that is a possibility.

Here's why I'm not worried:

(1) Even if the Colts have taken a step back, they are still a good team. If we assume that they have taken a step back, where would you rank them? Certainly not bottom half of the NFL...They'd at least have to be middle of the road. So, even if we beat a middle of the road team, I'm still happy with the win because we came out and handled business at the start of the season, which is something that we have struggled to do.

Also, I think that as long as that team has Manning and the two edge rushers in Mathis and Freeney putting pressure on QB's they will always be a good to really good team. The Pats didn't really have a Superbowl loss melt down, and I don't think the Colts will either. Their systems are too good, and they have great QB's.

(2) I actually thought about that after watching the Skins play this past Sunday. But then I thought about what our passing game has actually done. In the pre-season we didn't really have a problem throwing the ball around. From our first string down to our third string, we were able to call plays and move the ball through the air. Against Indy, we had good plays called...Jacoby made two drops, Matt threw one pick on a single WR route... that accounts for three incompletions right there. Two other times Andre had his man beat but the ball was either under thrown or the DB made a good play on the ball. That accounts for five incompletions. It's not like Matt is struggling to find where he wants to go with the ball...hence the play-calls themselves are not the problem...It's more-so of an execution thing, which can somewhat be expected the first game of the season...

Also, Dennison seems to draw up some good passing plays to get us in the end zone...Matt threw a couple good TD passes in pre-season, he had that gorgeous look off TD to K-dub, and he also had a pinpoint pass to Jacoby that was dropped...

Not too worried about the passing game. I think we're fine there.

(3) Definitely a possibility with this team. Hopefully, the Vets that have been here and experienced Texan football in the past won't let that happen. Hopefully this is the year that the team has matured and they come out with the intensity that they need every game.

Even if you think back to last year, we were rarely "beat". We spent a lot of times beating ourselves. So if they can get past doing that, this should be a good season.

(4) Again, that's a definite possibility. The one thing that I think about though is that we were able to get two sacks against Manning and several, several hits on him. Although some teams may have better O-lines, Manning gets the ball out very quickly...He knows where he wants to go with the ball and his receivers run good routes. I think that other teams may have better O-lines, but it might be negated by their lack of talented receivers, or by their QB not knowing where he wants to go with the ball. And this doesn't even account for the fact that his O-line may not be as bad as we made them look.

(5) I don't expect our O-line to play that way every week at all. I don't expect Arianthrottle to go for 200+ every week either. But if you look back at the game, you can see that a lot of Arians runs' weren't always due to dominant O-line play...the Colts penetrated into our back field quite a few times...there were times where our O-linemen were pushed into the back-field....But Foster's vision and cutting ability made things happen...

Yes there were times when the O-line just creamed the defense (many times), but I'm not disillusioned by that. I am, however, excited that our running back can find the right holes, make guys miss and rumble forward for extra yardage. If you go back and look at some of those runs you'll see that Foster made them happen. A lot of RB's wouldn't have not gotten the yardage that he did.






But yeah...

All those things you listed are possibilities, but I am not afraid or fearful of what lies ahead. I really believe that we will handle business in Washington, and I also believe we will be in the play-offs later this year. This is an improved team IMHO.

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JB said:

TPN I understand some of your anxiety, and I think it is normal. The Texans have not yet proven to be the consistent good team. However, they have won 5 reg. season games in a row, and the mentality of this team just seems so different than past teams. I am not expecting a letdown from them. They know how big it would be to beat Shanny Sr again, and this time there is the added benefit of beating Shanny jr as well. This team plays big in games they feel are important to Kube's.

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By the way, does everyone realize that our 5 game winning streak is currently the longest in the NFL?

The Pencil Neck said:

By the way, does everyone realize that our 5 game winning streak is currently the longest in the NFL?

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Cool. It would be really nice if it would go to 6.

houstonspartan said:

Seriously?

Dude, relax. I think you have read the posts of a few confident Redskins fans that have joined our board the last couple of days, and you've let their confidence get in your head.

This isn't a scrub team. Last I checked, we do have some talent.

Relax.

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I just wanted to get it out there. I totally believe we're going to blow the Redskins up. I mean, during the offseason, I've been one of the most positive proponents of this team and I think we've got a possibility of an epic offense here and a great season.

But those li'l voices are there in the back of my mind. Which is one reason I'm a software developer and not an athlete. That and the fact that I'm short and slow.

TPN. I think you already know that 1 game doesnt define a team. And your last post shows that we have the longest winning streak in the league.

Seahawks
Rams
Dolphins
Patriots
Colts

You can have doubts about this team. They dont deserve full confidence after the past 8 seasons. But at the same time you must give them a chance before you condemn them.

as a fellow texans fan, i can't really say i blame you for having those concerns. lord knows we all probably have them after watching years of not-even-mediocre football, but this past season, our team's begun walking with a swagger i hadn't seen before.

and i like it.

Super Mario said:

TPN. I think you already know that 1 game doesnt define a team. And your last post shows that we have the longest winning streak in the league.

Seahawks
Rams
Dolphins
Patriots
Colts

You can have doubts about this team. They dont deserve full confidence after the past 8 seasons. But at the same time you must give them a chance before you condemn them.

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Dude. See my post to Houstonspartan. All offseason I've been defending this team because I think we're going to have a great year and I think this is a great team.

I just wanted to get those little nagging doubts out of my head.

I mean, I still remember when we started 2-1, killing the Chiefs and Panthers and then just barely coming up short against the Colts. I thought for sure we were going to have a great year that year and then we lost to the freaking Falcons and the wheels fell off. I think this is a great team and I'm not anywhere close to condeming them, I just wanted to get this out.

Consider this a variation of the Mario is a Puh-Ce thread.

The Pencil Neck said:

OK, I just want to get this out of my system. But we've played 1 game and that's probably not enough of a sample size to really know anything about what we've got with our team or what other teams have with theirs, but here are fears of mine...

1. The Colts actually suck this year. We're excited about beating the Colts because they've been the top dog of this division for a long time (except for a blip or two when the Titans have had good years.) But what if they really are suffering from the Super Bowl Loss Meltdown. What if they really suck this year and we just beat a sucky team and not the powerhouse we thought we beat? That would suck and devalue our thrashing of them and wouldn't be the springboard we think it is.

I mean, personally, I think that's what's happening to Washington right now. They beat a sucky Dallas team that beat themselves and now Washington fans think the Redskins have turned the corner and beaten this great team and that it's a sign of greater things to come. But most of us are pretty sure that the Redskin fans are delusional because they really just barely beat a crappy team that just proves that they're able to be a crappy team at home.

It would suck if we're the delusional ones.

2. Dennison broke our passing game. What if Kyle Shanahan's playcalling was the driving force behind Schaub's 4770 yard year and AJ's back to back 1500 yard years? What if Dennison is a hidebound run-first guy who fixes the run game but then can't dial up the right passing plays or doesn't have us coached up properly for our passing plays?

That would suck.

3. The wheels fall off. I think we've all been torched too many times by this team playing a good watershed game only to come out flat and lose to someone and have that loss totally devalue our supposed watershed. (The Titan/Jax games last year and then the Titan/Raider games the year before.)

4. Our defensive line. What if our defensive line only looked good because of the injuries to Saturday and Johnson? In the preseason, our lines looked good but only against the Cards and the Cowboys (with injuries all across their O-Line.) What if we can't get that same sort of pressure against other, healthier teams? That would suck.

5. Our offensive line. Now, I don't expect our offensive line to look as dominant as they did against the Colts every week. But what if the success our offensive line had is just an illusion because of how bad the Colts front 7 is? What if we can't continue to do this against more talented or bigger fronts? That would suck. It will be very interesting to see how we do against the Redskins because that will give us some indication of how we're going to play against 3-4's this season.

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It's a good post and these are all legitimate concerns. It's understandable that after so many years of "Lucy pulling the football away" you would be waiting for it to happen again. Take heart in something though.

Nobody knows the answers to these questions yet.

We'll get another glimpse of what we have this year on Sunday. Until then don't worry about it. There's no sense in worrying about trouble before it gets here. We are who we are (or "think we are"?) and it's too late to fix it or change it now. So far so good and who cares if the Colts were hurt. Somebody in this league is hurt every week. This week they're talking about Fat Albert having a bum ankle. Will we beat the Redskins because Fat Albert is out of shape and has a bad ankle? If we do does it matter? If we lose will everyone say that they only beat us because Conner Barwin is out with a busted ankle?

The Pencil Neck said:

OK, I just want to get this out of my system. But we've played 1 game and that's probably not enough of a sample size to really know anything about what we've got with our team or what other teams have with theirs, but here are fears of mine...

1. The Colts actually suck this year. We're excited about beating the Colts because they've been the top dog of this division for a long time (except for a blip or two when the Titans have had good years.) But what if they really are suffering from the Super Bowl Loss Meltdown. What if they really suck this year and we just beat a sucky team and not the powerhouse we thought we beat? That would suck and devalue our thrashing of them and wouldn't be the springboard we think it is.

I mean, personally, I think that's what's happening to Washington right now. They beat a sucky Dallas team that beat themselves and now Washington fans think the Redskins have turned the corner and beaten this great team and that it's a sign of greater things to come. But most of us are pretty sure that the Redskin fans are delusional because they really just barely beat a crappy team that just proves that they're able to be a crappy team at home.

It would suck if we're the delusional ones.

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I understand that thought, however this is the same Colts team from even two years ago. Frankly I thought The Colts abandoned their run game too early but alot of that has to do with the fact we went up 13-0. Let's not forget that we have improved going back to last year. This team knows it can win.

2. Dennison broke our passing game. What if Kyle Shanahan's playcalling was the driving force behind Schaub's 4770 yard year and AJ's back to back 1500 yard years? What if Dennison is a hidebound run-first guy who fixes the run game but then can't dial up the right passing plays or doesn't have us coached up properly for our passing plays?

That would suck.

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This is a legitimate concern. In fact I expressed that in the thread titled Dennison. However I don't think he did much to the pass game as he did with our run game. Kubiak is also a former OC so I'm sure there can be a fix if this is the case. Keep in mind though, if our run game has improved that much it probably means we are winning more than 9 games this year.

3. The wheels fall off. I think we've all been torched too many times by this team playing a good watershed game only to come out flat and lose to someone and have that loss totally devalue our supposed watershed. (The Titan/Jax games last year and then the Titan/Raider games the year before.)

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That's why I'm concerned about the next 3 weeks of football for us. Can we win after an emotional win last week. If we win this week, will we turn around and think that we got Dallas in the bag because we are at home and we beat them in preseason or Dallas gets a cure all game vs. Chicago and gets back on track? Or if we beat Dallas and go 3-0 do we go to Oakland and lay an egg like we did two years ago?

However, that's really what separates great teams from good teams and as long as we are winning and taking care of our business during the week we should be good. That's really why the Indy win was so big. We needed that win so that the team can buy into the system and go from there.

4. Our defensive line. What if our defensive line only looked good because of the injuries to Saturday and Johnson? In the preseason, our lines looked good but only against the Cards and the Cowboys (with injuries all across their O-Line.) What if we can't get that same sort of pressure against other, healthier teams? That would suck.

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Just keep adding to the Mario Williams is a big wuss thread and all will be okay. J/K...kinda.

I also want to see about this. Even though Mario is going up against a rookie, that rookie held his own last week. I guess the encouraging thing is that Mario's sack total should've been two last week but he actually shared the two sacks so I guess others were getting pressure too.

5. Our offensive line. Now, I don't expect our offensive line to look as dominant as they did against the Colts every week. But what if the success our offensive line had is just an illusion because of how bad the Colts front 7 is? What if we can't continue to do this against more talented or bigger fronts? That would suck. It will be very interesting to see how we do against the Redskins because that will give us some indication of how we're going to play against 3-4's this season.

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Well the OL is going to have to perform week in and week out anyways.

Jimmy McGinty: A real man admits his fears. That's what I'm asking you to do here tonight. Fears... lets talk about them.

Clifford Franklin: [Clears throat] I'm scared of spiders, Coach.

I like what I see from the Texans but I'm with TPN's first post, this game scares me. It's our first 3-4 defense of the year, Duane Brown struggles against 3-4 OLB's, and Orakpo is a beast. Let's hope that Dennison can make quick adjustments on game day.

I think alot of us have been around long enough not to buy into the hype or buy the playoff tickets just yet. We are just pumped off the first win.

I had some fears before the colts game, but I went by the blue crew talked to bill and realized that you cant fear the schedule or the past texans team. This is the team we have been waiting for...now all we have to do is sit back and go along for the ride...I hope its a good one.

spurstexanstros said:

I think alot of us have been around long enough not to buy into the hype or buy the playoff tickets just yet. We are just pumped off the first win.

I had some fears before the colts game, but I went by the blue crew talked to bill and realized that you cant fear the schedule or the past texans team. This is the team we have been waiting for...now all we have to do is sit back and go along for the ride...I hope its a good one.

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This is a better team than last year's team. It's the best Texans team and coaching staff we've had in our short history. What that actually translates into 15 games from now nobody knows yet. But it sure is starting out fun!

Super Mario said:

You can have doubts about this team. They dont deserve full confidence after the past 8 seasons. But at the same time you must give them a chance before you condemn them.

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Just being a little nit-picky here. But with the exile of Brown, this is a whole new team Their history has only gone back 4 years.

I get what you are saying, and the last 4 years haven't been too different...


I'm just say'n

Hervoyel said:

It's a good post and these are all legitimate concerns. It's understandable that after so many years of "Lucy pulling the football away" you would be waiting for it to happen again. Take heart in something though.

Nobody knows the answers to these questions yet.

We'll get another glimpse of what we have this year on Sunday. Until then don't worry about it. There's no sense in worrying about trouble before it gets here. We are who we are (or "think we are"?) and it's too late to fix it or change it now.

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I agree for the most part.

I would feel much better, if we were hearing from the players that they get how important this game is. & that they are taking it one game at a time, and that they plan to come out like they did last week, and they are saying "two and oh" in the huddles..

It's killing me, waiting for Sunday. Killing me.

My only fear is that Arian Foster is a one-game-wonder.

Other than that, I'm good.

The1ApplePie said:

My only fear is that Arian Foster is a one-game-wonder.

Other than that, I'm good.

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Given that his final two games of the 2009 season included 39 carries and a 5.5 ypc average, I believe it's safe to say he's not a one game wonder. Three games maybe, but we're safely out of the woods as far as one goes.

I've heard it said that a fans job is to worry. From the end of one game until the beginning of the next, it's about the only thing you can do, and most of us will always do it to some extent.

When you suck, you worry that you'll always suck.

When you're improving, you worry that it will stop and reverse.

When you're just short of being a really good team, you worry that you'll never get over the hump.

When you're a playoff team, you worry that you won't stay good enough, long enough to win it all.

When you've won it all, you worry that your window of opportunity is closing, and you'll never get back to the top of the mountain again.

Worrying - it's what we do, and think about it - it's a big part of what makes being a fan so great. If you knew with 100% certainty what you're team was going to do next week, next month, or over the next five seasons, well, there simply wouldn't be any point in staying a fan.

I think that if you take everything into consideration, we are on the positive side of this whole thing. I think we have a good team that WILL make the playoffs, unless 10-6 won't get us there....and we just might do better than that. Might even smash it...


Having said that, I wouldn't say that Dallas had a bad team or that Indy is in danger of a sucky season. I would instead say it's possible that one or both are in a funk right now....and I believe it's Dallas, not Indy. The kind of funk that could ruin your play-off chances by getting you a bad first half of the season....or not that bad. I think Dallas is in one and it's just a matter of how long they take to get out of it. Indy? Well, we just manhandled them the way you're supposed to manhandle a suspect run D, BUT you have to have the players and system to do it....meaning many don't, and we didn't most of the times we've played them.

Now we do, and a serious pass rush, and a proven passing game, and....look out playoffs, cuz we're gonna bust the door in!

The1ApplePie said:

My only fear is that Arian Foster is a one-game-wonder.

Other than that, I'm good.

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With running backs, it's easy to tell who is legit and who isn't legit. Arian Foster is legit. You don't teach the vision and cutting ability that he has shown.

GuerillaBlack said:

With running backs, it's easy to tell who is legit and who isn't legit. Arian Foster is legit. You don't teach the vision and cutting ability that he has shown.

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I think Arian's vision is what seperates him. He has some quickness and seams to have that second gear when he gets in to space but that vision is what makes him special. Im excited to see how we handle the Redskins run d. I think we be able to run the ball as well as the Cowboys did the other night, and if that is the case then we should come out of there with a W.

GuerillaBlack said:

With running backs, it's easy to tell who is legit and who isn't legit. Arian Foster is legit. You don't teach the vision and cutting ability that he has shown.

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Our coaches have been harping the slow to the hole, fast through it methodology and I don't think Slaton has ever quite gotten that. Foster understands it and does it.

dc_txtech said:

Hard to say after just one game but I think it was a combination of us playing very well and the Colt (other than Peyton) looking absolutely terrible.

I definitely don't think that the pass game is broken. With our new found run game teams are going to have to make a choice on whether they want to keep rolling all that coverage to AJ's side of the field or commit an extra man to the box. AJ had his man burned for an easy walk in TD on a play action pass. Unfortunately Schaub got hit as he threw the ball and it came up short. I expect to see a lot more of that, hopefully we can keep Schaub upright next time.

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Plus, Jacoby dropped a sure TD pass that was right on the money, IIRC. If either one or both of those go as TDs we're not wondering at all about the passing game. Remember, Kubiak has always wanted to be a run first team; the play action should come after the running game is established, right? I mean, look at how awesome the Saints have looked when they get their running game going on top of what Brees can do.

I just think it's the case that 1) we've improved the running game even more since the end of last year; 2) the Colts are substandard in run defense, so 3) we stayed with what was working.

Jeff S. said:

Plus, Jacoby dropped a sure TD pass that was right on the money, IIRC. If either one or both of those go as TDs we're not wondering at all about the passing game. Remember, Kubiak has always wanted to be a run first team; the play action should come after the running game is established, right? I mean, look at how awesome the Saints have looked when they get their running game going on top of what Brees can do.

I just think it's the case that 1) we've improved the running game even more since the end of last year; 2) the Colts are substandard in run defense, so 3) we stayed with what was working.

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Jeff Van Gundy. Is that you?

pbat488 said:

My worst fear...

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That's a friggin nightmare...shoot me please!!!

One thing that I am actually afraid of is turnovers...

I'm worried about Matt throwing a pick...I'm worried about Jacoby fumbling or stone handing a pass that becomes a tip drill for the defense...I'm still a bit worried about Jacoby's hands on punt returns...

I'm also still worried about Slaton getting in the game and trying to do to much and fumbling the ball away....

Turnovers with this team is what scares me more than anything else....

DexmanC said:

Jeff Van Gundy. Is that you?

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Sorry, Daryl. I've changed sports.

The only concern I have is over confidence looking forward to Dallas. This is where vets like Demeco, Winston, Pollard and Schaub come to the fore. Washington can not beat us !! Texans can beat themselves but that will not happen.

The Pencil Neck said:

By the way, does everyone realize that our 5 game winning streak is currently the longest in the NFL?

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Not to knock our winning streak, but all the other "good" teams who made it to the playoffs have a loss after our season ended except for the Saints. I would trade a loss in the playoffs last year for the longest winning streak after game 1 in 2010.

I actually wondered the same thing and worried that the Colts may have fallen way off...... which isn't a bad thing since we have to play them again. We know we have a team who can match up with anybody - we just don't know which week they will show up......

I dunno, though - this year they have a tougher attitude and I believe they have turned the corner....... I hope they don't prove me wrong.

My eyes!!! As the resident forum optimist, I should never have opened this thread.

Can I just say that I can't remember the last time I have been so excited about a season?!?

I absolutely can not wait until Sunday gets here, and I am way too old to be wishing time away......

GlassHalfFull said:

My eyes!!! As the resident forum optimist, I should never have opened this thread.

Can I just say that I can't remember the last time I have been so excited about a season?!?

I absolutely can not wait until Sunday gets here, and I am way too old to be wishing time away......

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Wow!! You're gettin' old!! The last time you "have been so excited about a season?!?" was last year!!!

Texan_Bill said:

Wow!! You're gettin' old!! The last time you "have been so excited about a season?!?" was last year!!!

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Last year was a long time ago, TB!
It's easy not to remember from that long ago!

spurstexanstros said:

I think alot of us have been around long enough not to buy into the hype or buy the playoff tickets just yet. We are just pumped off the first win.

I had some fears before the colts game, but I went by the blue crew talked to bill and realized that you cant fear the schedule or the past texans team. This is the team we have been waiting for...now all we have to do is sit back and go along for the ride...I hope its a good one.

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I'm right there with ya!

I am hoping a new player steps up and has a great game.

badboy said:

I am hoping a new player steps up and has a great game.

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That's what I'm thinking. Vonta Leach, 9 catches 125 yards & 4 TDs.

My great hope is that Sunday is the day that Owen Daniels has a Wes-Welker-Week-1-like game that shows he's fully recovered and gets the Texans some points on the board.

My great fear is that this team comes out flat, which we all know has happened after big wins previously, and gives the game away with turnovers and penalties. I totally believe the Texans are a better team than the Redskins. I don't believe in the least that this will be an easy win to get.

Maybe it's because I am in the DC area and see more of their team than Houstonians (or people in other AFC markets) do, but I respect what the Redskins have done since Shanny took over. Hard road game for Houston. I'm proud of our team but I'm only cautiously optimistic about Sunday.

spurstexanstros said:

I think alot of us have been around long enough not to buy into the hype or buy the playoff tickets just yet. We are just pumped off the first win.

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Am I the only one here who cut the kid's allowance to subsidize two play-off games in Houston?

I am thinking our saving grace will be Steve Slaton this game. Let the Redskins blitz and send Steve out on a screen. He is pretty damn elusive in open space. I think Andre will score 1 TD. I think Jacoby Jones will get a punt return for touchdown. And Foster is averaging 2.5 touchdowns a game in both his starts. When he plays a significant role in the offense he has average 2 per. I don't feel like the Redskins will be able to shut down our offense by any means. I think our defense is underrated because Peyton Manning put up yards on a ton of throws. I think if we can contain McNabb in the pocket, we should be fine. There receivers are not the greatest, and we have good run stoppers. I don't see the Redskins putting up too many points.

Yeah...

I'm hoping Slaton can get involved in the screen game as well...

With all the carries AirFoster took last I'd like to see Slaton get some more of that work load...