Michael Lombardi's Midseason Super Bowl Pick

Exascor · Nov 6, 2012

Michael Lombardi took a lot of flack from Texans fan's for calling the team soft. He deserved the flack and apologized for under-estimating them. Check out his & the rest of nfl.com staff's picks for the Super Bowl and other awards:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000091214/article/2012-nfl-midseason-report-mvp-super-bowl-xlvii-picks-more

Texan_Bill · Nov 6, 2012

Meh... Lombardi was a failed exec with the....... get this....

*Chris Berman voice* "The Raiduhs"

Anyway, same ol, same ol... Some good picks, some crappy.

*************

Back to many of our premises. Just keep winning first and foremost!!

EllisUnit · Nov 6, 2012

hell most have us going to the superbowl, hell all but 1 has us losing the superbowl......

Amazing to see just how ignorant some of these guys are.

thunderkyss · Nov 6, 2012

Exascor said:
Michael Lombardi took a lot of flack from Texans fan's for calling the team soft. He deserved the flack and apologized for under-estimating them. Check out his & the rest of nfl.com staff's picks for the Super Bowl and other awards:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000091214/article/2012-nfl-midseason-report-mvp-super-bowl-xlvii-picks-more

I personally didn't think he deserved the slack.. the Texans were soft, big difference between the team then & the team now. Sure we were pushing people off the ball, sure we were "physical" but a mistake here or there tended to snowball to the point that we'd lose very winnable games.

bo orlando · Nov 7, 2012

Texan_Bill said:
Meh... Lombardi was a failed exec with the....... get this....

*Chris Berman voice* "The Raiduhs"

Anyway, same ol, same ol... Some good picks, some crappy.

*************

Back to many of our premises. Just keep winning first and foremost!!

When he was there The Raiders were perennial super bowl contenders (he was there during the Tuck rule game, for instance).

Considering how terrible the Texans have been for most of their history, I've never understood why Texans fans ever could get mad at any media person telling it like it is. In fact, why get mad at anything a media person says anyway?

Hervoyel · Nov 7, 2012

I don't want anybody to pick the Texans to win the Super Bowl. All I want is for everybody to have to acknowledge that they won it after it's over.

GP · Nov 7, 2012

Fiddler said:
I personally didn't think he deserved the slack.. the Texans were soft, big difference between the team then & the team now. Sure we were pushing people off the ball, sure we were "physical" but a mistake here or there tended to snowball to the point that we'd lose very winnable games.

Funny how a Wade Phillips defense isn't mentioned here. Because it should be.

The offense, IMO, is still a bit soft. They often pick and choose when to get their ass in gear and do something in a coordinated and consistent manner...I'd call that soft. Like a teenager who slacks all afternoon and then dashes like hell to clean his room up at the last second when mom's about to be home from. work and chew his ass out for having played video games all afternoon.

The defense has masked Kubiak's softness. It's a surrogate "toughie" that covers for Kubiak. How many of us sit there after watching the Texans blow perfectly good drives early in the game, and our minds start thinking "Come on defense, get a turnover...get us the ball back...come on, guys."??? All of us do.

Why do we do this? Because we know that our offense tends to only get tough when they either (A) Have no other choice, or (B) they get a gift from our own defense and know that there's expectations attached to that gift."

The day this offense is truly, definitively, "tough" will be when the defense can be awful and we still win somehow because the offense kept churning out points.

DexmanC · Nov 7, 2012

GP said:
Funny how a Wade Phillips defense isn't mentioned here. Because it should be.

The offense, IMO, is still a bit soft. They often pick and choose when to get their ass in gear and do something in a coordinated and consistent manner...I'd call that soft. Like a teenager who slacks all afternoon and then dashes like hell to clean his room up at the last second when mom's about to be home from. work and chew his ass out for having played video games all afternoon.

The defense has masked Kubiak's softness. It's a surrogate "toughie" that covers for Kubiak. How many of us sit there after watching the Texans blow perfectly good drives early in the game, and our minds start thinking "Come on defense, get a turnover...get us the ball back...come on, guys."??? All of us do.

Why do we do this? Because we know that our offense tends to only get tough when they either (A) Have no other choice, or (B) they get a gift from our own defense and know that there's expectations attached to that gift."

The day this offense is truly, definitively, "tough" will be when the defense can be awful and we still win somehow because the offense kept churning out points.

Yep. I layed off of Kubiak because of the team record. It's just the defense
is good enough to keep Kubiak's ineptness from costing us games. Let's
see if this keeps up (I surely hope so.)

thunderkyss · Nov 8, 2012

bo orlando said:
Considering how terrible the Texans have been for most of their history, I've never understood why Texans fans ever could get mad at any media person telling it like it is. In fact, why get mad at anything a media person says anyway?

Can't nobody beat up on my brother but me.

Same goes for my team.

thunderkyss · Nov 8, 2012

GP said:
The day this offense is truly, definitively, "tough" will be when the defense can be awful and we still win somehow because the offense kept churning out points.

But the only reason we won games for 5 years, was because of our offense. Now all of a sudden....

NVM..

dalemurphy · Nov 8, 2012

GP said:
Funny how a Wade Phillips defense isn't mentioned here. Because it should be.

The offense, IMO, is still a bit soft. They often pick and choose when to get their ass in gear and do something in a coordinated and consistent manner...I'd call that soft. Like a teenager who slacks all afternoon and then dashes like hell to clean his room up at the last second when mom's about to be home from. work and chew his ass out for having played video games all afternoon.

The defense has masked Kubiak's softness. It's a surrogate "toughie" that covers for Kubiak. How many of us sit there after watching the Texans blow perfectly good drives early in the game, and our minds start thinking "Come on defense, get a turnover...get us the ball back...come on, guys."??? All of us do.

Why do we do this? Because we know that our offense tends to only get tough when they either (A) Have no other choice, or (B) they get a gift from our own defense and know that there's expectations attached to that gift."

The day this offense is truly, definitively, "tough" will be when the defense can be awful and we still win somehow because the offense kept churning out points.

The offense did not show toughness last year when it won 10 regular season games (most of them without AJ) and the last three wins with a rookie 5th round QB that wasn't even invited to scouting combine? Not tough when, with Yates, they rallied from 16 points behind at Cincinnati. Not tough when they often simply lined up and ran the ball right down the throat of the defense, despite 8 or 9 men in the box? Perhaps you are confusing the word "tough" with "sexy"?

GP · Nov 8, 2012

dalemurphy said:
The offense did not show toughness last year when it won 10 regular season games (most of them without AJ) and the last three wins with a rookie 5th round QB that wasn't even invited to scouting combine? Not tough when, with Yates, they rallied from 16 points behind at Cincinnati. Not tough when they often simply lined up and ran the ball right down the throat of the defense, despite 8 or 9 men in the box? Perhaps you are confusing the word "tough" with "sexy"?

No, I'm talking about them sitting on their asses in games this year they should have been off to the races from the opening whistle, Dale.

When we sit at home and watch 2 or 3 opening possessions by the Texans' offense and it stagnates and flounders...that's unsatisfactory for as long as Kubiak has had this core of offense playing together. Unsatisfactory.

Our offense floundered in the Dolphins game in the same manner until the defense finally did SO much, in the form of creating turnovers, that the offense was in backs-to-the-wall mode. What does it take to wake up this Texans offense? A helluva' lot more than it should.

They play with a calm and ease that, IMO, is good in some regards and really unfortunate in others. In the Green Bay game, what would have happened if the offense was so explosive right out of the gate that it motivated the defense to overcome its problems that night?

I'm beyond the whole Kubiak bashing thing. I'm into a mode of being critically objective about issues, and this issue with a consistently "slow starting" offense is a huge pain in the ass. It should not be happening. They want to take a nap after racing out to a 14 or 21-point lead? Fine. But they want to dick around for half the game before putting up points? We won't beat teams who race out to leads like Green Bay or Atlanta or Patriots.

Love the calm, but it's also been a detriment at times too. Period.

The Pencil Neck · Nov 8, 2012

GP said:
No, I'm talking about them sitting on their asses in games this year they should have been off to the races from the opening whistle, Dale.

When we sit at home and watch 2 or 3 opening possessions by the Texans' offense and it stagnates and flounders...that's unsatisfactory for as long as Kubiak has had this core of offense playing together. Unsatisfactory.

Our offense floundered in the Dolphins game in the same manner until the defense finally did SO much, in the form of creating turnovers, that the offense was in backs-to-the-wall mode. What does it take to wake up this Texans offense? A helluva' lot more than it should.

They play with a calm and ease that, IMO, is good in some regards and really unfortunate in others. In the Green Bay game, what would have happened if the offense was so explosive right out of the gate that it motivated the defense to overcome its problems that night?

I'm beyond the whole Kubiak bashing thing. I'm into a mode of being critically objective about issues, and this issue with a consistently "slow starting" offense is a huge pain in the ass. It should not be happening. They want to take a nap after racing out to a 14 or 21-point lead? Fine. But they want to dick around for half the game before putting up points? We won't beat teams who race out to leads like Green Bay or Atlanta or Patriots.

Love the calm, but it's also been a detriment at times too. Period.

This is exactly what I was talking about a few weeks ago about unrealistic expectations. Every team has possessions where things don't go right. Every team has some three and outs and has to punt. Most games have an ebb and flow.

In perhaps the greatest offensive display of all time over the course of a season, the 2007 Patriots still punted 2.75 times per game. Most winning teams win without having to be nearly as perfect as you're demanding of the Texans.

You say our offense was "sputtering" against the Bills and yet, we had a good game. If a defense allowed 375 yards per game (the amount of yards we had against the Bills), they'd give up 6000 yards in that season and that's a bad season.

I'm not saying that our offense played as well as it could play and I'm not saying that they don't have things they need to improve, but it's kind of silly to set the bar so high that you can never be satisfied.

GP · Nov 8, 2012

The Pencil Neck said:
This is exactly what I was talking about a few weeks ago about unrealistic expectations. Every team has possessions where things don't go right. Every team has some three and outs and has to punt. Most games have an ebb and flow.

In perhaps the greatest offensive display of all time over the course of a season, the 2007 Patriots still punted 2.75 times per game. Most winning teams win without having to be nearly as perfect as you're demanding of the Texans.

You say our offense was "sputtering" against the Bills and yet, we had a good game. If a defense allowed 375 yards per game (the amount of yards we had against the Bills), they'd give up 6000 yards in that season and that's a bad season.

I'm not saying that our offense played as well as it could play and I'm not saying that they don't have things they need to improve, but it's kind of silly to set the bar so high that you can never be satisfied.

Never be satisfied? I'd take a 14 or 21-point early lead in like 3 games out of the year, bro. Not every game.

I just want to see them DO IT. But they can't. Sandbaggin' bastards.

beerlover · Nov 8, 2012

no love given Gary Kubiak for Coach of the Year :ant:

The Pencil Neck · Nov 8, 2012

GP said:
Never be satisfied? I'd take a 14 or 21-point early lead in like 3 games out of the year, bro. Not every game.

I just want to see them DO IT. But they can't. Sandbaggin' bastards.

What do you want? 21-0 at the end of the 1st quarter? Maybe you should be a little more patient and let the game develop a bit.

24-3 at halftime.
17-0 at halftime.
14-0 after the first quarter, 28-7 by the end of the third.
29-3 at halftime.

GP · Nov 8, 2012

The Pencil Neck said:
What do you want? 21-0 at the end of the 1st quarter? Maybe you should be a little more patient and let the game develop a bit.

24-3 at halftime.
17-0 at halftime.
14-0 after the first quarter, 28-7 by the end of the third.
29-3 at halftime.

Key words in your post: AT HALFTIME.

I want 14 or 21 in the first quarter, early 2nd...yeah, this offense is good enough to do that routinely.

Instead, it's by halftime. It's after pissing away several possessions in the 1st qtr.

The Pencil Neck · Nov 8, 2012

GP said:
Key words in your post: AT HALFTIME.

I want 14 or 21 in the first quarter, early 2nd...yeah, this offense is good enough to do that routinely.

Instead, it's by halftime. It's after pissing away several possessions in the 1st qtr.

Like I said.

You need to be more patient. You've got unrealistic expectations about what an offense should do.

The Green Bay Packers 15-1 season last year. They had one of the highest scoring offenses ever. They had 4 14 point leads over the whole season and never had more than that. They scored 21 points in the 1st quarter twice. But they were either tied or losing after the first quarter 6 times. Their average score after 1 period was 8.8 to 4.125.

What I'm getting from you is that you would not have been pleased by that horrible lack of production. I mean... losing after the 1st quarter SIX TIMES!?

The Texans after 8 games have had 1 14 point lead after 1 quarter. We were tied or losing 3 times.

But it's just the first quarter. The first quarter is a chance to figure out how teams are playing you so you can take advantage of them later. The only score that matters is the score at the end of the game and as long as we're winning at that point, nothing else matters much.

ObsiWan · Nov 8, 2012

GP said:
No, I'm talking about them sitting on their asses in games this year they should have been off to the races from the opening whistle, Dale.

When we sit at home and watch 2 or 3 opening possessions by the Texans' offense and it stagnates and flounders...that's unsatisfactory for as long as Kubiak has had this core of offense playing together. Unsatisfactory.

Our offense floundered in the Dolphins game in the same manner until the defense finally did SO much, in the form of creating turnovers, that the offense was in backs-to-the-wall mode. What does it take to wake up this Texans offense? A helluva' lot more than it should.

They play with a calm and ease that, IMO, is good in some regards and really unfortunate in others. In the Green Bay game, what would have happened if the offense was so explosive right out of the gate that it motivated the defense to overcome its problems that night?

I'm beyond the whole Kubiak bashing thing. I'm into a mode of being critically objective about issues, and this issue with a consistently "slow starting" offense is a huge pain in the ass. It should not be happening. They want to take a nap after racing out to a 14 or 21-point lead? Fine. But they want to dick around for half the game before putting up points? We won't beat teams who race out to leads like Green Bay or Atlanta or Patriots.

Love the calm, but it's also been a detriment at times too. Period.

Seriously??
You cannot possibly reeeeally believe the offense - Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels, Duane Brown, et. al. are all just "sitting on their asses", as you said, and PURPOSELY refusing to put up any points early in games and deciding when and were they score some points.

Seriously??? What next?? They're all doing it just to frustrate you personally??

...Lawd have mercy...
:mariopalm:

GP · Nov 8, 2012

ObsiWan said:
Seriously??
You cannot possibly reeeeally believe the offense - Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels, Duane Brown, et. al. are all just "sitting on their asses", as you said, and PURPOSELY refusing to put up any points early in games and deciding when and were they score some points.

Seriously??? What next?? They're all doing it just to frustrate you personally??

...Lawd have mercy...
:mariopalm:

This isn't about intentional actions.

This isn't about me having overly huge ambitions for the offense.

This is about those guys scoring a TD on an opening drive, getting the ball back and scoring another TD, and doing that one more time out of the next possession or two.

They're good enough to do that, especially against weak-ass teams like the Bills. Do you not agree?

thunderkyss · Nov 8, 2012

GP said:
I'm beyond the whole Kubiak bashing thing. I'm into a mode of being critically objective about issues, and this issue with a consistently "slow starting" offense is a huge pain in the ass. It should not be happening. They want to take a nap after racing out to a 14 or 21-point lead? Fine. But they want to dick around for half the game before putting up points? We won't beat teams who race out to leads like Green Bay or Atlanta or Patriots.

Love the calm, but it's also been a detriment at times too. Period.

I understand what you're saying, but the defense don't win games. The offense doesn't win games. It takes a team to win. Without an offense, we're the Jags, or the Dolphins, or last years Raiders, or Browns.

I'm impressed by our defense & I give Wade all the credit for that turnaround... well, maybe not all, but a good portion of it none the less.

But they aren't 85 bears good, or Super Bowl Ravens good. They are at their best when our offense keeps them on the sideline. Allowing them to rest & go all out when they do get on the field.

ObsiWan · Nov 8, 2012

GP said:
This isn't about intentional actions.

This isn't about me having overly huge ambitions for the offense.

This is about those guys scoring a TD on an opening drive, getting the ball back and scoring another TD, and doing that one more time out of the next possession or two.

They're good enough to do that, especially against weak-ass teams like the Bills. Do you not agree?

No. I don't.
The Bills came out inspired. Case in point: Up to this point Mario had, what, 3-1/2 sacks. He nearly he got two in this game...

Sometimes it takes a quarter - or more - to figure out what defense the other guys are running and where they are concentrating their resources.

For example, since, statistically the Bills sucked against the run and we have Arian Foster. So logic says we should run it down their throats, right? First two, maybe three, series, we try that approach and they stuff our running game. Time for "plan B".
However, it took two/three series to get that data. So your theory of "going right down the field and scoring" the first three times we have the ball is straight down the toliet ain't it?

Then there's the case where what we try the first series works like a charm. Five, six, seven plays and bam 7 pts on the board. Well their D-coordinator get's paid not to let that happen again so the switch their resources to stop what worked. It'll take us another series to see how they adjusted and for us to compensate and counter.

Like TPN said, at times you have to let the game unfold to find out where and how to best attack.

ThaShark316 · Nov 8, 2012

The Texans going up top on 4th and 6 with 3 mins left UP 12 should stop some of this silly talk.

ObsiWan · Nov 9, 2012

ThaShark316 said:
The Texans going up top on 4th and 6 with 3 mins left UP 12 should stop some of this silly talk.

You forgot to add that we were in reasonable FG range - maybe a 45-yarder. So ole conservative, "Turtle", Kubiak should have put the three pts on the board. Yet - horrors!! - he went for the throat. Somehow the offensive brain trust gets no credit for that gamble.

Scooter · Nov 9, 2012

GP said:
This isn't about intentional actions.

This isn't about me having overly huge ambitions for the offense.

This is about those guys scoring a TD on an opening drive, getting the ball back and scoring another TD, and doing that one more time out of the next possession or two.

They're good enough to do that, especially against weak-ass teams like the Bills. Do you not agree?

name one team that has ever consistently scored on 3 of their first 4 possessions, regardless of their opponent? you're losing touch bud, even weak-ass teams are paid professionals with exceptional talent.

Texn4life · Nov 9, 2012

Scooter said:
name one team that has ever consistently scored on 3 of their first 4 possessions, regardless of their opponent? you're losing touch bud, even weak-ass teams are paid professionals with exceptional talent.

We've just become a spoiled and unrealistic bunch. The Packer eeked out a win at home against the Jags a few weeks back. Most of the talk on their boards was, "yeah we have to play better but we got the win. Thats the most important thing." Somewhere in the past 2 years we've figured that we have to win with style points. I don't get it, but maybe its not for me to understand.

ObsiWan · Nov 9, 2012

Texn4life said:
We've just become a spoiled and unrealistic bunch. The Packer eeked out a win at home against the Jags a few weeks back. Most of the talk on their boards was, "yeah we have to play better but we got the win. Thats the most important thing." Somewhere in the past 2 years we've figured that we have to win with style points. I don't get it, but maybe its not for me to understand.

I don't get it myself.
Must be a Madden or BCS thing.
I don't do either.

GP · Nov 9, 2012

Scooter said:
name one team that has ever consistently scored on 3 of their first 4 possessions, regardless of their opponent? you're losing touch bud, even weak-ass teams are paid professionals with exceptional talent.

READ ME COMPLETELY, PLEASE!

I said I'd like that to happen 3 or 4 games per reg season!

%$#!@$%! do you any of you read?!?!? Geez almighty.

3. Or. 4. Games. Please.

I just want to see them do it. Is that being obnoxious??? No, it isn't. I just want to see us kill a team in the first quarter and watch them squirm...instead of US squirming throughout the first quarter wondering if the offense is going to get it in gear now or maybe 2nd quarter, or maybe after the half. Etc.

76Texan · Nov 9, 2012

If I'm not mistaken; none of the NFL offense has scored 21 points in the first quarter this year. The Bears did rack up a lot of points against the Titans; however, 14 of them were by the defense.
To expect the Texans to be able to do it once or twice already is too much to ask.
Also, with the way the Texans run their offense, they would rather go on long scoring drives, it's unrealistic to expect 21 points in the first quarter.
What is important is that the Texans ranks 4th in first quarter scoring. And without the Bears defensive scoring, they will be behind the Texans. In term of offensive scoring, the Texans ranks no worse than third.

ObsiWan · Nov 9, 2012

GP said:
READ ME COMPLETELY, PLEASE!

I said I'd like that to happen 3 or 4 games per reg season!

%$#!@$%! do you any of you read?!?!? Geez almighty.

3. Or. 4. Games. Please.

I just want to see them do it. Is that being obnoxious??? No, it isn't. I just want to see us kill a team in the first quarter and watch them squirm...instead of US squirming throughout the first quarter wondering if the offense is going to get it in gear now or maybe 2nd quarter, or maybe after the half. Etc.

We all read. It's just we can't believe you're serious. You flat out called Andre Johnson, Matt Schaub, Arian Foster, Duane Brown, Chris Myers, Owen Daniels, et. al. are... what was it... "Sandbaggin' Bastards". After all, they are the key members of the offense that you say are "sitting on their asses" or "dick around before putting up points".

do you even hear yourself?
:wadepalm:

ObsiWan · Nov 9, 2012

76Texan said:
If I'm not mistaken; none of the NFL offense has scored 21 points in the first quarter this year. The Bears did rack up a lot of points against the Titans; however, 14 of them were by the defense.
To expect the Texans to be able to do it once or twice already is too much to ask.
Also, with the way the Texans run their offense, they would rather go on long scoring drives, it's unrealistic to expect 21 points in the first quarter.
What is important is that the Texans ranks 4th in first quarter scoring. And without the Bears defensive scoring, they will be behind the Texans. In term of offensive scoring, the Texans ranks no worse than third.

True statement; at least for the three shining examples (Pats, Falcons, & Packers) he gave us. Now the Pats did score in their first five possessions against the lowly Rams but they only put up seven pts. in the first quarter of that game.

Michael Lombardi's Midseason Super Bowl Pick

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