19-10 may have been the most satisfying, and probably was. But as far as maturity and solidifying of a team from a perennial also-ran to a bona fide potential playoff team in '09, 13-12 is the one.
This year's Texans have shown something they have never consistently shown in the past -- the ability to find ways to win, this in a franchise with a history of finding ways to LOSE.
It doesn't always mean mistake-free football. It doesn't always mean being the better team on the field. But it's an attitude among the players AND the coaches -- this time, instead of folding at the end like we've done for so many years, we're going to finish this thing and find a way to win.
The teams with winning traditions don't always dominate on the field. But they win the games they should win and steal a few that they shouldn't. And if you look at the Texans season *after* the Rosencopter game, that's been pretty much true. The games they clearly deserved to lose, they've lost. But they've won all the games where they were clearly the better team, AND they've been finding ways to win -- yes, WIN! -- games that could have gone other way.
Until recently, the Texans' record in games that "could go either way" was rather abysmal. Lately, they are winning those games a lot more than they are losing them, and that is a big step toward building a winning attitude.
So yeah -- yelling "Suck it, Cowboys!" at the TV was satisfying, but even so it didn't feel like one game that transformed losers into winners -- I didn't feel like we were really watching the transformation of a team from losers to winners. And even after a lot of apprehension and caution about making such a declaration after the last couple of wins, I really do think that if we can keep it up, we may be watching a group of losers growing up before our eyes into a group of winners. I haven't always been a huge fan of the coaching decisions Kubes has made or those of his staff, but I have to say I love the attitude he has his team playing with. There's no quit in this bunch, which makes it so much more rewarding to cheer them on. It's hard to care about the outcome of a game when it feels like the team itself doesn't care. Gary Kubiak teams don't quit, which makes it much easier to still care even after playoff chances this year approached nil.
With a little more sustained improvement in penalties and turnovers, little in the way of serious injuries -- and if the aliens who kidnapped Richard Smith and called the defensive plays in his place remain next year -- this looks like a 10 win team to me in '09, and with a few bounces, maybe 11. They really are growing up, and I don't think it's a "false start" this time. The Texans are clearly learning how to be winners.