Our Houston Texans fell to the New York Giants 14-10 today. Our record fell to 2-6 on the season. I thought our players fought hard today, they showed alot of passion, determination and the effort was obviously there. Truthfully, I did not see a major red flag in any particular area today, they just made the plays down the stretch and we did not. Again, in terms of the game itself, not a whole lot to discuss in my mind, offensively I thought QB David Carr stepped up and played better. He did not turn the ball over, looked a little more relaxed at times in the pocket, and he had a solid performance today. In the rushing department, a mediocre day at best. Wali Lundy had a few solid pickups, Jameel Cook had a nice run, but we were certainly stopped more times than not. We had trouble, particularly in the first half, of finishing off our drives. As a result, we had two field goal attempts, Brown converted one of them, we got out of the first half with only 3 points, put together a nice touchdown drive though in the second half. There is some critisism to our coaching staff when we decided to play very conserverative at the end of the first half, we had a timeout or two left with just under 2 minutes, down 4. I can see why Kubiak may not have wanted to try anything risky because of what happened last week with Carr fumbling, and perhaps he just wanted to play it safe. He, on the other hand, had plenty of time to try and put together a descent drive and get some points before the half. I'm really undecided on what should have happened, I can kind of feel for what Kubiak is trying to do. Two minute drills are an offense's signature, and it takes awhile to perfect them. I think, again, after what happended last week with Carr fumbling in a similar situation, perhaps you do want to play a little conserverative, and in the future we can attempt some two minute drills in game situations, but for now let's take it slow, and accept a 7-3 game going into the half against a great Giants team. In the future we can attempt something, but not really this time after what happended last week. Defensively, I thought we played pretty well. We did allow Tiki Barber to rush for over 100 yards, but I thought we contained him more in the second half, with the excpetion of a couple plays, and he's a great back so my hat goes off to Tiki. We also make some mistakes in our pass defense, we allowed Eli to get into his rythm at times, but also stopped this passing game at times and make some big plays. I guess what I'm trying to say is we seemed to have a bend but dont break defense today, we allowed them to get down their, but when they did, we stopped them at times. This is the style Richard Smith wants to bring to our defense, and it worked fairly well today. I thought Mario Williams stepped up once again and played very well for us, I love to see that. Again, there is alot of pressure on this kid alot, and he seems to be stepping up more and more for our defense at such a young point in his career. He will only get better, and I'm really excited to see how good this kid can really become. Mario's official stats on the game were 2 tackles, an assist, and a big sack on Eli Manning. Overall, again, I thought we played hard against a great team in New York today. David Carr played better, it was good to see that. He's our Quaterback. We only had 1 turnover, but it was a big one, and it just continues to show how turnovers, even just 1, can kill you. This game, I believe shows our Texans are indeed improving. Earlier in the year, against solid teams like Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Washington, we were getting handed some pretty good beat-downs, including at home 2 of those 3 games. This time, we played a very, very solid team on the road and played them very tight all game and almost pulled it out. We are improving, no doubt. I say it time and time again, with new coaches, players and scehemes, this will only take time. We are certianly seeing positive strides in all areas, just need to work on becoming a little more consistent. Everything is in place, we just need to mould it together a little more. The future of Houston Texans football continues to look bright, and I think today was an indication that the future may not be far off. Continue to cheer us on fans, we wil certainly have better times this season, GO TEXANS
Here's my thoughts coming from a giants fan. For the most part, you played our backups. We had a 15 year veteran in Bob Whittfield playing against mario williams and only held him to 2 tackles and one sack. THat's a pretty lame stat to me coming from the number 1 pick. David Carr was ok. I think your backup could have done better. Look at dallas now. You pretty much stopped our passing game except for Shockey. Plax wasn't playing luckily for the Texans but overall, you did a good job playing against us. With a quarterback change, a consistent RB, and a better o line, you might be playoff contenders. Takes years though. Good luck next week
I'm going to be watching observently how long this "maybe conservative was the way to go" thing lasts. keep believing that. we will get a decent draft pick out of it though.
