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Does the first game change your opinion of how you think the season will go?

Does the first game change your opinion of how you think the season will go?


  • Total voters
    63

Max

Veteran
I thought that we had the potential to be a good team this year but I thought that it would take us longer than the first game to show signs of it so I voted that we're better than I expected. I think that this game shows that we belong in the contender category. We just need to show incremental improvement and stay healthy and this is going to be a fun season to watch.
 

Mangler

Toro de España
I feel a lot more confident about our team after watching the Texans vs Saints. My expectations were so low, I thought we would get stomped and embarrassed. Watson seems more mature, and the running game has looked better than it ever has under this regime. The offensive line just needs to jell.
 

eriadoc

Texan-American
Remember when Schaub led the NFL in passing yards? That offense was boom or bust, but they put up numbers. Lost some games where they took the lead towards the end and then watched the defense give it up. They went 6-10, IIRC.

I didn't think they'd be very good. Still don't. As long as Watson is upright, they have a shot. But water finds its level. This team is mediocre from the top down. Watson and a few players can't overcome that on a long term consistent basis.
 

HouTx11

Rookie
I'm very impressed with the new running backs, but the Texans last night just lost to a team that hasn't won the first game of a season since Bill O'Brien began coaching the Texans. This Texans team will fall to every great QB they face this year.

The Texans lost last night for the same reasons why they lost the Wild Card game (at home) last year: not enough O-line protection and the defense had no answers for the other team's offense. Not enough pressure on the QB and secondary can't stop the RB/receivers.

If O'Brien gets fired the Texans must send Crennel with him if this franchise is serious about becoming a championship contender moving forward.
 

Uncle Rico

Ur apology should be as loud as Ur disrespect was
As expected for me. Offense looked decent. Watson is unreal. Tunsil as an individual and the OL as a whole need to be better.

Defense looked worse than I thought they would. No push, no pass rush. No edge contain on perimeter runs. It’s bad. Lucky that Mac and Ham kept us in the game. Secondary was getting sliced up.

JJ Watt played the worst game of his life. Hope it’s just rust.

AFC South as a whole played good football. Regardless of no Luck or Foles this division is not going to an easy out.
 

NastyNate

I go kerplunk
Interior line is still garbage. Hoping that Howard can provide an improvement when he sees the field, maybe move Fulton to center and slide kelemete or scharp into that rg spot to see. It was A gap pressure all night that they had no answer for. Devlin has to get axed, fire this guy yesterday.

We still don't have tight ends apparently.

Defensive line was nonexistent. Kamara ran all over us and Brees had tons of time to throw.

Aaron Colvin... That's the punchline.


Overall this team just isn't that talented. Watson is doing his best to polish a gigantic turd but outside of a few bright spots we're anemic.
 

Bugman7star

All Pro
Our offense can compete in a shootout despite some ugly mistakes and calls (multiple sacks, some poor play calls and clock management at the worst times, etc.). They will get better. I am much more concerned about the defense. And with limited draft capital, I hope there are some free agents at some key positions that can possibly make up for what we won't be able to get in the draft. We still need some better O-lineman (a new O-line coach would help), pass rushers, and some DBs.
 

KarlK

Waterboy
No. I thought 9-7 before the game; I think 9-7 now. The OL is weak like we thought. The defense is will get torn up by good qbs, like we thought. We knew Watson-Hopkins would put up big numbers. The running game was a pleasent surprise, but NO hardly has a stout defense. We'll see if that holds up.

At the end of the day, NE tears Houston and everyone else up, so it's all a moot point.
 

Thorn

Dirty Old Man
I don't know yet. If they can keep Watson standing he'll win us games despite OB. It all depends on Watson being able to play.

So, IF Watson is kept standing and healthy this season (and that a big frickin IF) the team has the ability to rise above the average (where they have historically been) to legitimate contender status. I don't think this team has what it takes to go all the way though.

We'll know more in a few weeks. I'm excited, but not to the point where I'm no longer gun shy of the Texans. Still don't trust them, but I'm much more hopeful. Hopefully that makes sense, and if it doesn't, well, it's just Thorn so don't worry about it.
 

Texansphan

Football connoisseur
I voted we will be better than expected.
Many are forgetting NO is a top contender and we came within a hair of knocking then off in their own building.
Yeah we have some issues but we should see incremental improvements.
We have a running game and that is huge.
Must find some pass rush to help out the secondary.
The arrow is pointing up.
 
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CPTTexan

Waterboy
Remember when Schaub led the NFL in passing yards? That offense was boom or bust, but they put up numbers. Lost some games where they took the lead towards the end and then watched the defense give it up. They went 6-10, IIRC.

I didn't think they'd be very good. Still don't. As long as Watson is upright, they have a shot. But water finds its level. This team is mediocre from the top down. Watson and a few players can't overcome that on a long term consistent basis.
This is where I was and still am before the season started. I felt like we would be in the 7-9, 8-8, 9-7 win/loss range. This game doesn't really change that.

We have a legit running game with Hyde/Johnson and Watson looks good...which isn't surprising. However, he still holds the ball too long, our O-Line is porous...(will they get better?), we have no pass rush, we gave up a lot of long runs that an elite run stopping defender may have helped with, our secondary is trash, and good grief the tackling!
 

TheKDog

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Some things were better than expected, such as Watson's continued development and the skill positions (Duke,Hyde, stills)

Some were worse. The defense looks bad. It was Brees, but there seemed to be no pass rush, run defense, or good secondary play. Can't count on redzone ints. We are missing clowney and Matthieu much more than expected.

Some are the same:
- Tunsil looked great but the ol still sucks.
-OBriens playcalling still sucks so there we are sitting at a measly 21 points at the end asking Watson to perform miracles.
- clock management and challenge flag judgment also still suck. Using a timeout to think about challenging the play, then challenging the play and losing another timeout is a new one.
-the tight ends are still ghosts despite three picks in the last two years
 

IDEXAN

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Pleasantly surprised by the offense as it exceeded my expectations, but even in the absence of Clowney the defense was disappointing and I sure hope it's
just first game lack of conditioning and rustiness. In particular Watt looked like he was moving in slow motion, and since he's now 30 years old I sure hope we aren't witnessing the beginning of the end for JJ ?
 

banned1976

sleeper mode
The problems I believed were there when I voted they would win between 5 and 7 games showed up last night. An invisible pass rush, holes in the secondary and inconsistencies on the offensive line.

Luckily Brees was rusty in the first half and the Texans, with Watson’s heroics, were able to control the clock...for a little while.

I still think this is a 6 or 7 win team.
 

deucetx

Rookie
I went with "No I thought we'll be good and still feel the same way" because for me good is a division title and playoff exit. I still feel that way. Good team but not great. I would rather see something that makes me change that viewpoint to think we're bonafide contenders because we honestly always are "good". Time for something more around here.

But if that defense doesn't sure up and the offensive line doesn't get better it will be difficult to get over that hump. I honestly may have more faith the line gets better before the defense because I have yet to see Crennel show the ability to adapt to a situation or adjust. I am hoping he makes some adjustments and maybe we find a way to grab someone or something that covers some issues like Colvin and pass rush.

Either way it's still early. Can't go crazy off one week as they say. Watson continues to prove he was a great choice though and it's good to see us with such a damn good QB. Now to keep him alive.
 

Toro Bravo

Rookie
We looked better than I expected but that won't change my win total estimate to finish 7-9. That was a tough game for any team to win - even KC or NE. We will be much more competitive than my expectations but that won't result in wins. Can't overcome poor coaching and scheme.
 
What a tough opener, heart-breaking way to lose a game but overall we performed better than I expected. Defense could have been better but that is what the Saints with Brees look like at home. In fact compared to last year we played them tough. He threw 21 TDs to 1 Int at home last year with a rating over 130. There are places we need to improve but the Saints can do that to anyone. Romeo is going to have to be a bit more aggressive.

I thought Tunsil looked great. I know he gave up the 1 sack but that end got such a great jump off the line and the place was just so loud. He has been here less than a week. The interior line has been banged up. Henderson on the right side is worrisome. We won't have to deal with noise even comparable to that over the next 4 games so if we are still giving up pressure anywhere near that rate it is time to sound the alarm bells. I think Johnson starting at RT could be a nice pass pro boost. Have to hope Howard can hold his own once he gets healthy because I don't have any faith in Kelemete's pass pro. Seems to bury his head in the first defender that gets close which makes him comically vulnerable to stunts.

Rbs looked good but I saw multiple times where Deshaun wanted to hand off to the back and they were on the wrong side. Pretty sure that was Duke which is annoying seeing as he has been here longer than the other new-comers. Their pass pro is not going to be to the level it needs to be for a while still if they can't even run the right play.

Weapons overall look dangerous. I thought the play-calling was more creative than last year. For the most part I liked the motions we were running. Deshaun is so damn fun to watch. He is going to keep getting better at the little things all year.

My dvr didn't catch it all (might have been a blessing in disguise) so if my son has his high school open house on the MNF opener next year I am going to just skip it.
 

Corrosion

Idealist
Staff member
Didn't change a thing for me.

I expect them to be "Good" but not "Great".

They'll beat the poor and middling teams and lose to the really good teams.

Chiefs , Patriots will handle them.

Chargers & Ravens they lose on the road.

They should win the rest of their schedule and finish 11-5 and the 3 seed in the AFC and a second round exit - Just enough to keep OB around another year.
 

281Texan

Waterboy
For me the biggest thing is momentum. We looked great offensively. OL needs to gel and having Tytus back hopefully next will help. Defense looks like it’ll be a weak point this year. This will be a litmus test for OB. Can we come out fired up and run jacksonville out of the building or are we gonna come out flat and go down 0-2. We need a big win this weekend otherwise this season could go into a tailspin real quick. Just real disappointing to lose a game like that
 

Texas Jake

Rookie
The question for me is how much will the o-line and defensive backfield improve. They both include a lot of new pieces and there is potential for dramatic improvement if they can gel. If that happens, this team should become a real contender. It is too early to tell what this team will become, but for now I remain optismistic.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
The Texans lost last night for the same reasons why they lost the Wild Card game (at home) last year: not enough O-line protection
I wonder what happened on our last drive. Did Watson all of a sudden realize he's got to get rid of the ball quick? I mean 54 yard passes in 1.7 seconds (or something like that).
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
I thought we'd do well this season & still do.

I was really impressed with how they played. Not once did I hear, "BO'b didn't get them ready to play."

Starters didn't play much this preseason. Just like last year. But they appeared to be on the same page & ready.

Duke Johnson, Tunsil, Hyde, Stills had a week of practice... NFL in season week is about 4 days of practice. They looked like they belong.

Lot of work to be done & no, I don't think we're there yet. We're not contenders. But I think we're headed in the right direction.
 
At this point, I'm the only one that voted for "Yes. We will be worse than I thought." I thought this team was a 4 to 6 win team because of the suspect offensive line and suspect secondary. Tunsil was way better than I thought, the rest of the line was somehow even worse than I thought. 5 sacks on guys not named Tunsil (the sack credited to Tunsil, the guy was offsides and they didn't call it). If Watson can survive this offensive line, he's Superman come to life because they are bad.

The secondary likewise was pretty terrible. The pass rush was worse than I expected even if they did only bring 3 guys 16 times(!!!) on the pass rush. I expected the secondary to be meh at best so them sucking in the second half was disappointing despite a very good first half. I just tend to believe teams are going to realize that throwing the ball more against this team will open up the run game rather than vice versa. No Clowney was a huge hit to the defense both in stopping the run (especially the 2nd half when Kamara went crazy) and to take some of the double teams off JJ.

I lean more towards 3 to 5 wins as my expectations almost entirely because I have no faith at all in them protecting Watson enough to let him have a chance. Fire the crappy OL coach already if we're actually holding people accountable for sucking.
 

Speedy

Former Yeller Dweller
Didn't change a thing for me.

I expect them to be "Good" but not "Great".

They'll beat the poor and middling teams and lose to the really good teams.

Chiefs , Patriots will handle them.

Chargers & Ravens they lose on the road.

They should win the rest of their schedule and finish 11-5 and the 3 seed in the AFC and a second round exit - Just enough to keep OB around another year.
Nothing has changed for me either. Still not winning those shoulda won games. Assuming the Saints have a winning record this season, OB's record against winning record teams will drop to 11-28.

Never believed the defense would be any better than last year's with the moves they made this past off-season, particularly with the way decent to good QBs exploited them, even with Clowney still here. The secondary is a leaky dam about to burst, and there's zero pass rush to help them.

The offense has potential, but will never see that full potential, and Watson likely dies, if the OL doesn't get better.

The timeout/challenge thing turned out not to be a big deal, but just another example of him always saying he needs to coach better and never does. That was a stupid mistake some rookie coach would make, not one a guy in his 6th year does. Not that veteran coaches don't make mistakes, but that was just low game management IQ. And that leads me to believe that it isn't going to get better with this guy. I've seen 5 years plus 1 game of it now.

So they'll probably take it to the Jags and their rookie QB next week, because those are the type of situations OB can beat you. Hell, his only playoff win was against a rookie QB.

So, nothing has really changed as far as I can tell. I've been long done with moral victories. Those don't count in the standings. At some point in time you've got to turn those moral victories into actual victories.
 

TheKDog

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Nothing has changed for me either. Still not winning those shoulda won games. Assuming the Saints have a winning record this season, OB's record against winning record teams will drop to 11-28.

Never believed the defense would be any better than last year's with the moves they made this past off-season, particularly with the way decent to good QBs exploited them, even with Clowney still here. The secondary is a leaky dam about to burst, and there's zero pass rush to help them.

The offense has potential, but will never see that full potential, and Watson likely dies, if the OL doesn't get better.

The timeout/challenge thing turned out not to be a big deal, but just another example of him always saying he needs to coach better and never does. That was a stupid mistake some rookie coach would make, not one a guy in his 6th year does. Not that veteran coaches don't make mistakes, but that was just low game management IQ. And that leads me to believe that it isn't going to get better with this guy. I've seen 5 years plus 1 game of it now.

So they'll probably take it to the Jags and their rookie QB next week, because those are the type of situations OB can beat you. Hell, his only playoff win was against a rookie QB.

So, nothing has really changed as far as I can tell. I've been long done with moral victories. Those don't count in the standings. At some point in time you've got to turn those moral victories into actual victories.
You're being generous. College coaches and Texas high school football coaches don't make that mistake. I don't think even kids playing Madden do.
 

chicagotexan2

Easterby = Little Finger/Cal = Fredo Corleone
Games should be more entertaining to watch with a more potent offense but our coaching staff is impotent so once again we’ll beat the meh teams and lose to the better teams.
 

Scooter

Funky
I think this team is pure chaos. Depending on health we can Watson/Hopkins/Defense our way to 10 wins against the mess that the AFC South has returned to. One bad injury and we could envy the Browns ... and as an Oiler, nobody envies the Browns.
 

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
Staff member
Contributor's Club
What is this team's identity under O'Brien? Sixth season and I'm still left wondering what, exactly, O'Brien is trying to build.

#4 is a franchise QB, no doubt about it. Thank Rick Smith for that one.

But what I saw with the lack of consistent protection is just an extension of 2018. Watson is going to get killed every week, and his size/frame will likely not hold up.

And when he's gone, this is maybe a 4-12 team. Maybe.

I'll give it the so-called "benefit of the doubt". First game, great competition, new players. . .but it's got to improve quickly (i.e. coaching!) if this team really wants to contend this season.

And with yet another glaring weakness in the secondary, we will need Watson to win some shootouts. I expect a lot of late game wins & losses.

I thought this was a mediocre team after the Indy playoff blowout, and I still think it's the same now. Hopefully I'm wrong.
 

Mr teX

Hall of Fame
I wonder what happened on our last drive. Did Watson all of a sudden realize he's got to get rid of the ball quick? I mean 54 yard passes in 1.7 seconds (or something like that).
Situation is all it was.

We had to be more aggressive in going down field quickly b/c we needed a TD to win.

Saints knew this..... came out in what looked like a 4-2-5 nickel disguised as a potential blitz but they didn't actually bring any pressure on that 1st play. Plan was obviously to force check downs until time ran out. That plan got blown out of the water with the 1st completion deep in their territory. 2nd play they scrapped the original plan & went back to doing what they'd really been doing all 2nd half..which was blitzing with pressure off the edges & trying to force DW4 into a mistake.
 

GanadoUHCoog

Waterboy
I predicted 8-8 and I'll still predict it. There is obvious talent in certain areas but there are multiple holes on the team including OL and secondary. JJ Watt is screwed without Clowney. He was doubled all game against NO and go all of NOTHING on the stat sheet.

@ NO L (0-1)
VS Jacksonville W (1-1)
@ LAC L (1-2)
VS Carolina W (2-2)
VS Atlanta L (2-3)
@ KC L (2-4)
@ Indy L (2-5)
VS Oakland W (3-5)
VS* Jacksonville W (4-5)
@ Bal L (4-6)
VS Indy W (5-6)
VS NE L (5-7)
VS Den L (5-8)
@ Tenn L (5-9)
@ TB W (6-9)
VS Tenn W (7-9)

We get a moral victory for winning our last two games! BO keeps his job!
 

dream_team

Hall of Fame
I predicted 8-8 and I'll still predict it. There is obvious talent in certain areas but there are multiple holes on the team including OL and secondary. JJ Watt is screwed without Clowney. He was doubled all game against NO and go all of NOTHING on the stat sheet.

@ NO L (0-1)
VS Jacksonville W (1-1)
@ LAC L (1-2)
VS Carolina W (2-2)
VS Atlanta L (2-3)
@ KC L (2-4)
@ Indy L (2-5)
VS Oakland W (3-5)
VS* Jacksonville W (4-5)
@ Bal L (4-6)
VS Indy W (5-6)
VS NE L (5-7)
VS Den L (5-8)
@ Tenn L (5-9)
@ TB W (6-9)
VS Tenn W (7-9)

We get a moral victory for winning our last two games! BO keeps his job!
Kind of curious to why you think they can't beat the Broncos at home? I mean Denver just lost to the Raiders!? And it wasn't even as close as the score portrays. Their offense is terrible.

I also think they beat the Falcons, not impressed with that team at all.
 

Texas Legend

Practice Squad
It made me feel more confident certainly. Saints are a legit contender and we should’ve won that one at their place. Watson is a future Star if we can keep him healthy.
 

dream_team

Hall of Fame
I was extremely encouraged by the Saints game. They are the NFC favorites to make the SB, and they had to kick a 58 yard FG to beat us at their house!
  • I know 6 sacks are bad, but I was actually encouraged by the OL. Tunsil looks good to me. I think a lot of the sacks were failures to recognize blitzes, which is fixable. I'm very encouraged by mid-season they can be an average OL.
  • The Hyde/Duke backfield is better than expected. Hyde has more speed than I thought, he was able to get around the edge a few times.
  • If everyone can stay healthy, this could be the best receiving group in the league. Stills is going to help more than I anticipated.
  • The play calling was a big surprise! I was glad to see some plays called to beat blitzes, rather than just hope the protection holds up.
  • I was mostly surprised offensively. Defensively, nothing really surprised me.
  • The run defense didn't play well, but we were going against one of the best OLs and Kamara. Tackling is also always poor at the start of the season, so I have confidence it will get better.
  • I admit, though, didn't know Colvin was that bad. At least we don't have to worry about him anymore.
 

amazing80

Hall of Fame
OB needs to have this offense play with a sense of urgency the entire time. We are a high octane offense that he has stuck in 1st gear. Keep the pressure on the defense with quick routes, a mix of run/pass (stop running on 2nd and long every time), and don't be afraid to play loose even with a lead. Being conservative will not work vs great teams. They are too explosive. Be conservative against teams like the Dolphins, Jags, Cardinals, etc. when you have a lead, not New Orleans, Chiefs, Patriots etc..
 

Mangler

Toro de España
For me the biggest thing is momentum. We looked great offensively. OL needs to gel and having Tytus back hopefully next will help. Defense looks like it’ll be a weak point this year. This will be a litmus test for OB. Can we come out fired up and run jacksonville out of the building or are we gonna come out flat and go down 0-2. We need a big win this weekend otherwise this season could go into a tailspin real quick. Just real disappointing to lose a game like that
Momentum seemed to be on our side constantly, but our defense kept ruining it for our offense. Yeah, Watson is great, but he can only bail us out so many times. We need some good corners so freakin bad right now since our pass rush is nonexistent.
 
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Texecutioner

Hall of Fame
First game went like how I expect most games to go. Texans should be an overall good team. They made tons of mistakes and coaching errors and were a hair away from beating the team that should have been in the SB last season in their own house. Those mistakes by the players were huge and were mainly by guys who just got on this team.

Why is that though? The Texans HC, that's why. He couldn't figure out a proper roster all through the off season and ended up panicking in the last second adding in all of this new talent. Now this team has to figure out how to play together all over again like last season where they had a bad start.

I expect a similar season last year with the Texans having slightly stronger potential offensively to damage someone. It will make them more dangerous. I do expect just as many coaching errors if not more since OB is handling duties of a GM too now. I expect a lot of frustration from fans that see a team with a lot of talent being squandered by the coach's poor game plans and decision making. Can the players possibly overcome it and go really far? With Watson he makes anything seem possible, so I'm going to say yes. Not the best situation to be in though, that's for sure.
 

AlbertanTexan

Practice Squad
Voted Yes will be better than I thought. Watson was terrific and clutch on the primetime stage, such a stud player.
On the road and in a tough environment they went toe to toe with one of the best teams in the league, they'll get W's
 
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