While we could sit here and play the blame game, which I’m sure myself and many other fans will do in the off season, I’d like to look at some positive.

First the defense.  After last seasons miserable excuse for a defense we made a new hire in DC, Mr. Frank Bush. Frank Bush’s defense had a rocky start, but as it started to gel with the hardcore tendencies of Brian Cushing and the acquisition of Bernard Pollard. The linebacking core was amazing and as the year went on the defense only got better.

Second, Matt Schaub started 16 games and silenced all doubters. With a little more leadership and charisma the guy should be a pro bowler next year.

Third Arian Foster. The main reason we even won the game against the Pats was the rushing effort on the new guy. He might not be the answer but he was a Godsend for the closing of our first winning record.

The season shouldn’t have ended like this yes. (Relying on other teams to win games instead of letting our record speak for itself.) We only have to look at the first game of the season and think that if we would have beat the lowly Jets we would be in the playoffs right now.

As for playoffs, we in Houston can but dream. But the AFC wildcard chase is more crowded than an elevator holding the Patriots offensive line. This might be the best last week of the season in a while. I can’t wait to watch some hardcore, heartfelt football on Sunday.

For those people hoping Belichick will play a soft game against the Texans on Sunday can keep dreaming. There’s no way Mean Ol’ Belichick is going to let another playoff contender just waltz their way to a win. Maybe he might rest the starters if they’re ahead but probably in the fourth quarter. People claim he did it in Miami a couple years back but Miami wasn’t going to the playoffs and Nick Saban is part of the Belichick mafia. Gary Kubiak won’t be so lucky. Kubiak is going to have to outwit the Pats. He’s going to have to play aggressive. He’s going to have to prove that he’s the coach that can lead this team into the playoffs. This is the defining moment of Kubiak’s coaching career in Houston. Houston fans will remember this game win or lose. If he losses, he might be back next season as head coach but no one will respect him and the whole season would be just waiting for him to mess up to kick him out of town. If he wins, he lives to see another day and he might be a hero if we sneak into that last wildcard spot.

Indy over Buffalo.

New Orleans over Carolina.

Cleveland over Jacksonville.

Houston over New England.

Minnesota over Giants.

San Fran over St. Louis.

Atlanta over Tampa Bay.

Pittsburgh over Miami.

Chicago over Detroit.

Philly over Dallas.

Kansas City over Denver.

Baltimore over Oakland.

Tennessee over Seattle.

San Diego over Washington.

Green Bay over Arizona.

Cincinnati over Jets.

This season has been full of heartache and indigestion for me. All of our losses have been winable. All of our losses have been within 7 points. (With the exception of the Colts loss last week, we lost by 8.) I keep coming back to this because it is my biggest complaint: Gary Kubiak is a bad game manager. He might be an ok player manager (I doubt it though, look at all of the penalties) but he cannot manage a game to save his life. Stupid play calls (A Chris Brown option…what?), poor clock management (not taking a timeout in the fourth quarter of the first Indy game) and settling for field goals when a touchdown will win the game (has anyone told Coach that we have a potent offense?) Say what you want, but Kubiak should instill confidence in our offense by putting the game on their shoulders. Let Schaub take us to the promise land and win a game with some big passes. That’s telling your offense, ‘I believe in you guys, win the game for us.’ Trying to tie the game instead of winning it is saying, ‘Our offense can’t score, let’s just settle for three.’

But then again, maybe that was a good decision. Poor Kris Brown is on suicide watch. Kris Brown is an original Texans and has been a clutch kicker his entire career. But putting so much pressure on a kicker when he’s in a bit of a slump is making him the scapegoat and writing him a ticket out of town. Maybe Kubiak wanted a scapegoat for the season. I’d hate to see Kris Brown have a Brad Lidge meltdown of confidence but that could happen. Brown might be in another jersey soon even though these games shouldn’t have been on him to begin with.

And speaking of men named Kris Brown, let’s move on to the other: Chris Brown. What a stupid option play to call. Every Texan fan died a little bit when that play was called. You never, never, never let a running back have an option of throwing the ball…because they’ll THROW IT. 99.9 % of the time a running back will go with the option to throw instead of run because it’s in all of our natures to want to be the quarterback. We aren’t a wildkat team, Kubiak. Did you call that play on a dare?

Here’s a dare: Andre Johnson, I dare you to stick around. Andre said in an interview earlier this season that he wanted to stick around and make this team great. Andre Johnson is the best receiver in the league. He’s tough, has great hands, unselfish, not a media hog, or a lunatic, and he’s fast! That’s the perfect receiver for a franchise. I’ve heard so much talk nationally and locally about Johnson’s future. I believe Andre when he says he wants to stick around, but we have to prove that we want to be a winning team.

Gary Kubiak wants to coach a winning team, but I don’t think he’s a head coach. He’s not a bad coach. Gary Kubiak brought the Texans into contention. The Texans can compete with any team. The thing is the Texans beat themselves. Gary Kubiak is vanilla. He’s mediocre. And because he’s mediocre the player are mediocre. The Texans might be the biggest group of underachievers this year. I don’t see Kubiak turning this around. We need to move on. Which is ridiculous of me to say because I subscribe to the give the coach a chance to get his system going philosophy.

I just don’t see this working out. I see a good offense system. I see a defense that’s improving. But I do not see the leadership that takes it to the next level. I’m afraid we suck this year, again. We’re worse than a bad team, we’re a good team that can’t play like a good team.

This week I went 10-6. Which makes me 112-63, 64 % on the season.

The Texans proved they aren’t ready for playoffs yet, which saddened my heart greatly. I’m seriously in a football depression and I’m ready to get rid of Kubiak. At least the Cougars wiped the floor with Rice…

Texans Notes

First and foremost I’m about to jump on the get Kubiak out of town bandwagon. I believe in patience with a guy but he is way too vanilla. This guy had a good amount of time and two timeouts towards the end of the game. Kris Brown missed a game tying field goal in Indy and missed one earlier in the night. DON’T LET THE GAME REST ON HIS SHOULDERS! Kris Brown needs to work through some things and it isn’t the time to let him work them out.

We can talk about a couple of bad calls by refs, or how the defense played decent. We could talk about Owen Daniels being injured or the fact that both of our offensive guards are reserves. We can make all sorts of excuses as to why we didn’t win this game. We can talk about the two missed field goals by Kris Brown and how with those we would have won. But this is not the first close game we’ve lost. We’ve lost two many close games. Kubiak cannot coach the team win the game is on the line. He is not a good game manager and he doesn’t go for the jugular when he has to. This last game he should have went for it to prove that we are a confident team. That we believe we can win games. This is no time to be vanilla.

This team has no personality. That’s why we’ve been labeled as a finesse team. Kubiak brought a great offense to Houston but he lacks game management, passion and leadership. Everyone will hate Kris Brown for this one but this one’s on Kubiak.

So this week we play the Tennessee Titans. Great. This team is rough but not as rough as they have been in years past. The Texans can win this one But this is what we need to win.

• Steve Slaton and Andre Johnson…they were not allowed to play last week. (Tip my hat to you, Rex Ryan).
• Run stopping defensive line.
• Good play calling by Kubiak.

We need to establish the running game in order for our offense to work. Our offense is not imaginative. It is really simple. 1. Establish the run. 2. Play-action. If Slaton doesn’t run, Johnson won’t have as many opportunities to catch. Either we establish the run so we can playaction or we expect Kubiak to get creative (hint: he won’t).  Next, we need to stop the run. The Titans are going to come out running, right at us. Our defense looked good but it’s no secret that they need to be better. This week will show how effective this new defense will be. And lastly, Gary Kubiak needs to call good plays. If we are getting blitzed, use two tight ends. If our strategy isn’t working, call some different plays! The Texans will win this game and swing everything back in our favor, if these things are used. Texans by three in a close one.

The other game on my radar today is Pats at the Jets. That Jets team is for real and the Pats looked sloppy Monday Night. This could be intense. Now I’m not a guy that hates the Pats just because they win. I personally like the Pats but the Jets could smack ‘em around to show the rest of the league last week wasn’t a fluke. The Jets win this one.

Week One Picks

Atlanta over the Panthers

Minnesota over Detroit

Green Bay over Cincy

Jacksonville beats the Cards

Oakland barely beats KC

Jets shock the Pats

My man Kevin Kolb and the Eagles beat the Saints

Texans over Titans

Washington embarrasses St. Louis

The Bills beat the Bucs

Seattle goes to work against San Fran

Steelers over Bears

No one wins Cleveland and Denver…okay…Denver

Baltimore over Chargers

Giants over Dallas

and Indy shows Miami how to be consistent winners. That’s it Go Texans, peace!