I claim to be a
die-hard fan of the Houston Texans, and any true blooded fan of a sports team should
not complain much following a win. This past Saturday, following our game
against Miami, I had a few specific grievances. First off, the Texans may be
toast in the backfield if Arian stays hurt. Secondly, D.J. Swearinger may
become the new Matt Slauson. Third, smoking may result in fits of rude behavior
and immaturity. Lastly, if you eat peanuts at a football game I now have a
biased dislike towards you.
_
Allow me to delve
into my experience at Reliant before I push off with some analysis of the W
against Tannehill and his group of miscreants.
Walking up to the
stadium past the Astrodome brought a few tears to my eyes, I must say. I love
this city and I realized I have no desire to live anywhere else.
Supposedly I attended
a few events at the Astrodome but I can barely remember what I ate for
breakfast this morning so how am I supposed to recall an event from 15 years
ago?
Getting to the gate
was no problem, and the line was moving quickly. The NFL just started an
initiative in which you can have no bag or item larger than 6.5 inches (i.e.
handbags, clutch, purses,) or in my case a wallet. That’s right I was the
douche at the Texans game that had to walk all the way back to the car because
my wallet was too big.
Due to my rookie
mistake I was privileged to make the walk past the Astrodome for a second and
third time; not as enjoyable the second OR third time.
My attempt to get
into the stadium went off without a hitch the second time around and I got up
to my just as the Texans marched down the field on a beautiful scoring drive orchestrated
by Schaub and his high powered receiving corps. That sounds so bizarre to say;
high powered receiving corps…
_
The Texans starters
barely played on Saturday night, a smart move from Kubiak seeing as star
players around the league are dropping faster than my GPA this past semester (Too
soon? No? Perfect). Due to limited work on both sides of the ball, it is hard
for me to say much about our starters.
In the limited
action here are some things I noticed.
It was incredible to
see Cushing back in uniform. The linebacker almost had a nice sack on
Tannehill, but in the end he settled for one tackle on about 10 snaps. Our lack of a consistent running game while Schaub and Case were under center is extremely concerning to me. Without number 23 in the backfield we are completely one sided. Ben Tate is not good enough to be a starter in this league for any team that wants to make a run at a trophy. He would be a great fit for a bottom dwelling team with no hope like the Jaguars, or even the Cowboys.
Foster inked a 43.5
million dollar deal in March of 2012 and I would hate to see his play start to
decline this early in his five year deal.
This is the second
time in three years that he has missed significant time in the preseason. As a
fan who has invested a lot of time and energy into this team, I have to say I
am highly disappointed with the entire situation.
The last thing that
stood out to me was Swearinger’s hit on Dustin Keller. It was a legal hit,
trust me, I asked Mark Schlereth about it.
In the post game
interview D.J. told reporters,
"I was making a hit playing football,"
Swearinger said. "In this league you’ve got to go low. If you go high
you’re going to get a fine."… "The rules say you can’t hit
high so I went low and I’m sorry that happened,"
With
that, D.J. has painted a bright red target on his back. This situation is all
too similar to last season when Cushing tore his ACL and how outraged Texans
fans were.
The
Dolphins acquired Keller and Mike Wallace this offseason for their young
quarterback. It’s tough to see Keller go down for the season, as a fan of the
game it is easy to empathize with the Dolphins.
The
hit was clean but will still bring some negative energy onto the field for our
second round pick who (with the injuries to our Secondary) could be starting soon.
-
No
trip to Reliant is complete without an altercation with another Texans fan. In
my case it was with the loudest, most irritating woman I have met in my life.
I am
not over exaggerating when I say that this woman sounded as if she had been
smoking since kindergarten. In the highest pitch her poor vocal chords would
allow, she screeced “GET HIM, GET HIM, GET HIM,” Relentlessly.
Every.
Single. Play.
Fast
forward a drive or two, my friends and I had heard enough, so one of my friends
started screaming SHUT UP, at no one in particular.
Mind
you, I said nothing, she was annoying, yes, but I understood she was simply
enjoying the game, so my left ear just gritted its teeth and I continued to watch.
My
friend’s demand to “SHUT UP” was of course heard by Mrs. Smokes-a-lot as she
quipped “These guys are pissing me off I am going for a smoke,” Just loud
enough for us to hear. When no one from her party said a word, she stood up,
dropped a peanut down my shirt and tore off down the stairs.
Basically
what occurred next was all too predictable, this lady, fully clad in Michael
Kors and Tori Burch, returned from her smoke break and started pelting us with
peanut shells.
I
learned at a young age that if you do not engage a bully they will simply get
bored and move on to a different target, and after about 15 minutes she stopped,
content with herself, a 35 year old woman who just attempted to pick a fight
with two 19 year olds, I would be proud too.
_
The
rest of the game was fine; we were some of the last to leave because not many fans
are interested in seeing the third and fourth string players on the bubble to
make the roster.
It
was great to watch the Texans in action, considering I will most likely not be attending
a regular season game. I highly recommend you do though; the new screen alone makes
the trip worth it. Most of the game I struggled to avert my eyes and actually
watch the players on the field.
In
weeks to come, I hope the Texans address issues surrounding our backfield. It
would be a damn shame to be able to blame our lack of a Lombardi trophy on our
undrafted former super-vegan. I am highly impressed with our passing game, but
that will not carry us this season. When Schaub was putting up insane stats a
few seasons ago, we were not winning enough games to make the playoffs. We are
a better team than we were a few years ago, but I just don’t know if Schaub
could carry the load without Arian lining up behind him.
Thanks
for the read, my next article will take a look at our draft picks and how each
has fared up to this point.
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