Are You Ready For Some Houston Texans Football
WE LOVE US SOME FOOTBALL!
This is our favorite time of the year. Football season is here, throw in the fact that hunting season is upon us as well and you have the perfect storm for outdoors and sports enthusiasts.
This past weekend College Football cranked up and it did not disappoint. There were upsets, nail-biters and the BCS already has a problem on their hands with Boise State knocking off Virginia Tech. Great start to the NCAA Football season, oh and not to mention, Texas A&M won!
The NFL starts up this weekend, actually tomorrow and all we can say is – it’s about time!
Now, it is no secret we are BIG Houston Texans fans and we are expecting a lot out of them this year. So we wanted to do a big post about our predictions and what we think needs to happen for them to have a good year and solidify the Texans first playoff berth. Then we found an article titled “Our Year” on Houston Press that did the job for us. Why write something on your own when you can just steal it, right?
Written by Sean Pendergast, (great Twitter follow @SeanCablinasian) a weekly contributor to Houston Press and one half of the Sean & John Show on 1560 The Game, “Our Year” puts the Texans Franchise and the 2010 season in perspective.
With a little history:
There’s certainly been plenty of hand-wringing and talk-radio angst over the Texans’ 49-79 record. But fans cast their votes on the team by spending money on game tickets and parking and food and gear. And the fans are still showing up.
Amazingly, they have shown up despite the following historical data. (Warning: If you love the Texans, these numbers will test that love.)
• At no point in their history have the Texans been three games over .500. Ever. Translation: Texans fans have not, for even one week, had a tangible reason to feel great about this team.
• In the eight years the Texans have been in existence, they’ve been over .500 for a total of 11 weeks. That’s it. Peyton Manning had that knocked out in one season by Thanksgiving last year. Translation: Texans fans can practically count on both hands the number of weeks they could even feel slightly good about this team.
• Since 2002, the Texans’ first season in the NFL, every team has made playoffs except for three: the Buffalo Bills, the Detroit Lions and your Houston Texans. Translation: It’s never good to be mentioned with the Detroit Lions in any sentence.
The Pendergast Method:
So now it’s on to the 2010 season. If indeed the Texans are going to make the playoffs, let’s roll with the assumption that they’ll need to go 10-6, something they haven’t done in franchise history. Appropriately enough, in a season in which they have to shatter precedent, the schedule includes five of the six teams that the Texans have never beaten in their eight years in the league — Baltimore, the New York Jets, Philadelphia, San Diego and Washington. (Minnesota is the sixth team; it’s probably a good thing they don’t get a crack at all six.)
The Texans’ overall record against the slate of opponents they’ll face in 2010 is 22-55 (and 13-35 against their division opponents, whom they will obviously face twice).
Being a Texans believer in 2010 involves a lot of blind faith. Can the Texans finish 10-6? Sure, they can. In breaking down the schedule, I have a little thing that I call the Pendergast Bucket Theory, wherein I categorize each game, putting them into three probability buckets. They are as follows:
To a 10-6 Houston Texans Record:
So where do the games on the 2010 slate stack up in the Pendergast Bucket Theory? Glad you asked, young grasshopper. Here you go:
Must wins, 6: @ Oakland, vs New York Giants, vs Kansas City, vs Tennessee, @ Denver, vs Jacksonville
Coin flippers, 7: vs Indianapolis, @ Washington, vs Dallas, vs San Diego, @ Jacksonville, vs Baltimore, @ Tennessee
Steals, 3: @ Indianapolis, @ New York Jets, @ Philadelphia
So the formula to get to the postseason is pretty simple — the Texans need to go 5-1 against the “must wins” (easily the part of the formula with which I’m most uncomfortable; none of those games are lay-ups), 4-3 in the “coin flippers” (split the home games, split Jacksonville and Tennessee on the road, beat Washington — very doable) and win a “steal” game (I’ll go with Philly as the most likely).
If the Texans follow that formula, that equates to 10-6, which would have been good enough for a playoff berth in 2009. (Of course, in 2008, 11-5 wasn’t good enough for the Patriots to make it, but that’s because San Diego won the AFC West with an 8-8 record. That’s obviously not the case this season; 10-6 should get it done.)
It is a fantastic article and a MUST read for Houston Texans fans, for all football fans for that matter. To be honest, in an effort of holding up the integrity of this blog, anything we would have put together on the subject wouldn’t hold a candle to “Our Year” Will The Texans Make It To Playoffs. Great job Pendergast – we don’t think it could be said or broken down any better.
So go read it! It will make a Houston Texans believer out of you…or give you ammunition for the “how they will not make the playoffs, again” argument. Either way, we highly recommend it!
Click Here for full article: “Our Year” Will Texans Make It To Playoffs?
Not to completely ride the coattails of Sean, here is THE BACKFILL’s record prediction for the 2010 Houston Texans:
1 Sun, Sep 12th, 2010 Indianapolis Win
2 Sun, Sep 19th, 2010 at Washington Win
3 Sun, Sep 26th, 2010 Dallas Win
4 Sun, Oct 3rd, 2010 at Oakland Win
5 Sun, Oct 10th, 2010 NY_Giants Loss
6 Sun, Oct 17th, 2010 Kansas_City Win
7 Bye
8 Mon, Nov 1st, 2010 at Indianapolis Loss
9 Sun, Nov 7th, 2010 San_Diego Win
10 Sun, Nov 14th, 2010 at Jacksonville Loss
11 Sun, Nov 21st, 2010 at NY_Jets Loss
12 Sun, Nov 28th, 2010 Tennessee Win
13 Thu, Dec 2nd, 2010 at Philadelphia Win
14 Mon, Dec 13th, 2010 Baltimore Loss
15 Sun, Dec 19th, 2010 at Tennessee Win
16 Sun, Dec 26th, 2010 at Denver Win
17 Sun, Jan 2nd, 2011 Jacksonville Win
That’s right…no miss print, your Houston Texans are going 11-5 this year and taking a franchise first playoff spot! You heard it here first.
Sean Pendergast article ["Our Year"]
2010 AFC Champs [Houston Texans]
Twitter Feeds: Sean Pendergast [@SeanCablinasian] and we have to give out the 2nd half of the Sean & John Show, John Harris [@jharrisfootball] he is another great follow, highly skilled and educated on NFL and NCAA Football.
