Houston continues to wait for a playoff football team, because this isn’t one.
Playoff teams win games like this.
Dunta Robinson. Need I say more?
Dunta Robinson turned down 23 million dollars? This guy got OWNED by a rookie tonight. He was terrible. A dropped interception here, a holding call there, and he couldn’t stay with a rookie.
Chris Johnson didn’t hit the big play, but he gave us a slow death.
The Texans didn’t shut down Chris Johnson, but they prevented him from making big plays. He had a couple of big runs, but the new threat Vince Young brings to the table opens things up even more for the fastest Muppet in the universe.
Vince Young was the difference tonight.
I don’t like it any more than you do, but the Texans lost tonight because Vince Young beat them. Period. Yeah, like I said – Chris Johnson was solid, but the defense didn’t let him dominate. Vince was great with his legs, and he made the throws he had to make when he had to make them. He was absolutely LETHAL on third down.
Let’s talk about kickers.
As a proven clutch kicker, Kris Brown gets some slack when he misses a pressure kick as he did against the Colts. But when a kicker misses TWO clutch kicks in a row (three if you count the first half miss tonight as clutch) you’re pretty much useless to me. There are tons of unemployed kickers who can kick easy FGs all day long. The difference between a good kicker and a bad kicker is how he performs in the clutch. Do you flat-out CUT Kris Brown now? Probably not – but you definitely need to bring someone in for a look.
More than anything, the Texans played not to lose.
Chris Brown gets the vast majority of the carries? THAT is the very definition of playing not to lose. It’s hard to blame Gary Kubiak for playing to avoid Steve Slaton’s inevitable turnovers… but you’ve GOT to be kidding me. 14 touches for Chris Brown tonight. I really do think he can be effective as a change-of-pace back, but when he’s the pace-setter (so to speak) he’s a joke. Get the ball, take three steps, insert feet in to concrete shoes, fall, repeat.
Criticism of the play before the last field goal is unwarranted, IMO.
The ESPN blabbermouths were killing Gary Kubiak for not using that last time out to run one more play to get Kris Brown closer on his FG attempt. Listen, that missed FG wasn’t about distance. It was about choking. With only eight seconds left on the clock, sure they could have run a slant or an out and called a quick time out, but I’m guessing a kicker would rather have a 49-yarder from their preferred position between the hashmarks, than a 45-yarder at the place they wouldn’t prefer.
Criticism of the screen to Slaton – definitely warranted.
Kubiak and Kyle Shanahan are great, great offensive minds. Sometimes though, the “smartest guys in the room” need to realize they’re coaching football and not teaching rocket science. Throw the ball to Andre Johnson. For the love of GOD, throw the ball to Andre Johnson. Steve Slaton is dangerous as hell in the open field, but when you have one play to make something happen, it doesn’t matter if they know it’s coming or not – it’s Andre Johnson. If not Andre Johnson, then you make your QB who has played so well this year, make a play. Let him thread the needle to AJ, Kevin Walter, David Anderson. Why get cutesy in that situation?
The season is not over, but let’s be honest.
Like I said before, playoff teams win games like this. The Texans don’t know how to win close games. That’s DEADLY when pretty much every game you play is a close game.
The Texans seem to have fixed their awful road play, but now they’re inexplicably mediocre at home. Worse than all that, though, is that they continue to stink it up against their own division. They’re not going to win any tiebreakers, especially now that Cincinnati is probably headed for a division title rather than a wild card.
It’s going to be a long week. I’m probably going to go media-dark for a while because I just do not want to hear all the Vince Young jock-sniffers gloat, as much as they deserve to. That plus the Thanks(for nothing!!)giving holiday is coming up, so I might be a little quiet this week.
So, let it fly. I’ve had a lot of beer tonight… but probably not enough. 
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Nov 24, 2009 at 09:55:21
Okay–here’s my take. Statue man versus always “out of the pocket Vince Young.” We fans just wanted this game so much and so did another fellow “Texan.” I mean come on –Jeff Fisher and team just wanted it badly–bah-humbug–me too–I’m bummed!!
Nov 24, 2009 at 09:59:46
The Tennessee Titans are dangerous now. Let’s forget that they are 4-6. They are 4-0 with the new Vince-Bone offense, and they are confident as hell. NFL Live did a report on Chris Johnson for the Titans AND Chris Johnson of the Oakland Raiders both making 10-6 predictions, and the Raiders, 2-5 at the time, were laughed at, while the Titans were respected as legit 10-6 threats. This is a new team, and Chris Johnson, while maybe not MVP, is making a serious run at Offensive Player of the Year.
Okay, that’s done. Yes, Kris Brown choked, and I’m pissed. Think about it. When handing the end of the game over to the two Chris Browns, we’ve come up short all four times. (Sigh).
HOWEVER, we still have a legitimate shot. If we take down the Colts next week, the respect creeps back. If we beat Jacksonville (whom we have owned just as much as Tennessee has owned us), then that’s one less team with a tie breaker.
If we do that, we’re at 7-5, 6-4 in conference, with four winnable games ahead (Seattle, St. Louis, Miami that may have nothing to play for, and New England who might be resting starters). I project that the wildcard picture would look like this:
Jacksonville 7-5
Baltimore 7-5
Houston 7-5
Denver 7-5
Pittsburgh 7-5
Miami 6-6
Jets 6-6
Tennessee 5-7
As you can see, we don’t need to worry about the end of the season until the next two weeks play out. If we can get up to 3-3 in the AFC South, then we deserve to be in the mix. If we can’t beat the Colts to prove we CAN beat a big-time opponent, and/or we can’t beat the Jaguars to prove we CAN win the games we are supposed to win, then we are really not a playoff team.
Oh, and start the TOBY GERHART bandwagon!!!
Nov 24, 2009 at 10:09:29
i saw on espn rumors that kris brown might get cut
Nov 24, 2009 at 10:34:39
They might cut him
VY was not THE difference
dunta was IMHO
I will give credit where it’s due, and KY has improved a great deal
but without cj back there he CANT make those third down runs
k brown and dunta werethe difference
we ate gonna get crushed by the colts I have a bad feeling
Nov 24, 2009 at 10:37:41
That fumble was priceless though
I got a great shoot of it
way to go wonderlic 6
Nov 24, 2009 at 11:28:25
Spot on with Dunta. Other than what used to be a feared name on the back of his jersey, he hasn’t done anything. I can’t remember the last play he’s made without, “cheating”, a penalty. I can’t blame any defender for the loss. The loss should go on our def coordinator for not figuring out how to stop VY on all his 3rd and long runs. But honestly, I don’t think anyone has that. Ask Pete Carrol. Hook EM Horns!!!
I disagree with your playing not to lose comments. Giving Chris Brown that many carries doesn’t effect our game. Can you honestly tell me that if those carries were given to Slaton he would of made any difference? Our running game is nonexistent. It’s awfully tough to win in the league if you’re one dimensional.
Lastly, WHAT HAPPENED TO KRIS BROWN????? He has been such a good kicker for so long. This team is filled with so many “what if’s” this year. ughh!!!
Nov 24, 2009 at 12:38:58
Perfect title to this post. That is exactly what happened last night. Game plan on D was obviously to sell out to stop Chris Johnson and force Vince to beat you with his arm. Once that started happening, its time to change the game plan. I wonder what would have happened if they switched the secondary to straight man coverage. When Titans are so open there are no Texans players on the screen when the catch is made, something needs to change. Along, the same line when Vince started moving the chains on third down in the second half with his legs, spy on every third down.
Also wanted to point out that since the first week all of the Texans losses have come down to a single play where they had the opportunity to tie the game (goal line failures in Jacksonville and Arizona losses, missed field goals in Indy and Tenn losses).
Unless there are some major changes across the board and the Texans win the remainder of their games and get some help from other AFC teams, we should start looking forward to the draft. Looks deep at DT.
Nov 24, 2009 at 13:14:49
I just read a quote from Keith Bullock that said something along the lines of “The Texans have come a long way since they were an expansion team, they have turned their team around 360 degrees”
Just seemed funny to me
Nov 24, 2009 at 14:15:01
@kyle
HELL YES!!! GO CARDINAL!!!
Did the Colts waste any time before booting Vanderjat after he started to choke?
Nov 24, 2009 at 16:12:03
Completely disagree on VY being the difference.
Don’t get me wrong, he looks like a better quarterback than he did in his Pro Bowl days *snicker*, but if Frank Bush had just spied him instead of using that extra man to be an innocent bystander in another terrible zone, this is a completely different game.
The difference maker, to be bluntly obvious, is that the Texans missed two very makeable field goals because Kris Brown has forgotten how to kick a football. The only things VY did in this game that the Texans shouldn’t have been able to stop with some actual planning were handing off to Chris Johnson and running the option.
Nov 24, 2009 at 23:17:41
@Rivers
All I know is that VY was the guy killing us on 3rd down all night. I get what you’re saying about the spy – but the fact is Bush DIDN’T do that, and Vince took full advantage. I’m actually surprised the Titans didn’t score more than they did.
Chris Johnson is just a sick, sick individual. I bag on him a lot – because he’s a moron – but he’s unreal. When the game ended, to me it felt like the Texans held him in check because he didn’t have any huge runs or scoring runs – but when the game was over he had 150+ and over 5ypc? That had to be the quietest 150+ yard performance ever.
Nov 25, 2009 at 13:13:19
Dunta Robinson sucks….can’t wait til he leaves town and gets offered less than what we attempted to give him.
Kris Brown gotta go. Thats 2 games this season where he was the deciding factor.
Nov 25, 2009 at 14:26:28
Eugene Wilson is out for the season…If you have Peyton Manning on your team I would make sure you have him starting this week.
Nov 27, 2009 at 20:31:14
Come back Chris, its Friday now and I need something interesting to read about the Texans.
Nov 30, 2009 at 09:58:20
I have watched Houston Pro football forforty years. I am amuned at us being losers. Kubiak brought to much Denver Bronco to houston football. Hiring his former coachs son to be offense q.b. coach. Has this kid started shaving yet? Get rid of the whole damn bunch. what have they proved? Nothing but a useless bunch of LOSERS!