You Know It's Not Your Year When...

[HPF Bob]

* Your tight end false starts when your team is about to get in field goal range to kick the winning field goal.

* The same tight end fumbles away your last desperation chance to get in field goal range.

* Your defensive end jumps off sides to give your opponent five yards closer to the end zone.

* Your corner slaps away your opponent's desperation Hail Mary throw straight into the lap of your opponent's receier who catches it to score the winning touchdown.

By the way, in case it escaped your attention, your number one draft choice also committed pass interference in the end zone on the same play so if your opponent didn't get the lucky gift of a deflected ball right into their lap, the officials could have put them at the one yard line for an untimed down.

Now, it's easy to say "fire the coaches" when that stuff happens but the players have to take responsibility too for that series of bonehead mistakes. If the last two games have taught us anything it's that we have an entire roster full of chokers when the game is on the line, not just the coaches but the people who put the roster together and the players themselves.

[Joshua]

No doubt the players bear responsibility for their screw ups. However, it is amazing how many fewer screw ups are made on teams with good head coaches. What immediately comes to mind is the night and day difference in the Cowboys when they hired Parcells. Despite having most of the same players, the mental errors and boneheaded plays dried up practically overnight. I guess this just could have been a coincidence but I doubt it.

In any event, I'm openly rooting for Kubiak to get canned so, as much as it pains me to say it, the Texans losing isn't the worst thing because it just makes that day that much closer.

[barrett]

I think I'm going to stick with fire the coaches.

I think it's been almost criminal that Dreesen continues to be on the field instead of Casey.

[TheMatrix31]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

* Your tight end false starts when your team is about to get in field goal range to kick the winning field goal.

* The same tight end fumbles away your last desperation chance to get in field goal range.

* Your defensive end jumps off sides to give your opponent five yards closer to the end zone.

* Your corner slaps away your opponent's desperation Hail Mary throw straight into the lap of your opponent's receier who catches it to score the winning touchdown.

By the way, in case it escaped your attention, your number one draft choice also committed pass interference in the end zone on the same play so if your opponent didn't get the lucky gift of a deflected ball right into their lap, the officials could have put them at the one yard line for an untimed down.

Now, it's easy to say "fire the coaches" when that stuff happens but the players have to take responsibility too for that series of bonehead mistakes. If the last two games have taught us anything it's that we have an entire roster full of chokers when the game is on the line, not just the coaches but the people who put the roster together and the players themselves.

So rational. What a great post.

[painekiller]

This team plays with no passion. As a team they seem to lack that will to impose their will on the other team. We have some individuals that appear to have passion, but as a group they seem to be lacking in it.

It's time to go find a Head Coach that exudes passion, a strict disciplinarian, and a bigger than life type. No more nice guy types.

We have never had that type here in Houston since Glanville. I am not asking for a circus, but a hardline type would be good.

IMO that is a Cowher or Parchell's type.

[nunusguy]

I knew it wasn't our year (AGAIN) the morning after the the Indy MNF game. I was out of town and didn't see the Cowboys loss, but saw the Giants loss
and I wondered how a playoff caliber team could lose like that at home ? But after the Indy loss, I knew the question wasn't how could a playoff team lose like that against a division rival in the weekly MNF game, but how could this team have regressed to the point in 2010 that it clearly wasn't a playoff caliber team ?
Yesterdays game with it's bizarre ending was a real downer, but not as disappointing and dicouraging as the realization earlier in the year that we'd
fall short of the playoffs again in 2010.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by painekiller

It's time to go find a Head Coach that exudes passion, a strict disciplinarian, and a bigger than life type. No more nice guy types.

We have never had that type here in Houston since Glanville. I am not asking for a circus, but a hardline type would be good.

What Glanville did was go out of his way to tell his players not to back down when the Steelers and Browns, heck even the Bengals, would play borderline dirty football. He said when those teams complained about the Oilers playing dirty, they were really complaining that the Oilers were growing a spine and fighting back. Life was so much easier when you could push them around.

The Texans, particularly under Kubiak, have never hit back - even when Jared Allen or Dayton Florence had over-the-top cheap shots on their quarterback.

I watched Auburn on Saturday with this DE (Fairley, Farley, something like that) who was hitting the QB late in the back with the crown of his helmet and later went for his knees. On the one hand, it sickened me to watch it and watch the officials let it go. On the other hand, I found myself saying "the Texans need somebody like that". We need some meanness, particularly on defense.

But, I agree that the passion we saw in Week 1 has been missing for a long time.

[Joshua]

Agree on the lack of passion. IMO, Kubiak "hopes" to win, rather than "expects" to win. You can see it in his body language (not watching field goals, etc.), see it in his playcalling, and hear it in his comments ("It's hard to win in this league," etc.). Hoping to win is fine when you take over a terrible team. However, at some point, hoping to win doesn't cut it anymore. Couple his attitude with a team of young guys without any real alpha male leaders and you get what we have--a team that collectively shrinks from the moment and a team which you can tell is waiting for the other shoe to drop. Confidence plays a huge role in separating the good teams from the average. This team lacks confidence at virutally every level.

[superbowlbound]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Now, it's easy to say "fire the coaches" when that stuff happens but the players have to take responsibility too for that series of bonehead mistakes. If the last two games have taught us anything it's that we have an entire roster full of chokers when the game is on the line, not just the coaches but the people who put the roster together and the players themselves.

Yeah, it IS easy to say "fire the coaches." We came out flat, AGAIN, and gave up a 14 point lead. If we come out and move the ball like we came ready to play, we're eating clock instead of throwing the ball trying to get in field goal range down the stretch. we come out flat every single week, dig ourselves a hole, and then try to climb our way out of it. 2 weeks in a row, bad luck plays have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but this team is too good offensively to have to win it as time expires every week. It all lays at good ole Gary's feet.

Season's over. Let's win at home, since myself and several of you guys will be there, lose on the road, and get this Gary Kubiak experiment over with.

[NBT]

Football is a team sport, an "us" mentality. This team is too much about "me", including the coaches IMOG. Having no sense of identity they go out and just try to do "their" thing.