The upcoming Tennessee game (12-14-08)

[Arky]

The Tennessee Titans are coming in with the best record in the league and have already clinched but still have a bit of motivation to secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs. It doesn't get any easier for them after the Texans as they face the Steelers @ home and Indy on the road to complete the season. Indy may just want to make a statement in that final game....

The Titans are 3 to 3.5 pt. favorites depending on who you check with.

The Texans need to play a clean game, stop the run and in passing situations, I want to see Kerry Collins running for his life - a lot...

From the they're baaaacckkk department: Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker will handle the play-by-play....

[Mike]

Weather looks really nice. Daytime high of 73, low of 59 chance of showers.
Should be a nice afternoon at Reliant. Can't wait to get there and cheer the hometown boys.

[Nconroe]

It would really be nice to beat the Titans. Seems we have had many close , could've won type games with them over the years with little to show for it up to now.

[nunusguy]

I think we've got a shot this weekend vs. the Titans after the way the Texans played this past Sunday in GB on a short week of prep. This is a "rival game" as they say in college and I expect the Texans to be focused. Then after this weekend I say we shut it down and play, maybe even start rookies like Moulden and Barber and Okam, etc. Lets get a look at them and give them some regular season experience on an extended basis.
Of course Kubiak won't do that. He'll try his damnest to win as many more games as possilble even though the wins would be meaningless in the longer term and will actually decrease the value of the Texans Draft position and unnecessarily raise expectations even higher for the 2009 season.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

I think we've got a shot this weekend vs. the Titans after the way the Texans played this past Sunday in GB on a short week of prep. This is a "rival game" as they say in college and I expect the Texans to be focused. Then after this weekend I say we shut it down and play, maybe even start rookies like Moulden and Barber and Okam, etc. Lets get a look at them and give them some regular season experience on an extended basis.
Of course Kubiak won't do that. He'll try his damnest to win as many more games as possilble even though the wins would be meaningless in the longer term and will actually decrease the value of the Texans Draft position and unnecessarily raise expectations even higher for the 2009 season.

I'm with Kubiak. While the draft is a team's lifeblood, I think it's more important to try to instill confidence, winning attitude, etc. in the team. If these guys can develop a little swagger and learn a little more about how to put teams away over the final month of the season, I'm willing to drop 4 or 5 spots in the draft for this. Pull up any draft over the last decade and half the 1st round picks are mediocre to busts. Having a top 15 picks does not guarantee anything (except giving an unproven college player a boatload of money).

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Joshua

I'm with Kubiak. While the draft is a team's lifeblood, I think it's more important to try to instill confidence, winning attitude, etc. in the team. If these guys can develop a little swagger and learn a little more about how to put teams away over the final month of the season, I'm willing to drop 4 or 5 spots in the draft for this. Pull up any draft over the last decade and half the 1st round picks are mediocre to busts. Having a top 15 picks does not guarantee anything (except giving an unproven college player a boatload of money).

The idea of losing in the NFL for draft position is ridiculous. Sure, on draft day someone I like will probably go a few spots ahead of us, and I'll be pissed. The fact is though that the success or failure of draft picks is so hit and miss that the only thing being higher in the draft guarantees you is that your will have to spend more money.The NBA is another story because one player can make a huge difference...which is why the NBA went to a lottery system to try and keep teams from tanking.

Outside of the top 5-10 picks the contracts aren't necessarily potential cap killers. I think being a mid to late round pick gives you more flexibility too. Look at how few trades happen with the top picks. I think it's easier to make a move if you want to from the middle of the first round....hopefully down.

[cadams]

Originally Posted by Joshua

I'm with Kubiak. While the draft is a team's lifeblood, I think it's more important to try to instill confidence, winning attitude, etc. in the team. If these guys can develop a little swagger and learn a little more about how to put teams away over the final month of the season, I'm willing to drop 4 or 5 spots in the draft for this. Pull up any draft over the last decade and half the 1st round picks are mediocre to busts. Having a top 15 picks does not guarantee anything (except giving an unproven college player a boatload of money).

agreed, if they could win out i think going into the offseason on a 6 game win streak (or winning 5 of the last 6) would be much more valuable than a few draft spots.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

I think we've got a shot this weekend vs. the Titans after the way the Texans played this past Sunday in GB on a short week of prep. This is a "rival game" as they say in college and I expect the Texans to be focused. Then after this weekend I say we shut it down and play, maybe even start rookies like Moulden and Barber and Okam, etc. Lets get a look at them and give them some regular season experience on an extended basis.
Of course Kubiak won't do that. He'll try his damnest to win as many more games as possilble even though the wins would be meaningless in the longer term and will actually decrease the value of the Texans Draft position and unnecessarily raise expectations even higher for the 2009 season.

I think we have a shot as well. It puzzles me to see this ongoing fascination with Frank Okam. Has he even made a tackle in his time on the field? Has he even flashed anything? Molden and Barber are not ready and our safety play has been decent with Ferguson (who I hope is healthy) and Wilson. Molden coming from the small school is being brought along slow.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by Mike

I think we have a shot as well. It puzzles me to see this ongoing fascination with Frank Okam. Has he even made a tackle in his time on the field? Has he even flashed anything? Molden and Barber are not ready and our safety play has been decent with Ferguson (who I hope is healthy) and Wilson. Molden coming from the small school is being brought along slow.

Okam's made a few nice plays (2 or 3), but far more he's been pushed around and been ineffective...more so than our other DT's which is saying something.
I'm all for giving the young guys a chance, but they need to earn it during the week and I can't make that call. Playing young guys just because they are young is a bad idea. You'll lose the veterans in a hurry if they don't think the kid deserves it.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by Mike

It puzzles me to see this ongoing fascination with Frank Okam. Has he even made a tackle in his time on the field?

While it's only my speculation, I think the fascination is driven by two things. One, the belief that he has 1st round talent and we could potentially have the steal of the draft if only we could coax it out of him. Second, since he's a Texas guy, he is somewhat different than most 5th round linemen in that most people around here had heard of him. Unless you really follow college football/draft closely, it is unlikely that the average NFL fan will know much about a 5th round DT. For instance, 3 DTs were taken in front of Okam in the 5th round (Carlton Powell, Jason Shirley, and DeMario Pressley). While most have heard of Okam, I doubt many know much about these guys.