Let's point out the negatives first. If you watched this game from start to finish, you realized that the Texans SHOULD have won this game today. However, as in any sports, mistakes will cost you games and that's what did the Texans in today. When a friend of mine asked me the other day in my opinion what would it take for the Texans to win I said a few things had to happen: Texans needed to rush for 140 yards (they gained 131), the defense needed to stop Ray Rice from making big runs (he had 60 yards on 21 carries), you had to win the turnover battle and T.J. Yates could not have too many mistakes. As I predicted to my friend I said I thought the Ravens would win but I think it would be close and I was right on the nose with my predictions. 1 fumble and 3 interceptions did the Texans in today plain and simple. Jacoby Jones, who in all likelihood played his final game as a Texan, got the moment of the game shifted after his inexplicable attempt to return a punt that turned into a fumble and a gimme touchdown for the Ravens. But like I said before, if you watched the entire game, you can't put all the blame on him even though he is an easy scapegoat to do so. After the Ravens kicked a field goal that made it 10-3 late in the 1st quarter, the very next possession for the Texans, rookie T.J. Yates threw an interception that turned into a Ravens touchdown after it set Baltimore up in prime position to score. At that point, the Texans were doing absolutely nothing on offense and in my mind I thought the route was on for Baltimore. But the Texans would jump on the back of Arian Foster and Andre Johnson on the offensive side of the ball and climb back in the game.
But after the Texans would come out of the locker room from halftime, the game was theirs to take and the offense didn't, or should I say T.J. Yates didn't. If your reading this your probably thinking, how can you bash a 5th round rookie, that was the third string QB, who never thought in is wildest mind that he would be in this game when the season started? And your right I shouldn't, but I have a problem with this theory to an extent. If T.J. Yates wasn't capable of being in the game, then why was he instead of Jake Delhomme? The answer to that is because Gary Kubiak knows what he has in Yates and sees him everyday at practice and knew it was the best option for the Texans to possibly win, and I get that. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve a hint of criticism? Here's the deal to me, the person that cost the Texans a trip to the AFC Championship game was T.J. Yates plain and simple. He is a professional; he earned his way into the league and rookie or not he made terrible decisions today that hurt his team and I bet nobody feels worse about it then he does. He tried to force too many passes today when he didn't need to especially in the 4th quarter. Yates was capable of taking the Texans down to score the game-tying touchdown after the 2 minute warning but he blew it. He had to take his team 36 yards down the field and he blew it by trying to force a pass on 1st down that he didn't need to that was intercepted and then again trying to throw a ball into the end zone with :20 seconds left on 4th down from midfield instead of trying to pick up a first down and keep any hopes of their chances to tie the game up alive. But I get it, he is a rookie and he made rookie mistakes, but is that truly an acceptable excuse for fans that truly get football? I will come back to that later.
Now to the positives and why Texans fans around should be proud. Once Matt Schaub, Mario Williams, Arian Foster and Andre Johnson went down due to injuries all throughout the season, this team was resilient and stepped up when they needed to. In many eyes that exceeded expectations because of these injuries and they brought playoff football back to Houston in nearly 20 years. The team all around won over the city of Houston and the buzz about this team is something this town hasn't seen since the Astros made the World Series in 2005. The scary part about this, not for the city of Houston but for the NFL, is that this team has the potential to be good for a very long time. Obviously there will be moves made, people let go, draft picks made and with what GM Rick Smith did this off season, the future looks bright for the Texans. The best news overall was that DC Wade Phillips decided to comeback to the Texans next year to keep on improving what is one of the top 3 defenses in the NFL right now. If you were to look at all the teams in the AFC the day after the Super Bowl, the Houston Texans has to be the one of the favorites to make the Super Bowl along with the Patriots. The worst part about the entire situation is that you can begin to play the what if game if Matt Schaub were in at QB instead of Yates. In my honest opinion, if Schaub didn't get hurt, the Texans probably would have finished 13-3 or 12-4 and would have been playing the Ravens at Reliant instead of on the road. If you don't believe me go read some local media members tweets during the day and see if you agree with them. They could have easily finished with the best record in the AFC and could most likely be looking at a trip to Indianapolis for the Super Bowl and with the Packers and Saints both losing in this round, one could only think the chances of them winning it could have been if he was in. But injuries happen and you have to play on and that's what they did all season and they did that very well.
Now let me go back to the point about Yates and him being a rookie. If you don't agree with me and you have a Twitter account, look up former Houston Texans cornerback Marcus Coleman on there and see his thoughts from the game and his insight as well. As Coleman said in a tweet, "Real talk, the rookie card does not apply. This situation was no newer to him than to the rest of the team who's never been in the playoffs." The fact is he is dead right. This was new to everyone on the team for the most part and he played poorly. The defense known as #BullsonParade did everything to win the game and the group as a whole deserved a win the way they played; so did Arian Foster and Andre Johnson, but it just wasn't the case. Again I'm not bashing Yates, I just pose a question to people that read this, are you satisfied that the Texans got to where they did, or did you want more? If you say more, your thinking the logic I am. To me, if your a team it is championship or bust and you have to have those expectations as players. As fans, we have a better understand of how are team may be in a season but if we know our team as a chance to win a championship, we should want it as bad as the players on team does. That's why I think this loss today is not only upsetting to the players of the Texans but the fans of the Texans as well. When I read a friend of mine's tweet today after the game, he put this into perspective better than any expert. He said that winning 10 games next year is not a foregone conclusion and repeat success is very hard in the NFL, which is very true. The best analogy I can think of with this is Dan Marino. Hall of Fame QB that goes to a Super Bowl in his second year in the league, then never makes it back again. The truth of the matter is the Texans had an opportunity to give themselves and the city of Houston a chance at the Super Bowl and they blew it. I do expect the Texans to be back and better next year, but the problem is we have to wait for next year.
To make this clear once again, I am not bashing T.J. Yates for losing the game, I am being a realistic observer of what happened in this game today. Yates did something this year that not many QB's in the history of the NFL have been asked to do and he did a commendable job at it. Was he great? No. Was he good enough? Absolutely. The future is bright for Yates with a lot of room to grow and will be a solid No. 2 QB next year behind Matt Schaub. Yates will have his time to shine once again and compete for a starting job in a few years, but again that time is down the road or unless Schaub becomes brittle again. In 2002, Houston officially got football, but in 2011/12, big time football returned to Houston. Be proud Texans fans, we all deserve it, but if your still a little pissed and feel like this game is hard to swallow, it is ok because it is. See you at Reliant in September.
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