Quest for 6- 1: Conference control riding in battle of front- runners
There was no disagreement on the subject from the Texans before the season began.
As high as external expectations were, the Texans themselves expected the same. They expected to be a Super Bowl team.
To say Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens is the game that will determine the Texans’ fate toward that goal is an overstatement. It is, after all, only Week 7, with most of the Texans’ division slate to come.
But after a decisive 42- 24 loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Texans find themselves in a rare position for this early in the season. A victory Sunday would break a lifetime of futility against the Baltimore Ravens plus give the Texans control of their conference and their quest for home- field advantage in the playoffs.
“This is right now a battle for the top of the AFC, and
we’re excited about that,” Texans defensive end J. J. Watt said. “There’s not much more you can ask for.
“I mean, as a man you want to go head- to- head with your top competition, and right now in the AFC it’s Ravens- Texans. And if you get a chance to settle it on the field, you can’t beat that.”
Recent history indicatesWeek 7 is disposable for Super Bowl aspirations. The past two AFC champions started the season 5- 1 and then lost their seventh game.
In 2011, New England began the season 5- 1 and then lost two games. But the Patriots didn’t falter again until their Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants.
In 2010, Pittsburgh started the season 5- 1 before losing to New Orleans. The Steelers lost to Green Bay in that season’s Super Bowl.
But neither of those teams played in a conference as lopsided as this year’s.
Making NFL history
The Ravens and Texans are 5- 1, but no other AFC team is better than 3- 3 ( a record shared by every team in the East Division). This is the first time in NFL history a conference has had two or fewer teams with winning records afterWeek 2.
By contrast, the NFC features seven teams with four wins or more, including the undefeated Atlanta Falcons.
“It is strange … and that’s crazy,” Texans left tackle Duane Brown said. “But there’s still a lot of football left to play, and we’re very fortunate to be in the position we are right now.”
There will be more tests during the season.
The Texans travel to Chicago inWeek 10 to face the NFC Northleading Bears. They face the Patriots, dangerous as long as TomBrady is their quarterback, inWeek 14. And the Indianapolis Colts, though still young and learning, will have nearly a full season of experience when facing the Texans inWeeks 15 and 17.
But a victory over the Ravens will give the Texans a head start that could help them avoid road games in cold weather come playoff time — an Achilles’ heel of warm- weather teams. It could begin a march that renders that last game against Indianapolis meaningless.
A victory would show resiliency and that the Texans can stall an opponent with big- play capability.
A victory, to improve the Texans to 6- 1, would mean at least a 21/2- game lead on every other team in the AFC South.
A feel- good victory
A victory would mean the Texans could go into their open week feeling just a little bit better.
“We still have nine games to play after that,” receiver Andre Johnson said. “I’ve seen when teams that went 6- 0, 7- 0, then come back and lose seven or eight games.”
While that’s true, there is value to being alone at the top of the AFC.
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