Convinced yet?
9th consecutive win after 0-3 start is ample reason to buy in to NFL’s hottest team
There is no way that you still need convincing, right?
Nine consecutive victories.
A 9-3 record after an 0-3 start.
Bill O’Brien and Romeo Crennel taking the day. The Texans — your Texans — officially the hottest and most dependable team in the week-to-week NFL.
If for some God-unknown reason you’re still aloofly sitting back high and mighty, it’s time to buy in and believe in this 2018 team as December begins.
It was 29-13 Texans over the bad-again Cleveland Browns on Sunday at NRG Stadium.
And, honestly, once it hit 10-0 home team, it felt like it was over.
Baker Mayfield threw three first-half interceptions. Deshaun Watson ended up 22-of-31 for 224 yards and a 102.1 passer rating. O’Brien’s squad did what it’s done every game week since Week 3.
Win.
“This has been a great team to coach,” said the man who deserves to be a leading Coach of the Year candidate. “They really try to do what we ask them to do. They’re really a bunch of awesome guys. It’s just been really fun to coach ’em.”
Complementary football is apparently contagious, too. Because it was offense, defense and special teams intertwining for the second straight contest, propelling the AFC South leader to a 23-0 halftime lead.
By that peak point, O’Brien’s squad had scored 57 points and amassed 724 offensive yards in its last six combined quarters.
I am not screaming Super Bowl at this exact moment in time.
Yes, o ye of little faith, they still have a few issues to iron out.
Cleveland gained 428 offensive yards, including 397 by Mayfield on 29-of-43 passing. Kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was technically the Texans’ offensive MVP, thanks to a perfect 5-of-5 field goal day.
“There’s a lot of things that we have to continue to try to get better at,” O’Brien said.
That is true.
But Watson’s only become more smooth and efficient as the weekly victories have piled up. Team-wide confidence and chemistry continue to build. NRG is buzzing again.
And, to be perfectly honest, you have to be a hater to continue to hate on this team.
Watson and all the big-name veterans returning from major injuries.
A team that finished 4-12 last year, losing its last six games and nine of 10, then following that mess by starting 0-3.
Team founder and owner Bob McNair passing away.
There’s a ton of emotion and even more pride on the line.
The Texans’ stadium glowed last Monday on national TV. Just six days later — that’s right, Houston, your Texans are so hot right now they can win two games in a single week — the organization extended its franchise record to nine consecutive W’s.
"If it’s an ugly win, I’ll take it. If it’s a pretty win, I’ll take it," said veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph, who picked off Mayfield. "In this league all you do is try to win, win, win, win, win."
Know this, too: O’Brien is pulling off the best coaching year of his five-year reign on Kirby Drive.
I know some of y’all still enjoy hating on the main guy.
Get over yourself.
Live in the moment. Enjoy the present tense.
Maybe it all ends with another disappointing playoff loss. Maybe Indianapolis wins next Sunday and keeps the South interesting when the Colts visit NRG.
But this 2018 Texans team is clearly playing for its HC. In the NFL, it’s impossible to turn 0-3 into 9-3 unless the locker-room 53 fully believe in the man calling the primary shots.
“The thing that I’ve noticed with this team — and it has to continue — is that it is a confident team, but it’s a team that realizes it’s very much a week-to-week league,” said O’Brien, who improved to an NFL-best 30-1 since 2014 when leading at halftime.
Then the coach of a team that keeps winning kept his crew moving forward, again.
“You can’t take the cheese,” O’Brien said. “In this league, if you start taking the cheese on nine in a row — which is fantastic — you’re going to be in a world of hurt … because it’s a very humbling league.”
There is only joy right now. The Texans have never been this hot. Since McNair brought the NFL back to Houston in 2002, this is the strongest the team has been. It will take a couple of real playoff victories and a ticket to the AFC Championship to still make some of you believe.
But nine consecutive wins and 9-3?
It’s time to get into these Texans, Houston.