When nothing is expected, Texans’ win has meaning
HOUSTON — Your Texans stand alone in first place in the AFC South. Have fun with it. Soak it up.
Revel in the power for the next six days.
And I mean this in the best way possible: Enjoy the NFL supremacy while you can.
David Culley is 1-0. Nick Caserio is 1-0. Tyrod Taylor, Mark Ingram and Lovie Smith have started 1-0 in their new football world.
Who’s got the bigger problem: the person who instantly complains that the rebuilding Texans blowing out the rebuilding Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday inside a cheering NRG Stadium didn’t mean anything or the professionals who led by 20 points at halftime and ultimately set a franchise record for most points scored in Week 1?
“We don’t care about them people. We don’t care. If you doubt us or doubt someone, like we don’t really care,” said Ingram, after the Texans’ 37-21 season-opening victory was officially part of NFL history. “We all believe in each other. We all have faith in each other. We all hold each other accountable, and we believe we have what we need in order to have success. We don’t really care about nobody else that don’t support us or nobody else that don’t believe in us. It’s irrelevant.”
Tell ’em, Mark.
I guess it’s just the world we live in nowadays. Everyone thinks they’re super important. Almost everyone has an internet persona, an avatar, five socialmedia accounts, and a scorching opinion about everything.
Heck, there was some guy who had the nerve to tweet me — after the Texans tied the franchise’s Week 1 record for total yards — that the win against the Jaguars didn’t prove anything.
OF COURSE IT DIDN’T PROVE ANYTHING! Like, duh.
There are no expectations
for this team. None. Zero, zilch, nada.
If they go 9-8, it will be a great story.
If they make the playoffs, it will be one of the most amazing stories since the AFL-NFL merger.
If you have expectations for this team, that’s your problem, not the Texans’.
I entered last week literally begging them to start 1-0 because the offseason was so depressing and the road ahead was so challenging that a 1-0 start at home might be the best thing that happens to the 2021 Texans.
But I picked them to win 20-19, not 37-21, stomping all over Urban Meyer’s queasy face and picking off Trevor Lawrence three times.
I was too conservative in my initial optimism.
“We’ve all got our (butt) kicked before,” Jacksonville’s head coach said. See?
The Texans kicked Meyer’s butt.
Who in the world complains about that?
Ninety-five percent of us understood that Sunday was fun, because winning is normally more fun than losing and the Texans probably aren’t going to win a lot of games this season.
The Texans are 5-13 in their past 18 contests, and
three of those wins are against the lowly Jaguars, who have now lost 16 consecutive games.
But that doesn’t matter right now.
This isn’t 2014-16, when winning ugly wasn’t enough and the Texans were doing everything they could not to find a franchise quarterback.
In 2021, a win is a win is a win is a win.
Yet some of y’all acted like the 1-0 Texans couldn’t be taken seriously until they beat Cleveland, Buffalo, New England, Indianapolis twice, Arizona, Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, Tennessee twice and both of Los Angeles’ teams.
If the Texans win any of those games this season, each unique victory should be thoroughly celebrated and enjoyed.
If you want to be suspicious and cynical, be suspicious and cynical about the Longhorns, who already have quarterback issues and fell out of the collegiate Top 25 after future SEC opponent Arkansas destroyed them on Saturday.
If you want to be worried, worry about the No. 7 Aggies, who also have QB issues again and only put up 288 offensive yards while barely sneaking past unranked Colorado.
The Texans started 0-4 last season, fired their head coach/general manager/ play caller, then responded by falling to 1-6 and losing their final five games.
In 2019, the Texans started a new campaign by melting down in the final minutes and blowing a win
against New Orleans in the Superdome on “Monday Night Football.”
In 2018, the Texans started 0-3.
In 2017, the Texans gave up 10 sacks to Sacksonville in their opener at NRG, then Bill O’brien admitted his Tom Savage mistake and promoted Deshaun Watson at halftime, setting up a 29-7 embarrassment to the Jaguars.
In 2014, the Texans beat Washington 17-6 at home in O’brien’s coaching debut, but No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney suffered a knee injury that ending up symbolizing five years of off-on-and-off play.
Clowney plays for Cleveland now, and his latest team collapsed late at Kansas City on Sunday, giving up 23 second-half points to Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs.
Who’s feeling better right now: Texans fans or Browns fans?
Easy answer. “Houuuuston! Texans!” “Houuuuston! Texans!” I heard the above streaming from an escalator postgame Sunday as singing and smiling fans exited the home stadium of a 1-0 team.
Once these Texans fall below .500, there’s a pretty good shot they won’t rise above the mark again.
We have enough to worry about in the real world. The economy. The future. A pandemic. Rain.
I’m enjoying the fantasy of the 1-0 first-place Texans as long as I can.