Ready to take the plunge into the land of sportswriting which involves the sportswriter putting himself in the story for no reason? Me too. Lets do this.
Conclusion: This year, the Houston Texans are for real.
Are we jumping? No. In fact, hell no.
I'm sorry to be such a Negative Nancy, but I've been burned by the Texans before. Prior to the 2009 season, I predicted they'd be in the playoffs. The season before that, I did the same thing. I've whorishly thrown myself at them too many times. This year, I'm making them put a ring on my finger before I give it up. I'm sorry, but this is just too precious.
And here lies the heart of why so many were down on the Texans coming into the season. That they had steadily improved was tossed aside, because you see, they hadn't made "the leap" yet. And people picked them to make the leap the last two years. And people saw last year's every-game-was-close-but-the-first-Jets-game 9-7 record and said "same old Texans, same old mediocrity," and forgot that they PERFORMED much better.
I can't force myself to take the leap, though. A good preseason and one good game against the Colts is insufficient to sell me on Arian Foster. And the Texan defense did still give up 463 total yards, and on their last three drives, the Colts had two touchdowns, and one drive that didn't die until Pierre Garcon(notes) fumbled inside the Texans' 10.
How about the Patriots game last year? How about the Dolphins game last year? How about his great college career? The fact that he's yet to have a bad start? Brushed under the rug. Stupid Texans, how dare they ruin my picks! I shall treat them like a scolded lover this season for no real reason!
And yeah, the Colts offense, believe it or not, is still pretty awesome. The Texans entire defensive gameplan pretty much said that Peyton Manning would have a big game if they were in the game though, and thats exactly what happened. When Austin Collie (read: not Pierre Garcon) fumbled the ball, it wasn't a fluke fumble, but one caused by a jarring hit. The Texans nearly picked Manning off on the second-to-last drive as well, because they got great pressure on Manning all game. And hey, Brian Cushing was out too, he's pretty good at football.
But no need to worry about it, the bandwagon seats will be here on Week 5 when the national sports writers take notice. You just go right on applying the tenets of love to sports. After all, life revolves solely around you.