I Gotta Make This Blog Cry

After a year and a half of grieving, Trey finally forgives the Texans for passing on Vince Young in the 2006 NFL Draft.

It still hurts from time to time, but I'm cool now. Let's revisit this first.

17 months ago, my Houston Texans made the (at the time) unthinkable decision to draft workout wonder Mario Williams over Houston native Vince Young and Heisman winner Reggie Bush.

Young had just come off an undefeated junior season (not to mention a 30-2 record as a starter at Texas) which ended in one of the greatest championship game performances in sports history (200+ yards passing and rushing each in the '06 Rose Bowl vs. USC). Bush had just spent the previous two years dazzling college football crowds everywhere while recreating the aura of Gail Sayers and the acquitted-of-double-murder-former Heisman winner who shall not be named in this space. He was that great.

The Texans used the 2005 season to delight us Houstonians (read: torture) with record numbers for sacks, a defense that was laughable at best (You know that feeling when you're playing Madden against someone, and they're driving the ball down the field almost at will, and you can do absolutely nothing about it? That's how it felt every Sunday in '05), a bunch of rookie mistakes from a fourth-year quarterback, and the excitement of a funeral. It wasn't so much that the Texans sucked, it was that they were totally boring in the process.

When we got the number 1 pick (after tanking in the last game of the season against the 49ers, mind you), it was a foregone conclusion that Bush would be dancing and prancing in the Texans backfield for years to come. That is, until Young announced he was leaving UT for the NFL. Then everybody from Pearland to Baytown started dreaming of Texans #10 "Young" jerseys. Forget Bush, we wanted VY.

You know the rest of the story, GM Charley Casserly took Mario, he did squat in '06, Vince won Offensive Rookie of the Year and came thisclose to taking the Titans to the playoffs, and Bush helped the Saints to their first division title ever and a spot in the NFC Championship Game.

So why am I not bitter anymore? Because, at this present time, I'm sorta happy with Super Mario, and we don't want those other two players. (Well, at least one of them.)

Why? Because the Houston Texans are actually a decent football team now. We're 2-1 (as of September 28), with a great chance to go 3-1 after we thump the Falcons in Atlanta this Sunday. The defense is playing great despite a truckload of injuries and the running game is solid for the first time since Dominick Davis (Williams? Whatever) was healthy.

And we finally have a quarterback who doesn't make you wish the Texans held open tryouts in the Reliant Stadium parking lot on every Saturday. Matt Schaub hasn't just provided much-needed consistency and intelligence at the QB position, he's been a steady and calm leader, something the previous regime never managed.

Don't get me wrong, I still dreams of watching Vince every weekend playing for the home team. But I'm 22 years old now, and we all have to learn how to let stuff go. Plus, I realize that it's just the nature of Houston franchises to get torched by certain athletes, for many different reasons. It did hurt a lot more seeing VY tear up the Saints on the road in his first Monday Night Football appearance while leading Tennessee to a convincing win last week, though.

But, for the record, I was strongly against us drafting Bush. His recent string of dropping open passes ala Terrell Owens (sorry, Frank) and his uber-exciting 2-yard rushes to the sidelines prompted one ESPN analyst to call him a "overhyped kick-returner". Ouch.

So, I'm good. I'm happy with my Texans team, regardless of who we passed up 17 months ago. Of course, if we pass up DeSean Jackson or Darren McFadden (if we get the chance), then we never had this discussion.

On The Rise Like Yeast

The Texans are 2-0.

In other news, the war in Iraq is over, the Trail Blazers did not make a mistake in drafting Greg Oden, and David Carr is just about ready to take the league by storm. (That last one may have been a stretch. Okay it was.)

Not only are the Texans undefeated after two weeks, they've looked like an actual playoff contender in the process, especially considering that we Houston football fans haven't been too familiar with such a sight in like 14 years.

New quarterback Matt Schaub has proved that he was ready for the limelight when he left the ATL for a starting spot in H-Town. He's thrown for 452 yards in the first two contests, with 3 TDs, only one interception, and a un-Houston-QB-like 111.4 passer rating. Not only that, he's actually provided some leadership, which is important, seeing as though he's the quarterback and all.

Excuse us Bayou City fans for getting all excited about a 2-0 start and the new QB who led us to it. It is the first time the 6-year history of the franchise that we've started the regular season on a 2-game winning streak. (And we would fawn over Trent Dilfer in Houston, as long as he was replacing David "Raggedy" Carr. The city suffered through years and years of forced throws to Andre Johnson after staring him down for 10 seconds, taken sacks on 3rd down, and the look of a guy that would rather be surfing than leading an NFL offense.)

Schaub and the Texans got their second win against Carr (well, Jake Delhomme, we all know Carr will never start again) and the Panthers, overcoming a 14-0 deficit by scoring 31 unanswered points, resulting in a 34-21 win.

What was more impressing was the fact that they did this in Carolina, on the road, against a team that (stupidly) is a trendy Super Bowl pick almost every year. The Texans D shut down the Carolina rushing attack, holding Deshaun Foster and Deangelo Williams to only 53 yards and forcing three costly turnovers. Dunta Robinson got a great interception off Delhomme (who was forcing it to Steve Smith) that pretty much put the game away.

New RB Ahman Green has rushed well in Houston, going for 144 yards for the Texans in the first couple of games. Even more important, he's looked completely healthy, which means I have to reluctantly big up my boy Blaze for correctly predicting that. (Damn!) And rookie WR/KR playmaker Jacoby Jones has looked good coming out of the preseason where he wowed the nation.

(Side note: I started my franchise on NFL Madden '08 with the Texans recently, and I was shocked to see how low Jones was rated. 67 overall? Only a 92 in speed? 81 on punt/kick returns? Did they not watch any tape of this dude. He's a beast. Oh, and every other Texans WR not named Andre Johnson is ranked so low, you have no choice but to give up somebody for a 3rd-down possession receiver. It's pathetic. Their O-line, suprisingly, is nice though, and Mario Williams is an absolute monster on Madden. I'm ranting now, that's it.)

With the Super Bowl champ Colts coming to town next Sunday, the focus must now shift to the things the Texans need to do to actually have a chance against Manning and co.:

Do not get burned. Steve Smith caught three TD passes Sunday, including one where about 20 Texan defenders touched and failed to wrap him up before he broke loose, which is unacceptable. The Colts receivers have traditionally put up big numbers against the Houston secondary, excluding last year's Texans win in Reliant. The secondary is improved, but not yet good enough to shut down Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Dallas Clark. Of course a lot of that would be alleviated if we....

Get to Manning. Gary Kubiak isn't going to blitz Peyton Manning much, Robinson and Demarcus Faggins would get torched, more so Faggins. A little pressure from the Texans front line could possibly rattle Peyton and knock their offense off-beat. Maybe Mario, Amobi Okeye, and Anthony Weaver can take advantage of a couple new starters on Indy's vaunted O-line.

Score early and often. Schaub and the offense have averaged 27 ppg in the first two, and they will probably need to match that to beat the Colts. Indy's offense was on fire in Week 1 against the Saints, and despite a bunch of mistakes, still managed 22 points against the Titans in Week 2. Either that, or the Texans can take a page out of Tennessee's playbook: keep it close until the final stretch and try to come through in the clutch. (Unfortunately, this didn't work for the Titans.)

All in all, it's good to finally be able to root for a team that has the mental fortitude and talent to have a chance to win every Sunday. It got really depressing tuning in to CBS every Sunday and wagering on how many dumbass plays Carr was going to make in the first half that would make sure there was no chance at winning in the second.

I'm not saying the Texans should be considered Super Bowl sleepers, but, we're on the way.