Texans Thankful for 10-1 Despite Controversy
By Maxwell Morgan
After emerging from my turkey induced coma, I cannot believe the Texans pulled off a miraculous consecutive overtime victory Thursday. This game was one that had me worried. I figured to see gassed players, and feared of any devastating injuries. Not to mention, the game just so happened to be on my favorite holiday. Just by the skin of their teeth, the Texans made this Thanksgiving a memorable one for their fans by winning a thriller of game, riddled with controversy, 34-31 in OT to move to 10-1 on the season.
I don’t like to think of Thanksgiving in the Pilgrim/Indian, massacre of a people, end of an ancient way of living, beginning of McDonalds, and Black Friday savagery. To me, it’s enjoying the family I have, eating delicious food, and watching the shit outta some football. Naturally, it was extremely exciting watching our beloved Texans on this sacred holiday, but I definitely did not want my festivities dampened with a loss.
As I mentioned earlier, the Texans are 10-1. TEN AND FREAKING ONE. It feels so good y’all. The Texans buzz around the city is at an all time high, as they are in the midst of their best season ever and seem prime for a serious run.
They needed some help from the rulebook/officials/Jim Schwartz, but the Texans don’t give up, as Justin Forsett’s controversial touchdown run proves. He was down. No doubt in the world that he should have been called down for about a 7 yard gain with an elbow and knee touching the ground, but Forsett didn’t hear a whistle so he just hightailed it into the end-zone while Lions defenders watched in bewilderment. Lions head coach Jim Schwartz immediately reacted by throwing his red challenge flag out on the field before any review could occur. This would turn out to be a fatal flaw, as the play was not challenge-able and the penalty of throwing the flag negated any possible review.
WHAT? OK? THEY MAD.
This rule is awful. The Forsett touchdown was a huge goof up. Late in the 3rd quarter, down by 10, this play brought the Texans back into the game. It was a tremendous momentum swing and a vital score to force overtime. If I was a Detroit fan, my family would have witnessed their Thanksgiving turkey fly through the television set. Thankfully I am not, and after watching the way their team acted on the field yesterday I really just feel the “Sucks for them!”/“Cry me a river” attitude.
The Lions defensive star, Ndamukong Suh, is a dirty player. Period. He has stomped on dudes and been voted the dirtiest player in the league by his peers for two years straight. And this time he struck again for a below the belt shot to Matt Schaub’s groin. After flipping over from a block his foot decided to kick out a Schaub’s nearby manly region. It could have been unintentional… if it was any other player. He kicked his foot out plain and simple. Schaub’s response, “I don’t have anything to say about that play, or that player.” Classy as always with the, “you know I think he’s a punk, but I don’t need to say a thing to you guys about it.”
Though the Texans won, one of my fears was realized, as J-Jo missed the game, Brooks Reed got hurt early (it didn’t look good on the sideline), Bradie James also went down, and Dobbins sat out as well. Defense wins championships, as they say, and peices are biting the dust all over the Texans unit. How cruel it would be to have another great Houston team derailed by injuries.
On the bright side, the Texans seem to have the Andre Johnson of old back. In a game that showcased two of the best receivers in the game, Andre and Calvin Johnson (no relation). Our Johnson was bigger, recording 48 more yards on one more reception. Andre had a historic week recording an NFL record 461 yards in back to back games. It’s nice to have him back and could prove to be huge in the race for home field advantage in the playoffs.
NEXT GAME: Sunday, December 2nd @ Tennessee Titans 12:00pm
The Texans have a nice 10 day break until their next game, which makes the turkey day win feel so much better, so they should be well rested and heavily favored to win, once again. I think they will, but division foes always put up a fight. Going forward, the Texans defense will be a concern, as they have been losing players and giving up an enormous 68 points the last two games. They need to tighten thing up a bit, and the match-up against the Titans should provide a solid opportunity to shore up any problems before traveling to Foxborough the take on the New England Patriots in a couple weeks.
