Battle Red Blog
I’ve been writing for this site for going on five years now. I have been watching Houston Texans football since they beat Dallas 19-7. I have been watching Houston NFL football since the late 1970s. At no point did it ever feel like work. Last night did. A lot of it was a quick turnaround from a 9 PM Central start to a 6:30 AM start at school the next morning. The rest of it was the fact that I knew I had to watch because I needed to be able to report everything back to you.
Bill James once said that good statistics take on the properties of language. I’ve always preferred the art motif. They can paint a really good picture for you. The numbers in this case would paint stick figures. Some of the numbers will paint the picture of one of those stick figures holding a knife, but most will simply indicate that it was a fairly close game or that the Texans should have been winning it. The fact that it was never particularly close is an indictment.
I bolded the turnovers because this was the third time in 23 games that the Texans have been +3 or better in the turnover ratio and lost the football game. This one felt different than the other two. The Texans lost to the Lions and Packers last season doing the same thing. They frittered away a lead in the Lions game and they were in it until the very end against the Packers. In spite of all of the numbers and the final score, the Texans never really had a chance in this football game and that is a huge indictment.
The final score will say the defense gave up 27 points. Some will point out that individual players did not play their best football last night. I couldn’t agree more. In spite of his interception, Derek Stingley had one of his worst games as a Texan. Kamari Lassiter also added a pick, but it wasn’t a good game for him either. The fact that each could have a pick on a night they would love to have a do over on is a testament to how hard they fought.
The Seahawks got the ball three times in Texans territory and came away with 13 of their 27 points. It should have been a 31-19 Texans shallacking and that would have made the defense look even worse. They did a good job on the running game keeping the Seahawks under four yards a carry. They opportunistically created four turnovers. Yes, JSN had a nice game....
