Texan Bounceback: Like A Tennis Ball Or Like A Rock?

by Tim on Oct 7, 2008 2:58 PM CDT in News Comment 11 comments

Last Thursday, I dubbed Sunday's game against the Colts "the biggest game the Texans will play all season." Given the epic collapse that ensued, it's only natural to wonder how or if your Houston Texans can bounce back in less than a week to rally against a surprising Miami squad.

Honestly, I'm not optimistic. The effects of a loss like the one that was suffered last Sunday do not vanish, and certainly not inside a week. For all of Kubes' talk about the players being "very strong," I have a hard time believing the Texans are going to be able to put what has to be the most painful loss of most, if not all, of their professional careers behind them in time to bring the type of focused effort that'll be required to notch the first victory of the season on Sunday. Instead, I'm more inclined to think the Texans may well take the field with a waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop mentality that sees them crack at the first sign of adversity. That's not an indictment of the players or coaches; after having to stomach such an improbable loss, I think it's natural to wonder what else can possibly go wrong, instead of steeling oneself to overcome whatever obstacles present themselves in the next contest.

As I see it, the chief goal of the coaching staff this week should be to inoculate the team to withstand the inevitable mental issues that will surface the first time something--a fumble, an interception, a missed tackle, a Dolphin touchdown--goes wrong. The best prescription for the damaged team psyche, of course, would be a big scoring play for the offense or a quick three-and-out for the defense on the first drive of the game. The Texans need to see a positive result as soon as possible come kickoff on Sunday; otherwise, the 0-4 start could snowball into an abyss that destroys the 2008 season.

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Tennis Ball

I think we play well against the phins, these guys are professionals, the coaching staff and veterans will move past this loss and get prepared for Miami. They know they can’t dwell on one loss, no matter how devastating it was. I won’t guarantee a win or anything, the fish are 2-2 and aren’t going to roll over, but its a home game and besides the last 4 minutes the team looked solid against the Colts.

by tartan on Oct 7, 2008 3:20 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Definetly a Tennis Ball

Maybe its because the Oilers immuned me to this sort of thing. But I honestly think we are dealing with an unlucky team as opposed to a really bad one. They have improved with each game, although to improve from the Pitt game, just meant showing up. A coin toss and 4 crazy ass minutes from 2-2. As bad as things were in Oilerville, they had a chance then. I just think they will start the long road to making this a season on sunday. I think I would be more worried if the Phins were winless. I aint giving up.

GO TEXANS!!!!!!!!!

by Texanmaniac on Oct 7, 2008 3:30 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Fins

I tend to agree about being more worried if the Dolphins were winless. But they’re coming off back-to-back huge wins. Could they be primed for a letdown?

Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Oct 7, 2008 3:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

EXACTLY!

Trap game baby!

GO TEXANS!!!!!!!!!

by Texanmaniac on Oct 7, 2008 3:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd rather them be undefeated

I understand the whole trap game thought, but I would still feel much better if they were still as bad as they were last year.

Go Texans

by tartan on Oct 7, 2008 5:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I too have not given up on salvaging some respect from this season

Tim, I agree with you wholeheartedly when you state that this is the type of loss that is impossible to just shake off and come back from. I suspect that opinion is widespread in Texan Nation. The two players I have heard from, however, seem remarkably philosophical and even a little upbeat despite the cruel twist of fate that was the last 4 minutes of Sunday’s game. Chester Pitts was on the late nite Sunday show on ABC, and Eric Winston was on Sportsradio 610 this afternoon. Both were more focused on the positives, all of which you summarized in your previous post, than the negatives. Neither was down on Sage. The team has not fallen apart.

Despite the tragic loss of epic and yes historic proportions, there is much to celebrate. From midway through the 1st quarter to midway through the 4th quarter, this was arguably the Texans finest, most well balanced performance in franchise history. A balanced attack, a pass rush, sacks, no penalties, no turnovers, clutch 3rd down conversions on offense and stops on defense. This game was truly Dickensesque, it was a tale of two games, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

The oddsmakers have the Texans opening as a 3 point favorite over the Fins. That is proof positive that any rumors of the demise of the Texans are a little premature. I feel that there are still plenty of highlights in store for us this year like when Super Steve scored his 2nd TD Sunday. The stadium was rocking. Sure, the elation quickly turned to deflation, but I still see a team headed in the right direction. Likely it is not going to happen this year, but we are developing a core of youthful talent on both sides of the ball. Yes we have some holes to fill, but what team is not a work in progress?

Lets get the Fins on Sunday, and put that Colts game to rest. GO TEXANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by oiler-texan diehard on Oct 7, 2008 10:19 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Easy

There’s only one person who’s likely to be sulking about Reliant Park this week, and God willing, #18 won’t set foot between the chalk lines once the game starts. The rest of the team, I would guess, feels pretty damn confident after bitchslapping the (once) mighty Colts around for 55 minutes last week. I expect a sharp, dominating performance, especially from the defense, and if somehow Kyle Shanahan and Gary Kubiak get lost on their way to the stadium, maybe we can eke out a win.

by Scott on Oct 7, 2008 3:48 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

It's like poker

In poker you concern yourself with making the correct play every time out. When you’re in a game where you have an edge and you continually make the correct play, you’re going to be getting your money in as a favorite very often. And yet, if you get your money in as an 80% favorite, you’re still going to lose the hand one out of every five times.

When that happens, you can lose your cool and yell at the table or you can take the loss and content yourself with the fact that you made the right play. If you lose your cool, you’re going to play worse and start donating your money. If you keep it in perspective, you’ll keep playing well and you’ll eventually get your opponents money back.

The Texans need to look at last Sunday as a case of the Colts getting lucky and hitting an improbable river card that gave them the game. They need to focus on all the things they did right (which is a lot, as it turns out) and continue to improve on those. If they are able to do that, then they’ll win.

Particularly if Sage doesn’t play.

by tehGrindCrusher on Oct 7, 2008 3:55 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Tennis ball.

No offense, but I think the “psychological impact” is non-existant, or at least exceptionally overplayed on ESPN a lot.

“Proofs” of this psychological phenomenon are really just examples of ex post facto reasoning; that is, someone sees something happen and retroactively applies reasoning to it that “sounds” true. An example of this sort of a logical fallacy is this: The room was warm. I walked in to the room, and now the room is cold. I must have caused the room to cool down. Or, stocks go down after the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee criticized a bank CEO, so it must be the fault of the senator.

What happens is that this sort of logic is applied by sports “analysts” after games to explain why a team won or lost: according to these guys, it’s not that the winning team just executed plays better, or had a better game-plan; it’s always this hokey psychological b/s. And for some reason, this sort of logic is being adopted pretty universally. Unfortunately, I think this is the case here with this post: you are explaining away what you think will be a loss, because you bought in to that sort of reasoning in the past to explain away other similar situations.

If the Texans lose to the Dolphins, it won’t be because their morale was down. It will be because they turned the ball over three times within four minutes, or something equally as poor.

At any rate, I have to think that if the players’ minds do operate in the way that you suggest, they would have zero faith in Rosenfails, since he was clearly the reason the team lost. The team as a whole should remember that in two games they’ve been the superior team for 90% of those games.

Andre Johnson isn’t going to forget how to catch a ball just because Sage Rosenfails wasn’t able to hold on to one on a bootleg. Steve Slaton isn’t going to be slower because Rosenfails threw an interception. Mario Williams isn’t going to be weaker because Robert Mathis showed off his Superman impression.

by socctty on Oct 8, 2008 12:35 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

There may be a lot of people there on Sunday

and whether the players do or not, most of them will be waiting to see how we react, and I agree that we need early success. The home field advantage may depend on it.

With 5 mins to go in the game Sunday I was willing to agree that this was the best team in the league with a losing record. I think the difference between 5th best in the league and 25th best is minimal: some psychological, some luck, and some quality of opponents. I think this year so far we’ve had all stacked against us. Not sure why, but that seems the case.

I do agree that when the ball is snapped, the players will react like professionals, but whats going through their mind if we fall behind in the second half? I think the psych stuff is a factor.

Healthy and Turnover free 2008-09, and we win 11!

by texanphil on Oct 8, 2008 12:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs