Wild Card G.O.A.T.s: There Were Boos But Not At Johnathan Joseph

Let's get this out of the way now, faithful Houston Texans fans.

All week you will hear about 42-14. You will hear about how the New England Patriots have a second bye week. You will hear about how the Texans have no chance to go up to Foxborough, MA and compete with the Dynasty, let alone win. Heck, I would even imagine that no one gives Houston more than a 10% shot at winning. Patriots fans will chirp it all week, too, and that's fine.

This is what happens when there is a blowout. The best route of action is to politely smile, nod, and hope the Texans get as ticked off as you do when they have to answer questions about it. Your best bet is to hope that the pride and egos of about 75 men, coaches included, drives them to redeem their image. Your hope should be a redux of 2010, where New England's regular season 45-3 home victory over the New York Jets turned into a 28-21 road win for the Jets about a month later in the playoffs. If you're a Houston fan, you'll probably go back to 1993, where the Houston Oilers turned a regular season 30-0 stomping of the Kansas City Chiefs into a 28-20 second-round exit.

Like last season, the Texans are going back to the scene of their worst loss. While Houston played significantly better, you hope the Divisional Playoffs chapter has a different ending this year.

Let's get on and get off some Texans, shall we?

Get On...the Johnathan Joseph bandwagon again.
Due to injury and inconsistency, there were times where many Texans faithful called Kareem Jackson the team's best cornerback in 2012. On Saturday, for a least one game, Johnathan Joseph reclaimed his throne by shutting down Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green.

Green, as you may be aware, did not receive a single target in Saturday's first half. Is that the result of bad offensive playcalling, bad quarterback play, or a great cornerback? It's probably a mix of all three if we're being honest. Still, Joseph more than held his own when Cincinnati began feeding Green the ball.

Green ended with five catches for 80 yards, but that came on 11 targets. Joseph managed an interception and batted away two passes, including one Green had in his hands in the end zone. Anytime you can hold a receiver of Green's quality to under a 50% catch rate and 100 yards, you've had a good day. On Saturday, Joseph had a good day.

Get Off...the booing (unless it's at Shiloh Keo or the Special Teams).
You're frustrated, and I understand that. It can be frustrating to see an offense lose the ability to finish. It can be frustrating to see three out of four games lost. It can be frustrating to see home-field advantage disappear. To boo every time the team punts on fourth-and-short though? That makes the fan base seem dumb.

Don't get me wrong. The crowd was loud once again and America got to see one of the loudest stadiums in the league, but they also heard the boos. National media types were confused, as were other fans. Living outside the market, I even heard some radio chatter asking why the boos were happening. You've got a 12-4 team and, for the most part, they were leading. The Texans even noticed.

"Yeah, man, I love our crowd, but they are getting spoiled," running back Arian Foster said. "They’re booing and we’re OK. We’re OK, man. I love this city, though."

It is not to say we should blindly praise the best NFL team in Houston history, but repeatedly booing with the lead does not reflect well - especially when punting meant the defense could terrorize Andy Dalton some more.

Your turn, BRBers. Who or what are you getting on and/or off this week?

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