DGDB&D: a Texans blog.

Schaub + Mario + AJ + DeMeco = 20

Sep 10, 2007 2007 Season, Athletes who don't stab people, Matt Turk rules, Reggie Bush, Secondary issues are primary, Super Mario, Winner winner chicken dinner

As soon as the game ended, I wrote a post about it. Which I promptly deleted, because it was too… um… overreaching. To say the least.

Look, I know it was only one game. I realize that it’s possible (though not probable) that we could go 0-15 the rest of the way, making yesterday’s game beyond meaningless. I even realize that–protestations of their fans aside–the Chiefs might be one of the two or three worst teams in football right now.

Even knowing all of that, I can’t help but be excited about the way the game turned out. I mean, when you

• haven’t won a season opener since 2003,
• hold Larry Johnson to less than 50 yards rushing,
• far exceed even your own fans confident expectations,
• allow your fans to actually HAVE confident expectations for the first time,
• see your “bust” of a draft pick have the kind of thoroughly dominant day that you have been hoping to see out of him for a year,
• see your other, older bust (Travis Johnson) get a freaking interception off a guy who had only one all of last season,
• set a franchise record for the longest clock-killing drive in team history to finish off the win,
• have your all-world WR set a new career long TD reception, and
• watch your new QB do everything right where your old QB would almost certainly have done everything wrong (deep passes, pocket poise, team leadership, etc.),

well then, yeah, your fans are going to be as excited as they’ve been since September 9, 2002.

Because it’s a Monday and I am slightly hungover, you’re getting the rest of this post in bullet point form, too.

• The All White Pants Party (or whatever they were calling it) looked pretty cool. It’s not something I’d want them to do more than once or twice a year, but it should definitely stay as part of the rotation. Also, in a nice dose of irony, people living in the other city where a football team occasionally wears all white did not get to see the Texans’ version of that uniform.
• Mario Williams. SUPER Mario Williams. Look at this line: 2 sacks, 5 tackles, 1 FR (38 yds), 1 TD. He was also in on (though did not get any credit for) Kalu’s sack near the end of the game. He is already halfway to last season’s sack total. He has more TDs this season than Reggie Bush. Putting him on the other side and running twists and stunts with him made Mario look like a monster. I am ready to up the projected sack total to 14. (Oh, speaking of Reggie Bush, everyone’s favorite Future Hall of Famer averaged 3.2 yards per carry, with a long of 9 this week. Awesome.)
• At some point over this training camp, Travis Johnson won me over. I didn’t realize it until he picked off that pass, but I was genuinely happy for the guy.
• You want to know why Matt Turk is a fantastic addition? Look no further than that 59 yard punt (5.0 second hang time!) from our own 17 just before halftime. Not to pile on the guy, since he’s apparently “hurt” and all, but there is no way in hell Chad Stanley pulls that off.
• The only bad news that came out of yesterday was that Jason Simmons is gone for the year with a torn patellar tendon. If we weren’t so thin at safety, I wouldn’t even bat an eye at this. Thankfully, Von Hutchins played well in his stead and we have Boulware waiting in the wings. This is not a unit that can lose any more bodies, but I think we’ll be fine with the current pieces. Besides, Hutchins is the one “safety” we have who has shown any kind of nose for the ball. He had his preseason pick and then followed that up with the forced fumble that Mario recovered. In a perfect world, he would play FS and C.C. Brown/Boulware would rotate at SS, but beggars and choosers and whatnot.
• I’m not going to lie–after seeing how Carolina destroyed St. Louis yesterday, I am a little scared about next week. Unless Zoolander plays.

20-3, fool. How you like THEM apples, Herm?