Today, the Houston Texans are in Boston...or Foxborough...to play the New England Patriots in the NFL's Divisional Round of the playoffs. When these two teams met on December 10, the Pats steamrolled my beloved team to the tune of 42 to 14. It wasn't pretty. Now, here they are after winning the wild card round, back in the same place where their collective panties were pulled down and then spanked on their bulbous butts for all the world to see in a prime time game. They are 9-1/2 point underdogs.
Yesterday, another two teams met where one was a 9-1/2 point dawg. The Baltimore Ravens had been drummed by the Denver Broncos four weeks earlier....kind of in the same fashion the Texans were slapped around by the Patriots. As the Texans, the Ravens had to go to the opponents' home field and listen to the rabid crowd and play the 13-3, number one seed in the AFC. What happened could only be described as a sports miracle. The Ravens won the game, 38-35, in what could be aptly described as one of the most exciting playoff games in NFL history. Baltimore showed heart, grit, tenacity, a never-say-die mentality, and pulled out the win over one of the most highly rated teams in the NFL.
Then, today...we have the Houston Texans. They have individual players with a lot of heart. But, as a team...not so much. At the end of the Ravens game, the head coach kissed their star running back on the temple. Kind of weird...but the Ravens coach is an emotional guy. Our coach? The Houston Texans' coach? Yeah, he's kind of weird, too. However, I think he's devoid of emotion. In fact, he might even be an android. The style of coaching I saw yesterday trumps our coach's style in every sense of the word. The Ravens' quarterback, Joe Flacco was allowed the option of airing it out and taking chances, doing all he could to win the game. But you won't see this coach calling plays where our quarterback, Matt Schaub, will be throwing bombs all over the field. You won't see our team playing loose and with reckless abandon. It may even be a fact that they would get fined by our coach if they exhibited any kind of 'fun' while playing the game. To him, it's all business. Boring, tedious, repititious business. Gary Kubiak, the man of whom I speak, is about as flexible as a six inch long, two inch diameter iron rod. Here's one example.
Yesterday, a young man named Trindon Holliday (Denver), set an NFL record. He returned a punt for a 90 yard TD, and then returned a kickoff for a 104 TD. No player in NFL history has ever done that in the playoffs. The reason I mention the young man is that up until the regular season started this year, he was a Houston Texan. He showed brilliance in the pre-season, but Kubiak has so much granite for a brain that you can't make mistakes on his team and he lets you know when you're hanging by a thread. In short, he put so much pressure on the young man he had problems coping with it. Kubiak had said publicly that he didn't need somebody on his team that was simply a return man. He needed someone who was more versatile. So, if he kept Holliday, he would really really have to shine as a return man. He didn't, in Kubiak's near sighted eyeballs, so he cut him. Trindon goes to Denver and they say, "Hey little guy, we just want you to return kicks for us. Do your best." And, he did.
This coach's inflexibility will be the Texans' downfall today. He's too predictable and coaches as if he has blinders on. The coach he is going up against today is a mastermind at developing a game plan that will rip your heart out and crush it before your dying eyes. He lets his team play to their strengths, instead of what he perceives they should be doing. Kubiak will be like a deer caught in the headlights, and if they manage to win...it will be in spite of him, instead of because of him.
I feel bad about it, because we have some good men on this team who play with heart and who want to win. But when the captain of your ship is the NFL's poster boy for Captain Ahab, who is obsessed with his players staying within his Moby Dick system, he becomes the catalyst to their demise. Fake field goal? Fake punt? Razzle dazzle? A wrinkle in their offense that nobody has seen before? Throwing for ten when you actually need ten? Airing it out all over the field? Fuggedaboutit. That's not Gary Kubiak's style. He'd rather lose than change. And that's more than likely what's going to happen later today.
My take? Houston 17, Patriots 28. AND, I'll be the happiest person among all the fans if I'm wrong. Here's hoping I am.
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