Week 12 – Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: Game Breakdown

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

What did I tell you, folks? I pick them to win winnable games and this happens.  The Houston Texans fell in epic fashion in an embarrassing loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

I feel like I keep repeating myself because, once again, one of the only – if not the only – bright spots was J. J. Watt.  Shocking, I know.  The guy is an absolute beast and there’s no other way of putting it.  9 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 5 quarterback hits, a sack and a blocked field goal.  Enough said.  Anyone who ever question’s Watt’s effort, skill or fight in my presence is liable to get a swift punch in the face.  Which makes what this team is going through all the more heartbreaking.  Players like Watt and Andre Johnson are something special.  Players like them are rare and don’t come around every season.  And seasons like this scare me into thinking we might lose them.  Yes, that’s an irrational thought at this point because they’re both under contract, but when those contracts are up? Seasons like this aren’t going to keep them around without us shoveling truckloads of money we don’t have at them.  When you have players like Andre Johnson saying things like, “We suck… we ain’t giving them nothing to cheer about… they should boo,” you know it’s bad.  It’s tough to see the leaders on your team so beaten down.

The one thing I honestly didn’t see coming was Case Keenum having an abysmal game. I thought for sure this would be a game where the kid could come out and feel good about himself again, but nope.  That’s what I get for letting all you UH homers trick me into thinking he’s actually good.  And if I hear one more person make excuses for him I’m gonna lose it.  This game permanently cemented all the fears and concerns I’ve had all along about him.  He can’t recognize or escape a blitz without disastrous results, he’s starting to second guess himself by his own admission and he’s checking down.  A lot.  Unsuccessfully.  Couple that with a crippled offensive line and you have a recipe for epic failures.  Like today.  And don’t tell me it’s all on the offensive line either because Chad Henne was running for his life the entire game and Jacksonville still found a way to drive it all over the field on us to the tune of 333 yds. of total offense.  215 of those yards were passing yards.

That’s right, Texans fans.  We made Jacksonville look good.  We made the team that was the worst team in the NFL look great.  In the process, we also took from them the title of “Worst Team in the League.”  Too bad there’s not a prize for that.  Or is there?  With any luck (or just consistently losing), here’s what we’ll be hearing on April 24, 2014: “With the 1st pick of the 2014 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select Teddy Bridgewater.”  My prediction for the positions that we draft next year in order are QB – OL for the right side – OLBs – Secondary.

Yep. Hunker down, gang.  I hope you have some more patience left in you, because we’ll all need it.  There are 5 weeks left of Texans football and any wins at this point aren’t worth the joyous feelings, free slushies or pizza discounts that come with them.  Time to start looking forward to next year.  Heads are gonna roll this off season.