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Houston Sports: Three New Year’s wishes for Houston teams

By Kenneth Cline

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - DECEMBER 29: Danuel House Jr. #4 of the Houston Rockets reacts after the New Orleans Pelicans turned the ball over during a NBA game at the Smoothie King Center on December 29, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - DECEMBER 29: Danuel House Jr. #4 of the Houston Rockets reacts after the New Orleans Pelicans turned the ball over during a NBA game at the Smoothie King Center on December 29, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
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Houston sports team, the Texans
Watson and Hopkins of the Houston Texans (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Houston Texans

The 2018 season for the Texans has been a roller coaster ride. They started the year 0-3 before winning nine straight games, ultimately winning 11 games. Now they’re in the playoffs after a 4-12 season last year.

But this season has been rough. Injuries to key wide receivers as well as losses to the Colts and Eagles have put the Texans in the same route as year’s past. The Texans could get to the wild card game, maybe win and advance only to face New England in Foxborough and lose.

This time, however, the team had an ace up their sleeve in Watson. Now Watson will be experiencing his first playoff game ever in the NFL. For someone who’s been in the spotlight before, this should come as no surprise of how well he can handle the pressure. We know Watson is the quarterback the Texans need. Despite early injury concerns and him trying to get back to form, Watson has played tremendously well over the last few months.

Now the Texans have won the majority of their games by one score, which has everyone questioning how good this team can be. They have a good offense. But health has become a major issue once again.

To make things more complicated, each side of the ball has a weakness. The offensive line has allowed him to be sacked an NFL-high 62 times. Not exactly David Carr numbers, but still a concern is there. On the defensive side, the secondary has been exposed. Nick Foles torched them for 471 yards in the Eagles’ win against Houston two Sundays ago. Something needs to happen.

Wish #3 – Get Watson playoff experience, draft OL and DB, win Super Bowl.

The Texans will enter the postseason as underdogs regardless where they end up. Watson has shown to have potential to be a great quarterback. But in order to continue to show what he is capable of, he needs to get a playoff game out of the way. Hypothetically, if Watson were to lead the Texans to the AFC Championship game this year, it would be a tremendous success to the team.

Of course, that would be just a step in the right direction to changing the narrative of the Texans. The next step needs to be drafting an offensive line and a defensive back. The simple strategy I would feel for Houston is to draft someone from Alabama or Clemson because those two have the best offensive lines in the game. You also need to draft a defensive back so that Kareem Jackson and Jonathan Joseph can take under their wing and help get them ready to emerge as the future of this team.

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If the Texans can do all these things as well as get healthy and let Watson continue to use the freedom he needs, this should lead to a future run to the Super Bowl. Of course, I along with many fans hope that the Super Bowl happens this year or the next. The Texans are perhaps the most colorful, polarizing team in the city right now. Our expectations of them get higher. But somehow, they always find a way to let us down. Let’s hope they find a way to bring happiness to the city.

One Final Wish

This final wish is tough to say because every fan here has ways of expressing themselves for good and bad. I can only wish that all Houston fans don’t give up on their teams. It’s frustrating when they lose. But it’s even difficult when the team wins after we feel they’ll lose the game because we want to feel like we knew it all along.

As Houstonians, it’s our job to stand by our teams even if they’re not in a position to win for some time. We waited a while to win another championship. So why not keep supporting our teams on days when we don’t win as well as days when we do. Maybe 2019 can bring us another title. Not sure how y’all are feeling, but I’m ready to have a better year in 2019.

Next. The three worst moments of 2018. dark

Despite the lows, it was a very good year for Houston sports teams. All three teams had solid seasons and represented the city well. Here’s to 2019 and a potentially even better year for these teams.

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