Texans Legs

Add another body part to Texans 2013 problems: legs

Add another body part to Texans 2013 problems: legs

While I have no empirical evidence to back this up, I’d be willing to say more people have quoted the infamous “Houston we have a problem,” line this NFL season referring to the Houston Texans as a whole than the entire combined four decades since the saying first debuted during the Apollo 13 mission.

How many ways are the Texans having problems? Gee, let me count the ways. Turning away from the recent issues we’ve been having with quarterback arms and coaches play calls, now we’re focused on the legs. Three missed field goals in Sunday night’s loss to Indy has been much of the talk this week. It feels like the freaking hokey pokey going on at Reliant, putting the left arm in and the right leg in and all those other injured and non-functioning parts in between.

It was such a refreshing and welcome change to see the youngster Case Keenum chucking those balls in the first half to Andre, we all almost thought for 30 minutes, this is it – we’re baaaack. But then Randy Bullock missed from the 49, 43 and 55 (which could have tied the game) and is only 13 for 21 this season, failing in four attempts from the 50 and beyond. You know, the actual opposite of the definition of clutch, which is what the Texans have needed a few times throughout this six-game stretch of losses. A win against Indy could have possibly, maybe, sort of, brought back a glimmer of hope for this season.

Mr. Bullock is on pace to miss as many field goals this season as our last two kickers Rackers and Graham combined to miss in their three seasons with the Texans: 16. And the Texans put a lot of stock in Bullock, grabbing him in the fifth round of the 2012 draft.

Nothing smells of desperation quite like inviting a guy (Justin Medlock) who got cut from Raiders training camp to take over as kicker, or at least try to.

Sure, seven points are better than three, but points are points. We need to get them on the board however we can, plain and simple.

And there is some Matt Schaub and Randy Bullock comparison – they both seem to be lacking confidence and our team, for one reason or another, seems to keep putting them in these positions where it’s harder and harder to gain that confidence. If you’re looking to me for the answer, I don’t have one, I just feel there’s a bit of a comparison there and wanted to bring it up.

Great game for Keenum but a tough loss yet again

Great game for Keenum but a tough loss yet again

There are only eight guys this season to have attempted four or more FG from the 50 and beyond, according to ESPN, including Bullock, so obviously it’s not an easy task or one offenses find an optimal spot to put their kicker in. To put it in perspective, Bullock actually shows up on the second page of field goal stats over at ESPN.

And I say this as an individual having never played professional football (yay for obvious statements), but this Arian Foster injury thing is getting old. Older than Amanda Bynes and Lindsay Lohan rotating jail cells news. Tate played with BROKEN RIBS – yes, broken ribs. Could that be the difference between a running back having already signed a big contract and a running back hoping to sign one? Who knows, but I do know one thing – seeing one of our top offensive guys continually hobbling into the locker room or sitting on the sideline surely isn’t helping this team, a team that surely needs help.

I won’t sit here and try to pretend there’s hope for this season, but I do love this quote from Wade Phillips after Sunday’s loss to Indy: “We signed up for the whole season, to play and to work and to coach as hard as we can coach. And that’s what we’re going to do with this team. Anybody that wants to give up can, but we’re not going to.”

So the “whole season” that Phillips speaks of continues Sunday in Arizona against the 4-4 Cardinals, where yours truly will be sitting midfield, hoping to catch a glimmer of something I miss so desperately: good and winning football. If we can have more of the first half we saw with Case and Andre from last week, I’ll be a happy camper. I think…at least until next week.

And if you’re looking for a super feel good story in the midst of the bullying issues all over the NFL, check out this video of an amazing group of middle school kids, taking a knee, in an effort to help another amazing kid with learning disabilities:

“Nothing can ever explain getting a touchdown if you’ve never had one before.” – If you don’t get goosebumps and the urge to do good on your own from watching this 3-minute clip (especially at the 2:48 marker where one of the kids tears up at the realization of the power of this simple touchdown), you may want to verify you are in fact human. For serious.

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