It was the best of times. It was the best of times.
An amazing touchdown pass from Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates to wide receiver Kevin Walter gave the team a 20-19 come-from-behind victory Sunday over Cincinnati and propelled the team toward its first-ever playoff berth. While the Texans would have eventually ended up in a post-season game for the first time in the team’s nine-year history, the deal was sealed a short time later when the New Orleans Saints defeated the Tennessee Titans. How perfect could that be?
I mean, the Titans is the team Bud Adams packed up and moved from Houston. My previous favorite Houston Oilers was the last team to secure a playoff berth for the Bayou City in 1993. Adams, who will forever be on a lot of folks s**t lists, picked up the team and headed for the hills when he couldn’t get his way, that being a new stadium, naturally.
Yates is a rookie and the Texans third-string quarterback after starter Matt Schaub and backup Matt Leinart were knocked out for the season. Houston also was playing without one of the NFL’s top receivers, Andre Johnson and starting linebacker Mario Williams. The latter was the Texans first round draft choice in 2006. The defensive star was chosen ahead of both USC running back Reggie Bush and Houston native and Texas quarterback Vince Young.
The Texans have been battered this year but continued winning even though not always doing so in the prettiest of fashions.
It is hard to believe Houston will advance beyond one or two rounds in the playoffs much less winning an AFC crown or Super Bowl. Just getting to where they are this year, particularly with as much adversity the team has faced would definitely be seen as an accomplishment. Everything else the Texans do from now on is gravy, albeit good ol’ sawmill gravy.
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