Houston Texans: Crank Up The Chronicle's Propaganda Machine

Training camp opens for the Houston Texans on Friday. And as hard as it is to believe, the Houston Chronicle is high on the team’s chances to make the playoffs.

NFL “expert” John McClain says the Texans will be a contender for a wild card spot. As McClain writes, the Texans, and head coach Gary Kubiak, are focused on making the playoffs in this, the franchise’s ninth year of existence.

I guess this means the team hasn’t been focused on accomplishing this the previous eight seasons.

The problem is, this is essentially the same thing McClain and the Chron propaganda writers wrote about the Texans last season.

Remember those stories about how it’s finally time, and that if the
Texans don’t make the playoffs, then Kubiak should be replaced as coach?
And remember how after the Texans got off to an awful start, the
argument changed to one that said those expecting the team to make the
playoffs last time were hoping for too much, and that those calling for
Kubiak to be replaced were just a bunch of people who didn’t understand
football?

My favorite moment came when Richard Justice justified Kubiak’s continued employment because he
had the same, or better, record at 60 games coached as Jeff Fisher,
Jimmy Johnson, and Bill Belichick while failing to point out that at the
point in their career, Johnson had already made the playoffs once and
were about to win the Super Bowl while Belichick’s Browns were on the
way to the playoffs and Fisher was coaching a team without a true home.

But this year is going to be different than last season. Never mind
that the Texans played a soft schedule last season. Never mind that the
Texans had to go on another of those December winning streaks where the
games didn’t matter to get a winning record. Never mind that there’s
still no evidence that the Texans are going to have a running game this
season.

Or that Mario Williams is going to show up. Or that Matt
Schaub will find a way to stay healthy once again. Or that Steve Slaton
will remember how to hang on to the football. Or that Owen Daniels
will come back completely healthy. Or that Texans are suddenly going to
start playing complete football games.

This year is going to be different.

Maybe it will be different. Sure, defensive rookie of the year Brian
Cushing is missing the first four games of the season because of a pesky
little PED problem. Sure, they’re opening the season against the Colts, facing the Redskins and Cowboys in games two and three,
have to go to Oakland, where they always lay an egg, in week four, then
get to face the Giants. Sure, the Texans are tied with the Titans for
the season’s toughest schedule.

None of that matters because the
players work hard and have great character.

Hopefully, character and hard work will help to make up for a young
secondary. Or for a defense that will be missing its best player.
Maybe Williams will learn about hard work and the opposing team will
have to use more than just one blocker on him. Maybe Kubiak will figure
out some way to have his team prepared to start the game, and maybe the
Texans will actually decide to go with a kicker who can make a kick
when it counts.

Then again, that’s probably why I’m so negative about the Texans this
season. McClain and the Chron see all the ifs, ands, buts and
maybes and see playoffs. I see all of these ifs, ands, buts and
maybes and see the team failing again because there’s nothing that I’ve
seen since Kubiak has been here that shows he’s figured out how to make all of
the ifs, ands, buts and maybes work in favor of the Texans instead of
against them.

I see the Texans missing their best defensive player to start the
season, when they’re playing some of the toughest teams on the schedule.
I see a team that constantly makes stupid mistakes or appears to be
unprepared.

The Chron sees playoffs. I see failure. Maybe I’ll be
wrong, but history points to the Chron bringing wrong.

Despite it all, of this I’m sure. If November comes around and the
Texans are once again falling out of the playoff race, expect McClain,
Justice, and the rest of the remaining writers at the Chron to once
again start excusing Kubiak and his failures. And the excuse is
foreseeable: knowing all of the question marks coming into the season,
and knowing how tough the schedule was going to be, those expecting the
Texans to compete for a playoff spot were expecting way too much.

And
no matter what, it won’t be Gary Kubiak’s fault. A coach can only do so
much, after all.