To be honest I thought I would miss out on the game, not make myself wake up in time, hit snooze on the alarm at least five times. 3 AM is an early commitment to a game. I would have pulled out some excuse. As it turned out fate was on my side. That and the reality of parenting two toddlers, my daughter helped me out in this department, actually keeping me awake all night with the usual monsters under the bed, feeling sick, needing cuddles and being thirsty… All night long. Needless to say, I was well and truly ready for kick-off as it gave me an excuse to down my first cuppa coffee for the day and, you know, support my Texans.
Well after watching my first Houston Texan Bulls game I was not disappointed, not a bad start to the season. A draw is better then a loss! The Houston Texans held their ground resulting in a 20 all draw against the Indianapolis Colts.
Let’s break it down from my ignorant perspective:
Great pre-game showing respect to the men and women who serve and are the first responders to the country by honouring them with the opportunity to hold the US flag at the beginning of the game during the national anthem. I also really like that the coverage was available in Spanish, very inclusive.
Our boys won the coin toss and elected to defer, meaning they started out the game on the defensive. A good move by Coach Lovie as this appeared to be the stronger part of our team for the majority of the game. The Texans had great Defence throughout the game. Special shout out to Desmond King II (#25) on the Texans, as he has a great eye for play and knows where and when to be to send a strong message. Jerry Hughes (#55), outstanding interception plays throughout the game. Impressive and enjoyable to watch.
I noticed the little cheat sheets the players had on their arms regarding the plays they would use. When the camera caught them consulting this you thought something ‘special’ should have been brewing… Even though the majority was unsuccessful, I enjoyed watching the Texans test the line ups with different plays until a break in the Colts defensive side allowed for our strong lead for the first three quarters.
We had a few fumbles and drops. It appeared the ball was coated in some sort of slippery film (cough, cough) resulting in our attack having shorter play time during parts of the game...
The first time I saw a yellow thing thrown at a player’s foot, I was a little confused. More so as to where it came from? I quickly picked up it’s a yellow flag used to highlight a penalty had occurred. A bit odd…Even funnier was the poor calls of some of these penalties such as taunting. Just let them play, Its part of the game!
Overall, the boys looked good. It took them the first quarter to become comfortable in their own skin, and they looked a little lost at the beginning. However, that soon changed with them leading the majority of the game. They should have won. We had a few slip ups and lost our lead of 20-3 too quick. It was good to see what overtime looked like and to see it completely play out with no-one scoring. If only we had got one up. Moving forward the boys can only go up from here. Plus, I am still able to hold this over George as technically they didn’t lose.
Can we talk fans for a minute I love, love, love the Texan fans! They were dressed up, liquored up and having a blast supporting their team. You know most of these people are lifelong fans, probably generational too. It was great to see the support of this soon to be Superbowl winning team.
Much, much better commentators with Tom McCarthy and Tiki Barber actually explaining plays such as a TE Stunt, which I believe could have been a big deal? They also focused on the players on the field, who we were watching and the breaks between plays we were not bombarded with recapping players on the field. It was used to review the play just displayed and broke down what worked and did not work. Thank you for the easy to follow and enjoyable commentary!
On a side note, I gave this NFL Redzone viewing a go, in my ignorant understanding, with so many games on at once, the NFL broadcast highlight moments after they happen on the one stream of each game, constantly cutting between games. Let me tell you, my head spun faster then the Exorcist.
One minute they are celebrating a Ravens turnover strip, cutting to a Bengal/Steelers all in pile up, back to the heavily saturated coverage of the Dolphins v Patriots game. It was fine until I realised the team I was watching had actually changed faster then I could follow. Then my boys popped up for their 2 second flash, and it was time to go back to normal viewing at a pace I could keep up with and try to follow one game at a time.
Let’s recap how week 1 played out and see how my forecasts went, keeping in mind these are purely name and logo inspired projections.
The Bills beat Rams 31-10 (A win)
Texan Tie Colts 20-20
The Eagles beat Lions 38-35 (A win)
The Bears beat 49ers 19-10 (A win)
The Steelers beat the Bengals 23-20 (A win)
The Dolphins beat the Patriots 20-7
Browns beat Panthers – 26-24 (A win)
Saints beat the Falcons 27-16 (A win)
Ravens beat Jets 24-9 (A win)
Commanders beat Jaguars 28-22 (A win)
Vikings beat Packers 23-7
Giants beat Titans 21-20 (A win)
Chargers beats Raiders 24-19,
Chiefs beat Cardinals 44-21
Buccaneers beat cowboys 19 – 3 (A win)
Seahawks beat Broncos 17-16
Not a bad run, 10 out of the 16 games played I predicted a win. No-one really thought there would be a tie thrown in there, so pretty happy with this outcome. As the season moves forward, it can only get better.
So like my boys, I am going to rest up for the next weekend’s big matches. My loving husband can’t help remind me this was an unpredictable start to the season that will soon settle into regular expectations. He has also had the occasional side swipe that my team are a little ‘older’ then the normal and may come against them sooner rather than later. I simply smile and reply not older, but Golder, as we are coming for the big win!
Keep it together!
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