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Joseph has been left in the dust too often recently.
So much for the "Bulls on Parade."
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the national media is down on the Texans, and he's coined a new nickname for them.
It's time for the "Elephants on Parade."
The line is a reference to one of the weirdest scenes from any Disney movie. It's a classic in which Dumbo gets drunk and hallucinates.
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Watt never made it to Luck on Sunday.
With one game to play, J.J. Watt needed just 2.5 sacks to break the all-time single-season sack mark set by Michael Strahan with 22.5.
Given that he had terrorized the Indianapolis Colts just two weeks before, it seemed like he was an absolute lock to make history.
As it turned out, Watt still had a dominant game with four tackles for a loss, but didn't manage to get a single sack.
What did the Colts do differently? How did they keep Watt from getting to Andrew Luck?
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Mercilus had some highlight moments.
The Houston Texans' already strong roster didn't get much of a bump from the 2012 draft class.
Obviously, any draft can only be fully evaluated years later, but the Texans didn't get much production from the players they selected last April.
Whereas weaker teams give rookies a chance to start early, playing time had to be earned in Houston, and not enough new draftees found their way onto the field.
After the draft, reasonable baselines were set, and too few Texans lived up to their slot.
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Blaine Gabbert fell flat in Year 2.
The 2012 Jacksonville Jaguars were doomed before the season even began.
It's not hard to trace the origins of the worst record in football. Before the first game was played, Jacksonville faced its share of problems.
To really get at the heart of what went wrong, however, you have to go back to April 28, 2011.
That was the night Gene Smith selected Blaine Gabbert in the first round of the draft.
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Careful, objects in mirror may be closer than they appear.
Each game is its own little war.
Today's article of the day comes from Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com who says Gary Kubiak isn't worried about momentum.
The Texans haven't played well in recent weeks, dropping three of their final four games to knock them out of the top seed in the AFC.
Even though the team isn't playing well, the real factor in whether they win or lose their next playoff game will always be matchups.
The Texans should beat the Bengals on Saturday. They should beat the Bengals any time they play in Houston regardless of who won a game the week before.
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Luck and Hilton are quite a team.
The Indianapolis Colts had one of the best drafts in recent memory, easily taking the top grade in the AFC South one year later.
From uber-rookie Andrew Luck all the way to fifth-round flyer Vick Ballard, Ryan Grigson hit on pick after pick helping to turn the Colts from a 2-14 disaster to an 11-5 playoff team.
After the draft, fair expectation baselines were set for the Indianapolis rookies. Player after player met or exceeded those baselines.
Back in April, I gave the Colts a B+ for their draft, docking them for their late round picks. Now it's clear that the only possible grade for this draft was an A+.
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Polian isn't coming to Jacksonville, but he is lending a hand.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are getting help from an old nemesis in interviewing GM candidates.
According to Don Banks of Sports Illustrated, Bill Polian, formerly of the Indianapolis Colts, has been advising Jags owner Shad Khan on his search and has settled on two names.
Ryan O'Halloran of the Florida Times-Union reported that Khan has already met with David Caldwell, who came highly recommended by the six-time NFL executive of the year.
Caldwell and Tom Gamble are in charge of player personnel for the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.
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This really didn't help.
A 6-10 season doesn't come apart on a single play or even a single game.
If there was one defining moment for the 2012 Tennessee Titans, however, it was Week 8. After a brutal opening stretch, the Titans had clawed their way back to 3-4. They held a seven-point lead at home against a division rival with less than five minutes to play.
The Indianapolis Colts faced a 3rd-and-10. If only the Titans had decided to play with 11 men on the field, there's no telling what could have happened or how the season could have gone.
Instead, the Titans played with 10 players on the field for not one, but two consecutive plays as the Colts converted the first down and tied the game on the way to an overtime win.
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This was a defining moment for the 2012 Colts.
How did they do it?
How did the Indianapolis Colts go from getting kicked around just two weeks ago by the Houston Texans to upsetting them by the same difference, 28-16?
Indy has defied explanation all season, so hopefully a second look at the tape will show how they pulled off their 11th win of the season.
The Real Story
The biggest difference between this game and the 29-17 beating by the Texans two weeks ago was the fast start by Indianapolis, as they held a 14-6 lead at halftime.
The Texans dominated large stretches of the contest but, once again, settled for field goals at the wrong times. Because Indy had a great opening drive (13 plays, 75 yards in 7:09) for a touchdown, the Texans played more uphill. It's also clear that the emotion of the crowd played a factor in the game.
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Fans will react with glee over the news that the Jags have a new GM on the way.
To the surprise of no one, the Jacksonville Jaguars announced the firing of general manager Gene Smith.
The official term the team used in their press release was "parting ways." That's a kind way of saying they booted him to the curb for nearly destroying the franchise.
Owner Shad Khan said that he met with Smith and informed him of his decision, adding:
Doing better by the fans is the primary reason Smith had to go. Jacksonville fanatics have been doggedly supporting the franchise for years, faithfully filling a stadium too big for the market. They simply deserve better.
