More "Hard Knocks" for the Cowboys
Texans become first franchise to win their inaugural game since the 1961 Minnesota Vikings
It's interesting what you can accomplish when you have two Pro Bowl cornerbacks
It's Week One, and the Cowboys are already wondering what's going wrong....
Loss to Texans leaves Cowboys in a state of shock
OK, so it wasn't the Triumph of Good over Evil, and it wasn't even the Super Bowl. It was, honestly, only Week One of the NFL season, and a game between an expansion team and a team mired in hopeless, endless mediocrity- but that's only IF you live outside the state of Texas.
For folks in Houston, this was the culmination of six years of waiting for the NFL to return to the Bayou City. When the Oilers departed for Tennessee in 1996, most Houstonians only wished for the door to hit Bud Adams in the ass on the way out of town. Oddly enough, Adams' team may reside in Nashville, but Adams himself still lives and works in Houston. Can anyone imagine Art Modell still living and working in Cleveland? I didn't think so.
Last night, though, none of that mattered, as the Texans took the field in their brand-new glass and steel palace to become the NFL's 32nd franchise. Three hours later, having made the Cowboys look like Prairie View A&M, the Texans had become the first team to win their inaugural game since the 1961 Minnesota Vikings. (See, I just KNEW that my Vikings would be involved in this somehow....)
There are a lot of very large and very sore athletes in this town feeling pretty good about themselves, as well they should. After their performances in the preseason, no one expected that they would dominate the Cowboys in the manner they did. No, David Carr wasn't Superman, but he was good enough on this night to get the job done. The defense more than held their own. Sure, there are some weak spots- the offensive line, the running game- but the Texans are still an expansion team. If they can cover for their weaknesses as they did last night, they might just surprise a few folks.
Enjoy it while you can. Game #2 is this Sunday at San Diego. Now the reality of day to day life in the NFL will begin to set in. Too bad we can't play 16 games against the Cowboys.
