Summary of Blogging

This was my first time blogging ever, and after a semester of doing it, I can honestly say that I could see myself continuing it. It is extremely helpful with my writing, not to mention, I get to write and get the news out there on a topic that I love. It was great seeing that people actually took the time out of their day to read what I had to say and at one point, even reply and give feedback. When I did the storify project, I started getting retweeted by all these people I never met before because I tweeted them and that was something cool I did not think could happen. I have learned a lot over this semester, especially how to cater to an audience, which I am still in the process of learning. The tool I found most effective was the links, because it provided a way to demand interaction within my posts from the reader. I definitely plan on using this blog as I further my education and get into the professional world. I would love to learn as much as possible and using this tool gave me the hands-on work that I needed. Something I would have implemented was maybe a little background music, or a certain profile that you had, not just a name. Other than that the site was excellent and I cannot wait to use it more as I continue my path of journalism.

 

 

Blowout and Embarrassing Game by the Houston Texans

The game that took place on primetime television in front of the entire world was to be the game of the year between the New England Patriots and the Houston Texans. Two minutes into the game, it turned into a pro team looking like it was prepping for the season to start by roughing up some division 2 college team. Sad and humiliating, the tabeles never turned and after the first score, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots never looked back. Bradu, as usual, put up monster numbers, including 3 touchdowns in the first half. Soon after the first half was over, it looked like the Texans defense had buckled down and started to get rhythm, but right when you realized Brady was 1-7 for 11 yards in the 3rd quarter, he chunks it 63 yards to Donte Stallworth to take a commanding lead and end his night with 4 touchdowns with an entire quarter to play. The Texans only score 1 touchdown on their first team, the second came in closing minutes against each other’s bench players so I do not like to count that. The final score of 42-14 and once again on national television, the Houston Texans left nothing but doubts in the critics minds. Their next game is against the division rivals, Indianapolis Colts. The stipulations are raised, if they win against the Colts, they secure the AFC South Title, also during this week, if the Patriots lose to the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos lose to the Baltimore Ravens, the Houston Texans secure a 1st round bye, which is something that we need at the moment. Hopefully by then, we can get our defense back at semi-healthy, although Cushing and McCain will still be out, but it could take a little pressure off of us if we let these other teams duke it out at the wild card game while we rest up and study film for 2 weeks.

 

Houston Texans vs New England Patriots

This Monday will be the toughest match-up of the season for the Texans, and given the situation, the most important game of the season. It seems we say this every time they play a great team, but this one is different. It could possibly determine who has home field advantage throughout the play offs in the AFC. I created a storify to show how much this game is blowing up twitter already on Tuesday. I can only imagine how this game is going to be talked about when the weekend comes up. Although the Texans are two games ahead of the Patriots at 11-1. If we lose, they will be 1 game within home field advantage. After that we play the Colts twice and the Vikings once, those games are tough and we could end up being tied with New England for #1 seed, with them having the tie-breaker. We already have tie-breaker over the 9-3 Ravens and Broncos, so I am not as worried about them as I am of the Patriots. This could prove to be a character reveal of the Texans and we will see which Texans show up. The Offense has looked great all season and it is great to have Andre Johnson looking like himself again as of late, but the Defense has given up alot of yards to not-so-good offenses such as the Jaguars and Titans. Not to mention we let Detroit run all over us on Thanksgiving even though we came out with the win in OT. This defense needs to show up and shut down Wes Welker and Tom Brady. I am not worried about Steven Ridley because our fornt 7 is as good as anyones and I feel we can shut him down to under 100 yards rushing this week. I guess only time will tell when it comes to this game and who gets #1 seed in the playoffs this year.

[View the story “The Houston Texans VS New England Patriots” on Storify]

Suh the dirtiest player

Suh the dirtiest player, a set on Flickr.

Ndamukong Suh has always had a bad rep for being a dirty player in the NFL ever since his rookie year. He has always been a dominant player, but that does not amount to the amount of injuries that Suh creates on the field. Mainly because he tackles at the neck and attempts to take every players head off. The league has warned him multiple times but he does not care. He then took it a step further when he would do late hits on QB’s and attempt to take them out the game. Then comes Thanksgiving 2011, the Lions were playing the Packers, and Suh STEPS on a players head after the play. They were having a scuffle on the ground after the play and when Suh was picked up by a player, he returned and stepped with force, on a players head and was immediately thrown out of the game. Now comes the Thanksgiving game the Lions had with the Houston Texans this past Thursday. Suh, once again, goes to the ground with his leg cocked back and kicked the Texans quarterback, Matt Schaub, right in the groin. It was very clear that it was intentional, and it does not help that he has been labeled a dirty player his whole career. He did not get thrown out of the game and he was not suspended. It blows my mind that he has done so many things and it is clear he has not learned, and all the league does to punish him is fine him $30,000? That will not teach him, not to mention, he said he will not apologize for what he did. I am disgusted with this player and his antics need to be put to a stop. How many people must he injure before the league steps in? They want to fine the great Ed Reed for hitting hard, but clean shots, and not fine Suh for his dirty

Thanksgiving Win for Texans after Bizarre Play

The Houston Texans recieved their 10th win on Thursday after defeating the Detroit Lions in another slugfest in over time for the play-off destined team. One play left a sour taste in most NFL fans, particular, the Lions fans, and that is when Houston Texans running back, Justin Forsett ran for an 81 yard touchdown, but was clearly down by the elbow and knee after an 8 yard gain. He did what any play would do and that is play until the whistle is blown, and since no whistle was blown, he got up took off to the end zone. Anxious and impatient, Detroit head coach Jim Schwartz threw the challenge flag. Since every touchdown is an automatic review by the officials, he was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which negated any chance of a replay for the already-called touchdown, which made the run stand as the longest run in Texans history. It is safe to say that play played a huge part in the outcome of the game, but it was not the Texans who blew the call, it was the officials. The Texans just did what any other team would do and that is continue playing. The video I created to demonstrate what happened in a slideshow format is linked at the bottom.

My “Would-Be” Iphone App

I am sick of not being able to watch the games on Sunday because I am either at work, or out and about. I was asked to create an idea for an Iphone app. The first thing that came to my mind was, “watch nfl games.” Now I know they have something for basketball but it is like $20 and the graphics are not the best. But when I look for an app for football, all I see are score update apps, not live plays. So my idea for an amazing app would be in connection with NFL network. It would be called NFL Network mobile, but not a website. The interface will let you choose between the games such as the picture suggests below, and all you do is press “watch now” and you will be streaming live the game of your choosing with great graphics since you have a phone capable of doing so. The cost would be $14.99 and it would be a one-time payment for the whole season with very little ads only during commercials. It will include pregame coverage, in-game coverage, and post game coverage. To have no adds and for your services to continue during the playoffs, you would pay $19.99. One big thing about this app, it does not require a wi-fi connection. I know some highpowered apps require wi-fi even though you have 3G. Well not this app, 3G is enough but to have no interuptions obviously wi-fi would be the better choice to have if you have the capability to connect. Not only does this have the coverage, it also as interviews, and NFL network specialty shows for your choosing. I personally think this app would sell like crazy, but the feasability would be questioned, but hey this is imagining something great so I have the fiat power to imagine. Now I am not a professional artist so do not judge my drawings, but this is somewhat of a glimpse of what it could look like.

This is how it will look once it is launched. It will let you choose the game you want to watch.

This is what the app would look like on your Iphone home screen before actually opening the app, of course with a little more color and detail.

Texans 5-0, Comes at Large Cost

Texans ILB Brian Cushing gets taken down by a “legal” chopblock

So, on Monday night, the Houston Texans played their 5th game of the season against the New York Jets on prime time. It was a cold night in Texas so I could only imagine what the weather was like in New York in Met Life Stadium. The Texans have never defeated the Jets in our 10 year history. We have never won on a prime time game as the away team. Although we were 4-0, the odds were not in our favor, we had just one a pretty easy game against the Titans, but the Jets had just lost by a huge margin to the San Fransisco 49ers. Anybody that knows Rex Ryan knows he chewed his players out and made sure they came out gunning this next week. The game played on Monday was a sloppy one to say the least, We had a few dropped passes that could have resulted in 1st downs rather than 4th downs. We had no help from our #2 running back even though our #1 played exceptional. Our defense could not figure out the trick plays the Jets were throwing at us the whole night. The Jets at one point had Tebow AND Antonio Cromartie in at the same time, then would throw in Mark Sanchez and Tebow at the same time, then had Tebow on the Punt Team. Just not something we would expect to see from them. by the time the 2nd quarter was coming to an end, something horrible had happened. We saw our beloved Brian Cushing laying on the ground holding his left Knee in what appeared to be dramatic pain. They showed the play over again to see what happen and what I saw was horrific, OL Matt Slauson being beat on the play by Cushing, then, away from the play, Slauson taking Cushing down with a behind-the-back chop block to his knee and rolled on it. If that wasn’t the dirties play I have ever witnessed, the play was pretty much over, Cushing was not even near the play,but Slauson felt the need to “get back” at Cushing by taking his knee out. Eventually we got the win last night, but at what cost? Head Coach Gary Kubiak told reporters today that Brian Cushing suffered a torn left ACL and will require surgery and will be out for remainder of the season. Now for those that do not know the significance of losing Brian Cushing let me put it like this. His rookie year he won NFL Defensive player of the year and was 2nd in the AFC in tackles behind Ray Lewis, then last year he led our team in tackles, and now this year he was leading our team in tackles. If that is not a blow to our team than I do not know what is. Now if I am Rick Smith I am already thinking of replacements because I know Tim Dobbins cannot fill that huge void left by Cushing. I am thinking of players like James Farrior who is a free agent. If I am Rick Smith I am thinking of moving Brooks Reed over to ILB and convert Whitney Mercilus to OLB. Now obviously any new move would take time to get used to, but leaving Tim Dobbins in there is not the best situation if you ask me. We actually get Darryl Sharpton back next week, he was going to initially be our ILB starter instead of Bradie James until he got injured. Not only will it be hard to fill the void he left on the field, but he was the leader of that defense off the field and in the locker rooms. Who fills that void? It sure isn’t Demeco Ryans who we traded in the off-season. Now what do we do with this young linebacking core we have. Our next game is against the Green Bay packers on Sunday night in Houston, hopefully we can rebound and make a statement against a “good” team since every one likes to claim we have an easy schedule and are pretenders rather than contenders. Until then, take a look at the injury as it took place and you be the judge on if it was dirty or not.

 

 

http://blog.chron.com/fanblogtexans/2012/10/texans-vs-jets-recap-a-look-at-the-mnf-game-with-onetexfan/

NFL Week 4

So it is Tuesday which means week 4 of the NFL is in the books and 3 teams remain undefeated, the Atlanta Falcons, the Arizona Cardinals, and my beloved Houston Texans are all 4-0. Now for the Cardinals, I do not want to take anything away from the surging Cardinals, but these wins are not convincing to me. Sure they completely dominated the Eagles in week 3, but the other 3 wins are not as convincing to me, but like I said, I do not want to take anything away from them. As for the Atlanta Falcons, I saw a legitimate contender being tested on Sunday but holding through and doing what the good teams are supposed to do, beat the bad teams. Not trying to say the Panthers are a bad team but they are far from the top of the list in my opinion. Now to the Texans, a lot of people are saying they are undefeated due to the strength of their schedule. Here is one thing about that, in four games we have beaten the Broncos and dominated the Jaguars, Titans, and Dolphins. Sure they are not contenders on any note, but we beat them in dominating fashion, and did exactly what a great team is supposed to do, beat the teams you are supposed to beat. San Fransisco 49ers, come on, they should have beat the Vikings a few weeks ago, they are still one of the strongest teams in the league, but they lost to a team they were supposed to beat, that is not what a good team does. Good teams compete with other good teams and dominate the bad teams, that is the ideal situation, and so far, the Houston Texans have done just that. We competed with the Broncos and came out with a close win after a possible blowout was in the making in the first 3 quarters, but we have dominated by more than 20 point margins in each of our other 3 games. The defense has a lot to do with this as well, namely JJ “5000” Watt. Last year when the Texans had that play off run, I heard a lot of analyst saying for the fans to not expect the same results because Wade Phillips has never had a great 2nd season after 1st season success as a Defensive Coordinator. Just a couple stats I would like to provide, the Texans have allowed an amazing 56 points to offenses in 4 games, that is an astounding 14 points per game given to the other team which is 1st in the league. If that is not convincing enough, the Texans offense has forced an amount of 126 points in 4 games, with the average coming out to 31.5 and that is good for 2nd in the league behind the Patriots. So in terms of points we are 1st in defense and 2nd in offense, there is not much more needed to be said. I would now like to focus on JJ Watt who is making a huge case for Defensive Player of the Year. Watt is leading the league with 71/2 sacks in 4 games. That is a huge number but when you look deeper in to it you will be even more amazed. Remember he is a DE in a 3-4 defense that focuses on the Outside Linebacker putting the most pressure on an opposing QB such as Demarcus Ware has done in previous seasons. Usually in Wade’s defensive schemes, the outside linebacker usually goes down in a 3 point stance but that is not the case every time, as a matter of fact, our linebackers prefer not to go down in 3 point stance. So lets look at this really quick, 3 players on the D-line, and an average of 5 on the O-line, so Watt has a big possibility of being double teamed every time, especially if teams watch the tape and see what he does. Yet despite all of this, Watt still has 71/2 sacks in 4 games? That is insane and for the Titans Tackle to say that he isn’t special is just outrageous because he must not forget they see each other again later on. I would like to end this blog on a high note, the Cowboys were dominated by the Chicago Bears offense who struggled the past 2 weeks, (I would know I have Cutler on my team). An embarrassing effort by QB Tony Romo as he threw 5 interceptions, tying his career worse.

JJ Watt getting his 2nd sack of the day on backup QB Matt Hasselbeck on SUnday in a 38-14 victory

 

 

http://www.nfl.com/scores/2012/REG4

NFL Week 1

So week 1 just ended of the 2012 NFL football season and all I can say is RGIII. I cannot describe how truly amazed I was when I saw his calmness and maturity during the Saints and Redskins game on Sunday. For a rookie to go in the Superdome, one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL(next to the black hole), and go in there and have a shootout with QB Drew Brees and win. It is not enough to say he stayed in the game, but to say he went in to the hostile territory of the Superdome and win is something that can definitely make me buy in to the hype. We all remember what Cam Newton did in his rookie campaign, especially week 1, but the win-loss column is the most important one. Now that was a huge storyline but it wasn’t the only one in this offensive weekend in the NFL. The New York Jets, yes the same Jets that failed to score a TD until the final preseason game, came out gunning against the Buffalo Bills and finished with a score 48-28 and showed a high-powered offense that was absent in the preseason. Also, reining MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers came up short against the new team to beat in the NFC, the San Fransisco 49ers. Alex Smith played like a true 1st round pick, while the defense looked like it hadn’t missed a beat since last season. The Houston Texans finally buckled down after a very slow start against the Miami Dolphins and scored 24 points in 6 minutes, all off of turnovers (3 pics 1 fum) and finished the game with a score of 30-10 with Andre Johnson looking like he was 26 again after catching 8 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown. Possibly another headliner, Peyton Manning took the field on Sunday with his new team, the Denver Broncos, against the aging Pittsburgh Steelers, and I must say, old number 18 looked like he was the Peyton Manning of 2004. He showed no signs of pain or stiffness, in fact, he showed a little agility with a nice little 11 yard scramble for the 1st down. He threw 2 TD’s and the final score was 31-19. Last but not least, we saw the reigning Super Bowl champions, New York Giants, being physically outperformed by the Dallas Cowboys. Victor Cruz did not look like the sticky fingers we came to love in 2011, in fact he dropped a career high 3 passes. The defense looked like it was not ready for the Cowboys offense and just got ran over by DeMarco Murray, but the bright star (no pun intended) was someone not anyone expected from the Cowboys, WR Kevin Ogletree caught 8 passes for 114 yards and 2 TD’s in the game while the Giants defense focused on Witten, Austin, and Bryant. Oh and as far as Tony Romo’s stats, 307 yards 3 TD’s and 1 pic for the highly criticized veteran. Now I am not a Cowboys fan, but I give credit where credit is due, and the Cowboys played like a team that still has that sour taste in their mouths from last years loss in week 17. I am so glad that week 2 starts on Thursday because I am already having withdrawals from week 1.

Griffining, the new internet craze that has already caught the media by storm. Multiple pictures online can be found on this only 1 day after the Redskins defeated the Saints in a shootout on Sunday.

 

http://www.nfl.com/scores/2012/REG1

Finally the Texans get some Respect

So I am on ESPN.com surfing the world wide web looking for the latest news in the sports world when I come across a picture that says “Super Bowl Predictions”. Now in my mind I knew I was going to click on it and be furious with the results due to the fact that in the past, respect is not something being received by critics in the sports world. But low and behold, the Texans were actually being picked in this category. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean the category to win, I mean the category to actually go to the Super Bowl, but it is still nice to know that we are being acknowledged for what we accomplished last year. Actually to be exact, 4 out of the 7 NFL analysts picked the Houston Texans to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl in New Orleans in 2013, with 1 of the analysts, Chris Mortensen, picked the Texans to defeat the San Fransisco 49ers in the big game. I know none of these predictions actually mean anything, but the fact that these well-established analysts actually believe the Texans have what it takes to get there, that alone is nice to know. Now I am sorry (glad) to say that the Dallas Cowboys were not picked by any analyst to go to the Super Bowl and for good reasons too. How about because they went 8-8 last season and they are falling while the rest of the NFC East is rising (Sorry Jerry). The link to this article included a video as well, and it will be posted at the end of this blog if you would like to go check it out for yourself. In the mean time, here is a little picture of what I would assume our ring would look like if we were to win the Super Bowl.

According to 1 NFL analyst, the Houston Texans should be receiving these sooner than later!!!

http://espn.go.com/nfl/preview12/story/_/id/8311605/nfl-experts-reveal-their-super-bowl-xlvii-predictions