FanPost

Enemy Reaction: Houston Texans (with a special throwback video for newcomers)

Apologies for the lateness of this Enemy Reaction, but I have regular writing duties over at Bloody Elbow and I've been battling a cold.

When I did the game thread screenshots for Field Gulls on Wednesday it was literally the first time I read any of the comments. So let me address a few things from the comments section before we dive into the pit of an epic comeback:

1.) I'm not going to do reactions from Niners Nation when we're not playing San Francisco. Look, I get that we hate the 49ers, but escalating the rivalry by obsessing over their every waking thought about the Seahawks doesn't help. It's unhealthy. Now, if there was a situation where the Seahawks edged out the 49ers for the NFC West in week 17 similar to Manchester City winning the Premier League title over Manchester United, you damn well bet I will put one up.

2.) I didn't include any "Game over" comments. This was much easier to do than to X out any culprits guilty of saying that. And honestly, I said "game over" on Twitter so I'm just as guilty as anyone else who said it. I'll get into the Texans game not being like the Atlanta game in a moment...

3.) This is one of the few times I will post Enemy Reaction featuring plays that went against the Seahawks. The primary purpose of Enemy Reaction was to record responses from the opposition for negative in-game plays and just general (reasonable) analysis afterward. Seattle barely mustered any and I think the topsy-turvy nature of the game justifies a heavy amount of in-game thoughts.

4.) I literally could not find any post-game crow video of Texans fans on Youtube. So instead, for new users unfamiliar with Enemy Reaction, I am reposting the legendary 2011 rant of one Eagles fan after the Seahawks destroyed Philadelphia 31-14 at the Clink.

That's about it. Let's get this thing rolling! Texans in-game comments come courtesy of the fine folks over at Battle Red Blog.

Marshawn Lynch replicates Saints performance with 43 yard run and 25 broken tackles

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Arian Foster scores touchdown to give Houston a 14-3 lead

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Marshawn Lynch fumbles deep inside Seattle territory, leads to 17-3 Houston lead

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Russell Wilson scrambles to keep touchdown drive (and game) alive

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Richard Sherman ties the game with a pick 6 of Schaub

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Kareem Jackson suplexes Doug Baldwin to put Seattle into FG range

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Steven Hauschka gives the Seahawks their first 4-0 start in franchise history

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Post-Game: The Ugly

The Ugly

Turnovers killed the Texans in this game. Ben Tate's fumble deep in their own territory set the Seahawks up in field goal range and gave them a free three points. The dagger was Matt Schaub's third pick six of the season. The play was a bootleg, which hadn't worked all game, and Schaub threw the ball blindly to avoid the sack. It was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Richard Sherman. Another play that really hurt the Texans was Kareem Jackson's questionable personal foul in overtime. The Seahawks would have had 3rd and 5 near midfield but the personal foul gave them a free first down and put them in field goal range. Four plays later, they kicked the game winning field goal. - Clay Martin of State of the Texans gives us "The Ugly" part of "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".

Post-Game: Best thing to happen to the season?

The players called a meeting this week, without the coaches, and that is a good thing. The team lost badly in OT to a team that frankly they should have beaten. In the end, I'm glad they lost and lost as they did, because it got the team fired up.

The loss got the players passionate. I will be willing to bet money that come the San Francisco game on Sunday night, if Houston gets the lead, they won't manage the clock. They'll keep swinging for the fences. Here's hoping Kubiak get's that a paradigm shift is needed, I think the players got it.

Kubiak owns the success or fail of this season, can he make the change or does Houston need a change at the top?

In Schaub we trust; players, coaches and yes, fans we need to get behind him too. - Graham Rogers of Toro Times. I hope Houston gets a lead on San Francisco.

Post-Game Video: Seahawks 31 Eagles 14 (featuring eatdatpussy445)

The greatest video response to a Seahawks loss ... ever.

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The Seahawks' first half debacle is not entirely the Atlanta game all over again. Seattle effectively moved the ball at times against Atlanta in the 1st half but botched three different drives (Lynch fumble, failed 4th and 1, Wilson sack with no timeouts) thus ended with a 20-0 deficit instead of something more manageable. The Seahawks offense against Houston was basically embarrassing up until the 4th quarter.

As for the defense? Same problem as the Falcons game. Couldn't stop the run, couldn't stop the pass, couldn't get a pass rush. What changed for the Seahawks in the Texans game was the ability to stop both the run and the pass PLUS force Schaub into fetal position multiple times over. For the most part, Seattle's worst defensive showings in the past year coincide with an inability to stop the run (see: 2nd half of 49ers loss, Miami, Atlanta, 1st half of Redskins win). Granted, there is room for variance, as the Vikings ran roughshod on the Seattle defense but Christian Ponder is basically an inadvertent destroyer of his own team's offense. This pattern used to hold true for San Francisco until they put in a string of weak showings in last year's playoffs, but even they struggle mightily when teams rush for 130-180 yards on them.

Seattle's offense has scored 2 touchdowns in 2 road games, which is the exact same total after 2 road games in every year under Pete Carroll. The difference is they're 2-0 on the road this year as opposed to 0-2 in the previous 3 seasons. Regardless of the Indianapolis result, I think it's pretty clear now that we've got ourselves a special group of players and coaches on this team, and for the first time (probably ever?) you can sense the Seattle Seahawks being not just a playoff contender for 2-3 years, but for the whole of this decade to come.

Onward to Indianapolis, where the Colts are 3-1 and looking to capitalize on Houston's loss to Seattle and maintain their lead in the AFC South over their main rivals.