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    Dissing Arian Foster

    Disrespecting Arian Foster doesn't hurt Texans this time: Trashes split carry idea with clutch play

    Chris Baldwin
    Sep 15, 2013 | 8:19 pm

    When the game is truly on the line, when it's make-a-play-or-go-home time, the ball fittingly once again finds Arian Foster's hands. On back-to-back plays, the Houston Texans' fate hinges on Foster making something happens.

    And he delivers. That's what true superstars do.

    With the Texans trailing an inferior Tennessee Titans team 24-16 with less than two minutes left in regulation, Foster scores eight points on two consecutive plays, bouncing off several defenders like he's Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl in the process. The two-point conversion after his one-yard touchdown run on third-and-goal is a particularly determined brute beauty of a run.

    "Arian’s two-point run was just all man," Texans coach Gary Kubiak says. "We didn’t block it very well, and for him to get that ball in the end zone is absolutely incredible."

    Ben Tate is not Arian Foster's equal. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not five years from now.

    Titans defensive tackle Mike Martin meets Foster at the 1-yard-line on the run, but Foster will not be denied. He just pushes Martin into the end zone with him. After having nifty sideswiped a few other would-be tacklers earlier.

    "That two-point conversion was all Arian," Texans left tackle Duane Brown says admiringly. "Arian just found a way to get in."

    That's what true superstars do. That's why the whole notion of Arian Foster "sharing" the carries with Ben Tate screamed out as pure ridiculousness from the beginning. Foster wears a sleeveless black Batman T-shirt under his home white Texans No. 23 jersey on this Sunday. He doesn't run like a superhero most of the game though.

    But he does at the two moments the Texans absolutely need him to in order to survive.

    Without Foster's back-to-back gutty scoring none of the craziness that ends up making this 30-24 overtime Texans win so memorable ever happens. The bizarre sequence of Randy Bullock lining up for four straight attempts at a game-winning 46-yard field goal (with only the last miss officially counting thanks to penalties and timeouts) at the end of regulation? Rookie wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins' absolute takeover of the game in overtime?

    Neither happens without Foster's fight first.

    Even Andre Johnson's incredible catch along the sideline, holding onto the ball and maintaining possession as he hit the ground despite former Texan Bernard Pollard knocking him out of the game with what clearly should have been flagged as an illegal hit to the head, goes for naught if Foster doesn't make sure it converts into all eight points.

    "I sure appreciate my man saying that," Foster says of Brown's insistence that No. 23 produced the game-knotting two-point conversion out of nothing. "But it's never all me."

    It should be when the Texans need an important run. No matter his good intentions, Kubiak disrespected Foster in San Diego when he didn't sub him in for some critical carries and again in the week leading up to this Titans game when he talked about sharing the carries equally between Foster and Ben Tate. Arian Foster absolutely needs to be on the field for the Texans when it counts most — and after this game, you have to believe Kubiak feels that way too.

    The split-carry game turns into 20 touches for Foster (19 carries and one catch) and 12 for Tate (nine carries and three catches). That's no split — and that's the closest you're liable to see their carries in a game the rest of the season. When it absolutely matters, when he needs a two-point conversion to stay alive, the coach still trusts No. 23 most.

    "I'm sitting here staring at 19 to 9 (Foster in carries)," Kubiak says. "You all want me to tell you how I wanted it to be more even?

    "That was the last thing I was thinking about when we were trying to get back in the game at the end.”

    In other words, Kubiak's come to his senses.

    Arian Foster's been disrespected enough in his football life. He's crawled out of nowhere — undrafted practice squad man — to become a nearly yearly legit league MVP candidate. It's doubtful that Kubiak's split carries talk motivated Foster. He's been driven from the jump. He trained crazy hard this offseason by all reports.

    "Arian’s two-point run was just all man. We didn’t block it very well, and for him to get that ball in the end zone is absolutely incredible."

    He doesn't need the drama. Just give him the football. Just recognize what you have.

    "I’m still rusty out there," Foster says at his locker, the Batman T-shirt replaced by a distinctive navy long-sleeve, button-up shirt. "I missed a couple of plays that I normally make. But that just comes with it.

    "You have to knock the rust off and the only way to do that is get in there and bang.”

    Kubiak needs to keep feeding Foster, rust or not. It's the only way the Texans get where they want to go.

    The Foster Tate Game

    Foster takes the first touch of the game and goes 10 yards on a sharp cut up the middle. Tate turns his first carry into a 60-yard burst down a wide-open right edge, punctuating it with stiff arm to Titans linebacker Moise Fokou.

    The end result? The Texans go 80 yards in five plays (four of them runs that account for all but one of those 80 yards) to grab a quick 7-0 advantage.

    When it absolutely matters, when he needs a two-point conversion to stay alive, the coach still trusts No. 23 most.

    Foster's featured on eight first half plays (seven rushes and one pass) and Tate also gets eight first half opportunities (five runs and three passes thrown his way). The Texans weren't playing well enough on offense to rack up a lot of plays. They trail the Titans 10-7 at halftime, going scoreless for the last 27:30 of game time.

    Still, that's not enough touches for No. 23.

    The idea that Arian Foster needs to prove something to Kubiak — or anyone else — is laughable. He's shown everything he needs to show for three-plus seasons. All those yards, all those big prime time performances, the playoff shows that made people like Ray Lewis and Bob Kraft genuflect to his blinding talent . . . No. 23's proved it again and again and again.

    Ben Tate is not Arian Foster's equal. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not five years from now.

    Few are. Tate could make a Pro Bowl in the right circumstances on another team and he won't be close to an Arian Foster.

    We're talking about one of the most unique talents in recent NFL history. You don't take carries from Barry Sanders in his prime. You don't make Adrian Peterson share the football. And you don't decide Ben Tate is suddenly the equal of Arian Foster.

    "That has to be OK with me," Foster said earlier this week. "Like I said, we’re chess pieces. Coach makes the final ruling, but as a competitor, I’ve been in this league, I feel like I’ve played well throughout my tenure here. You want to be out there.

    "You feel like you’ve earned that right to be out there. That’s just where the frustration comes from.”

    Arian Foster is right to be frustrated. He deserves more respect. He's earned it. He took the path never traveled —from undrafted, disregarded free agent to one of the league's singular figures. Before J.J. Watt ever burst onto the scene, Foster gave Texans fans real hope.

    On this Sunday, he only makes the play that allows the Texans to win the game. All Man. All No. 1 back. One of the best in the league. This ain't no split carry back.

    Houston Texans tailback Arian Foster looked like a super hero on the two-point conversion.

    Arian Foster Texans Batman
      
    Photo by Michelle Watson CultureMapSnap
    Houston Texans tailback Arian Foster looked like a super hero on the two-point conversion.
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    series/htx-super-season-2013
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    O'Brien Talks Tough

    Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players

    Chris Baldwin
    Jan 3, 2014 | 1:43 pm
    Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players
    Photo by Rob Carr Getty Images
    Bill O'Brien admits he missed the NFL.

    Bill O'Brien certainly hasn't walked timidly into his new job as the head coach/franchise savior of the Houston Texans.

    With large posters of J.J. Watt and Andre Johnson flanking him on either side of an elaborate press conference stage, O'Brien didn't pay homage as much as he demanded a new standard.

    "To me it's about accountability," O'Brien said. "It's about demanding. It's about putting together a fast, physical football team."

    In other words, Mr. Nice Guy went out the window with former Texans coach Gary Kubiak. O'Brien mentioned "accountability" and "demanding" several times in his introductory press conference Friday afternoon at Reliant Stadium. And you can bet the chorus sounded like sweet music to Texans owner Bob McNair.

    CultureMap was the first news outlet anywhere to report that O'Brien was the Texans' top choice to be the team's new coach way back on Dec. 18. This was a McNair driven pick from the beginning and it is the 44-year-old O'Brien's toughness that drew the owner to the former Penn State coach and Bill Belichick assistant.

    "To me it's about accountability. It's about demanding."

    And McNair himself certainly talked tough on introduction day.

    "I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door," McNair said. "Not acceptable. Not what we're going to do in the future."

    McNair went on to talk about O'Brien having shown he's willing to make the hard decisions — something he clearly felt was lacking as the Texans spiraled from Super Bowl schemers into a 2-14 death march in 2013.

    "Some coaches who have been players still think of themselves as players rather than the head of an organization," McNair said. "And have trouble making difficult decisions."

    Kubiak, of course, played quarterback for the Denver Broncos. As for an inability to make tough calls? Just look at how long Kubiak stuck with a flat-lined Matt Schaub and how he kept trying to go back to Schaub even after the Case Keenum call was made.

    O'Brien noted that "there are a lot of good football players on this team." He also declined to take any pressure off himself and describe this makeover of a team with the worst record in the NFL as a rebuilding job.

    "There are a lot of pieces in place here," he said. "It's all about hard work . . . Quick turnaround, rebuilding are labels. I'm not into all that."

    Tom Brady Tough?

    All in all, it's an impressive opening performance for a first-time NFL head coach. O'Brien knows how to command the stage. Texans general manager Rick Smith talked about the new coach's "charisma."

    O'Brien even makes sure to work in the obligatory Texas joke about the cowboy life.

    "Right after this, I'm going to go out and buy my first pair of cowboy boots," he said.

    It's already becoming clear there will be one cowboy in charge of these Texans. One who happens to be a hard-nosed Northeast guy who's probably still most famous for getting into a sideline screaming match with New England Patriots golden boy quarterback Tom Brady.

    "I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door."

    O'Brien downplayed the incident, but it's clearly helped burnish his taskmaster image.

    "You know it's a competitive sports," O'Brien said. "Tom Brady's a great friend. These things happen. The thing that people don't understand is that 30 seconds after it was over, we were sitting together and going over pictures (of game action)."

    The Texans players are clearly intrigued by O'Brien. Veteran center Chris Myers sat amongst the press at the stadium and listened to the new head man.

    There will be a lot more change coming to the stadium. Smith hinted at as much when he noted how the Texans needed a coach who can guide young players.

    It's hard to imagine O'Brien tip toeing around that change. He plans to meet with all the remaining Texans coaches Saturday (as with any head coaching change, it's unlikely many of the current assistants will be kept by O'Brien). He'll tackle the quarterback question later, though it's clear Keenum is still in the picture.

    Almost every new NFL head coach sounds good on introduction day. Especially when the team brings out a marching band for the occasion. But O'Brien sounds tough and no nonsense.

    Just what Bob McNair wanted. This is his call. His makeover. His tough guy.

    Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.

    Bill O'Brien presser
      
    Photo by Scott Halleran Getty Images
    Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.
    unspecified
    series/htx-super-season-2013
    news/sports
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