Beyond the Boxscore
Even Robert Griffin III lacks the swagger of Texans: Star says Houston remindshim of old Hurricane teams
It's minutes after a 24-point win and Matt Schaub has something serious to discuss with his understudy T.J. Yates. "Did you see that?" Schaub gestures animatedly, pointing toward a screen.
The Texans quarterbacks are talking about . . . the Ryder Cup.
This is how routine winning is becoming for the Houston Texans. These Texans of Kubiak, Phillips, Schaub and Watt expect to dominate, expect to blow teams out, expect to sap an opposing team's will to the point where it's reduced to a muttering insane shell of itself.
"The thing about this team is there are no individual agendas. There are no high maintenance guys, no prima donnas."
So when they do it, they simply move on to the next thing. In Schaub and Yates' case that happens to be as soon as the media is let into the locker room after Sunday's 38-14 dismantling of the Tennessee Titans, one of those teams that used to torment the Texans in the AFC South.
Taking it all in, the longest tenured Texan cannot help but get pumped. Not that Andre Johnson is going to show it too much (or barely at all) on the outside. But this all reminds No. 80 of the way things used to be when he played on one of the biggest, baddest teams in football history.
"Ever?" Johnson shoots back when asked if he's ever played on a team as explosive as these 2012 Texans, a team that's capable of taking a 14-7 game and ripping off 24 unanswered points to grab it by the throat. "I played on one of the the best college football teams in history."
Johnson smiles when asked if these Texans remind of those University of Miami Hurricanes, who won one national championship game by 23 points over Nebraska (with Johnson playing 199-yard MVP) and got robbed in another against Ohio State. You know, The U.
"A little bit," he says. "No question. This team is having fun like that team. That's the first time we've had that here (in Houston).
"Guys are just hanging out and joking around. It's as much fun at practice and before and after the games as it is during them. We've never had that before."
Andre Johnson suddenly hears the echoes of his old Hurricane locker rooms in Reliant.
Winning has a way of lifting the grumpiest of men's moods. But it seems like more than just the side effects of a 4-0 start for these Texans. It's a cause too. General manager Rick Smith hasn't just assembled arguably the most complete roster in the NFL, he's also hit on one hell of a mix.
"The thing about this team is there are no individual agendas," center Chris Myers says. "There are no high maintenance guys, no prima donnas. This is a grown-up group that just loves to play the game."
You can see this in the way the Texans react to Kareem Jackson — a player who might have been ostracized on a different team for all the big game-changing passes he gave up as a rookie — taking back an interception for a touchdown. Jackson's moment doesn't mean a whole lot in the larger scheme of the game. The Titans are already beyond beaten by this point.
But it means a lot to his teammates. Even Texans owner Bob McNair makes a point of tracking down Jackson on the field after the clock hits 00:00 to give him a slap on the back.
"I'm so happy for Kareem," linebacker Brian Cushing says. ". . . He's a fighter. He's a tough kid who never complained. He's been through hell. He's literally been through hell with all the stuff he's heard the last few years. Everyone telling him he's no good."
Heck, you can hear the Texans' attitude in the way defensive coordinator Wade Phillips reacts to the idea that the Titans are still throwing for Jackson to get his chance. As if the Titans hadn't learned when strong safety Danieal Manning returned an INT 55 yards for a touchdown earlier in the second half.
"They kept throwing it so we got another one for a touchdown," Phillips says.
You can almost hear the friendly disdain in Phillips voice. What are those fools thinking?
This is the attitude of the Texans now. The franchise that once feared teams throwing on them (see the last time the Texans faced the New York Jets) now just dares you to do that.
Robert Griffin III is getting a ton of credit for showing swagger for the Washington Redskins, in still managing to pull out a win in Tampa Bay after the headset linking him to his coaching staff malfunctioned. And rightly so. But these Texans have their own, even stronger collective swagger.
Around here, it's a team thing.
"It feels like we're little kids in the backyard," defensive end J.J. Watt says. "We're just running around and having fun . . . It's so much fun to play with these guys because we literally don't care who gets the credit."
Pay Attention
Johnson loves watching this Texans defense much like he used to love watching his University of Miami defensive teammates take apart an opponent. But as No. 80 found out on Sunday that can sometimes get you in trouble with your coach.
"I'm always looking up at the Jumbotron watching our defense," Johnson says, "It seems like they have so much fun. They really get after teams.
"I was watching them and (wide receivers coach) Larry (Kirksey) was trying to talk me to about a (offensive) play. He had to poke me to get my attention. I had to say, 'Sorry Coach.' "
"They kept throwing it so we got another one for a touchdown," Phillips says.
Johnson shrugs. In this case, he's more sorry but not sorry.
"I don't know what it is, but I've always hung out a little more with the defensive guys off the field too," he says. "Pretty much everywhere I've been. In college, here.
"I get the defensive guys for some season."
One bad man appreciates another. Whether you're Andre Johnson staring up at the giant video screens as the Texans defense wreaks havoc, Watt marveling at how silly fun it all is or even Schaub and Yates taking a long moment to talk golf minutes after an overpowering NFL win, it all comes down to one thing.
This is a team with plenty of swagger to spare.
Andre Johnson suddenly hears the echoes of his old Hurricane locker rooms in Reliant. The Titans are struggling with the idea of how quickly the script's flipped, pulling guy's hair and saying absurd things about mostly containing Watt. New York Jets coach Rex Ryan — who happens to be up next for Texans in a primetime Monday Night Football showdown — would kill to have a team as bold as these Texans.
But the confidence lives in Houston now.