Texans vs. Patriots 1/13/13 Divisional Round
Posted: Tue Jan 8, 2013 3:29 am
It has been some season for these Houston Texans.
For 12 weeks this team played 11-1 ball, marching around with the swag of the Heavyweight Champion of the World. And like all Heavyweights they are expected to fight to keep their title. Along came week 14 where the Texans walked into a Heavyweight bout against the New England Patriots - their most fearsome challenger yet - and to put it mildly...they got their asses whomped. Instead of throwing a knockout punch in a statement game they found themselves reeling; barely able to limp into the playoffs.
...but they did make it to the playoffs. They won their first game and now they find themselves face to face with the same Patriots who beat them down 5 weeks ago.
This reminds me of another classic battle between two Heavyweights. One was a proven, but aging champ who was well-respected (even if he did goofy things like wrestle Hulk Hogan in a charity exhibition match). He was known as Rocky. The other was a young, brash, fearsome fighter known as Clubber Lang.
In their first match Rocky was clearly overwhelmed by the ferocity of Clubber Lang (much like the Texans vs. the Patriots). It wasn't pretty: he was beaten down, broken in body and spirit. Oh, and Mickey died. All hope seemed lost...but Rocky picked himself back up. He licked his wounds, he trained hard, he used his embarrassing defeat as motivation and with a little help from Apollo Creed and an 1980s Underrated Blue Collar Band (Survivor), Rocky managed to fight his way back, defeat the man who broke him and reclaim the love of his city and...
no, wait - that's just the plot of the Dark Knight Rises. Sorry - sometimes I get fiction and reality confused.
In reality, Houston will have a serious fight on their hands this weekend. They were thoroughly embarrassed the last time that these teams met. The traditionally disrespectful Boston media has already written them off as "another bye week." Thing is, they can't complain about disrespect. They have to claw and fight for their playoff hopes on the road in Massachusetts, where it is about -45 degrees outside and the city is overrun with penguins and polar bears.
But they can't use the cold as an excuse. They can't use the road as an excuse and they sure as hell can't use their uniforms as an excuse because Rocky abandoned his traditional gold shorts in favor of using Apollo's red, white & blue trunks which are exactly the colors the Texans wear as they face New England!!!
...who also wears red, white & blue. I know. Shut up!
Point is - this Sunday, January 13th, 2013 at 3:30 PM CST the Houston "Rocky Balboa" Texans will face the New England "Clubber Lang" Patriots in the second Divisional Round Game of the AFC playoffs!
Cue the music...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4[/youtube]
For 12 weeks this team played 11-1 ball, marching around with the swag of the Heavyweight Champion of the World. And like all Heavyweights they are expected to fight to keep their title. Along came week 14 where the Texans walked into a Heavyweight bout against the New England Patriots - their most fearsome challenger yet - and to put it mildly...they got their asses whomped. Instead of throwing a knockout punch in a statement game they found themselves reeling; barely able to limp into the playoffs.
...but they did make it to the playoffs. They won their first game and now they find themselves face to face with the same Patriots who beat them down 5 weeks ago.
This reminds me of another classic battle between two Heavyweights. One was a proven, but aging champ who was well-respected (even if he did goofy things like wrestle Hulk Hogan in a charity exhibition match). He was known as Rocky. The other was a young, brash, fearsome fighter known as Clubber Lang.
In their first match Rocky was clearly overwhelmed by the ferocity of Clubber Lang (much like the Texans vs. the Patriots). It wasn't pretty: he was beaten down, broken in body and spirit. Oh, and Mickey died. All hope seemed lost...but Rocky picked himself back up. He licked his wounds, he trained hard, he used his embarrassing defeat as motivation and with a little help from Apollo Creed and an 1980s Underrated Blue Collar Band (Survivor), Rocky managed to fight his way back, defeat the man who broke him and reclaim the love of his city and...
no, wait - that's just the plot of the Dark Knight Rises. Sorry - sometimes I get fiction and reality confused.
In reality, Houston will have a serious fight on their hands this weekend. They were thoroughly embarrassed the last time that these teams met. The traditionally disrespectful Boston media has already written them off as "another bye week." Thing is, they can't complain about disrespect. They have to claw and fight for their playoff hopes on the road in Massachusetts, where it is about -45 degrees outside and the city is overrun with penguins and polar bears.
But they can't use the cold as an excuse. They can't use the road as an excuse and they sure as hell can't use their uniforms as an excuse because Rocky abandoned his traditional gold shorts in favor of using Apollo's red, white & blue trunks which are exactly the colors the Texans wear as they face New England!!!
...who also wears red, white & blue. I know. Shut up!
Point is - this Sunday, January 13th, 2013 at 3:30 PM CST the Houston "Rocky Balboa" Texans will face the New England "Clubber Lang" Patriots in the second Divisional Round Game of the AFC playoffs!
Cue the music...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4[/youtube]
