It was much easier to find things to dislike than things to like about the Texans during the first half of their season, but the old saying goes that you are what your record says you are and that means the Texans are a first place team.
Last Sunday’s win moved them to 3-5 on the season and leaves them tied with the Colts atop the AFC South, which may be a collection of teams in varying degrees of trouble but winning it still comes with a playoff spot. That’s why Texans defensive end J.J. Watt is looking forward to the second half as a new season that can erase the failures of the first eight weeks.
“It’s not necessarily where you want to be record-wise and how things wanted to play out, but you’re sitting here at your bye halfway through the year with everything in front of you,” Watt said, via the Houston Chronicle. “So, we have a chance to go out there in the second half of the season, look at it as a new season, a season of one-game seasons, like we’ve always talked about and go out there and control what we can control and see what happens.”
With the Colts looking no closer to figuring their way out of their season-long funk, it’s hard to dismiss Watt’s feeling that the Texans can still make something of this season. They’ll need their defense to play more like it did against the Titans last week than it did against the Dolphins in Week Seven and several other things to go right, but the fact that’s even a possibility after their start should keep spirits lifted in Houston over the bye week.
