Said before the game i felt it was more important 'how we played' than the ultimate result and after a day or so with hindsight having caught up as best I can I haven't really altered my view.

Felt it was a good opportunity for us to put ourselves towards that tier of feared teams and earn that respect. Can't honestly say I think we achieved that offensively at least.

I always defer to those in attendance who get a better feel for the game, I stand ready to admit any error but I felt defence and special teams stood up, took their shots and went toe to toe. There will be people around the league taking notice of some of those performances. Start stringing three or four performances like that together especially against contenders and suddenly your opponent is on the backfoot before they start. They know they can't afford mistakes, know they have to be closer to 100%, know they're going to be punished for missteps and start feeling that element of pressure ...

Don't think anybody underestimates the mental side of pro-sports. Whether it's Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan, Brady or Mahomes, the ability the best have to put their opponents under the pressure to feel they have to elevate their own performance to perfection is an incalculable tool... Felt our offence fell into that trap slightly against the Chiefs. Mahomes wasn't having one of his better games i just felt that desire to raise yourself to a 'Mahomes' level knocked us out of our stride. Lost our poise slightly old boy!

I've generally no problem with the aggressive approach but you have to keep a clear head ... The 4th and 5 call was what it was, but it didn't reek , (even at the time) of thinking as calmly and clearly as they might have been in that situation. We were reaching! Every man loves his wife, but trying to get it on, in the overtaking lane of the motorway on Valentine's day... in the rain... in the dark, in a black seeping bag... Well ... Even if you're heart is in the right place, unless the wife's a raver it might cause you marital problems down the line when the HGV comes along! Sometimes the motel's a steady option!

Anyways, ... It's a shame, a missed opprtunity, and losing three against the Chiefs in relatively short order isn't ideal, something the coaches might have to address further down the line but it's no death knell on the season so park it and get on with the Texans.

If I had to pick one thing for the offense and especially Trevor to move up a level on its that ability to go into the big games against the best and stay calm, stay composed from the start and just play their own game and let their talent speak for itself rather than the mild (and occasionally not so mild) tendancy we have at the moment towards the harum-scarum. Do that and i fancy our performances will improve and we might start seeing the better teams feeling that pressure against us themselves.

It was an opportunity to put the conference and league on notice. We didn't. We proved that we can hang with the toughest, and if the ball bounces right, we can sneak away with a win.

Games 1 and 3 will be equally important as far as statement-making goes. These are games we SHOULD win, and not by squeaker. One down, one to go. If we can consistently beat the weaker foes and steal a few from the better or equally matched, we will be in the hunt when postseason comes.

You're right about that mental aspect. I think too often teams are worried about all the possibilities of where a play could go wrong, and that leads to sloppiness. Just do your part, and the rest will sort itself out. I think we were good for most of the game, but as the minutes drug on, the D started hesitating, almost waiting for Mahomes to dictate the next move, instead of continuing to keep the pressure on.  That last completion, especially, just seemed like we were on our heels waiting for him to act, I say be aggressive and get in his mug, don't give him half an eternity to find a guy wide open.

I trust our guys. We made mistakes, but they were fixable. It's not like we had guys getting roasted or out of position on a consistent basis. We just gotta be ready for the next team on the schedule, no dwelling on what failed on Sunday.

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How do you go into big games and stay calm and composed when the dline is in your grill all game?

You don't make a show of screaming at your linemen on the sideline.
You don't throw in the towel and consider the day a lost cause because this guy or that guy is getting his tail whupped every snap.
You project confidence that you can cope with the shorter time to find your guys open, and you prove it with your throws.
You trust the coaches to make smart choices to help mitigate the problem.
You give them a taste of success and show that it can be done again. And again. And again.

Basically, what TLaw's been doing since he got here.

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Oh we blew it. These types of losses bother me most.

I can accept a close/competitive loss.

The blowouts where we have no answer for what the other team brings are the ones that irk me something fierce.

To coin a phrase… the O Line matters.

They should be spending a 2nd or 3rd on linemen EVERY year until we have a top 5 line.


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Fix the O-Line!