Super Bowl: Matt Schaub Still Thinks He Can Lead Texans to Super Bowl
By Josh Hill
Tony Romo eat your heart out. The embattled Dallas Cowboys quarterback might be on the ropes in Dallas but he’s not the only professional quarterback in the state of Texas to be on thin ice with the fan base. After starting out the season undefeated before losing to the Packers, the Houston Texans tripped and stumbled down the stretch of the season, eventually losing in the AFC Divisional playoffs for the second straight season.
This has Texans fans up in arms about the future of Matt Schaub with the team. Schuab was heavily criticized after the game, but while the fans may be down on him, he still believes he can help bring a Super Bowl to Houston.
“Absolutely I can,” Schuab said, via UltimateTexans.com. “With the guys that we have and the way our team is built, I definitely think so. I’ve had that confidence in myself ever since I started playing. I always knew that I could do that. We have the right guys and the right coaches and … the right system.”
Many in Houston blame Schaub for the Texans decline in the second half of the season, but while he doesn’t deny things didn’t go as he hoped, that doesn’t mean the Texans are doomed to fail next year as well.
“I think results changed,” Schaub said. “I don’t know about the way I played. We played good football teams, teams that were fighting for their lives and playoff spots. You want to play at a certain level all the time.”
The Texans showed their support for Schaub at the beginning of the season by giving him a four-year, $64 million contract extension, which is one of the reasons fans are upset. The fresh contract came right away at the beginning of the season, and the Texans didn’t wait to see hoe things would pan out. As a result, Houston has $24.5 million of guaranteed money wrapped up in Schaub, which is the main reason they won’t be moving him anytime soon.
Schaub says he’s fully aware of the pressure and the criticism.
“I’m aware of it,” Schaub said. “I understand. As players, as a quarterback, you’re the first one to get criticized when you don’t get things done. You get a lot of praise — sometimes more than you deserve — when you win. As you get closer to the end of the thing, things are magnified even more so. It’s the nature of the business; I understand that. I can get better, the team can get better, and we’re going to focus on those things, and we’re going to get right back there.”