@DPo8*.
There was definitely a big build-up to our game at New England on Monday night. We wanted to keep that road record alive and keep that record going, and we came up short, real short. That one hurt, and we definitely want to see those guys again, so we're fueled by that. It was a great learning experience for us just to see where we need to work on things. When you've got a record like we have, it's easy to get complacent, and that was a nice, humbling experience late, so hopefully that'll get us right for this long stretch.
I did have a chance to make my first catch in the game (a 19-yarder late in the fourth quarter). T.J. (Yates) put it in there, and I was just trying to run as fast as I could. I was hoping to score but I came up short a little bit, but hey, man, any time I get the ball, I'm going to try to do my best with it. Hopefully, we'll see what happens here in the future.
To get a chance to make a play, even late in a game like that, it was exciting. It just felt like football, man. It felt like taking off the training wheels and getting out there, riding your bike again. So to me, I'm excited, and I'm fueled by that. It makes me hungry for more.
When I got here, Kub (Texans coach Gary Kubiak) told me he wasn't going to give me nothing, and I respect that. To be honest, I probably wasn't ready to play, and I knew I had to be patient. This game is about repetition, really, so just getting reps over and over again, looking at our plays and getting in our playbook over and over again, I finally, probably about a couple weeks ago, started feeling like I'm really, really comfortable with our plays and what we're trying to do schematically and what we're attacking here. Like, "Why are you breaking out on this route? To open up this window." Finally being able to understand what we're doing conceptually has helped me to know my game, because I feel like I can play without thinking because I know what we're doing as a unit.
We gave away bikes to a couple hundred kids today after practice. That was cool, man. I remember one Christmas I got a bike, and that's really the only Christmas I remember because it was my favorite one. To be able to make those kids' year, to give them a toy like that... that toy trumps any other toy, to me. Growing up, I felt like nothing beats a bike, so it was great to see how happy they were. They didn't even want to shake our hands; they were ready to get to ridin'.
I'm starting to feel the Christmas spirit. I decorated my house, got a Christmas tree – a real tree. My mom would never forgive me if I got a fake one. She's like, "You've got to keep the real tree tradition," so that's definitely what I did.
We've got another big game coming up against the Colts on Sunday. We've seen those guys all year on film through the teams we've played, and we see what kind of players they have and what kind of organization they are with the adversity they've fought through this year. They're rolling right now. They've got a lot of good, young guys playing fast. This is a great challenge for us. And for me and all the other rookies, the opportunity to go and win a division with two games left in the season your rookie year, that's a crazy feeling. I was talking to G.Q. (safety Glover Quin) and he was saying you get T-shirts and hats, so hopefully, we can do that and put another banner up in the stadium. To be a part of that would be awesome.
To all the fans, don't sleep on us 'cuz of last week. We'll be alright. We definitely feel the support from you guys; just stay strong. It's a long season, and we're ready to get rolling again here soon.
DPo Diary Archive
12/9:Near emergency CB, fan travel11/30:Ready to return11/9:Sunday Night Football11/2:Brotherly love, bye week review10/12:First NFL playing time9/28:Excited and ready to play9/21:Tips from a Pro Bowler9/14:Mental reps, learning from Andre9/8:Week 1 excitement8/29:Ready to make plays8/17:Game mode8/10:Excited for first game7/31: Life in NFL training camp
