Editor's Note: Texans quarterback Quinton Porter is spending his offseason playing in NFL Europa for the Cologne Centurions. He will be checking in periodically with a player diary about his expieriences.
Our second game against Berlin went much better than the first as we controlled the ball most of the game and our defense seemed to have corrected any and all mistakes form the previous week.
My personal frustrations have continued as I have still not found any sort of rhythm to roll with. I have not played two consecutive quarters in all five games which makes finding a rhythm almost impossible.
Starting training camp in Tampa just after getting out of a cast on my throwing hand from surgery has proved to be a costly decision. Missing snaps during those first few practices and coming back gingerly stunted the growth of confidence in my ability in the minds of the coaches. This is especially frustrating because when I watch the quarterbacks from all the teams I am certain that my ability would place me firmly at the top of the list.
However, like I stated earlier it does me no good to dwell on these realities. At this point I will just do what I can for the team when I am called to do so and will work hard to improve my game so that when camp in Houston rolls around I will be ready.
As far as my time in Germany I am trying to figure out what to do now that my girlfriend has left for the states and my computer, which I use to watch DVDs, will no longer charge. I suppose I will have to learn a few more songs on the guitar and buy a couple more books to read, because five minutes of German television is too long. The book I am reading now is called "Breaking the Spell" by Daniel Dennet, and it looks at religion throughout history as a natural phenomenon and tries to open up dialogue and a scientific approach to the study of the topic which has always been taboo.
Pretty fascinating actually, but maybe the next book I find will be a little less heavy.
