Quarterback Sage Rosenfels can get redemption against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
It's hard to find a place to hide when you are the quarterback who threw four interceptions in your team's 41-13 loss.
Texans quarterback Sage Rosenfels didn't try.
He showed he's still got confidence and his sense of humor intact despite his off-performance in Sunday's loss to the Baltimore Ravens. It was his big chance to start in place of injured Matt Schaub and a glance at the stat sheet shows he still has a lot to work on.
Sage is conceding nothing.
"I try never to beat myself up; I think it's an insane thing to do," Rosenfels said. "I tried to take certain things out of that game. We all know I made a couple of mistakes in that game and we were with them until the third quarter and then they got up 14 and I threw a pick and the game was basically over at that point and got out of hand."
{QUOTE}Rosenfels expects the loss to be far from his consciousness on Sunday when the Texans travel to Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time in team history.
"I can't be out there in Indianapolis this week in front of 65,000 or 70,000 people and you can't hear anything, going, 'Man, I wish I'd played better last week,'" Rosenfels said. "I'm saying you have to move on. There are 16 of them. You have to take each one and be as prepared as you can for the next one. That's what I've learned from the good quarterbacks I've been around in this league."
Rosenfels also has demons to exorcise from the Texans' first meeting with the Colts on Oct. 5 at Reliant Stadium. He fumbled twice and threw an interception in a closing Colt rally that included 21 points in slightly more than two minutes. That resulted in a 31-27 victory over the stunned Texans.
"We did a lot of good things the majority of that game," Rosenfels said. "We'll try to do some of those same things again. They are playing with a lot of confidence right now, as they should be. We've got some new stuff in this game plan and I've got to work on that. Every time you play a team, they are not the same beast. We're not the same, they're not the same team."
Rosenfels is counting on his team rallying around some of their past performances that have positive results.
"I think I've played pretty good football here the last three years and I haven't been perfect," he said. "I've made too many mistakes at times, but I think having experience with me playing some pretty good football, in my opinion, for the most part of the last three years, gives those guys confidence that I can play better this week.
"When you see a guy play winning football, that gives you confidence. I've got confidence in all the other guys on this team. I've seen us all play winning football for 60 minutes against good football teams. We've all seen it, so that's why I think the team still has confidence we're going to win some more games this year."
Coach Gary Kubiak acknowledges he's worried about his quarterback's confidence.
"Yeah, I worry about that because, actually when things aren't going good for you and you get some balls tipped and picked and those types of things, naturally you lose come confidence," Kubiak said. "That's my job and (offensive coordinator Shanahan) Kyle's job to continue to coach him and try to build him up, try to put him in the perfect situations; even though that's almost impossible.
"But if you're made of the right stuff as a coach, you take that responsibility and you do everything you can to make him successful."
The Texans are trying to rally around their quarterback.
"He's a pro quarterback. He knows what to do and he's going to do a good job," wide receiver Kevin Walter said. "He's going to continue to make plays out there and make the right decisions. We've got to rally around him and rally around each other and we'll be good. He's poised and that's what we need out of him."
Walter wants game-time to get here fast.
"Sunday can't come fast enough to tell the truth," he said. "We want to go out there and prove to ourselves and to everyone that we've got to get back on that winning streak. We've got to get this bad taste out of our mouth and get back on that winning streak."
Left guard Chester Pitts sees no waiver in Rosenfels.
"He's a strong-willed guy and he had a rough one," Pitts said. "We move on. We'll get ready for the next one and I promise you he'll bounce back and play extremely well. I have the utmost confidence in that. Sage will be fine and he is fine."
Sage thinks Sage will be fine too, as long as he keeps his sense of humor, which he demonstrated by poking fun at his buddy Schaub.
"I'm better looking by default," Rosenfels said. "I'm not that good looking, but Matt's really ugly."
EDITOR'S NOTE:Michael A. Lutz worked for The Associated Press for 38 years covering news and sports in Louisville, Ky. Dallas and Houston. Most of that time was spent in Houston covering the Oilers, Astros, Texans and other college and pro sports.
