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Big, big win for the Rockets. On to Game 6!

Wed, 01 May 2013 23:26:12 -0500

One Man's (Belated) Breakdown of the Texans' Draft Picks

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:25:00 -0500

Let me just preface this by saying that I love the job Rick Smith did in the draft this year. If I were to meet Rick in person, I’d give him a Roger Goodell-esque hug.

Anyhow, on to the picks:

DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Clemson

Yes, yes, YES, HOLY HELL YES. Hopkins is my favorite WR in this draft class, so I could hardly contain my excitement when the Texans picked him up with pick #27. He has great hands, great route-running, and an incredible amount of discipline. He may not have as much upside as say, Justin Hunter, but he’s the most complete receiver in the 2013 class and should be ready to start opposite Andre immediately. If you’re not already sold on Hopkins, watch him tear up LSU in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.

D.J. Swearinger, S, South Carolina

This guy can hit. If you search him up on Youtube, you’ll find plenty of videos of him making bone-crushing hits and talking trash. I worry about D.J.’s ability to cover wide receivers, though. Luckily, Swearinger will mainly come in on Dime packages and will probably be asked to cover tight ends, something that he should be able to handle quite well.

Brennan Williams, OT, North Carolina

I can’t tell you how glad I am that Kubiak isn’t satisfied with hoping that Newton can miraculously improve. B. Williams should provide fantastic competition for Newton. I’ve seen Brennan compared to Eric Winston due to his fantastic play against the run and questionable footwork when attempting to protect the QB. Williams has the natural talent to be able to learn how to properly play in pass coverage, so it isn’t a huge concern. Honestly, I can see him starting over Newton at some point during the upcoming season.

Sam Montgomery, DE/OLB, LSU

Many people around the NFL think that Montgomery is a head case, but after I reviewed various articles, quotes, and videos, he just seems like a guy that operates on a different wavelength from everyone else. And hell, there’s nothing wrong with that. The only crime Montgomery has ever committed is being a bit too honest, such as when he admitted to taking a few plays off in interviews with teams at the combine. Still, this guy has a ton of talent. Sam has some issues with reacting slowly to the snap of the football, but the move he’ll be making to OLB means he’ll get to stand up, likely allowing him to get off to a quicker start.

Trevardo Williams, DE/OLB, Connecticut

The Texans lacked speed on defense last year, which makes the addition of Williams a huge plus. This guy is pretty damn fast- if I’m remembering correctly, he ran a faster 40 time than DeAndre Hopkins. Since the Texans didn’t draft a true ILB, it’ll be interesting to see how they utilize their personnel. Will T. Wiiliams move inside, or will it be Brooks Reed? Will they leave both guys on the outside and stick with Sharpton as the starter at ILB? I’m not even sure the Texans know quite yet what the hell they’re gonna do.

David Quessenberry, OT/OG, San Jose State

This pick was a steal, if you ask me. Quessenberry has the opposite problem of Brennan Williams- he can pass block well, but his run blocking is lacking. He could fill in well as the Texans’ new swing tackle, or they could move him inside and try him out at guard.

Alan Bonner, WR, Jacksonville State

Who? What? Bonner was the first guy the Texans’ took in the draft of whom I had never heard of before. Reports say that he’s quick… but not fast. What? It seems as though Bonner could compete with Martin for kickoff return and slot receiver duties.

Chris Jones, DT, Bowling Green State (pictured above)

This is probably my favorite pick in terms of value. Jones was known as the “Beast of the MAC”, won MAC Defensive Player of the Year, was a 1st-team All American, and had 12.5 sacks in his senior season. The knock on him coming out of college, however, was that he’s too short and too small to play in the middle. Luckily for us, Wade loves to utilize smaller DTs for his one-gap system, meaning that Jones is a great fit for Houston’s defense. I’m REALLY hoping that Jones is good enough to come in and compete with Earl Mitchell for a starting job in the middle of the line, ‘cause, you know…. Mitchell ain’t that great.

Ryan Griffin, TE, Connecticut

According to one report (by CBSSports, I think), Griffin is comparable to… Garrett Graham. Oh. But that may not be such a bad thing after all. Griffin is faster than you’d expect from a guy with his kind of frame, and he’s a good blocker by all accounts. He should be able to compete with Supernaw for the 3rd TE spot.

andreakate: We won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:22:57 -0500

andreakate:

We won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so-lin-love: Oh yes we did

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:22:45 -0500

so-lin-love:

Oh yes we did

saturdaystars: The Houston Texan’s crop of draft...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:21:20 -0500

saturdaystars:

The Houston Texan’s crop of draft selections

I’ll probably do a write-up about all of the Texans’ picks tomorrow.

Is there something wrong with Sharrif Floyd? I can’t believe he’s fallen this far.

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:34:02 -0500

Is there something wrong with Sharrif Floyd? I can’t believe he’s fallen this far.

Texans Draft Day: You Might Be Better Suited Drawing Names Out of a Hat

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 10:11:45 -0500

You win, Rick Smith.

Last year I gobbled up as much pre-draft information as possible, fell in love with several prospects, and eagerly awaited for Rick Smith to draft one of my favorite guys.

But of course, Smith didn’t conform to anyone’s expectations. By the end of the draft, the Texans had picked up a bunch of mid-round guys I had never even heard of (See: Posey, Martin, Brooks).

Thus, we can conclude that mock drafts serve no true purpose, other than to entertain us as we wait for draft day to roll around. It’s impossible to truly predict what’s going to happen, because no two teams have the same Big Board. One team may hate a player, but another team may love him.

This year, I’ve decided to hold off on learning about a ton of prospects. I plan on waiting until after the draft to learn about the guys that the Texans draft. Still, it’s fun to speculate, so under the Read More I’ll take a look at the Texans’ positions of need and the players in the draft that can fill them.

Wide Receiver: Is this the year the Texans finally address WR in the first round? It looks as though they might be forced into it, because the depth after Andre Johnson is very thin. Very, very thin. Posey’s injury looks to be pretty bad, and I’m predicting that he’ll be placed on the PUP list at the start of the season. So who are the Texans left with? Drops Mcgee (Keshawn Martin) and Mr. Can’t-Get-Open (Lestar Jean). Oh. This is an emergency, guys.

Luckily, the draft is pretty deep at wide receiver. There aren’t any A.J. Greens or Julio Joneses, but all of the top prospects are pretty solid. I’d be incredibly excited if the Texans are able to grab DeAndre Hopkins on Thursday night. I was extremely impressed with him in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, and I think he has WR 1 potential for when Andre Johnson retires. It was reported that Hopkins’ hotel room at the Combine was trashed (with feces all over everything in the bathroom), but Hopkins checked out 6 hours before the incident reportedly occured, so it looks as though it was some sort of prank by someone else. But if Hopkins really was the culprit, his stock could definitely take a hit. Another great option is Keenan Allen. He put up a slow 40 time and he might have tested positive for drugs at the combine, which is concerning, but he’s still a great receiver. Robert Woods is also an option, and would be a great complement to AJ. Justin Hunter’s name has been floating around recently as well. While I’m not particularly fond of his horrid drop rate, I’m starting to warm up to him a bit. He has a ton of upside.

Right Tackle: While we can all hope that Derek Newton suddenly pulls a “Duane Brown” and becomes a competent tackle in the next few years, we can’t count on it. The top three tackles in the draft- Luke Joeckel, Eric Fisher, and Lane Johnson- are likely to all go in the first ten picks, and after them there’s pretty big drop-off. Viable options for the Texans start with Menelik Watson, whose path to the NFL has been incredibly interesting. There’s also Kyle Long, who is projected as a guard but could easily switch to tackle. He’s quite raw, but he has a ton of upside. One of my favorites for the 2nd round is Terron Armstead, but I fear that he could go early in the round.

Nose Tackle: With Cody still unsigned, the only NT with any experience on the roster is the underwhelming Earl Mitchell. Crap. The Texans have historically ignored this position, but is this the year that they finally try to address it with an early draft pick? Probablynot, but a guy can dream, right? However, if the Texans decide to go against past history, this NT class is VERY deep. I’ll admit that I don’t actually know a whole lot of specifics about each NT, but Kawann Short and Sylvester Williams are popular picks for the Texans in mock drafts.

Inside Linebacker: I’m starting to get an uncomfortable feeling about this position. It now seems likely to me that the Texans will be satisfied with Darryl Sharpton as the starter next to Cushing, and won’t use an early pick on a guy like Arthur Brown or Kiko Alonso. If this turns out to be the Texans’ true feelings on the situation, they’d BETTER use a high pick on a NT, dammit.

[Safeties omitted because this article is long enough as it is…. and I’m lazy.]

where2turn: Texans 2013 schedule! 5 national TV games including...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:01:53 -0500

where2turn:

Texans 2013 schedule! 5 national TV games including preseason

Baltimore, Seattle and San Fran back-to back-to back is a pretty tough draw, but overall the schedule isn’t too bad.

Wow, the Selection Committee really hates the Pac-12…

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:42:30 -0500

Wow, the Selection Committee really hates the Pac-12…

Glover Quin signs 5-year deal with Detroit Lions

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:25:00 -0500

Damn it.

There are still plenty of quality safeties left on the market, such as Michael Huff and Charles Woodson, but will the Texans go after one of them, or fill the hole at starting safety through the draft?

Delving into Day 2 of Free Agency (Houston Texans)

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:17:00 -0500

The news from Day 1, as you may already know, is that Kevin Walter was cut and James Casey signed a 3-year deal with the Eagles worth nearly $15 million. You can find my thoughts about the Kevin Walter cut here. As for Casey… I would have loved to have him back, but not for what the Eagles gave him. That’s a crazy deal for a little-known TE/FB and Rick Smith was right in not trying to compete for him.

Moving on to today, here are some things to look for:

Quin is currently in Detroit being courted by the Lions, which scares me quite a bit. But it’s been reported that Quin is looking for $5 million a year, which, if true, is an affordable deal that Rick Smith needs to make right away. Like, right now. Do it Rick.

Though it was reported that up to 6 teams were interested in Connor Barwin, no other news about him surfaced. I’m definitely getting a sinking feeling that there’s little to no chance that the Texans will be able to retain both Barwin and Quin, so the question is this: Which player do the Texans covet more? We may be finding out the answer soon enough.

It’s being reported that Brice McCain is looking for somewhere between $3.5 and 5 million a year… which is completely insane. See ya, Brice. Honestly it wouldn’t concern me at all to lose McCain, because I feel as though Brandon Harris will eventually be better than him at the job of slot corner.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that something good happens today. After the horrifying free agency period that the Texans had last year, I want to at least keep some of our starters this time.

Breaking News: Texans Release Kevin Walter

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:05:48 -0500

Early Reaction: This was an obvious move for Rick Smith to make, as cutting Walter saves roughly $3 million in cap space. It’s also now very apparent that the Texans will use an early pick in the draft on a WR (DeAndre Hopkins, please?).

Even though this was the right move (Walter was getting old and slow, after all), I’m still gonna miss him. Thanks for the solid seasons, Kevin. I salute you.

The Texans have been eerily silent this offseason.Obviously, re-signing Glover Quinn has to be the...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:17:34 -0500

The Texans have been eerily silent this offseason.

Obviously, re-signing Glover Quinn has to be the top priority. Get it done, Rick.

I’d like to see Eric Winston make a return to Houston, since he’d be an upgrade over Newton. Plus, I think the idea that he’s a liability in pass coverage is totally overblown. He’ll probably be too expensive though. Meh.

I wouldn’t be too upset if we don’t bring back Barwin. It seems, thought, that there aren’t very many teams lining up to sign him, so maybe the Texans can get him back on the cheap /pipedream

The Texans don’t have a ton of cap room, but they haven’t restructured/cut anybody yet, so hopefully they’ll have plenty of room to make the moves they want.

Defending Gonzaga

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 20:33:00 -0600

I’m pretty tired of seeing all of the hate directed toward Gonzaga from people who think that the Zags aren’t deserving of a #1 seed in the tournament. So, I’ll offer a retort.

The first thing that impresses me about the Zags is the fact that both of their losses are to teams that have an RPI in the top 50 (Illinois and Butler have RPIs of 34 and 27, respectively). Now, you might tell me that there are plenty of other top teams without sub-50 losses, but the fact of the matter is that Gonzaga has had more of an opportunity to rack up bad losses. The Zags have played 15 games against teams with an RPI over 150, and won all 15; against teams with an RPI of worse than 100, the Bulldogs are 17-0. This proves that Gonzaga never takes a game off and plays with amazing consistency. What also needs to be considered is that Gonzaga’s two losses came against two teams that Indiana, the team that many people believe should be the #1 overall seed, lost to as well. Additionally, the Zags went 5-0 vs. the Big 12, including 3-0 vs. Oklahoma St., Kansas St. and Oklahoma. For reference, Kansas went 4-2 vs. those same three teams.

I don’t believe that Gonzaga is the best team in the country, but I have no problem with them being #1, and their body of work is certainly enough to merit a top seed. Of course, with the way that this season has played out, having a #1 seed may not even matter. This will definitely be one heck of a tournament and I’m pretty damn excited to see how it’ll turn out.

The Pats will definitely not go into the Texans game overconfident, our douchebag fans and the Boston media are the only ones who are overconfident.

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 11:13:20 -0600

I agree completely. That’s why I think that the Texans can’t rely on mistakes from the Patriots, because the Pats sure as hell aren’t going to make very many.

Can the Texans Beat the Patriots? + Divisional Round...

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:48:18 -0600

Can the Texans Beat the Patriots? + Divisional Round Predictions

Quite a bit has been made this week about the fact that the Texans are big underdogs and the Patriots might come in to the game overconfident. We’ve heard plenty about the success of the 2010 Jets against the Pats in the playoffs after having been beaten to a pulp in the regular season, 45-3. But as Texans fans, we have to step back and realize that this Patriots team will be prepared and focused. Bill Belichick has too much experience as a great coach to allow his team to come out flat and unprepared.

Going back to the game played between the two teams in Week 14, I find it hard to remember much of what happened. I think my mind blocked out the horrifying images of the Texans getting smashed on yet another primetime game as I (quite appropriately) assumed the fetal position. What I do remember, though, is that I found the Texans’ offensive game plan to be strange. While the playbook of the Texans was limited due to the absence of Garrett Graham (who is healthy enough to play tomorrow after he had another concussion against the Bengals), it still seemed like Kubiak was trying to do too many things that went against their usual offensive style. Perhaps he was trying to catch the Patriots off guard, but as we could all see, it didn’t work.

In my opinion, the Texans should attempt to handle the game in precisely the same way they did with the Bengals. The defense of the Patriots likes to bait teams into a slow, methodical game, which plays to the Texans’ strengths. It’s important for the Texans to ground and pound and to run the ball outside. Thus, it’s key that the offensive line and Arian Foster have just as good of games as they had against the Bengals. Run the ball, get small chunks of yards with the passing game, and use as much time as possible to keep Brady on the sideline. I’m not buying the notion that Schaub has to play the game of his life for the Texans to win, but he does need to make better decisions than he has in recent weeks. If Schaub plays a clean game and Foster goes off for a second consecutive week, I like the Texans’ shot at winning.

As for the Texans’ defense… I think that, in contrast to the offense, they didn’t adjust their game plan enough to correctly handle the Pats’ offense in Week 14. The Texans’ D blitzes more than most other defenses, so they decided to keep the same strategy against Brady… and got burned. Wade needs to rely more on 4-man rushes to allow better coverage downfield. It will be a huge task to pressure Brady without constant blitzes, so the D-line playing well will be a big key to the game. (Also: Stopping Gronk will be nearly impossible, Texans fans. He’ll get his catches. We can only hope that the Texans’ safeties and linebackers can do a good enough job to limit the damage).

To me, this game has a much different feel than last week’s game against the Bengals. I wasn’t particularly enthralled by the prospect of the sputtering Texans taking on a surging Cincinnati team, but Houston proved that it’s still a contender in the AFC. So my excitement has grown exponentially leading up to the showdown with the Pats. I truly believe that the Texans can emerge from the weekend with a win, which is why I’m predicting Texans 31, Patriots 30. Is it crazy to believe the Texans can win? Perhaps, but I’m not afraid to put my faith in this Houston team.

Other game picks:

Not to toot my own horn, but I went 4-0 on predictions last week. Can I do it again? Probably not, but screw it, I’ll give it a shot.

Broncos 27, Ravens 20

Like the Texans-Patriots matchup, I think this game will be closer than the first meeting between these teams this season. But I think the Broncos’ defense will have a field day against Joe Flacco, leading to a Ravens loss.

49ers 30, Packers 20

I’m nervous about how Kaepernick will play in his playoff debut, but in the end, I think the 49ers can punch their ticket to another trip to the NFC Championship Game.

Falcons 21, Seahawks 17

It kind of seems like the Seahawks are the favorites going into this game, doesn’t it? Or at least, they seem to be the trendy pick. The most interesting matchup will be Roddy White and Julio Jones against Seattle’s big corners. Even though the Falcons are notorious for their inability to win a single playoff game, that’s all in the past. I see the Falcons finally breaking through and quieting their doubters.

Photo

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:09:10 -0600

fuckyeahjjwatt: JJ Watt celebrates a sack against Andy Dalton...

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:08:58 -0600

fuckyeahjjwatt:

JJ Watt celebrates a sack against Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals

sweetsweetvictory: Texans defensive end J.J. Watt celebrates as...

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:08:26 -0600

sweetsweetvictory:

Texans defensive end J.J. Watt celebrates as he leaves the field after Houston defeated the Cinncinati Bengals 19-13 in the wild card playoffs to advance to the next round.

Photo Credit:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/photos?gameId=330105034&photoId=2638969

justsportsgalore: Wildcard Highlights # 3

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:06:56 -0600

justsportsgalore:

Wildcard Highlights # 3