SB Nation User Blog: oiler-texan diehard

A 2-3 start not nearly as bad as it appears

oiler-texan diehard — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:20:05 -0000

My timing is extremely poor, but after the Texans played by far their best game of the year, I am feeling pumped up once again. Should have posted this when I first heard it which was last Wed or Thursday, but I was too lazy to do so. Sorry. Nineteen teams in the last 10 years have made the playoffs after a 2-3 start. Thats's 19 out of 120, or nearly one in 6. I was surprised to hear this, and maybe you are too. After we lost the heartbreaker in Arizona, trying to come up with a silver lining, all I had was that we still had 2 opportunities to knock off Indianapolis which would go a long way towards winning the division. Yes I know that is wishing for a lot, but desperate times call for desperate measures (or hopes). Then I hear that nearly one in 6 playoff teams in the last 10 years started 2-3 and making the playoffs sounded like not as big a longshot as it did immediately after the Cardinals game. Now we beat the Bengals on the road, and hope springs eternal once again. I do not know what to make of these guys. Bad game, good game, bad game, good game. It's time for the real Houston Texnas to stand up and let us all know who they are; contender or schizophrenic underachieving heartbreaker. Days like today are so sweet. Makes me wonder why we can't play up to our potential more often. GO TEXANS!!!!!!!!!!!!

More bad news, Frenchy has a broken finger

oiler-texan diehard — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:36:27 -0000

As if it couldn't get worse ESPN is reporting that Jaques Reeves suffered a compound fracture of one of his fingers. Our secondary play has been so abysmal thus far that Frenchy's return to the field theoretically was going to be a major improvement. Well now it will have to wait because he has suffered his second fracture of the year. Looks like the rookie Brice McCain will get a chance to start because the Fred has been absolutely horrible thus far. I can't imagine what went wrong with Fred, but the right move is to bench him until he can prove he deserves more playing time. Not sure if his coverage or his tackling was worse. Both were unacceptable.

WTF is Draft Tek thinking?

oiler-texan diehard — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:12:54 -0000

I periodically check some mocks, and Draft Tek is one of them. Sometimes they seem to be on point and then other times it seems they've been talking to the ESPN clown, Todd McShay.

Last week Draft Tek had us going Clay3 at #15 and Sean Smith at #46. Good picks for our need areas. The Clay3 steroid rumor hadn't surfaced yet. Smith would be a sweet pick if he is there at #46. Today's v34 though is completely different. Apparently they think we have a player ticketed for SLB already on the roster, because in their latest version, we are not drafting an OLB in any round. Maybe they think Cato June is slated to be the starting WLB and either Adibi or Bentley will play SLB.

Worse yet they have us taking RB & TE in the 1st and 3rd rounds. Our offense is our weakness? If we draft offense in the 1st 2 rounds, I hope it is a G/C hybrid, not a skill position player.

They currently project: 1) Knowshon Moreno, RB (over Clay3, Maybin, M. Johnson, Vontae Davis, Peria Jerry and Maclin). When did Gibbs or Kubiak ~~last~~ ever draft a RB in the 1st round? 2) Darius Butler, CB - a solid pick, but over Sean Smith who they project to go 51st to the Cowgirls. Chris at Diehards will love that pick. 3) Chase Coffman, TE, Missouri. A nice player but don't we already have a Pro Bowler in OD? What are these guys smokin? Thought you might find this amusing. I did.

Texans Sign LB Buster Davis

oiler-texan diehard — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:18:38 -0000

The newest member of your Houston Texans is Buster Davis. Unless you are an NFL personnel junkie, your reaction is probably the same as mine: Who??? Yes, I read that he and Mark Berman (not Chris Berman's brother) came in for visits this week, but I didn't pay much attention. Apparently Smithiak liked what they saw because he has been signed to a 1 year deal for the very reasonable price of $445K. Not a headline maker like the signing of Cato June would have been, but it's not a cap buster. We are thin at LB and need depth. He is young and will battle it out in camp for a backup spot.

Cody or not Co-Dee, that is the question

oiler-texan diehard — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:21:10 -0000

or as the court jester of ESPN college gameday, Lee Corso would say "Not so fast my friend". Can't find the link at Chron.com, but the paper copy of the Chron today reported that the Shaun Cody deal is NOT final. The Texans web page reported Monday that a deal with Cody had been reported but not yet confirmed. For whatever it's worth, all the Cody discussion may be moot. I was 2 words short, now I am 9 words long.

NFL.com Mock 3.0 is up, and has us taking Beanie Wells

oiler-texan diehard — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:52:24 -0000

Add Pat Kirwan, Senior Analyst at NFL.com to the list of know nothings who have us going for an offensive skill position player with our 1st pick. (NOTE: He does start his article with "Mid-March is still too early for a real mock draft") His pick makes no sense to me, and considering Wells injury history, I rate Knowshon Moreno as the best back in the draft. Kirwan's pick is even more puzzling when you consider that his v1.0 had us taking Tyson Jackson, and v2.0 was Peria Jerry. At least those picks were not completely out in left field. Do he and Todd McShay (who has us picking Sanchez) know something the rest of us don't or are they just not bothering to do any research on the Texans' needs? I say it's the latter.

TO signs with Buffalo

oiler-texan diehard — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:42:18 -0000

TO has agreed to destroy Buffalo for $6.5 mil. I was really hoping the rumors that had him going to the Titans were true. I thought perhaps Bud Adams had finally gotten a full blown case of Alzheimers, but as it turns out his co-founder of the AFL, Ralph Wilson, has beaten him to the dementia punch. My sympathies to head coach Dick Jauron and Bills' fans everywhere. The circus known as TO has come to town with one mission, to ruin your football team. While it took him several years to destroy Philadelphia, it took him only 2 years to destroy the Cowboys. The only question now is whether he will be able to destroy your team in one year or less.

Derrick Ward signs with Tampa Bay

oiler-texan diehard — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:06:00 -0000

Really glad to see this because he was asking too much money, wanted to be a starter, is 28 years old with a few injury issues which reminds me too much of Chris Brown and Ahman Green. Yes we need another running back, and although I loved Ced Benson as a Longhorn, I am not sold that he can stay focused on football once he gets back to Texas. Too many friends, too many distractions spells trouble for Cap'n Hazelwood. I prefer that we use a mid-round pick on a guy like Gartrell Johnson.

The Texans are the best organization in town?

oiler-texan diehard — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:03:09 -0000

I always listen to talk radio while commuting; mostly 610 and 790 because the 1560 reception is terrible between Seabrook and Deer Park. Heard an interesting call on the way home yesterday and thought I'd share it with you. The caller, like me, was a close follower of the Texans, Rockets and Astros. The point he was trying to make was "When did you think you would be telling yourself that the Texans are the finest run major pro sports organization in Houston?" (All due respect to the Dynamo, and although I also follow soccer closely, I realize MSL is not at the same level as the NFL, NBA and MLB. USA 2 - Mexico 0. Si se puede. Nice win for the USA last night)

The Rockets are currently in the throes of a mystifying malaise. TMac again did not play last night and says his knee that was operated on last off season is still not right. If he only had Dunta's heart.......co-worker calls him She-Mac. I like the way the GM Morey crafts his roster and Les Alexander is a great owner, always willing to pull the trigger on a major deal, but what has that gotten him? The Rockets are so inconsistent that they have become hard to watch. That meltdown aginst Milwaukee's 2nd string the other night was disgusting. Before the season started, I had high hopes that this would finally be the year that the Rockets made a real playoff run. Right now they look like they are a team in search of a floor leader. I still hope that they can at least get out of the 1st round, but I am not counting on it. The

Astros - Drayton McLane just plain pisses me off. That guy has more money than Bob McNair and Les Alexander COMBINED. Financially he is in the same league as Steinbrenner. He ran the Astros organization into the ground by essentially eliminating their minor league organization, which when Hunsicker was here was one of the best in all of baseball. Why did he do it? Because he runs the Astros like they are a grocery wholesaler and looks at immediate costs only. He gutted the scouting department, and then got so cheap that he stopped signing his top draft picks because he didn't want to make competitive contract offers (these offers are slotted by MLB, but he was too cheap to spend what Selig, et al recommended). What an idiot. That is why Hunsicker left. He then helped Tampa Bay get to the World Series in a few short years. Once the farm system is depleted, even the Steinbrenners of the world can't spend enough money to build a champion sloely through free agency. What is most galling of all is that he wastes no opportunity to tell anyone who will listen how hard he is working to field a competitive team. Remember when he was asking for public funds to help build a new stadium? He said "Build me the stadium & I will do what it takes to field a winner". He is no longer living up to that promise, and I am praying for the day that he will sell the team to a guy like Les Alexander or Bob McNair.

I am an avid follower of all 3 of Houston's major teams. I get crazy excited when any of them do well. The Rocket's back-to-back in the mid 90's was great. The Astros have provided many exciting postseason performances as well. Great stuff, great memories. Nothing to me though quite matches the excitement of football. I realize the readers of this blog may not give a crap about the Astros or Rockets, so this is definitely not the best vehicle to get a good sampling of Hoston's sport fans. The question I ask is "Are the Texans the best run major pro sports organization in Houston today?". I would greatly appreciate that you only respond if you are at least a casual fan of the other 2 teams. I know you are ALL Texans fans.

Poll

What major pro sports organization is the best run in Houston?

Texans

20 votes

Rockets

9 votes

Astros

1 votes

30 votes | Poll has closed

ESPN's Todd McShay says Brian Cushing

oiler-texan diehard — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:55:51 -0000

Todd's first 16 picks are up at ESPN. He projects 8 defensive players going in the 1st 14 slots. Curry, Raji, Brown, Jenkins, Maybin, Maualuga, Orakpo & Davis. He sees us taking the nutritionist Brian Cushing. Cushing is also the 9th ranked Defensive player on the scouts inc list top 32. Maybe McSahay used the list to make this pick. In this video clip Kiper discusses AFC South draft needs. Interestingly enough he lists WR as a need for the Texans. No respect to Kevin Walter. I trust our opponents now know who he is. Mel still has us going with Everette Brown. Todd has him going 5th to the Browns. Another reminder that nobody really knows whats going to happen in the draft, but it sure is fun to discuss. We could do worse than Brown or Cushing. Could we do better under his scenario? Would we rather take Tyson Jackson or Peria Jerry? 76 days to the draft.