There are many elements go toward a top flight NFL team and Texans have question marks over most of them. Key players also have a big impact on a team and one need look no further than Brian Cushing as captain of the defense. If he is unavailable, the defense basically turns into a dumpster fire. (The same would happen with JJ Watt.) The Head Coach is the most important and QB is the most important on the field and Texans have ones with question marks on them too. So, take a look at the poll, and pick the one you hope happens for us this year.
Franchise QB > virtually everything else in the NFL. If Savage looks like a top 5 guy (which I don't think is likely) that would be the best news in the world for the Houston Texans.
Yeah, the only way we see that for Savage is if for some reason he gets to play at least half the season, but it only takes an injury to Fitz and he could get a chance - especially in garbage time or if CK looks lost. My second choice would be O'Brien looks like a genius - that would auger well for the whole team and their overall chances.
My thinking was the same. If BOB looks like a genius then most of the other things happen anyway, gotta love a "have your cake and eat it too" sort of situation.
I'd rather see potential for future greatness than a 9-7 playoff berth thanks to some flukiness, with no sense that BOB is all that great or that the team has a QB of the future.
Not necessarily. You could have a bunch of major injuries and BOB makes Ryan Fitzpatrick into a serviceable QB that gets an injury-riddled team that should be 3-13 to 7-9. That makes BOB look like a genius but doesn't really do anything else.
I want to see progress towards being a very good football team in the near future. I'd frankly be happy with just being able to watch watchable football this year. But definitely need to see growth & progress.
Easily Savage at top 5. You could replace his name with anybody, if Danny Devito could be a top 5 QB for us I'd be fine with it. Tier 1QB locked in to a rookie scale? Huge.
I'd think 9-7 and in the playoffs after 2-14 would be pretty great no matter what it means. Plus, as we've seen over and over, it's only about being hot at the right time in the playoffs. Can't win the championship if you're not in the tournament.
I picked that the Texans snag a playoff birth. Why? Because if they do that, then it means many of those things on the list came true. Why pick one when you can have 5 or 6?
Minnesota 2012 went from 3-13 to 10-6 and in the playoffs. They had Christian Ponder at QB and didn't have a particularly good offense or defense. Nor a particularly noteworthy coach. No one confused them for being a good team or a contender for anything, and not surprisingly, they went right back to 5-10 last year. Making the playoffs doesn't necessarily mean any of the other things in the poll happened.
It could, though. My point is simple - the poll is designed to try to identify what it is people really value out of this season. So when picking "make the playoffs", you should try to envision that in isolation from the other options. Thus the Minnesota 2012 example. Similarly, with "BOB is a genius", you want to imagine a scenario where you get that but not necessarily everything else - that's the example I created. If you pick "BOB is a genius because it means other things happened", you're kind of evading the intent of the poll - is BOB being a genius the important part to you, or is it that all the other things happened?
Clowney living up to hype is the most realistic, but Savage being top 5 would be ideal (but not happening)
Some of your post I can question because teams like Seattle and Denver were hot all year. But than you got teams like Green Bay, New York, and Baltimore who barley made it in and got hot and won it all. I'll leave out the fact that all three of those teams had quarterbacks who are better than Fitzpatrick, but you're absolutely right... Can't win it if you ain't in it.