Except Schaub had already proven to suck during primetime. Texans lost so much, fans didn't want anymore night games. He proved he wasn't a good playoff performer the following season when he executed a sub-90 rating. All of that happened despite having a *good* coordinator (Kubiak). The Rockets have resided in the NBA's toughest division over the past decade (or one of the toughest) and in a the tougher conference. The division that's featured multiple championship winners. Texans didn't do crap until Peyton got injured and have resided in one of the worst divisions (although the South is getting better). Texans have two seasons this past decade of being one of the worst teams in the league while the Rockets have never finished below .500. The Rockets have had the league's best record while the Texans have never sniffed it. When the Texans make the postseason (with Billy), they're literally the worst playoff team, every time, and get blown out of said playoffs, every time. There's really no comparison between the two teams which is an even bigger indictment on the Texans because the Rockets haven't been great overall. Picture that. A team who isn't *great* is still *clearly better* than the other.
Guess what I am saying is that we still don’t know with Cal. Certainly wouldn’t say he won’t make the tough decision.
That is fair. It is far more likely Cal changes or surprises than Jerry. With Cal there is also the chance he stumbles into a great coach or GM. I don’t doubt Cal would listen to a great GM... Jerry? LOL
Texans have no a chance to win a Super Bowl with this coach. Just check what have the Dallas been done after firing Jimmy Johnson.
You've jumped into this midstream so let's pump the brakes and reset... To claim, as @Nook did, that one of the most notoriously underachieving and disappointing postseason teams in recent NBA history was all but certain to string together five postseason wins if not for an injury to Chris Paul is patently ridiculous... about as ridiculous as claiming the Texans, who lost a second round playoff game by seven points when their third-string rookie QB threw three interceptions, were a Matt Schaub injury away from being Super Bowl champions. While I actually do believe that 2011 season likely ends differently with a healthy Schaub (that team, with Foster in his prime and a scary-good defense, was very formidable), my bringing it up wasn't some retroactive attempt to prop up that team, or the franchise. No, no. It was, instead, to dismiss this silly notion that Rockets should be held in higher esteem than the Texans. They've routinely underachieved and disappointed for 20+ years. If you want to argue the Rockets' brand of mediocrity is better than the Texans' brand of mediocrity, OK. But this all began with the Rockets being put in the same class as the Astros and, uh - yeah, I know the waters are muddy right now with that organization - but that's absurd. And you called me the apologist?.....
I'm wearing team-colored glasses - but you, claiming one of the most relentlessly underachieving organizations in basketball, being led by two of the most relentlessly underachieving individual basketball players of this era, was guaranteed to not underachieve if not for an injury, makes you the bastion of objectivity?..... OK. Hey! For fun: remind me what record the Rockets set in game 7 of that series?....... See, my point, since I guess you missed it, wasn't pro-Texan as much as it was anti-Rocket. The Texans are fair game - but claiming the Rockets as a superior franchise... it's kind of like bragging about being the skinniest kid at fat camp. Yeah, they're a slightly better brand of mediocre, I guess?...
Agreed that super bowl team very will may have won the super bowl with a healthy Shaub. Would have had a very good shot
I mean... my intention was more to take a shot at the Rockets... but the 2011 Texans were *very* good and Matt Schaub's injury absolutely derailed that season (further derailed by Matt Leinart's injury). To claim a significant injury cost one good team a championship but not apply that same logic to another good team that suffered a significant injury is just being intellectually dishonest. I mean... I have no issue claiming Andy Pettitte's injury in 2004 cost the Astros a legitimate chance to win a World Series.
Regardless of whether or not injuries would have led to different outcomes, the fact of the matter is that the Rockets were #1 seed, won 65 games, and made it to the WCF. Those are 3 accomplishments that the Texans have not come close to achieving. Their best record was 12-4, and that was only good for 3rd seed in the conference. They've never advanced to the conference finals. Wake me up when the Texans make 2 conference finals in 4 years and have an MVP player on their roster.
Like I said, if you want to argue the Rockets are a better brand of mediocre than the Texans... OK. I'll concede that. But - IMO - it's by inches, not yards, and they certainly have no business being put on the same level as the Astros (current circumstances aside, obviously). And if your rebuttal to that is to argue that the Rockets, who have repeatedly disappointed and come up short in the postseason for 20+ years (and counting...), would have absolutely NOT come up short in the postseason if not for an injury to a player who is also notorious for his postseason shortcomings... Please don't call me the apologist.
Any chance BoB was involved in the MLB sign stealing scandal? People are getting fired left and right.
And if not for that Jacoby Jones fumble, texans probably best the ravens with TJ Yates starting at QB
whoa! those are 2 very separate things! The Rockets had won 3 games with Chris Paul against the team that won the championship in the next round. To think a team that beat a team 3 times with an healthy player AND was up on that very same team until the 4th quarter (a quarter that CP3 had been the best player on our team that entire playoff run) would have won the championship had CP3 not been hurt is NOT an absurd statement. Big difference between the 2 scenarios (Texans and rockets) the warriors went on to win the championship and all season it was pretty evident either the rockets or the warriors were going to win the championship. The ravens lost in the next round to the Patriots, who btw had a far superior record than the Texans and you know are the patriots!! 2 very different scenarios
Given the Rockets', Paul's, Harden's, and the Warrior's track records - not to mention Lebron's - it's an absurd statement. IMO! The Patriots = the Warriors, no? And, FYI, the Texans and Patriots were both 7-3, at which point, Schaub got hurt. And the Patriots trailed Baltimore into the 4Q and then lost to an inferior Giants team (9-7) in the Super Bowl. They probably beat the (healthy) Texans - but the Patriots showed an awful lot of vulnerability that season. If you talk about the biggest missed opportunities in Texans' history, this past Sunday probably jumps to the top - but 2011 is a close #2 and it was because of Schaub's injury.
I mean, I have a tremendous amount of respect for both @Major and @Nook, and I totally understand (but disagree with) where they're coming from - but to retroactively recast that 2011 season as anything other than a gut-punch-level missed opportunity for the Texans is just objectively wrong. That was a legitimately great team that had its season derailed by injury. So I really don't see how you can slot Paul/Rockets into one bucket and the Schaub/Texans in an entirely different one. The Texans lost by a single score with a third-string rookie QB to the 12-4 Ravens - you don't think that season goes differently with a healthy Schaub?...
The argument isn't solely the 2011 Texans vs the 2018 Rockets. It's about the entire decade - 10 years. Of those 10 years, the Texans outdid the Rockets maybe twice, and those were the first two years ('11 and '12) So, the Texans are 2-8 with an 8 year losing streak vs the Rockets. Rockets win by a landslide
the rockets won the season series that year against the warriors and were up 3-2 when paul got hurt. The rockets were a team build to beat warriors and they were going to do just that
What are you talking about? The Rockets have gone to the Western Conference Finals twice with Harden on the team and have whipped most teams in the playoffs except the Warriors. They have 1 bad loss to the Spurs and that's it really. The Texans have been bombed out of the playoffs in what? 3 out of their last 4 games? Just absolutely demolished. The Rockets are not mediocre. They have like the 3rd or 4th best winning percentage in the NBA since Harden has been here and have gone to the semi-championship twice.
