It isn't clear exactly what the structure is within the Texans organization. I have read/heard that BOB has control over the draft. I have been told by Texans employees that Rick Smith has say over the draft and free agency. The Texans cannot even articulate who has control over what. I am not shocked, it is very dysfunctional and allows for a lot of CYA. When Kareem Jackson rebounded, Rick Smith gloated it was his draft choice.... other times there are leaks that Smith only negotiates contracts. At this point it doesn't matter.... fire them both and get a GM that controls the draft and free agency and get a coach that decides who to play on Sunday and who does and doesn't make the team.
I would bet $3,000,000,4849873980472389741870189.12 that they sat down together and mutually decided to put him on IR. They had two functioning QBs with NFL experience and I'm sure they figured the 53rd roster spot would be better served going to someone that could actually contribute.
I'll see that bet and raise you. Once again, think about it. QB coach opting to put his project, young QB on IR (thereby banishing him from practice/games) for an entire year over a 4-6 week injury. I'm not buying that. In addition to ultimately being Smith's call on stuff like this, this had to have been Rick's idea.
Among the people that know? You mean the Bleach Report and Sporting News articles you posted? Go look at the Texans drafts during Rick Smith's term as a GM on the whole and tell me that they have been even average. What is the Texans record with Rick Smith as GM? Look at the contracts/extensions signed by Rick Smith and tell me they have been "ok". No one thinks that Daryl Morey is perfect, even Red Auerbach made mistakes. However there is NO comparison between Morey and Smith. The majority of moves made by Morey have been very good with some mistakes sprinkled in....... the majority of the moves by Smith have been mistakes with a few good ones sprinkled in. This crusade to compare Morey and Smith isn't going to get you anywhere, you will lose every single time.
Smith has stashed players he has viewed as promising on IR before to keep control over them longer. Having said that, I don't know that happened here.... I think they just liked Mallett and Hoyer better.
Well BOB seemed insanely optimistic about Hoyer and Mallet. But maybe it was Rick who convinced him to do this and the Mohammed thing. Who knows? I think both of them together is a mess and giving one of them full control would be a mistake
Here's NFL.com for you http://www.nfl.com/photoessays/0ap3000000481490 and http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ssteve-keim-nfls-top-coachgeneral-manager-duo Yet another article: http://cover32.com/2014/07/09/top-10-in-2014-the-best-general-managers-in-the-nfl-today/ He's actually top 10. Compare Smith to the rest of the GMs in the NFL and compare Morey to the rest of the GMs in the NBA. Almost every NFL franchise has draft busts and players not playing up to their contract.
BOB does not want to be fired quickly, so he does not have a unproven rookie qb to start with him. He knew the story about David Carr, also he has a connect with Mallet. The qb problem is on BOB, not Rick, there is a logic to support this.
Let's keep in mind that this is the same QB coach that signed Ryan Fitzpatrick, traded for Ryan Mallett, traded Fitzpatrick, signed Brian Hoyer, benched Brian Hoyer after three quarters, cut Ryan Mallett (which he wanted to do the night before a game with no viable back-up available) and has passed on every single available college QB the past two years, save for the one that transferred repeatedly and had the least amount of actual game play experience. Yeah, I'm thinking about it... and I don't find it too difficult to fathom IRing Savage is just another in a loooooooooong line of QB-related f***-ups on the part of Bill O'Brien. Hey, we should PROUD of these guys! ETA: Also... if Smith DID stash BOB's "project, young QB" on IR without BOB's knowledge or agreement, do you really think such an underhanded, power move of that degree would have flown under the radar? BOB would have been apocalyptic. But here's what he said (note the "we"): That sounds like exactly what I suggested: they wanted to better utilize that 53rd roster spot. Also, keep in mind that they could only put one player on short-term IR, and they likely already knew that was probably going to be used on Foster. So they could: 1) carry Savage on the 53; 2) IR him for the season; 3) run him through waivers to get to the practice squad, which they were never going to do. So the decision came down to carrying an injured 3rd string QB who could be out 6+ weeks, or using that final spot on someone else who could actually help the team. It's not that bad a decision, frankly. It just sucks now.
Once again the McNair's made a terrible decision by keeping Smith when they fired Kubiak. You can't fire the owner so Smith gotta go. McNair listens to all the other owners tell him how great the Texans are doing while repeatedly kicking his ass on the field. It's embarrassing.
Can we please drop this? That happened once - in 2010 - and the Texans followed that campaign with back-to-back playoff appearances.
I think there's a huge difference between what we think is going on and what is actually going on. I see all these busts on the field and I want to blame Rick Smith. But you start looking around the league at other teams. They have bigger roster problems but they are usually overshadowed because they are set with their QB. This QB debacle is good enough reason to get everyone fired.
A good GM wouldn't stumble into this QB debacle in the first place. It's like saying what the punishment would be for Watt if he stomped on a QB... he wouldn't do it in the first place.
My problem with Rick Smith is that he constantly extends players coming off surgery thinking he is "buying low" and has leverage. He also had toxic relations with former players such as Dunta Robinson (the year before our secondary was near non-existent) and Brett Hartmann. In the final year of the Kubiak era, he pretty much portrayed that disaster as Kubiak's fault for not playing the players *HE* drafted. The drafts have been atrocious, and it has been well-documented JJ wasn't his choice. Despite the Texans having a Boy Scout image for most of its run, there is an inordinate number of players signed or drafted with work ethic and attitude issues from the last ten years: Mallett, Reed, Nix, Williams, Swearinger, etc. Only reason he is ranked in most national lists is because he is a low-profile GM that only Houston knows how much of a Rasputin figure he is.
IRing Mike Mohammed... http://www.battleredblog.com/2015/1...his-working-relationship-with-general-manager I miss having a "player's" coach...
