Good riddance. He's already off the team and he still continues to throw shade. Look at Bouye, he went after more money and a new environment. Nothing wrong with that, it's the player's right to choose. But continuing hostility ... shows this guy's true character.
So if that’s the case, what is it that Rick Smith and Bill O’Brien disagreed about so much that one could not stand the other? Uniforms? GMs and HCs disagree about players. Were the myriad years of local and national reports about their “toxic” relationship and upcoming “showdown” a vast media conspiracy to foment unrest in the Texans fanbase for, what... fun? Jesus, LOL. Rick was powerless, it was all peachy between the two and poor Uncle Rick was victimized by B & B... and Duane Brown... and AJ Bouye... and Brock Osweiler... and Brandon Brooks... and Rahim Moore... etc, etc, etc.
Hopefully this coach we're putting our hope in didn't have disagreements with the front office for picking Watson, Cunningham, Foreman, and Watkins this past offseason.
Obviously RS and BOB didn't work well together. If the same happens with Gaine we will know in a couple of years. A GM's job by definition is to oversee all aspects of an org and get talent for the on field product is job #1. Something RS was mediocre at best. The fact that you think BOB was in charge of finding talent tells me you dont have a clue of what RS job responsibilities were.
RS was avg to slightly below avg at finding talent. Where he was terrible was FA, both in the FA's he let walk and the FA's that he signed. Also while he picked some good players, he was terrible at roster building. Hence: the lack of depth, which finally caught up to him and why he's gone.
Actually he was average to slightly above average. I've posted articles and rankings on here and I don't feel like finding them again. Plus everybody pretty much dropped him for the Osweiiler signing. Before then he was ranked from 12 to 15 in the league. The ironic thing about free agents leaving is you can't blast him for them leaving without giving him credit for them coming in the first place. The Texans had very good depth as shown in the "next man up" season. He has also been very good at getting good returns when trading players away. He has had some pretty bad FA signings but some really good UDFAs. The Texans definitely can do better and I hope they do with Gaine but this "Rick Smith can do no right" is far from accurate.
12-15 is very avg. If you remove Osweiller, is like saying if I hadn't had eaten that tainted food I wouldn't have gotten the sh!ts. The best you can hope for this yr is 9-7. IMHO Unfortunately that became a Texans tradition under RS in both the BOB/Kubiak regimes.
It's so weird for people to blame Smith though, he just got the players the coaches wanted and what happened happened with the exception of drafting Watson which was what Bob McNair wanted. When coaches want garbage players and the GM goes out and gets them for him....is it really the GM's fault? If you ask BOB fanboys, the answer is yes.
Did he? Maybe it was under Kubiak, since Kubiak was let go. If that was the case both RS and BOB would be gone.
Yes. Average. And in some cases above average. If you include Osweiiler then you also have to include this year's draft class. So, though you ate the tainted food, you also had some medicine that cures it fast. Maybe there is another reason that you're on the toilet. Like why the team was 3-4 in the 7 games prior to Watson's injury. We did have 10-6 and 12-4 with Kubiak at his best. 9-7 at OB's best. The Texans have cap space, and picks to trade. If Gaine is so much better than Rick as we are all hoping, the turn around should be quick. Other teams have been able to do it. Remember the Wade/Watt/Joseph/Manning off-season ?
Yeah, he did. That's why you saw the type of players targeted changed from one coaching staff to the next. He certainly wouldn't have brought in garbage like Hoyer or Mallett if not for BOB asking to get them. It's part of the reason why I'd support BOB being gone, he's terrible at coaching offense, and it appears he's a pretty tragic judge of talent. That said, he'll get a little bit more time with a new GM to take that excuse away and when he fails, he'll be gone, as will that new GM.
The 10-6 (Which is a whole lot like 9-7) and 12-4 were outliers. They were never a feared contender. (Lettermans jacket aside) What would you be saying if BOB hadn't rested his starters 2 years ago and finished 10-6 and went as far as RS/Kubiak ever did in the playoffs?
He wanted a QB that knew his offense, and Hoyer did get the team to the playoffs which was a goal at the time. This just in, BOB doesn't judge talent and didn't make the final calls on who made the final 53. (BOB said as much in his season ending PC) If he did he would be fired along with RS.
LOL, nice try. Crap OTs in free agency and we don't pick until the 3rd round when we need 4 OL starters plus depth plus CBs plus S plus TE plus overall improved roster depth. It will take years to unf#@& this mess of a roster. But hey, we traded Brock so we didn't have to read one more story about what a great decision that was so all is good. Oh... and speaking of the Brockinator, we need a backup QB as well. Because our OL will get our already injured QB injured again. Easy peasy.
Gaine needs to pickup a couple of vet OL, it doesn't matter if they or OG's or OT's. Then trade up to get the best OL possible in the draft. Add a couple of more developmental OL later in the draft. I would spend 1 3rd on a CB and a 4th on a S if the talent fell right. Whatever Gaine does in FA/Draft he needs to do whatever he can to protect Watson.
Except we just saw the Jags do it in one year. We saw the offense excel with a horrible line. I don't see how any improvement makes them worse. And they have the cap space to improve. Even if you only one quality starter from FA and another from the draft, that's an improvement. You get two quality FAs for the defense ( again look at the Jags) and it makes a huge difference. Kevin Johnson is okay as your third or fourth string for now. Either sign a competent safety or move Kareem. Get a backup OLB in the draft behind Mercilus and Scarlett. They already got 3 good ILBs. There are a lot of backup QBs available. Teams will be looking to draft their starters. Some starters will have to settle for backup jobs i.e. Bridgewater, Bradford, Fitzpatrick, Mcarron. One or two of those will have to be a backup. There is no excuse not to have a quality team next year. None.
LOL good to see you are already making excuses just in case your boy BOB continues to be a failure. Unfortunately for you, fortunately for Texans fans, he doesn't have that kind of time.
Two of Solder/James/Norwell/Pugh. One of Butler/Trumaine/Joyner. Fill in the gaps with the likes of Mancz/Davenport/Newton, Joseph/Johnson/Kareem/Hal, and draft picks. Obviously I'm over simplifying but it is absolutley doable.
Not to mention that it wasn't the O line that got Watson injured, it was a non-contact injury in practice. While the O line desperately needs improvement, Watson's scrambling ability and ability to make plays when blitzed makes the O line look better than it otherwise would.
Apparently you didn't hear when Watson said he originally hurt the knee in the Seattle game and blew it out in practice the next week. Who knows how Watson's knee is going to hold up coming off of a second ACL.