Justin Tuck, Jared Allen, Demarcus Ware, Mario? If Mario had been able to finish this season, I think we could have seen another guy chasing the Strahan record.
With him or without him, this defense is scary good and can get better. Minimal injuries, a tweak here or there, and the sky is the limit for years to come. They are a relatively young group. I was never a big Mario fan, but he is was really a terror before he was hurt. I think they will bring him back, but if not they are going to get a lot for him.
I was gonna make a thread similar to this, I just think the op worded it wrong. I also believe Williams is a stat guy that doesn't really help his team like a Cushing, Freeney, Willis, etc star player does. Williams have in the past and even this season, disappears in games where you don't even realize he's there. I'm not saying Brooks Reed is better then Williams but ever since he's become a starter he has made his presence felt game in and game out. And Williams is injury prone. I say we do what the Pats did with Matt Castle and franchise him and trade him for a 1st and 2nd round picks, and let that team workout a long term deal with him.
We need to keep Super Mario at all costs. Him and Foster need to stay Texans for life, IMO. Start him alongside Reed, Cushing, and Ryans and have Barwin come off the bench. Problem solved.
Um.... <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5hfYJsQAhl0?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5hfYJsQAhl0?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
(1st 3 games) Ben Tate picked up the running game slack just fine. Arian Foster is the stat padding Corey Maggette of RB's
I think the best way to sum up the difference between Mario and Reed is that Mario is naturally awesome and can be awesome no matter where he plays. However, Reed seems perfect for the system. So if you want to compare how well they play as the rush OLB in Phillips' 3-4, then the difference is much smaller than the abilities of these two players. You can think of Reed similar to Kevin Martin, who excelled in Adelman's movement offense but looked mediocre in a different scheme. While Mario is more like a prime T-Mac or Yao. Someone you can basically plop down any lineup and he will be beastly.
For the sake of discussion, the Texans' passing offense hasn't been the same without AJ. Schaub's big passing games without AJ have come from Foster taking short passes and getting big gains. The Texans defense on the other hand hasn't missed a beat without Mario.
To answer the OP's question: No Football = Football & Basketball = Basketball Stop reaching, NBA Basketball will be back eventually.
So? There's no reason Arian can't keep getting big gains in the passing game. You act like it's a fluke.
The Texans are playing great defensively now, but there was definte drop off after Mario went down for a couple of weeks. As the team learns the system more, it has gotten much better. No reason to think the defense wouldn't be even better with Mario now that they are getting coverage sacks.
This is a legitimate conversation in a league where there's a salary cap. If you can sign everyone with no concern for money, you do it. But if you're talking about paying a guy huge dollars to do something that's being done quite well right now, you have to think about it relative to other weaknesses on your squad.
Keep em both, competition is a good thing, Mario's issue has always been his inconsistent motor, if Reed pushes him...then great. DD
If we keep Mario, he won't be competing with anyone for a spot. When you pay a player the kind of money Mario will command, you start him. Otherwise, he's not worth the investment. See: Chris Johnson.
