You mentioned division wins. Yeah! None of those wins have led to a conference championship game. All the other three have gotten there at least once since Bill O'Brien was signed. Division championships don't mean anything if you can't get more than one win in the playoffs. This isn't just about losing. Andre and JJ both have gone through worse seasons. They both hit a level of frustration that we haven't seen before. And all this happened after Bill O'Brien got fired. O'Brien was a problem but apparently he brought an even bigger problem and left it here after he left. I, for one, am glad Deshaun hasn't come out and blasted the team. He is trying to be civil and not come out and call names. I personally think the hiring process escalated his desire to leave. Or maybe the Texans just made their decisions assuming he was gone anyway. He definitely could have handled it worse. We don't want to get to the point where we actually hear from him about how disgusted he is. That's the unfortunate part of the James Harden situation. He said all the right things for a while but once he expressed his disgust, the Rocket's hands were forced.
i've been a fan of the texans because i've enjoyed rooting for the players they've had. when those players, former or current, express understandable frustration at the way the team is managed, i listen because they are the reason watching the texans is entertaining. look, i get that many people's sense of identity is heavily wrapped up in the team they root for. i think it's a bit unhealthy but i appreciate that it's kind of ingrained in society to be tribal and want to be on a team, and that's why pro sports are such a big deal. i also think that leads to people feeling a sense of personal rejection when a player they used to root for no longer wants to be on the team they still root for. but it's not personal, because you weren't even on the team, and the player doesn't even know you. unless deshaun comes out and says that houston fans suck, i have no reason to hate him and if anything, i completely understand why he wants out and because he provided me so much joy to watch, i hope he gets out. like, how many people in here have said Cal sucks, Easterby sucks...but now that deshaun wants to be traded, basically because those guys all suck, deshaun has betrayed and backstabbed the fans? like yeah it would be great if he felt good enough about the texans to want to stay here and lead them to a championship....but no rational person thinks he's wrong about the texans inability to construct a winner, especially with this offseason's results. so why do you want to force him to stay somewhere he clearly doesn't want to be? does that make the texans win, and therefore you win? forcing a dude to be somewhere he doesn't want to be is going to piss him off, it's going to piss off the rest of the team (either because they agree with deshaun or they disagree, but him staying is going to mess with their locker room). to me, that's more a scorched earth approach than deshaun wanting to be traded.
i think what is actually happening here is that we have eye witnesses (andre johnson and all the former players who have backed up his tweet), but you think we should ignore them because the criminal hasn't confessed (cal/jack).
i didn’t say the culture was great or wasn’t great. I suspect it’s not great because Cal seems to get run over by strong personalities. DW just wants that strong personality to be him. And unfortunately didn’t say anything about that until he got paid. But I asked what the problem was exactly. I’ve laid it out in a previous post passive racism? They just hired an AA head coach which puts then in rare air. Too religious? That just sounds dumb. Why do you want to leave? They care about god too much. Bad executive personnel decisions? Yes!! Absolutely!! Hmm... who failed to do anything to stop that until he got paid? Hmmm... A culture of losing that wastes players careers? Hog the league has been to the playoffs less then the Texans the last decade. And oh yeah... the Jets and Dolphins, lol.
Are there even any minority investors in the Texans anymore? At this point it would seem to be the only hope for someone to convince the McNair's to sell. I personally don’t see it happening until Mrs. McNair passes on. I imagine in many ways Cal would be relieved to not be dealing with all of this. He doesn’t need it and I can’t imagine it is giving him much joy.
pretty sure cal is oblivious to all this. billionaires live in a bubble, they dont read sports columns, listen to sportsradio, or browse clutchfans. probably had no idea why reporters were asking him about easterby. as long as tickets and merch and tv revenue keep coming in, nothing is going to change.
What do I think we should ignore? Im still waiting for someone to remotely describe what the problem is??
Mcnair getting watson to leave plays perfectly with their punt mentality. They are always trying to buy some time. "next year" Getting an old black coach fills the token need and it also sets up mcown to inherit. Most importantly mcnair has his coach situation for at least 2 years with this old guy then another 2-3 with mcown so mcnair looking at this as 4 - 6 year punt on coach. If this new guy flames and mccown flames that's still 4 years easy. Mcnair probably begging watson to leave. With some picks and the coaching along with guys like Brennan scarlett the idea is a "tough smart" team that can be good enough to get through the next few years with excuse of rebuild and by year 4 or so mcown coming on.. mcnair hopes that's enough to keep all you in. 8 wins by year 4 is the goal and even then can milk 4-6 years until have to punt again on those players then wash rinse repeat and having had another good 5 year run of $$$ The way folks lap it up in houston there is no need to think otherwise
So gotta ask again, what specific facts lead you to “suspect” that the culture isn’t great? But think you actually answered your own question on what the problem is: Cal gets run over by strong personalities. We saw it with BoB and the result was near catastrophic personnel decisions. And we are now seeing it with Easterby who was admittedly part of those personnel decisions.
wait, do you really not know what the problem is? like, the whole cal lying to deshaun about caring about his input, then completely ignoring it? or jack easterby having a prominent role and influencing the GM hire, despite cal saying he would have no role? there is plenty more you can read about (this SI article is quite good) but it's pretty clear the problem is cal himself not honoring his word to anyone (to deshaun, to the public), and the fact that cal can either willfully or ignorantly be talked into doing things by easterby in complete disregard for what more qualified folks may tell him.
naw man don’t bother. Logic and facts don’t work against arguments from ignorance. That’s an actual approach. They don’t look at what everyone says, but instead look at what others have NOT said and then batter ram that point because no one has the gift to read their minds even though those making that very point assert the fallacy based on the assumption THEY can infer what the silence means. too much logic??
The texans made a series of moves- duane brown, clowney,hopkins,gaine handling, no gm, obrien as gm then their handling of his firing, their easterby handling, new gm hire handling, new coach hire handling.
Agree on sports radio, web forums, etc, but there’s no doubt it’s affecting the family. According to the SI article Cal’s wife got into a spat with an acquaintance via her now deleted Instagram account regarding a “Fire Jack Easterby” banner displayed at a late-season game. Tensions are there. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si...watson-unhappy-how-jack-easterby-kept-his-job
yes but I’ve also read that Cal tried to contact DW. And I also don’t think DW should be in charge of making personnel decisions. I can’t trust him there cause he backed Bill O’Brien for many years. Who was as big a part of building the current culture of suck as anyone. I definitely understand people don’t really like Easterby. Certainly the trajectory hasn’t been upwards since he’s been here. But then they weren’t on the path to a SB anyway. I’ll take a **** season to get rid of BillyO as nothing else would have. And from my perspective this past season was 2 seasons. The first little bit with Bill. And the part after he was fired that just felt better. O’Brien was the GM. He ultimately made everyone of those shitty moves. Another thing is on the timing of the “he’s angry” type stuff to today’s “he’s definitely really requested a trade”. So he didn’t get the coach he wanted hired basically. All in in the trade the second the coach was hired. So if EB was hired he would t be asking for a trade 100%?? So he didn’t get his GM and/or his coach choice. So he’s mad? I’m not entirely sure I’m down with the “make these exact hires or I’m out” line of thinking.
All of those moves were by BillyO ... who DW backed over and over. until BillyO wasn’t there... And now it sounds like he didn’t get his coach he wanted so trade me. why the f would I hire who DW wanted?? He wanted Bill O’Brien.
Wait - DW4 wanted Hop out for a second rounder? - DW4 wanted BOB as GM? - DW4 asked for Easterby? - DW4 asked Clowney to get traded for a 3rd rounder? - DW4 traded a 3rd for Duke Johnson? - DW4 asked to trade a second rounder for Cooks? - DW4 asked to sign Cobb to an atrocious contract? - DW4 asked to sign Nick Martin to a horrible contract? - DW4 backed the 4 and 1 play against KC last year? - DW4 called BOB from Clemson and told him to sign Oswieler to a dumb contract? I'm sorry, I'm not following. Sounds like a convenient narrative change.
