[CBS SPorts] Texans - Five things to know

this is silly. do you know how many franchises bust with their first round picks? only, roughly... let's see: oh, that's right: all of them. every single year. and yet, they pick up the pieces, go out and play every sunday, don't they?

winning is the bottom line. if this team wins 8-10 games this year and looks good doing so... are you really going to care that mario williams is sitting on the bench? their draft record the past two years has been sparkling. do you realize they'll start 6 players from their last two drafts (if jones supplants walter, which he will) - same number of players starting from their first FOUR drafts. and the #s would actually be 7 if spencer ('06) and earl ('04) were healthy.

 

you can play reggie and deuce in tandem. you generally don't see that at the QB position past the college level...and even then, it's the exception.

 

sorry. my first draft of that response included, "you, generally speaking, not you specifically" but then i deleted it. i know YOU, MM, aren't pushing it... but it IS being pushed.

well, they do - i mean, they ran the most vanilla gameplan imaginable these first two weeks, born from the same philsophy of not showing their cards, etc. i have no knowledge of what they're telling mario, but it's possible they have other things they want to accomplish beyond satisfying impatient fans, no?

and, again, look at the play breakdown: 10 obvious passing situations and arizona ran on five of them. when they did pass, mario was effective. one of our staffers broke down EVERY play of the first half quite meticulously and paints a far better picture of mario than the talk show fodder. if you have 5-10 minutes, it's a really interesting read

 

Hey, maybe they are telling him that. But I still see players making plays in preseason games. Ultimately I'm not that concerned with just his preseason performance.

thanks for the heads-up....i check your site regularly, but i haven't seen that yet.

 

Ric, I heard them say on 610 this morning that they were going to have "the guy from houstonprofootball.com" on but I didn't get to hear the segment. Was that you?

 

Have you checked out that new sexy columnist?

Speaking of which...Ric, check your e-mail.

 

seriously...? uhm, no. i don't think it was any of us, that i know of - you sure? what time?

rm95, was it my subtle (but effective) loud coughing?

 

Yeah. I got out last night playing poker and let out a loud "****" at the table when I realized that I had gotten home, taken a nap, woken up and completely forgot to resend it to you. Like I said, it's not in the format you want for the regular season, but hopefully this week's will be.

 

that's so awesome! please don't go richard justice on me

 

I think we should bench Mario even though I believe he's going to have 18 sacks this season.


Oh. Crap. Too late.

 

perfect!

 

you left out justice's greatest crutch: "can mario williams get to the quarterback? we don't yet know." he prints more **** that he doesn't know than anyone else i've ever read.

 

OK, maybe I was hearing things. I did take a few shots of Nyquil last night, so that may have had something to do with it...

 

Sadly, VY's magnificent performance came too late to save Michael Vick from himself. But it did help save me a ton of money on my auto insurance...

 

Top notch.

 

It was a guy from profootballtalk.com not Houstonprofootballtalk.com

 

I think that this is one of those defining moments that some folks will never be able to get over nor forget.

No argument here...My position on his being selected No. 1 overall has been stated more than once.

He looks to be a pass rusher who does not have any pass rush moves. It's been 18 months now and Williams should have shown more than he has so far all things considered. Saturday would be an excellent time for him to make a guest appearance and help wipe those smiles off the faces of the Cowsheep.

 

But we're talking about a game here, and the select members of a team that plays a game. I feel like the Oilers leaving was far more "traumatic", if a sports event can be such a thing--but still, how can anything in sports be a "defining moment" for someone, something one can "never get over"?

I joke around about hating Bud Adams, the Braves, Fred Brocklander, Daryl Strawberry, and of course the Southsider Mullets, but I'm "over" all of these things.

Please don't take this personally as I understand that a lot of people feel this way--not just one person. These are just my impressions and the first thing that always comes to my mind. When I read, "I think that this is one of those defining moments that some folks will never be able to get over nor forget," the first thing I think of is 9/11. Then I think of Pearl Harbor. Then I think of Oklahoma City.

 

There are really no valid excuses for Mario's ineffectiveness. He has been taught and practiced a variety of techniques. He has a year of experience. If doesn't want to silence his critics, he has no heart. Regardless, he still underwhelms, under performs. Either he has a decent game soon, or his "official bust" status is assigned. So far, he looks much better off the field than on the field. Workout wonder, yes: football player, no. I want to him to succeed as much as anyone, but he continues to disappoint. Just the way it is.

 

Well, a lot of this is being egged on by the talking heads in the media which is something that should have been anticipated. On Monday, I listened to 4 straight hours of Lopez & DeLuca ragging on and on about Mario Williams. Then there was Jesse Solomon's article that sort of damned him with faint praise. Then there's the stories about how much had been spent on the DL and the lack of production from the DL and well you get the idea. And should he pull another vanishing act on Saturday, then you can expect to hear more of the same. It just goes with the territory of being the No. 1 pick.

Interesting that you said that. Saturday night the Cowboys pimp-slapped around the Broncos. I mean, it was astonishing to see how they just manhandled Denver on both sides of the line. The chief reason for this turn of events was that Shanahan and the Broncos approached the game like it was the 2nd preseason game while the Wade Phillips and the Cowboys played this game like it counted (and I expect them to really do this on Saturday night). They ran blitz packages the whole works. It got worse when in order to protect his banged up OL, Shanahan went pure vanilla on offense and the Cowboys DL just stuffed their running game. The next day, the Denver fans were plenty pissed about what they'd witnessed and there is now more than a little unease about the Broncos in the Mile High City. I suppose that's just the nature of the beast.