You definitely insinuated that, and still are, that Ryans value was leadership only. And there you go again working the clock to devalue Ryans. Still notice you haven't mentioned that as a part-timer he was only behind Cushing and Quin in tackles. The team did what it needed to do. But there's no need to diminish who he was for us. Wade didn't like him longterm as a starter, he made more than we could justify, and we got compensation for him. But even though he missed the last two Pro-Bowls, don't make him out to be a Shane Battier.
This how life near the top is, when you have more good players than you can pay, some tough unpopular decisions have to be made. Lock up the stars you can pay and draft/sign capable replacements for the ones you can't. Thats life as a good NFL club.
no, texans have made the playoffs once. Usually you get a few years of good before this. Smith sucks, and has sucked for a while. Wade saved his job last year.
The current cap issues are the results of a poorly managed cap over time, and do not stem specifically from last year's additions. This is a deep rooted problem and its an obvious one. Now we're spending time trying to rectify the situation for 2013 instead of getting better for 2012.
No, I'm not. He was a good player, too. Said that from the beginning. What I'm trying to diminish is the idea that leadership adds significantly to his value. Let's stick with what we know, on the field. I said early in this thread that DeMeco plays the run well. Combine that with the fact that he saw the second-most snaps among middle linebackers in a 3-4, and it's not exactly a shock that he's in the top three in tackles. Especially when the other safety (Manning) missed four or five games with a broken leg.
There's definitely an element of suddenness to all this brought on by what should have been (but wasn't) in 2009 and 2010. I still don't know how the Texans weren't a playoff team in 2009. So many crazy things - Kris Brown's kicking meltdowns, Schaub's pick-six in Arizona, Chris Brown's half-back pass in Jacksonville... and we were still only one Jets loss away (Jim Caldwell's jackass move of pulling Peyton Manning) from the postseason. That should've been the start of the Texans "run". Then in 2010, everything was lined up on offense, but Smith, Kubiak and Frank Bush trotted out the worst secondary known to man and had the bad timing of the Cushing suspension. Couple that with a brutal NFC East slate, and things never got off the ground. Everything finally came together in 2011, but with it being two years later than it should have been, the young stars (Brown, Cushing, Barwin) that were instrumental in 2009 are on the verge of extensions, and we're having to jettison the high-priced veterans to make room. Anyway, the point of my rambling is to say that you're right in saying that "on the up" franchises usually get more than one year before making these decisions. We should have had a much larger postseason window with this particular crop of Texans.
Exactly!!! Someone needs to answer for the Texans current cap situation, be it Rick Smith or some cap guy on the payroll. I just think this cap mess is due to someone's incompetence more then anything else.
I'm not sure how the cap has been poorly managed. We paid DeMeco, Andre, Winston, Daniels, Walter when they all deserved it and we needed them. We let Dunta walk when he wanted too much and Vonta walk when it was just too much money for a part time player. We signed guys like Antonio Smith, Wade Smith, Joseph, Manning to reasonable contracts in free agency. Paid Foster and Myers now that they were due. The point is that if it wasn't Winston, Mario, and DeMeco it would be three other guys from that list. At some point, no matter how clever you get with the finances, you end up losing guys. You think the Pats wanted to let go of Seymour, Asante Samuel, and Moss at the times they did? Other than Jacoby, we haven't given out a bad contract since Ahman Green, Anthony Weaver, and Jacques Reeves and those contracts are not affecting today's cap situation. We're just victims of circumstance. It's okay to not be happy about it (I'm not) but I can't blame them (assuming that we truly are up against the cap as reported). I probably would've kept Winston over Myers but either way one of them was probably gone. And DeMeco's $7 million or whatever it is may come up huge next offseason and I'd rather lose him than Duane Brown or Quin at this point.
Sorry, man - tried to rep you but I have to spread it around, you know? You and DHR nailed this, IMO. Not fun - but they're handling a bad situation pretty doggone well. Turning Ryans into the 77th and 100th pick of the draft was borderline genius, given his money and the derth of available suitors.
The last time I checked, Ryans didn't even make the pro-bowl. As for how much a team captain/leader's worth, go ask the Lakers what their 5-time champion "team leader" was worth on their contending team. And making the argument that "if team x want the guy why can't we want him" makes no sense if you know anything about football.
I have never liked this argument because the Jets destroyed the Texans in the first game of that season and had the head-to-head tiebreaker over us.
It's not an argument - it's just a fact. Lots of lesser teams win individual games, sometimes in blowout fashion. The Rams beat the Saints pretty thoroughly last season in their lone head-to-head matchup. Doesn't change the broader narrative of the entire season. The Texans needed one more win or one more Jets loss to make the '09 postseason. They had to face an unbeaten Peyton Manning twice for full games (losing both), while in the Jets' one matchup with then 14-0 Indy, Manning was pulled in the third quarter (with the Colts ahead). That's pretty ****ty luck if you're the Texans.
And then watched as Cincinnati did the same thing in week 17. Yes, credit to the Jets for winning the head-to-head and discredit to the Texans for losing games they should have won - but there is absolute merit in being upset with the two gifts the Jets were handed the final two weeks of that season.
LOL.. so at the Eagles presser to introduce/announce the Demeco trade, they pronounced his name "Demacco"? Way to go, Iggits.
Beat the team on your own and you won't have to rely on someone else to do it for you later on. I can see this argument if it was a team that we didn't face that beat us out. But we had our crack at NJ and lost. I would say that had more to do with them making it over us than anything.
Again, it's not an argument - just a fact. Yes, the Texans could have beaten the Jets on their own. No, that doesn't change the reality that if the Colts hadn't laid down against NYJ, the Texans make the playoffs.
You're not wrong. BUT.... the other 15 games count, too. And for two of those games, the Jets' opponents laid down, including a team that would eventually finish 14-2. A 1-1 split puts the Texans in the playoffs fair and square, no excuses. Remember - the Texans still had to win games, too, including a season finale against the Patriots who did not rest Tom Brady. I think most of us accept that that season, in total, was a giant missed opportunity that falls exclusively at the feet of the Texans. But they still did what they had to do to finish 9-7, needed help to make the playoffs (not unprecendented) and got absolutely none.
