Now that i've had my meltdown, i'm ok with the pick. Not happy with it, but am ok with it. Our defense was horrible last year and we were trying to run a 3-4 without the correct players. I believe they are switching to a 4-3 this year and Mario will help make that transition. Mario will improve our defense, and improving our defense does not suck.
Yeah, I'll bet those Giant fans were cheering like crazy when they took Ron Dayne at #11 instead of that stiff Shaun Alexander who was still on the board. Same thing for Arizona fans when they took Thomas Jones (who???) at #7... Fans are always right.
There's a difference between putting fans in seats and selling out the game. When people buy tickets, and don't bother to use them, you know something is wrong. That's what happened to us last year and what is probably going to happen again unless we have a major change. When I met with some of the Rockets Reps that was one of their biggest concerns, they are losing a ton of money by people not showing up even though they bought tickets. I don't see why the Texans would be any different. I should have been more specific when I mentioned the publicity, I meant things like Sunday games and Monday night football. You remember how often the Rockets were on publicly when we got Yao? Pugs
Winning will put people in the seats, plain and simple. Taking a real need in this draft is not a terrible thing. We had unquestionably the worst defense, especially defensive line, in the league last year. How silly for some to believe that taking by far the best defensive prospect in the draft isn't the end of the world like 95% of you are acting.
I really don't know how you can answer this question yet. Right now, yeah I think they should have picked Bush....but I won't know if they really made a mistake until both Mario and Reggie have played in the league for a few years. I hope Mario turns out to be a beast.
Before this draft I felt we had very slim hopes of generating some kind of pass rush against our opponents. Now our chances of putting some heat on the other teams quarterback have increased.
Can’t say I was ever too thrilled with the idea of building a team around a running back, no matter how great the running back may be. It just seems to me that there are a lot of great playoff teams out there that don’t need a superstar running back to be successful, whereas there are very few great teams out there can be successful without at least one really great defensive player.
The Texans had added the most free agent help on the offense and had a plan to add OL later in the draft. Taking Mario was the quickest way to balance out the improvement on both sides of the ball. Not as sexy but very pragmagtic. But if Bush would have agreed to a contract without looking like a primadonna and possible hold out he would have been the pick. Picking him and having him hold out through preseason would have been the worst possible outcome for the Texans and really a waste of the #1 pick in 2006. I believe Bushe's agent was calculating that The Jets or Niners would trade up to #2 at least to get him and he would be in one of the glamor markets where he could make more in endorsement money, and it backfired big time. Not only is he stuck in the smallest, poorest NFL market, he's playing RB behind Duece McAllister who at this point may be a better player and behind Horn and Stallworth at WR.
Whats funny is that immediately after the announcement the reaction was almost 100% negative. (Including mine for the most part) In the cold light of morning people seem to be warming to the idea of having an actual pass rush. I admit I will be a little wistful when I see Reggie highlights all over the mass media (I never wanted Young...under any circumstances...call me all the names you want) but if Kubiak can motivate Williams to bring it on every play, I think most of us who stay in the Texans camp will be happy.
I said he could be a bust and be more of an Eric Metcalf type of player and that NFL defenses will adjust for his speed. However, I think if you are not going to take Young you have to take Bush.....both dominated quality competition in college, something which Williams did not. Also, if you remember the Oilers, what really got the city passionate about the team was having Bum Phillips as the coach and Earl Campbell leading the team, until that point the fans were very fickle about them. The Texans are still trying to get a "hardcore" fanbase, sure they sold the tickets and people enjoy the games, but they don't illicit the same passion.....YET !! And, I think Vince would have done that, instantly, and I think Reggie might have done that..... Williams may indeed turn out to be a great pick, but all the coverage i have read about the draft says the Texans pretty much reached, big time. And, I wanted a thread where people could post all the articles and opinions from around the country...sure the one from the AUSTIN paper is going to be skewed towards Vince.....so what? DD
No mistake. A good, brave move by some good football people. With Reggie we would have had sell outs in September, with Mario anchoring a top flight defense, we will have full houses and meaningful games in December. Lets hope for a top five defensive line and a top ten linebacke corp soon.
A day later Texans' decision still puzzlingBy Gene Wojciechowski ESPN.com Archive NEW YORK -- Emily Burguieres, whose old man is the vice-chairman of the Houston Texans, printed the name on the specially designed 4x5 NFL Draft card and handed it to a league go-fer. For appearances sake the name was officially registered, confirmed and relayed to commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who emerged from stage right of Radio City Music Hall, stepped behind the imposing cherry wood podium, and announced that the Texans had chosen North Carolina State's Mario Williams as the No. 1 overall pick. Howard Smith/US Presswire Mario Williams heard plenty of boos from the fans at the draft.Boos (think Donovan McNabb/circa 1999) rained down from the balcony seating, courtesy of Replica Jersey Nation, as well as the usual collection of J-E-T-S fans, some of whom had actually taken their medication. From East Coast to West Coast, Sun Belt to Rust Belt, the general reaction to Williams's selection was the same: The Texans did WHAT? Even now the decision boggles the mind. Houston could have chosen USC tailback Reggie Bush, but instead got sloppy drunk on "measureables" and potential rather than actual production. Hel-lo, did you see how many contrails and broken ankles Bush left behind this season? OK, so the Bush family won't win any Tenant of the Year awards. And, yeah, USC might have to take it in the NCAA shorts because of Rentalgate. But from a pure football standpoint, Bush was the best college player on the draft board. Forget the board; he was the best college player on the face of the Earth. It isn't just me, or Mel Kiper Jr., or the We-Find-Evil-In-Every-Living-Thing Jets fans who think so. According to a poll conducted by respected NFL writer Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News, 21 of 26 league general managers rated Bush as the top choice. That's called a landslide. Even the other Texans rep at the draft day table isn't sure Houston made the smart move. "I would have taken Bush or I would have tried to trade down and got more players,'' said Jay Mooney, a fourth-grade teacher in Maryland who first met Texans GM Charley Casserly as an intern with the Washington Redskins. Of course, this might be the Mooney final appearance at the draft day table after the Texans read this. If so -- and that would be greasy on the Texans' part -- he might want to scarf up those NFL-supplied goodies on the table (a jar of team-colored M&Ms, Houston-logo coffee cups, a transistor radio, and an offical draft day clipboard). He can send a few of the goodies to his buddy Casserly, who might be making his final Texans draft appearance too. There aren't many perks when you go 2-14, but choosing first is one of them. In fact, it's the only one. But the Texans are the Texans because they keep shanking the gimmes. Picking the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner was a gimme, a football tap-in. All they had to do was tell Burguieres to jot down one of the most familiar four letters in the state of Texas: B-U-S-H. The Texans put a smiley face on the Williams pick. What else could they do? From the moment word leaked late Friday night of the decision, Houston team officials had the spin control on its highest setting: We're switching to a 4-3 defense, so we needed a defensive end ... Williams was co-No. 1 on our board ... Williams could be, said owner Bob McNair Saturday, "another Reggie White." Yes, he could. Or he could be Vanna White. That's the problem with the draft; you never know for sure. But Bush was the closest to a sure thing. He was a star from the start of his USC career to the finish. Williams was a star from, oh, half of the 2005 season through the NFL Combine. "I'm speechless,'' said Williams. "It's hard to explain." No, it isn't. The Texans gagged. They over-analyzed themselves out of the most breathtaking talent anybody has seen in years ... decades? They confused possibilities with probabilities. They will regret this for losses to come. "I'm not going to take anything personal from the Houston Texans and go out and try to run for 5,000 yards or whatever in a game,'' said Bush, who finds himself in the middle of the rare disaster trifecta: house rental controversy/extortion allegations/Pac-10 investigation. "That's the way it is. That's the nature of the beast and it's part of the game.'' Bush was drafted No. 2 by the New Orleans Saints. If ever a city deserved a break, New Orleans did. It's as if the Texans had the winning Powerball ticket and then decided, what the hell, let's give it to the Saints. They seem like nice people. Maybe this will all work out. Maybe Williams will become Reggie White Jr. For Mooney and Casserly's sake, let's hope so. But Bush has a chance, a realistic one, to become the standard for future running backs, not the reincarnation of old ones. He won't have to settle for the being the "next'' somebody; that's how singular his talents are. In a weird way (as much as you can for a guy who just signed a $54-million contract), I feel bad for Williams. He didn't deserve the boos, or the cruel chants of, "Over-rated'' from the Radio Music City Hall crazies. He didn't deserve the, "Why you?'' questions. But he got all of that and more because the Texans selected him No. 1 overall. The truth is, he didn't deserve that, either.
Again, if Reggie woulda signed he would have been here but he got caught up playing hardball and ended up in NFL Purgatory. If you draft him @#1 without a contract , you loose your leverage and a holdout renders the pick worthless ala Cedric Benson. A guaranteed something is better than the chance of ending up with nothing.
So you are now saying your 2nd choice for the draft was a guy who is a potential Eric Metcalf- like bust and who you said was going to be worse than LenDale White? Makes a lot of sense. You need to keep track of your positions that you change in support of your latest cause (ie Boki, Young, and now criticizing Williams). And it's pretty strange that the Texans have managed to sell out every game without a hardcore fanbase. Anyways, back to the topic, it's pretty stunning that Bush was so clearly the consensus #1 and the Texans just passed him up without trading down. Maybe there was more involved in the decision. After all, the Texans were in serious negotiations with Bush before they negotiated with Mario. I wonder if they had some doubts about something.
Ok - the Texans decide not to draft Vince, then they decide not to draft Reggie. Why not trade down then and fill the up the mother of all the Texans suckiness the O-line? Trade down get some extra picks and grab D'Brick who would anchor the line for 5 + years? At any rate this draft seems to be amazingly deep -- last year freaking Braylon Edwards went at # 3 -- he's not that good.
i've said from the moment i knew they weren't taking VY that it was a big mistake. i still believe that.
if i remember correctly, ownership had to guarantee sellouts in order to get the expansion team here. having said that..you're right. they've sold all their tickets from day one.
Get Past indy? I like indy but they not invincible. hell we had them 14-14 until we turned the offense down last year Rocket River
