IIRC they are currently favored to lose every game on the schedule, you really have nowhere to go but up.
Damn I wanted Joe Brady bad. Oh well he wasn’t up for the challenge like Culley lol Can’t wait to see who will be out next HC after Culley. Joe Brady?? Pep?? McCown??
As the Texans prepare to report to training camp on July 27, The Athletic is identifying a storyline to follow at every position in the leadup to Week 1. If you missed our breakdown of the offense, you can find it here. Below is a look at the Texans’ overhauled defense, which is switching to a 4-3 base under coordinator Lovie Smith. The former Bears and Bucs head coach will try to improve a unit that finished 30th in defensive DVOA last season. Whether he can will depend in large part on the answers to these questions: DL: How well do converted outside linebackers make the shift? A shift in a team’s base defense is not the undertaking it used to be. Nickel formations, which feature five defensive backs, are really the new base defenses in modern football. But under Smith, a few outside linebackers are converting to defensive ends. Whitney Mercilus, Jacob Martin and 2020 third-round pick Jon Greenard all rushed from three-point stances as defensive ends at times last season, often when the Texans played nickel, but they’ll do so more this year. “(Mercilus) said, ‘Coach, I haven’t put my hand in the dirt consistently since my junior year at Illinois,’” defensive line coach Bobby King recently shared with reporters. “I said, ‘Well, that was about 10 years ago.’” How well Mercilus makes that transition will bear watching. He’s coming off a down year and carries the fifth-largest cap hit on the roster. If he struggles again while making the transition, this coaching staff will face the same decision the last one did: Stick by the veteran or bench him to develop younger players? The last staff picked the former, blocking Martin from more snaps. At a listed 6-foot-2, 242 pounds, Martin is by far the Texans’ smallest defensive lineman, carrying a figure more suited for a situational rusher in a 3-4 — the role he held before the scheme change. Martin is trying to add more weight. Whether he performs well while heavier will help determine whether he sticks in Houston. After finishing second on the team in pressure rate each of the past two seasons, Martin is entering the final year of his rookie deal. Even when the Texans ran a 3-4, Greenard, who recorded one sack and three QB hits while playing about a quarter of the team’s defensive snaps last season, barely dropped into coverage. It made up just 12 percent of his snaps, according to PFF, but he looked vulnerable in that small sample. He said the move to defensive line will allow him to take “the thinking out of it and just go.” LB: Which of the new additions pulls away from the pack? Like they did at running back, the Texans signed a trio of free agent off-ball linebackers to cheap, short-term deals, allowing the team to create the competition it desires while keeping its financial commitment to any one player relatively low. Kevin Pierre-Louis, Christian Kirksey and Kamu Grugier-Hill all have cap hits ranging from $2.4 million to $2.8 million. Pierre-Louis has the most job security of the bunch, as he’s the only one to sign a multi-year deal. If he were to be cut before the season, he holds the largest dead cap hit ($2.75 million) among the three. Linebackers’ coverage abilities have been a weak spot in the Texans’ defense recently, as they’ve ranked last in defensive DVOA against pass over the middle of the field in each of the past two seasons, according to Football Outsiders. The Texans traded away one linebacker who was vulnerable in coverage in Benardrick McKinney, but they have another in Zach Cunningham, who is still arguably the defense’s best player. Pierre-Louis, who ranked fifth in PFF coverage grade among qualified linebackers, could cover up some of Cunningham’s deficiencies. “The other part of his game that I’m anxious to see him take another step in is the pass part of it,” Smith said of Cunningham. “We’re always talking about taking the ball away as an interceptor, zone coverage. He’s still a young football player and I know he’s a football guy, so we’re just anxious to get it here and be able to really work with him full-time.” CB: Can John Reid contribute? The Texans improved the top of their cornerback depth chart with the signings of Terrance Mitchell and Desmond King, who should play alongside Bradley Roby most of the time. But Houston is one injury away from relying on reserves such as Vernon Hargreaves, who struggled in an extensive role last season, or Keion Crossen, who flashed potential with five pass breakups but profiles primarily as a special teams player. During training camp last year, coaches praised slot corner John Reid for appearing the most prepared of any rookie — and they rewarded him with just 145 defensive snaps (13 percent) during the regular season. The fourth-round pick should compete for more playing time this season. If he can make a Year Two jump, that’d give the Texans at least one competent corner on a rookie deal for the next few years. Crossen is entering the final year of his rookie contract. And King, who will play ahead of Reid in the slot, signed a one-year deal in free agency, so the Texans could need a replacement soon. S: How do the Texans deploy Justin Reid? Hoping to supplement one of the NFL’s worst run defenses, the Texans played safety Justin Reid close to the line scrimmage at a higher frequency than ever before in his third professional season — and the results were bad. According to Pro Football Reference, he posted the highest missed tackle percentage of his career (14.4 percent) and allowed a career-worst 110.2 quarterback rating when targeted in coverage. Reid has typically been at his best when playing as a deep safety. Even when the Texans’ defense was collectively below average in 2019, ranking 22nd in overall defensive DVOA, Reid helped make them elite in one area: they ranked third in defensive DVOA against deep balls that season. Camp will offer more details on Smith’s plan for Reid but expect him to play a role more similar to the one he had during his first two years in the NFL. Smith is one of the godfathers of the Tampa 2, a zone look with two deep safeties. The new defensive coordinator has said creating more takeaways is one of his chief goals after the 2020 Texans forced just nine turnovers, the second-fewest in NFL history. Reid, who had five interceptions in his first two NFL seasons but none last year, would like to claim credit for a few of them. After once looking like a foundational piece of the Texans’ defense for years to come, he’s now entering the final season of his rookie deal.
Just saw Easterby on Shepherd getting gas. I was going to speak but I didn't have anything nice to say so I just finished and left.
Does Easterby really have that much power? Caserio seems to be leading this ship on the football side of things and this org will either rise or fall based on him. We all know Cal is pretty much a zero. Hopefully he lucked into a brilliant hire with Nick but we won't know for two or three more years probably. Embrace the suck.
I get that football will always be big in Houston, and Texas, but I cringe nearly every time I turn on 610 in the AM. Great cast and all, but the Texans debates on the radio are pointless. I wish they would just stop talking about the team. The internal competitions don’t matter. That said, watching the Texans is like watching a car wreck. You know it’s bad but can’t look away. I certainly won’t be wasting any precious Sundays on this team like I’ve done in decades past—this organization has finally shown it’s true colors under Cal. No longer can the organization hide behind great players since they’ve all left. Even the players we have are only here for the money, knowing good and well they aren’t winning anything any time soon. Leave it to the Texans to make another dumb*** decision—this time only letting season ticket holders attend open practices. Texans will need fans more than ever, yet they continue to make it as hard on themselves. So classic. Car wreck in slow motion that just keeps getting worse. Texans are the most inept team in the league in spades. Not even Detroit or the other putrid sports organizations make head scratching calls as asinine as the Texans. Have fun with your evangelical bible thumping fan base—whatever portion is left—because the majority of fans are 100% OUT, sans a disinterested view from afar to see how bad the car wreck can get.
Easterby single handedly botched the Caserio pursuit the first go around. He was part of the committee that put together a 4-12 roster full of crap contracts with almost zero draft equity. All things that should’ve gotten him canned. But instead he reportedly talked Cal into hiring the GM of his choice. So unless proven otherwise, ya I would say he does have that much power.
Are the Texans still a thing? The season is about to start soon and the buzz on the team and the season is absolutely dead. At least the Rockets have the second pick in the draft and the future looks promising, unlike them boys on Kirby. It’s truly sad how the team went from on the rise with a stud talent in Watson to this now. Is Watson truly done in Houston, there seems to be absolutely no clear picture on what his future will be here?
Bob McNair was the first guy to have a thing for Caserio in early 2018 and Cal seemed to never let that go. And I somewhat doubt O'Brien let Easterby make many decisions. Seems like he was just a yes-man and a lackey. I just don't see him as this all-powerful figure. Worthless and out of his depth? Yeah. A slimeball and an opportunist? Sure. Running everything on Kirby? No. Take Easterby away and Cal is still the same guy doing the same things. This team will be irrelevant until Cal stumbles onto a competent football guy. Maybe he did with Caserio but we won't know for a while.
