J.J. Watt offered high praise to Alex Smith after the QB’s win over Pittsburgh
J.J. Watt knows what it takes to come back from injury. The Houston Texans’ star has seen his share of bumps, bruises, and more.
So, when he offers praise to an NFL player and uses the word “incredible” to describe that player’s accomplishments and comeback, everyone needs to pay attention.
After the Washington Football Team derailed the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, Watt gushed on Twitter over the play of quarterback Alex Smith.
Watt was one of the Texans involved in the sack that broke Smith’s leg in the 2018 game. The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year converged with cornerback Kareem Jackson as they tackled the Washington passer.
Smith missed last season while undergoing 17 surgeries to fix issues and complications from the brutal injury.
What Alex Smith has done is unbelievable.
Comeback Player of the Year even before taking a snap.
But playing winning football after everything he’s been through is even more incredible.
Bradley Roby joined Will Fuller V as a suspended Houston Texan
The Houston Texans were hit with a double whammy on Monday. First, WR Will Fuller V announced he had been suspended by the NFL for six games. Hours later, DB Bradley Roby revealed he had received the same ban from the league.
The suspensions of Fuller and Roby carry over to the first game of the 2021 season. Fuller, who is in his fifth season, missed playing time in each of the first four because of injuries. His suspension means he will miss five games for a fourth consecutive season.
Roby missed six games in 2019, his first season with the Texans, with a hamstring injury.
Deshaun Watson blasted Devin McCourty of the Patriots on a TD run
DeShaun Watson smelled the end zone and he didn’t care who or what was in his way in the second quarter of the Houston Texans’ game against the New England Patriots on Sunday.
Watch as the Texans’ quarterback trucks Devin McCourty and drives him back multiple yards while on a 4-yard touchdown run.
McCourty will be feeling that this week.
.@deshaunwatson lowers the shoulder and will NOT be denied.
The Houston Texans have signed veteran QB Josh McCown.
Add another stop on the NFL journey of Josh McCown.
The veteran, who was on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad in case there was need for a “quarantine” quarterback, is signing with the Houston Texans.
Texans are signing veteran QB Josh McCown, per his agent @MikeMcCartney7.
Really cool story behind Josh McCown's call to go to the @HoustonTexans. Geography drove it. He's home with his family during the season for the 1st time since '09. Gets to watch his boys—a QB and a S—play HS ball.
B/c of that, Houston (2 hours away) offered unique opportunity.
Bottom line, he wasn't going far away to play (his sons actually have a game Friday night, and he helps them watch tape). With the Texans, he won't have to. He can go back and forth relatively regularly, and balance family with football, and be back on a team, which he missed.
To their credit, I'm told the @Eagles were great. McCown was on the team's practice squad as their quarantine QB. They wanted to keep him, but Philly and GM Howie Roseman were very supportive after seeing what Houston could offer him.
Mike Vrabel may have saved the Titans by getting a penalty called on his team.
Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel is proving to be this generation’s “Genius.” Vrabel showed he is as shrewd as they come during the final minutes of the fourth quarter as his Titans faced defeat against the Houston Texans.
How? He was able to get a penalty called on his team that gave the Texans a first down.
Tennessee is trailing 30-29 with just over 3:00 remaining in the game. The Texans have the ball on the Titans 25-yard line and are methodically moving down the field as they had for most of the second half.
The previous play, a 1st and 10 pass to Brandin Cooks for 9 yards, has Houston set up with 2nd and 1. A run likely gives them another new set of downs just inside the 25. They’re already in field goal range.
So Mike Vrabel sends out Josh Kalu to take an intentional 12-men on the field penalty. How do we know it’s intentional? Well, first, Kalu had played 10 snaps on defense so far in 2020, with 7 of those coming in mop up duty during the Titans blowout of the Bills earlier in the week. Now he’s suddenly getting some run on a critical drive (he’d played zero defensive snaps in this game prior to stepping foot on the field here).
Second, just take a look at the video, specifically the interaction between Vrabel and Johnathan Joseph, followed by Joseph’s body language at the snap (he knows a play isn’t going to happen).
Here is the sequence. It’s 2nd and 1. Odds of Houston converting either on this down or the next is astronomical. Joseph is confused looking to the sideline and Vrabel is telling him “it’s ok” and then does a sales job to make sure the ref sees it. https://t.co/ZFJzQJC5IIpic.twitter.com/EWuOhk5J4U
Vrabel had three timeouts but the prudent move was to save them and take the penalty because the Texans went from second-and-1 to first-and-10. If the penalty had not been called, Houston would have run clock, likely got the first down, and devoured more time.
Here’s how things played out. Texans throw an incomplete pass, bringing up 2nd and 10 (already a much better spot than they were in before and just 9 seconds had come off the clock). Then an 11-yard David Johnson run puts them in 1st and goal at the 9. They run it three more times and finally throw it in for a touchdown on 4th and goal at the 1.
During that stretch, the Titans use two of their timeouts, but just 1:13 comes off the clock, in large part, because of the penalty that effectively stole a down from the Texans and gave the Titans back either 40 seconds or a timeout (and possibly more).
Houston missed a 2-point conversion and led 36-29. The two-point conversion was a curious call by Romeo Crennel because the Titans would have had to go for “2” if they scored a TD.
Well, Tennessee did score a game-tying touchdown with 4 seconds left in regulation, and then win the game on the first possession of overtime.
It is a harsh tumble for O’Brien, who led Houston to the playoffs last season and had a 24-0 lead at Kansas City in a Divisional Round game before the bottom fell out and the Texans lost 51-31.
O’Brien traded the team’s star receiver, DeAndre Hopkins in the offseason to Arizona and that deal recouped David Johnson but the wide receiver corps have not offset the loss of Hopkins.
Texans have NFL’s highest payroll this year at $248 million.
Crennel has been an interim coach before. He when Todd Haley’ was fired 13 games into the 2011 season, Crennel was named the team’s interim head coach for the remaining three games of the season.
Crennel won his first game as the interim head coach of the Chiefs on Dec. 18, 2011, against the then-undefeated Green Bay Packers 19–14, which was significant as Crennel snapped the Packers’ 19-game winning streak.
Crennel finished his stint as interim head coach with a 2–1 record. However, in his tenure as a head coach for the Chiefs, Crennel would only win two more games finishing with a 4–15 overall record.
Bill O’Brien’s Houston Texans are winless, have traded away their best future assets, and are wasting one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks
It’s one thing for Bill Parcells to want to pick some of his groceries.
It’s another thing for Bill O’Brien to want his own Whole Foods.
When Parcells made his famous statement about team-building, he had already won multiple Super Bowl as a head coach. O’Brien, in his seventh season as the head coach of the Houston Texans, still hasn’t won a playoff game.
Now both head coach and general manager of the Texans, O’Brien’s personnel decisions have crippled the team’s future, and judging by their 0-4 start to the 2020 season, they haven’t helped their chances of success in the present.
The smartest decision the Texans have made with O’Brien calling the shots has been signing Deshaun Watson to a long-term extension, though it was quite the no-brainer. And while the Texans have now locked up one of the best quarterbacks in the league, they’ve left him without an adequate supporting cast, and without the draft resources to maximize Watson’s prime.
(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
It’s not that Laremy Tunsil hasn’t been effective as the team’s starting left tackle, but he’s clearly not making a big enough impact to keep the Texans from going winless so far this season. Thanks to the trade that brought him to Houston, the Texans won’t pick in the 2021 NFL Draft until the third round.
Considering they’re currently in the running to land the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, that’s a hefty price to pay, on top of the massive extension Lunsil signed back in April.
O’Brien also traded away DeAndre Hopkins, widely regarded as the best wide receiver in the NFL, to the Arizona Cardinals for running back David Johnson and a 2nd-round pick this offseason. O’Brien then flipped one of his second-round picks to the Los Angeles Rams for wide receiver Brandin Cooks and a fourth-round pick.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Cooks is a solid receiver, but Watson already had a speedy target with durability questions in Will Fuller. Swapping out Hopkins, a big target with a massive catch radius, for an undersized deep threat didn’t make the Houston offense any better.
The danger in letting a head coach pick all of his own groceries is that he’ll sacrifice long-term stability for the quick fix and short-term success. Unfortunately for the Texans, O’Brien has left them without either.
Houston is bad now, have traded away their best draft resources with which they could have gotten better later, and in the process are wasting one of the most dynamic and talented players in the league, at the game’s most important position.
Watson deserves far better, and so do Texans fans.
The Houston Texans and linebacker Zach Cunningham have reached a contract extension.
The Houston Texans have agreed on a contract extension with star linebacker Zach Cunningham, per NFL Network.
The deal will be for four years and $58 million.
The #Texans and standout linebacker Zach Cunningham have agreed to terms on a huge new extension worth $14.5 million per year in new money average, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. Big payday for a rising star, a deal negotiated by @AthletesFirst led by Kyle McCarthy.
Cunningham was a 2017 second-round pick out of Alabama. He has 339 tackles, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, two sacks and an interception in 46 career games.
I see a club with a great fan base, fantastic facilities in a beautiful setting and most importantly a women’s team that can continue to help grow and amplify not only soccer, but women’s sports as a whole in this country. https://t.co/ZWpVWlaHvF
Watt’s interest was piqued after Real Salt Lake team owner put the Major League Soccer franchise as well as the NWSL team up for sale after being criticized for failing to support players calling for racial justice.
“Major League Soccer has been informed that Real Salt Lake Investor-Operator Dell Loy Hansen has decided that he will begin a process to sell Utah Soccer Holdings, the entity that owns Real Salt Lake (MLS), Utah Royals FC (NWSL) and Real Monarchs (USL),” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement.
“MLS will work with Mr. Hansen on supporting the sale efforts for the company and will work closely with the club’s executive staff to support the operations of the team during the transition period.
“I want to acknowledge Dell Loy Hansen’s significant efforts to build the sport of soccer in the state of Utah and for his commitment to Major League Soccer.”
Hansen has been under pressure since a report from The Athletic detailed his repeated use of racist language to and in front of team employees.
That report came on the heels of Hansen’s reaction to Wednesday’s MLS player-led walkout in protest of racial injustice. The protest led to the postponement of five matches, including Wednesday’s match between RSL and LAFC scheduled for Rio Tinto Stadium.
Everything Houston Texans fans need to know heading into the 2020 NFL Draft
Everything Houston Texans fans need to know heading into the 2020 NFL Draft.
VITALS
Head Coach: Bill O’Brien
General Manager: Bill O’Brien
2019 Record: 10-6
2020 DRAFT PICKS
2 (40)
3 (97)
4 (111)
5 (171)
7 (240)
7 (248)
7 (250)
TEAM NEEDS
Wide Receiver
Despite the fact that the Texans added Brandin Cooks and Randall Cobb, wide receiver is still a top need for Houston. The loss of DeAndre Hopkins will leave a huge void for this team. Cooks has had issues with staying on the field in recent years despite being traded multiple times for top picks. The team needs to find a dependable target for Deshaun Watson. Especially when you consider both Cobb and Cooks have had issues staying on the field over the years.
Offensive Line
Protecting Watson should be a priority. Much the reason why the Texans traded for Laremi Tunsil, but the right side of the line needs some attention. Watson has been sacked 106 times over the past two seasons, far too many for Houston’s franchise quarterback. Upgrading either guard is one spot in particular.
Secondary
It was clear that the current secondary wasn’t up to the task in 2019. A team that ranked near the bottom in interceptions should look to find upgrades at cornerback or safety. Houston picked up two former first-round selections at corner, but if they can upgrade the position, it can only help out the team.
