One of the more bizarre stories about Cal McNair that emerged during the Hellscape that was the 2021 offseason was a claim from former quarterback Sage Rosenfels that McNair was playing video games in his office.
The claims were borderline believable given the Houston Texans hired Nick Caserio as general manager — despite the recommendations from their search committee — and settled on David Culley as coach, even though he had never been a coordinator in his previous 28 years in the NFL.
“I’ve got nothing really bad to say about Cal McNair,” Rosenfels said. “He always treated me really nice. I was open to conversations with him.”
One story Rosenfels shared came from the 2006 season when he first arrived to Houston with new coach Gary Kubiak.
“One time my first year there I was talking to David Carr about this, and David had just come from Cal’s office, I think, to discuss something,” said Rosenfels, who went 6-4 as a starter in Houston from 2006-08. “I’m not sure what it was. And I hadn’t really met Cal at this point.
“I was like, ‘What’s Cal like?’
“He’s like, ‘Well, I walk into his office and he’s sitting on the floor. There’s no desk or anything and there’s this huge TV on the wall, and he’s playing video games.’
“I was like, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’
“And I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ And that was like my only really behind-the-curtain Cal McNair story other than he was a really nice guy and was kind of his dad’s right-hand guy sort of, and shake hands after the game.”
When @SageRosenfels18 joined the Texans in 2006, he wasn't sure exactly what Cal McNair (now the team's CEO) did… with one vivid exception. From Ep. 40 of the Pass It Down podcast, with @fatnatsilver… pic.twitter.com/cmq7mhAa4G
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) February 26, 2021
During a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) on Wednesday, McNair clarified what video games he was actually playing.
“Zelda…just kidding,” McNair wrote before clarifying what Rosenfels may have seen.
Texans CEO Cal McNair denies the infamous allegations of playing video games in his office that arose last year during the Jack Easterby saga
He claims his setup is for watching film #WeAreTexans pic.twitter.com/UjlQjOqunc
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) September 7, 2022
“I saw that story floating around the internet and I got a laugh out of it but it’s not true,” McNair wrote. “I’ve never played video games in my office before and it’s been an extremely long time since I played any video games. I’ve always had a little area with a TV, chair and remote in my office that allows me to watch film. I imagine that’s what they saw that day and they were just confused.”
Texans fans are hopeful McNair will be in his office next week rewinding the team’s highlights in a win over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at NRG Stadium.