This will be a huge shock to you all (eyeroll) but I’m optimistic. Of course, I was very literally voted Most Optimistic my senior year, so you can take this with a huge grain of salt. But….. 1. I think Cal is hearing the criticism and I think he cares about it. An owner who cares about how the fans feel..particularly when they feel bored..is important, I think. We owe a bit of gratitude to his dad, because to be honest, when the Oilers left, I didn’t see a path for us to get an NFL team again for a really really really long time. I would have assumed it would have been a relocation. But his dad was all on the “we’re not the Oilers and that history is trash and no one cares about it” and honestly at that time I was cool with that because, please bring me back an NFL team. Turns out I didn’t have a billion dollars back then to do it myself. It would be way better for all of you if I did…yes, even for you. So the idea that the Texans MIGHT usurp Daddy Bob’s “we’ll never be the Oilers” stuff is significant to me…and even if you don’t give a damn about those colors it should for you too…because it’s evidence that Cal cares a lot about how they’re perceived and he wants them to be perceived differently…and he may be willing to break from Daddy Bob’s wishes to get that done. 2. Watt celebrating Demeco is a good thing. It’s evidence that there was a culture here that mattered (and yeah, you know it did..they were really good though not great for a while). And that culture is around some really good human beings, and our new head coach is one of those human beings. Demeco later proved his worth as a DC. Being a coordinator isn’t enough to be a great head coach…but the things that people who know him best say suggests that his highest and best use is way above X’s and O’s. He’s the kind of guy that people will lay on train tracks for. He seems like the kind of person that can make people around him better than they already are. I am involved with the church that he was a big part of here, and everyone there would absolutely tell you he’s an amazing person. 3. Ok, I just have to say this…I have more faith in the Texans than I do the Rockets given where they both stand RIGHT NOW. I realize I could feel really different about this if we end up with Wemby…or maybe even Scoot…because one player just means more in basketball than football. But I’m very happy with the talent the Texans have drafted of late…and we have a ton of draft capital to work with. I trust Caserio more than Stone. Obviously you’re free to disagree…but that’s how I feel…don’t want this to turn into a Rockets thread (turns out there’s this whole forum for that!!) but I think it’s fair to be concerned that we’ve had the #2 and #3 picks in the draft the last 2 years while working on being the first franchise ever to be the worst in the league for 3 consecutive years and what we’ve acquired from all that isn’t much to be all that excited about. I sincerely hope I’m wrong about that, but I’m more concerned about that for the Rockets than I am about the stuff that makes most you bite your nails about the Texans. 4. We have the 2nd pick in this draft. We don’t have a QB..guess what, neither did the San Francisco 49ers, and they just played in the NFC Championship game yesterday. No one thought Philly had their QB when they drafted Hurts..or even after his first year. Guess what. I do think the AFC is gonna be tougher than the NFC for the foreseeable future, but we can’t really change that. I’m so not sure that we should take a QB at all with the 2nd pick overall…but if we take one of them, of course I’m all in on that guy and **** you if you disagree 5. This is absolutely a football city. It always has been. I was in the Summit the night we won both championships. Amazing. But I’ve never seen anything like what I saw when the Texans beat the Cowboys 19-10 when that little 4-12 team with a rookie QB were willed to a win by that crowd. The crowd owned that game. I was there with my wife and my dad, and all of us were hoarse the next day. The Oiler support you might not get and the issue around the colors you don’t care about are only important because this ****ing city loves football. We deserve way better than we’ve been given by both franchises that wore our city’s name. I think it’s coming. Yes, I’m an optimist…and I’m typing this all out mostly because I was supposed to be meeting a business broker for a drink and he had to cancel because the deal he’s working on is falling apart. So you’re all stuck with me. I love the Houston Texans even if I wish they were named and branded entirely different. They’re family now, like the shitty Astros were before they weren’t shitty anymore…and like the Rockets before they finally figured it out. I’m excited about the Texans.
I live for this type of stuff bro. Great post. Its been tough being a Texan fan, but when they are clicking going to a sold out NRG is something special. Those days will be back soon. DeMeco is the right guy to lead us there.
When you don't have the result to judge a decision by, it's easy to overinflate said decision. But when you consider where the Texans have been, and where they are, I don't think it's hyperbole to suggest this may very well be the most significant moment in this still-very young franchise's history. DeMeco Ryans changes EVERYTHING. It erases the ugly recent past & signals a path forward. It demonstrates competency and sets a standard. They targeted the best candidate; they landed the best candidate. And it puts foundational pieces in place to begin building a historical identity, forged on the backs of Ryans, Andre, JJ, Arian... Most of all, as you said, it restores hope. This post might look foolish in 1 year, 5 years... I don't know how this is going to work, or even if it will work at all. But it has fundamentally transformed this franchise into something it has not been in a very long time, if ever: relevant. The Texans are relevant. (I look forward to seeing how Cal screws it up.....)
No this city does not love football If it did, you would have every game sold out no matter how bad we are
11 of the 32 franchises sold out every game this season. We need to let Pittsburgh, Dallas, NY, and Green Bay know they don’t love football, either.
I don't think what the Texans played this year was called football. I think they were playing a totally different sport called punting.
Putting my thoughts on the hire of Ryans here bc @MadMax is a thoughtful poster (and this thread hasn’t been trashed by morons who spew volume and no content). If DeMecoRyan’s had no prior history with the Texans, we could look at this choice as purely on the merits. Let’s do so for a minute. Objectively, it looks like DeMeco was one of the top 3 to 5 candidates available, beauty being in the eyes of the beholder and all. Not a slam dunk by any means - was that defense great bc of personnel, bc prior DC, bc of DeMeco; pretty short tenure as DD too. But it is fine - just on the merits. I won’t even bother with the fact that DeMeco isn’t a retread, is better than Lovie and Culley. We need to move on from that pathetically low standard. Cal, Casserio and the Texans have a lot of work to do before we can or should have any faith that they are grossly incompetent. The burden is on them to prove that this hire isn’t just the quickest way to get back into the good graces of casual fans and the media. Like the new uni’s, colors and logo maybe. Hyped like hell by the team and media. Like the Ryan’s hire, it’s a good decision on the merits, but it sure does feel like pure fan service. Let’s see what happens in the draft. If they take QB, possibly a good decision on the merits. We won’t know for a while, but it sure does reboot things for fans. I don’t want to lower the bar, and the bar is Jim Crane and the Astros. Make decisions with a singular focus on winning a title. And then another one. Honestly, I would be most impressed if the Texans traded down from the #2 pick, because the easiest thing to do would be to pick best QB available (or hell, trade up to No1) because the fan hype would be fantastic. And I fully expect them to take QB with that pick. And maybe that’s the best decision on the merits. I don’t know and we won’t know for a while. But it’s going to take a lot more than DeMeco’s homecoming to show me that Cal and Hannah all of a sudden care about WINNING football. All of this can easily be explained as Cal and Hannah desperately wanting to escape their status of being the laughing stock of the River Oaks country club and the entire city. Remember, Bob McNair was perfectly fine with mediocrity and profitability and it showed. It will be surprising to me if Cal and Hannah have any interest beyond not being a punchline. (Sorry to be a buzzkill guys, but it had to be said).
Credit to ownership for getting it right - all the fans want is for the team to make decisions that make sense...that is what is happening. The team will reap the benefits. Case closed.
(My bit of blowing sunshine) On one hand, its lame that they hired 2 bad coaches 2 consecutive years to take the fall. After another bad coach / slash "gm" On the other, its lowkey bit of respect that instead of stubbornly sticking with the coaches to not look bad, its admitting to the mistakes now. Cut the losses now to move forward. While coaching carousels are big risk to kill franchise trust, it means it coulda easily been 2 years of Culley & 2 years of Lovie before a move. (Not our money,) I think this is a better outcome
Thanks,for the kind words and your thoughts. I do think setting a minimum bar at the Astros over the last 6 or so years is a recipe for disappointment. The Astros sustained excellence is incredible and a bit of an oddity historically in their sport.
I should have been more clear. I don’t expect the Texans to have the same or even similar results as the Astros. I just want them to be making decisions with a singular focus on trying to win it all. For the Astros, that would include not just the last six years, but also the decisionmaking to tear it all down, suck for three years, then go with the Kris Karter and Colby Rasmus mediocrity because it was innovative thinking and showed understanding that they weren’t good enough to hit for rallies so better to go for homers. I loved the tear down (not just in hindsight) just like I loved Daryl Morey’s approach to building the team. Morey understood that mediocrity was a poisonous loop in the NBA. There was no guarantee of success and they tried our patience at times. But even those who disagreed on the approach would acknowledge there was a laser focus on winning and winning big. Football is different and winning is heavily tied to QB play, vagaries of injuries, and coaching matters much more than in other sports. Going with DeMeco rather than some retread is a winning move that could be equal part fan service. Who knows. I hope there are more moves to come that show focus on winning.
Yeah. I've been beating this drum for years: fans with a "ring or bust" mentality need to prepare for habitual disappointment. My expectation is that I want my teams to annually compete for the #1 seed - especially in the NFL. If, most years, you only have to play 2 games, and both of those games are at home... you're going to reach the SB at some point.
It's not just the NFL man. This city has an awesome high school culture and that's where it starts. I think you will see a huge uptick in interest for the Texans and it will be justified by the product we see on the field.
It's hard not to get excited about Demeco. What really excites me is thinking about guys currently on the roster, guys we don't currently think of as being good players, that will almost certainly emerge from the catacombs and become good players, maybe even stars. Add in cap space and a ton of draft picks and there is a clear avenue to being competitive, fast. Also, say what y'all will about Caserio, but I trust him enough. He's competent enough to not completely **** anything up, and it's not an accident that we are set up great with cap space and picks right now. Many of y'all thought he wouldn't be able to get more than a 1st for Deshaun, but in hindsight he handled that ****ed up situation and ultimate trade pretty much perfectly. Oh yeah, and somehow flying under the radar is no more Jack the Quack. Better times ahead it seems.
Great post @Rileydog Things have been so bad for so long...I mean, even before we were losing to this extent, fans could see the downward spiral with the bad trades and contracts. IMO it's been 5 or 6 years since their was any real reason for hope. So that makes any positive news feel like a homerun. I've had similar thoughts to what you said. Is Cal turning the corner and finally starting to see what competency at the top looks like after OB and Easterby disasters? Or did the stars just align with Demeco wanting to come here and Cal gets a lucky PR boost and what should be at least a competent head coach? I shudder to think of who we might have ended up with had Demeco stayed put, I'm not convinced any of the other up and coming coordinators would have been sold on us. The draft will be hard to judge for some time. If Young, Stroud etc are even close to being worth drafting at that position, you almost have to do it. We saw for far too long what not having a top tier QB looks like, and you don't get many chances to draft one. Just so happens that it will also cause a huge PR boost and sell more tickets, which doesn't shed any light on whether Cal is set on winning or more concerned with filling seats. Lots of unknowns, but hopefully we are climbing our way out of purgatory.
People get mad at caserio for not trading Cooks. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to trade him. But people also forget that with Obrien/Jack here we would have traded him and a 3rd for a 6th rounder because “teams knew he wanted to leave, be glad we got anything”.. or he would have stayed because Easterby liked him.. both are worse than what caserio has done so far in my book.
I'm optimistic. I honestly haven't followed the Texans much since the Hopkins trade and JJ release. I was done with this franchise until there was something...anything....to root for. We had ZERO identity. It helps that they were no longer being shown on TV here because of how crappy of a team they were..... But man, I'm hyped. I know this is a process. But it was amazing to see the ex Texans players all backing Demeco. Awesome to see AJ, JJo, Cushing, Merciliess and others at this press conference....the tweets by JJ backing Demeco and Houston fans..... I dare say, they may have finally become relevant again, and I actually found myself searching for youtube videos on the hiring of Demeco, the sports radio pundits oppinions, and fans etc. I haven't looked up anything related to the Texans since the JJ days. I'm happy, that I'm actually excited about the Draft, upcoming season, and the direction this franchise is headed.
