The Texans may not put a winning product on the field as often as we'd like, but one thing that we can not complain about is the quality of the bloggers and younger writers that cover the team. I don't pretend to include myself in this category, and it probably comes off as sycophantic, but between various blogs and a few select columns at the Chronicle, we casual fans are pretty lucky to have the level of intelligent writing that gets put out there by these writers.
We are however subjected to our fair share of ridiculousness as we try to follow the team that loves to let us down. Want proof? Follow me across the jump.
Yesterday, I linked an article written by Richard Justice about why the Texans should sign Vince Young, much to the chagrin of a lot of the commenters. Justice gets regularly called out for his comical love of Vince Young, and he didn't disappoint with the predictability or the timing of his piece yesterday. It was an article that begged to be fisked, and thankfully Daniel Charles was up for the task.
Following the writing and Twitter account of John McClain is quite the roller coaster. One second he's spouting holier-than-thou speeches trying to make everyone feel ashamed of criticizing the team, and the next minute he's calling the same team an embarrassment and hurling other insults its way. Rivers McCown had enough of this after McClain's live chat yesterday, and wrote an open letter to the Chronicle writer.
One thing that McClain does have is access. He used this access yesterday to sit down and talk to defensive coordinator Wade Phillips about the new coach's evaluation of the defensive personnel. Wade is saying all the right, complimentary things right now that go along with ownership's message of sunshine and roses for next season, but it will be interesting to see what kind of changes we'll see through free agency and the draft.
I actually found McClain's interview of Phillips worth the read, and John Hallam was pleasantly surprised as well. He also offered his own interpretation of the piece. Also, for anyone that feels like they need to know more about the 3-4, he's got you covered there as well.
Not sure what I was referring to with the sunshine and roses talk? You can hear it straight from Bob McNair's lips about how he feels about the coaching staff and the chances for success in 2011. You'd never know this was a 6-10 team.
As sports fans, you should all know that the writers and analysts at ESPN know everything about anything sports related. So when they tell you that the Texans don't have the personnel to fit a 3-4 defense, you might as well give up hope now. Never mind what coaches and scouts around the NFL think.
Sometimes there is other rampant ridiculousness, but the source is from players and even other fans. Chris breaks down the top five things revolving around the team and gives his reaction to them all.
Ok, on to the good. Jerome Solomon thinks that the Texans should pull out all the stops to get Raiders punter Shane Lechler back to the Houston area if the opportunity presents itself. The move is such a no=brainer that I worry it won't happen even if it could, because it doesn't seem like the front office's MO to invest in a punter, even though he is already in the top 5 of all time.
Lastly, Tony Sparano was retained by the Miami Dolphins as head coach for one, lame duck season in 2011. The reason I bring this up is because by winning against the Jaguars in Week 17, we elevated our position from fourth to third and therefore play the Dolphins and Raiders next season rather than the Bills and Broncos. I respect Sparano and think he's a good coach who was dealt a bad quarterback, but the way that Stephen Ross and Jeff Ireland have handled this situation by interviewing every "it" coach while Sparano was still in place leads me to believe that it could get ugly in Miami next year. I wouldn't even be shocked if Vince Young ended up there to appease the owner's "win now" and "make a splash" philosophy. Better stock up on Patron, South Beach.