Can The NFL Season End Now For The Texans Sake?

The NFL season is a sacred time. The long offseason with few headlines can’t quench the thirst of a Sunday afternoon; parked deliberately on a couch, nursing a hangover, and watching my fantasy football team question my intelligence on a weekly basis.

But even the most devout Texans fans have a hard time witnessing four quarters of Mills Mafia. The Houston Texans, currently at 1-3-1, still find a way to peak my interest and hope enough to subsequently and immediately let me down.

Brighter days are ahead of us, that I’m sure. The well documented firing of Jack Easterby lauded by fans and media alike as the first legitimate step in the right direction for the team. Yes, the draft was fun and we acquired talent, but woeful management will sour any talent... as we know all too well (yes, a minor reference to Taylor Swift’s short film).

If the season ended this week, the Texans would hold the fourth and sixth picks along with another early pick in the second round.

Correct, we’d most likely miss out on CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, and Will Anderson. The prized stars of this draft class will be just out of reach like the remote wedged between two cushions in the couch. They’ll be there, if we tank further. If we will ourselves to endure months of grueling, pathetic, and misshapen football, we could, possibly land one of the top recruits.

But would it be worth it? Like I said, talent still has to be developed. There’s way more top five picks that have flopped than that have achieved stardom.

Wouldn’t it be nice, hell, even preferred, if we simply raised the Liberty White flag for the 2022 season and fold up shop?

To be clear, I am NOT wishing we get hit with another pandemic, a meteor shower, or some other supernatural disaster to truly pause the season. We’ve already been through enough [KITTEN] in the past three years (and some people/countries are enjoying this madness and plan to let the bad times roll) that we don’t need any more juju for bad luck. All I’m saying is that we just.... stop? I know Philadelphia fans wouldn’t mind claiming an undefeated season.

The core of this argument is that the Texans may never get a better combination of draft picks for the rest of the year. Two top 10 picks could fuel this franchise for a decade, especially if one’s a top flight QB. Indeed, the woeful Texans will continue to woe and we’re seven weeks away from Watson coming back. As my father always says, if you try to time the market, you’ll probably going to miss.

That’s why folding up shop now while we’re ‘ahead’ in Week Seven feels like a best case scenario.

We know we have a dawg in Dameon Pierce. We know we have promising DBs in Derek Stingley Jr and Jalen Pitre.

We have enough film on Mills to know exactly who he is and isn’t. We know Nico Collins is a WR3 at best and that John Metchie III won’t be available until maybe next season. We’ve seen good things from rookie Kenyon Green, who if anyone I’d like to continue to see grow. And probably most importantly, there haven’t been any significant season-ending injuries to name.

As the song by Kenny Rogers goes...

You got to know when to Hold’em, know when to fold’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. You never count your money when you’re sitting at the table, they’ll be time enough to count your money when the dealings done.

Enough ‘good’ has happened this season to warrant a nice pat on the back. Do any of us really need to see eleven more weeks of rib cracking losses? Imagine if one of our young stars goes down, we’ll be convulsing while we beg for the season to be over.

As for the uncontrollable and unpredictable Cleveland Browns, heaven knows what direction that franchise is heading. They’ve lost three in a row and feasibly could lose the next five. They face the Ravens, Bengals, Dolphins, Bills, and Buccaneers. Three of those are away and four of those teams made the playoffs last year. Cleveland could be 3-8 in five weeks and out of playoff contention. But then Deshaun Watson gets back and everything changes.

The Deshaun Watson led Browns will face Houston, Cincinnati, Baltimore, New Orleans, Washington and Pittsburgh. There’s easily four wins in that stretch. Let’s say that occurs. They’d be 7-10 and sit between the 9th-14th pick in the draft.

Even if the Texans tank harder that my respect for Kanye has, I’d prefer two top ten picks than one top three and one 14th overall pick, at best. Call that nuts, but look what two top ten picks have done to the New York Jets (4-2) and New York Giants (5-1).

If anything let’s sell Laremy Tunsil to any one of the top teams in the league. Gift Brandin Cooks to a WR-needy team (we should have given him to the Ravens or Cardinals this week). Stock up for April and put the entire team in bubble wrap until August 2023. It’s a long ways away, but it’ll be worth it if the two New York teams are anything to go off of.