Coast to Coast: Houston Texans (in depth write up)

[Maddict5]

http://www.nfluk.com/features-display.php?id=3080

havent read it yet but Carlson is a pretty knowledgeable guy and usually writes a good article

[Maddict5]

just read it and its a tiny bit dated (quinn gray, no colvin etc) but solid write up.. better than anything from the major sites anyway. he goes through all 32 teams in the off-season if anybody want to enhance their overall knowledge of the teams

[ObsiWan]

Nice article. Fair and balanced and in-depth. Don't be put off by his ragging on our team name selection. I thought it was kinda funny

where/how did you find it?

[b0ng]

That gets my vote of approval. Fantastic article.

[Carr Bombed]

Actually the guy is a bit of a smartass and comes off looking totally misinformed throughout the piece...

Fred Weary is serviceable at right guard when healthy, but triceps injuries are hard to come back from. (didn't Weary break his leg?)

They signed Chris Brown from the ex-Oilers, and appear to like Darius Walker, last year's undrafted free agent, more than Chris Taylor (really that's strange, because that's not what I've been hearing), undrafted in 2006, but popped in this column. Taylor had one nice game when he finally played last year.(Chris Taylor never played a down last season)

Vonta Leach is a tough blocker, while Jameel Cook blocks reasonably well, but lacks size, and seems to have lost his pass-catching skills. Jon Abbatte, an undrafted linebacker from Wake Forest last year, has become a full back this year, and may get a shot at leading the committee through holes. (Seriously where is this guy getting his info. Abbatte will be lucky to be added back to the practice squad and certainly will not be leading our runningbacks through holes this season.)

Sorry, these are only couple of the errors I could pick up on, because I didn't make it through the entire article.....I got turned off by the three paragraphs of name trashing before we even got to actual football talk, but still gave the article a chance, but when I just kept reading information that was completely incorrect I didn't want to waste anymore time on it. Just seemed like another "They're the crappy Texans, nobody cares, let's just get this piece over with and move on to the next division" article.

[The Pencil Neck]

Quite a few errors though.

He basically says that Will Demps played on a Super Bowl team and doesn't realize that he played for us last year. He said that Chris Taylor had one good game last year when it was two years ago. Obviously, he missed Quinn Gray and Jordan Black being let go. There were some other things but that's all I can remember off of the top of my head.

[barrett]

hey, cut the guy some slack. maybe they don't have the internet over there. and maybe his local newspaper doesn't cover the texans very well. and you can't blame the paper really. it's virtually impossible to get information on the texans before the newspaper in their hometown of houston gets it.

oh... wait... the chronicle sucks. wait! we have better info than the chronicle does! holy $hit, we ARE the texans number one source for information! omg! we ARE the news!!!

.... filmed at 11

[HJam72]

It should be the Indianapolis Land-Lovers, the Jacksonville Retirees, the Tennessee Hillbillies, and the Houston Polluters (OK, Oilers would've worked).

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Carr Bombed

Actually the guy is a bit of a smartass and comes off looking totally misinformed throughout the piece...

Sorry, these are only couple of the errors I could pick up on, because I didn't make it through the entire article.....I got turned off by the three paragraphs of name trashing before we even got to actual football talk, but still gave the article a chance, but when I just kept reading information that was completely incorrect I didn't want to waste anymore time on it. Just seemed like another "They're the crappy Texans, nobody cares, let's just get this piece over with and move on to the next division" article.

this is the opening sentence of the concluding paragraph...

You really would have to agree that Houston is on the upward

That hardly sounds like he's thinking, "they're the crappy Texans..."

And about our name. Something energy or space related (following the Astros/Rockets/Comets theme) would have identified the team with the city of Houston and would made for a much better name which made sense. Since McNair is a horse guy, I could have even accepted something like the Stallions.

But that's water under the bridge at this point and I've gotten used it. They're my team no matter what the name is.

[Carr Bombed]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

this is the opening sentence of the concluding paragraph.....You really would have to agree that Houston is on the upward

That hardly sounds like he's thinking, "they're the crappy Texans..."

WOW.....so one single sentence in a article that happens to spend 4 paragraphs bashing our team = a positive review. We're talking about a article that spends a total of 12 paragraphs on our team which includes 4, bashing the orgin name of the Texans as a filler. (Yep great "filler", I could log on to any message board and write up a better preview of their season) And incase you ask, the reason why I call it a "filler", is because this guy was completely mislead and wrong on almost everything he said. I'd be willing to take a ......."the Houston Texans name sucks article", if the writer could atleast know what the hell he was talking about, but he wasn't. (seriously the guy didn't know what the hell he was talking about and you expect fans to take him seriously.) Sorry but compared to this guy, I'd rather just keep my ear plugged to the Chron.

Not only did the writer spend a 3rd (4 out of 12) of his written argument bashing us, but he spent the rest of it supplying information that was completely false and out of this world........seriously where the hell did this guy pull up half the crap that he wrote? He could've easily logged on to this board and he would've atleast saved most if not all his credit....he was that bad, the guy did little to no research

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Carr Bombed

WOW.....so one single sentence in a article that happens to spend 4 paragraphs bashing our team = a positive review. We're talking about a article that spends a total of 12 paragraphs on our team which includes 4, bashing the orgin name of the Texans as a filler. (Yep great "filler", I could log on to any message board and write up a better preview of their season) And incase you ask, the reason why I call it a "filler", is because this guy was completely mislead and wrong on almost everything he said. I'd be willing to take a ......."the Houston Texans name sucks article", if the writer could atleast know what the hell he was talking about, but he wasn't. (seriously the guy didn't know what the hell he was talking about and you expect fans to take him seriously.) Sorry but compared to this guy, I'd rather just keep my ear plugged to the Chron.

Not only did the writer spend a 3rd (4 out of 12) of his written argument bashing us, but he spent the rest of it supplying information that was completely false and out of this world........seriously where the hell did this guy pull up half the crap that he wrote? He could've easily logged on to this board and he would've atleast saved most if not all his credit....he was that bad, the guy did little to no research

Whatever dude, but for the record, thats not correct; he made fun of the selection of the team name of Texans. He never bashed the team.

[Maddict5]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

Nice article. Fair and balanced and in-depth. Don't be put off by his ragging on our team name selection. I thought it was kinda funny

where/how did you find it?

im part of the texans foreign legion! i go to that site quite regularly.. its simple but has good insight sometimes

Originally Posted by Carr Bombed

Actually the guy is a bit of a smartass and comes off looking totally misinformed throughout the piece...


Sorry, these are only couple of the errors I could pick up on, because I didn't make it through the entire article.....I got turned off by the three paragraphs of name trashing before we even got to actual football talk, but still gave the article a chance, but when I just kept reading information that was completely incorrect I didn't want to waste anymore time on it. Just seemed like another "They're the crappy Texans, nobody cares, let's just get this piece over with and move on to the next division" article.

relax... thats what he does- you dont know him so you wouldnt be expected to realise that. read some of his articles on the other teams- he either makes fun of the teams (eg cards=crads) or some players on the team (pacman etc).. its the way he does it- he likes to evoke the exact reaction that you got aswell as giving you an insight into each team


he makes mistakes in his articles but thats because you're right he doesnt go research them.. hes a studio analyst on british tv that watches alot of games and does quite a bit of research during the season and then writes down what his opinions are researched and watched in these previews from what he remembers..

the mistakes were small though:
-okobi had the triceps injury, not weary
- demps
- abbate... maybe from the article last yr where kubiak was real high on him?

this results in him having a broad, general knowledge of each team- not as insightful as we have because we follow the team closely.. but he knows his stuff about every team and most players and i dont know many more knowledgeable writers about the entire nfl in general

i know i sound like an apologist but i watch the guy and like him.. he knows his stuff and while there were mistakes in it, i thought it was better than the 'their line sux' preview that you get on espn or NFLTA

[Carr Bombed]

Originally Posted by Maddict5

i know i sound like an apologist but i watch the guy and like him.. he knows his stuff and while there were mistakes in it, i thought it was better than the 'their line sux' preview that you get on espn or NFLTA

Actually outside of Jamie Dukes, NFLTA does probably the best job........I was especially impressed with their coverage of the draft. I think ESPN really has something to worry about, because NFLTA pretty much kicked their ...

[threetoedpete]

Giving big dough to over-30 runners is, in general, a bad idea.

Well moron or stinking genius, the guy got that one correct. He left out the "very,very" before "bad".

[b0ng]

Originally Posted by Carr Bombed

WOW.....so one single sentence in a article that happens to spend 4 paragraphs bashing our team = a positive review. We're talking about a article that spends a total of 12 paragraphs on our team which includes 4, bashing the orgin name of the Texans as a filler. (Yep great "filler", I could log on to any message board and write up a better preview of their season) And incase you ask, the reason why I call it a "filler", is because this guy was completely mislead and wrong on almost everything he said. I'd be willing to take a .......

While you might not have enjoyed his review, I don't think reading the entire article and then just saying that he bashed the Texans the entire article isn't really genuine. I'll pull some of the stuff I liked the most:

Originally Posted by Mike Carlson

Defensively, they're still a few players away from being a dominant unit, though they do have some studs. Particularly Mario Williams, the defensive end taken ahead of the Bush-You-Can-Support in the 2006 draft. Williams' rookie year he was bothered by plantar fasicitis - and as I picked up this same injury this spring playing basketball in my socks (don't ask) I can tell you it makes putting stress on your foot very difficult. Last season was a different story, as he racked up 14 sacks, and established himself as a force. They have three first-round picks up front, and last year's Amobi Okoye, looks like a keeper. He was very raw, but playing next to Williams, he ought to make an impact this year.

I feel that's pretty on the money, whether you like the way he put it or not.

Originally Posted by Mike Carlson

But the big story was when they surprised everyone by using their first draft pick on Virginia Tech tackle Duane Brown. Few draftniks had Brown rated as a first round pick, but he was certainly the best one left standing after the run on tackles in round one, and he is very much suited to Gibbs' style of play. The Texans had certainly targeted him; they could have stayed with their 18th pick and taken Jeff Otah or Sam Baker, but they picked up an extra third and sixth by trading down with Baltimore to 26, and taking Brown then. A converted TE, he reminds me a lot of Matt Lepsis, who played RT in Barcelona and then in Denver, eventually moving to the left side. Brown is apparently being slotted right in at LT, which is their point of greatest need, with Winston set on the right, and with some work he could become their left tackle of the long-term future. If Spencer is still the guy who looked so good in 2006, this might be redundant, but it's a sign of Kubiak and GM Rick Smith's confidence that they are willing to spend that pick on the future. Since Smith is the NFL's youngest GM and just signed a four-year deal means he probably has a future.

I think that's a pretty fair assesment of our Duane Brown pick, and it's definitely not bashing it like most other sites have.

Originally Posted by Mike Carlson

Neither has special abilities, however, which is why they used a third-round pick on Steve Slaton, who had a great college career at West Virginia, but is really a third-down sized back who's pumped himself up a bit. Slaton's style, run from a spread offense in college, ought to fit Houston's, and he can catch the ball out of the backfield. In college, coach Rich Rodriquez used to make them watch Bronco game films, which is probably more than Travis Henry ever did in Denver.

Something I didn't know about Steve Slaton.

Again, you don't have to like the article, but I figured I'd paste some of the parts which are more complimentary.

[Maddict5]

Originally Posted by Carr Bombed

Actually outside of Jamie Dukes, NFLTA does probably the best job........I was especially impressed with their coverage of the draft. I think ESPN really has something to worry about, because NFLTA pretty much kicked their ...

i agree the draft is pretty impressive

im talking about their season review/preview which was incredibly superficial for an nfl dedicated network.. and had lots of mistakes. of course, they didnt make light of the texans name

this piece wasnt perfect by any means but at least it was a change from the normal 'mention schaub, aj , mario, okoye, demeco and... uh moving on' and i dont think it deserves the harsh criticism you gave it

[Allstar]

Originally Posted by Carr Bombed

Actually outside of Jamie Dukes, NFLTA does probably the best job........I was especially impressed with their coverage of the draft. I think ESPN really has something to worry about, because NFLTA pretty much kicked their ...

Actually, there is talk of Espn absorbing NFLN...


Check it out

Could be good?

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by allstars

Actually, there is talk of Espn absorbing NFLN...


Check it out

Could be good?

interesting...
If it happens the NFLN draft coverage may be lost. Wouldn't make sense for ESPN to have two flavors of draft coverage.

Originally Posted by allstars

Actually, there is talk of Espn absorbing NFLN...


Check it out

Could be good?

That is something to keep in tune with. Thanx for the info.

[steds]

Originally Posted by Maddict5

havent read it yet but Carlson is a pretty knowledgeable guy and usually writes a good article

True for the most part, but he spends too long pissing about with that Harry Potter lookalike on channel 5.