So in 4 years, the Texans only won 4 games a year with Watson huh?
proof is in the results bruh. You can see the gradual slide in our record as talent is eventually siphoned off and not adequately replaced despite Watson's stellar play throughout.
2017- 4-12 overall record - Only important b/c the team was as flush with talent as it had ever been at this time....... as reflected in the 3 years prior to DW4's arrival where we went 9-7 for 3 straight years & had 2 playoff births with the trifecta of trash at the qb position with Hoyer/Fitz and Osweiler. It's also important b/c the o-line issues started to manifest itself this year. We'd lost Brooks and Jones 2 years prior, but we'd sorta been able to still piece it together with Jeff Allen Mancz & had drafted Nick Martin & were waiting to see how he'd pan out. But when Brown got traded.... who was in a contract dispute in 2017 & sat out like the 1st 8 games before being traded midseason...that's when it started to go to hell.
2018 - 11-5 overall record - Still with most of the same decent talent from the previous 4 seasons under BoB & with DW4 now starting for the full season, we saw a 2 win bump...
primarily b/c of his play at the position. Despite this, the failings with talent thru the draft & mostly shitty FA acqusitions were begining to mount up...most evidently seen along the o-line and in the WR corps. We started seeing the revolving door at the tackle positions with Davenport & Lamm. Same at the guard position with Jeff Allen all but retired, Fulton looking mostly like a JAG. We also quickly found out that Kelemete was not of starting quality & that Nick Martin was flailing in development. With the WR corp, Fuller's track record of being unable to stay healthy opposite Nuk (only played in 5 games) was also beginning to take shape & Keke Coutee as a rook was
ALREADY proving to be a non factor as a #3. So much so that we had to go out & get a beaten down Demaryius Thomas for a 1/2 season just to be able to threaten defenses in the pass game.
2019 - **** hit the fan. 10-6 overall record again primarily b/c of DW4's play elevating the team, but the tremendous loss of talent on the defensive side would reflect in our record (1 win lighter than 2018) & every season thereafter...especially after KC exposed us defensively in that playoff travesty......Going into that year this is the talent we'd lost from 2018:
- Clowney.......... coming off his last pro bowl season...replaced with Brennan &*%^ing Scarlett lol
- Kareem Jackson......coming off HIS best year & 1 of the most underrated at his position...tried to replace him with Roby but Lonnie &*^%ing Johnson got some run at CB 1st lol.
- Tyrann Mathieu..... 1 of the few FA acquisitions that had worked out......gone to KC...where he went on to have 2 all-pro seasons....replaced with Tashaun &*%ing Gipson lol
- JJ also missed 1/2 the season that year......no doubt on his way out....which meant that we were depending on Scarlett and an underperforming ass Whitney Mercilus for pressure. That's quite the step down from Clowney/Watt the previous year.
- you also had J-Jo on his last legs at the CB position..not looking anywhere close to what he was just 1 year prior.
offensively
- Lamar Miller - our 1000 yard back from 2018...out for the season...never wore a Texans uni again..replaced by Carlos Hyde..who actually did an admirable job..but a 0 in the pass game.
- Brought in Tunsil for an arm and a leg, but it was anyone's guess how Howard & Scharping would work out at the RT & LG positions...we know how that went tho.
By the time 2020 rolled around...which saw Nuk get traded.......DJ Reader leave in FA, The talent was so depleted and not replaced with equal or better talent, it didn't even matter that DW4 was at the peak of his powers......as reflected in that 4-12 record.
Now when you look at all this and try to pull out the common thread (outside of the BoB factor) as to why this team was able to win
then despite the shitty qb play at times, but can't do anything
now with shitty qb play, there's only 1 conclusion you can draw.