Yes, but one season is too soon to judge any
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All encompassing Rick Smith thread
- Thread starter djohn2oo8
- Start date
Yes, but one season is too soon to judge any
infantrycak
Hall of Fame
Mixed bag to me. A player with no/minor injury history gets nailed that's not bust, it's bad luck & football. GM/ HC take a gamble on a known risk, I'll go with bust if he was drafted as if never injured. If he otherwise would have been a 1st and you get him in the 5th, still not a bust.
They are staying on the field except for Coutee and according to Doc the Texans medical staff mishandled him. Again
NitroGSXR
Super Sic #58
You explained it much better than I did. I wholly agree.
dream_team
Hall of Fame
Yes, a coincidence that Rick was removed right after the acquisition of Watson. Our success this season has nothing to do with Rick being gone, more that Deshaun has played the whole season so far.
He “fixed” the safeties, but we’re still horrible against the pass.
You’re the one that can’t move forward. You never miss an opportunity to “thank Rick” whenever discussing anything bad in regards to the Texans. I agree, let’s move forward... so stop bringing him up all the time.
I’m encouraged by Gaine, but let’s not act like he built this team. This is still a roster mostly assembled by Rick, especially the starters.
Texas Jake
Rookie
I think the injuries at CB has a lot to do with our struggles against the pass.
infantrycak
Hall of Fame
That and a specific RAC comment, he has the most bizarre timing for scheme selection. Play 9 yd off man coverage for 3rd & 7. Play zone for 3rd & goal at the one.
Apparently 12 yrs isn't enough.
Uh... Kevin Johnson can play. Dude's got skills.
If there were injury concerns prior to the draft, I'd agree with you. Rick gambled & lost. If not, it's just one of those things. Not a miss, imo.
How many times have we said this?
Maybe you knew better, but I took the cheese, time & time again. Who was that tall guy we drafted back when Kubiak was here? Converted WR, 3 good catches here. I can't remember his name. Then Garrett Graham was supposed to be OD 2.0, then Fiedo, best blocking TE in the draft. Then James Casey, the Swiss army knife jack of all trades...
Get back to me when these TEs sign their 2nd contract.
How many wins would we have without DW4?
How many without DHop?
Who drafted those guys?
All the ST talent in the world ain't worth what Watson brings.
Just saying, that's the only coincidence I see. Lose horribly with the QBs BO'b wanted & groomed. Win games we shouldn't with Rick's boy.
I wish we had pre injury Jj Watt though. We'd have the #1 seed locked up with all that ST talent.
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Take away any teams star players and what would you have. Ricky was great in the 1st rd. My main problems with Ricky were 1. It took him a decade to draft a QB. 2. He had no idea of the concept of roster building 3. He sucked in rds 2-4 and that's where roster building/depth comes from.
I too wish we had pre-injury Watt. Although post injury Watt is still a very good player. Pro Bowl level. I'm really proud of the way Watt/JDC have made it back from injuries that would've ended many players careers.
He wasn't looking for a QB for most of that time. He found Schaub His first offseason & Kubiak made it work for most of Rick's tenure.
Then BO'b had a hard-on for Hoyer & y'know.
I think he's hit about as well as any other GM in rounds 2-4... but I'm counting guys we didn't want for one reason or another. Brandon Brooks, Ben Jones, Brooks Reed, Glover Quinn, XSF...
Your hindsight is like .20/.20 but you obsession with Smith is like .05/.20. Any optometrist's in the room?
I have no obsession and didn't bring Ricky up.
Uncle Rico asked and I answered.
He actually thinks Ricky was a good GM despite 12 yrs that point to the opposite.
Take away any teams star players and what would you have. Ricky was great in the 1st rd. My main problems with Ricky were 1. It took him a decade to draft a QB. 2. He had no idea of the concept of roster building 3. He sucked in rds 2-4 and that's where roster building/depth comes from.
I too wish we had pre-injury Watt. Although post injury Watt is still a very good player. Pro Bowl level. I'm really proud of the way Watt/JDC have made it back from injuries that would've ended many players careers. [/QUOTE]Hmmmm.... The 1st step is admitting that you have a problem. How convenient that New Years is right around the corner....
OptimisticTexan
2024 / Rebuilding Block 4 After Playoffs / Texans
UR....I usually agree with your post(s) but this one I will completely disagree with.
Reid has been a diamond in the rough and a hell of a pick in RD3. If he continues to progress, he'll initiate a perrennial All Pro campaign next season.
The Jordan's will both be really big impact TE's for the Texans when the OL issues get settled and OB can get them incorporated into the passing game. I could see both of these guys becoming the Texans version of the Gronk - Hernandez connection.....but for Watson. Both of these guys were big hits, especially Thomas since he was selected in RD6.
Rankin will be just fine and a solid interior OL when OB and Devlin get him settled into an OG position. I still like this pick and he eliminates having to use a top draft pick in 2019 on an OG.
Ejiofor will be another answer at OLB when he's heathy and looked good coming into the season. It wasn't an injury the debilitated him for the long run but an injury that slowed down his 2018 season.
Coutee absolutely showed what his future could look like if he can stay healthy. I'm not going to associate him with Fuller just yet b/c he suffered a nasty hamstring injury, didn't give it enough time and re-injured it. If he makes it back for the playoffs.....he'll pay dividends. He's got a solid future but has to keep those hammy's healthy.
Kalambayi and Kelly (IR) are still with the team and be competing in next year's off-season. The key, none of these guys were released and could be bigger pieces to this team next season.
7 selected - 7 signed - 7 still with the team. This has to happen in the later rounds for the next few seasons to stack the depth chart with some pretty good talent or have some breakout/unsuspecting stars. This is how teams build long-term winning organizations.
I will easily hand Gaine an A for his first draft b/c he simply did what hadn't been done for a Texans team since the beginning.....he nailed a boat load of picks from RD3 thru RD7.
OptimisticTexan
2024 / Rebuilding Block 4 After Playoffs / Texans
Watson, Hopkins, Watt, Clowney, McKinney, Mercilus are good......but they're not bringing a Super Bowl home until Gaine fixes the foundation on both sides of the ball and the CB's. The depth chart needs to be addressed as well. Nice pieces were found by RS but he never completed the puzzle and in my eyes, he had too many great draft positions to somehow have missed these areas so badly. Not to mention, he was his own worst enemy at managing the cap.
Because of this, he's out and Gaine is in.....his job, find the rest of the pieces. I really liked his first effort and I look forward to seeing what he can do with a full complement of picks and some reasonable cap space to work with.
Uncle Rico
Ur apology should be as loud as Ur disrespect was
thanks for the well thought out and civil response OT, it really lends itself to further discussion .. while I may not share your level of optimism I do agree that each player respectively has shown at some point or another during the year that they could help whenever it is that they will be asked to do so. Coutee came out in his first game as a pro and set the NFL completions record for a rookie in his first game and then the injury bug hit.
I had high hopes when the Texans selected 2 TEs last year thinking to myself that OBrien was going to recreate the offense he had in NE with 2 young and promising rookie TEs. TBD.
I loved Rankin in college, he's really left me deflated. I dont see even an inside lineman at this point. He is weak at the point of attack, does not play with leverage and his feet rival how bad Davenports feet are. Want to kill Watson? PLay Davenport and Rankin on the same side.
Staying healthy is part of it. Players becoming pro's is part of it. Gaine did an ok job for this first gig, but it was an OBrien/Gaine aligned selection process so Bill OBrien should also share the accolades or the criticisms when it does or doesnt work out. Its still early to suggest that late round picks have panned out I mean the sheer number of injuries on this team would necessitate the need to keep playing these young guys in particular the special teamers. As long as the selection committee keeps nailing the 1-2 picks like the previous, those are the difference makers IMO. Happy stories about late round picks becoming HOFers are really cool and all that, but its really not the norm in the NFL, but with you I also share a newfound appreciation for having serviceable later round picks this year and hope that the trend continues. If Justin Reid becomes an All Pro safety then this draft was a win regardless of who else emerges.
amazing80
Hall of Fame
To me Smith was average with the draft. Great in rd 1 but average the rest of the way.
The problem was his boneheaded decisions to signing and resigning players. He was terrible at having a feel for signing guys. Too many times he would give big contracts after a player had a major injury.
The problem was his boneheaded decisions to signing and resigning players. He was terrible at having a feel for signing guys. Too many times he would give big contracts after a player had a major injury.
What FA's off the street? UDFA's? they chose the Texans.... yeah he was very poor at team management and very weak appearing to me. First round is on coaches and scouting, after that it's on GM and scouting. Much harder to watch film and live #100 than it is possible #10
OptimisticTexan
2024 / Rebuilding Block 4 After Playoffs / Texans
Can't wait to get back to Houston (Humble) on a full time basis so a few of us fans can get together and just shoot the shite about sports on occasion. I still don't understand why we just can't discuss opinions on this site without making it so dang personal. I can get like that sometimes but it's the personal attacks (not just me) that rile me up sometimes. Anyhow, nice post with an opposing point of view.
Uncle Rico
Ur apology should be as loud as Ur disrespect was
absolutely a fair and accurate criticism. I get nauseated when i think about the Ed Reed fiasco (even though I think McNair played a big part in that) was Ahman Green on Rick? Allowing guys like Brooks, Ben Jones, Duane Brown, Glover Quin, Bouye etc to walk .. lets not forget that Rick Smith was able to trade a 6th round pick for Chris Meyers who was a stud C for a while around here, signing Wade Smith who was a good lineman, and for me the coup de grace was that Rick Smith was able to get SOMETHING for Matt Schaub after the historic collapse, that he got a 6th rounder for him was nothing short of a miracle. I disliked the Jacque Reeves deal a ton, and the Osweiler situation I was completely against from the get go.
Ricks gone, Brian is here. Like I said before Brian has a ton of work to do before he's on Ricks level, but he's trending up.
Board get together's aren't unknown... quite a few have met others. Yeah the dialogue has become way too argumentative, but this site is going through growing pains. It's all in text so no reading the other person. Too many come across as attacking the poster (I know I'm guilty!) instead of the post
infantrycak
Hall of Fame
The football side has traditionally been pretty civil. Got a lot of new members coming in. Hit me up if someone needs a rolled newspaper to the nose.
The NSZ has always been rough & tumble. I used to be far rougher. RZ & I would trade barbs constantly. But there was no animosity. That's what it is supposed to be. Some folks have gone off the chain. And we used not to have bleedover. Working on it but it's like herding rabid skunks.
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It shouldN'T be that hard for Gaine to beat the track record you just described and if he cant do better than that Gaine should be fired too.
The main thing Gaine shouldn't do is re-sign guys like Schaub/Cushing when they're coming off injury and still under contract. Doing that was just plain stupid and many on this MB said so at the time. Also trading a 2nd rd pick to get rid of your boo boo and create cap space then not use the cap space and predictably finishing 4-12 should also cost a GM his job.
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When do you get back?
Let me know and I will buy you a beer.
I live in the livable forest.
Ok.
I didn't say any different. At least I don't think I did. See, the conversation was whether I thought our season going so well was directly related to Rick Smith not being here.
My answer is that I believe our season is going as well as it is because we have a game changer under Center, our in the gun, or however you say QB.
I've got nothing against Gaine. I like what he's done so far. I hope everything turns out the way we think they have, but the truth is too early to say. I remember several drafts we thought we did well & two/three years later we feel we wasted every pick from the third round on.
Remember Louis Nix, Jared Crick? I thought those were bonafide steals.
I loved the Demaryius Thomas trade. But really, how much did it help? I'm not saying it had no effect. I'm not blaming Gaine for a torn Achilles. But bottom line, he's out for the season & we haven't won the division yet.
Deshaun Watson being healthy is the reason for the season. He decides he'd rather go on mission to Guatemala tomorrow, prepare for another embarrassing playoff azWhup'n
DELETE
paycheck71
Hall of Fame
Nice. I lived in Kingwood between 89 and 96.
TexansBull
Hall of Fame
I think Cal will be bringing him in for a year.
Can’t do any worse than what he has.
Can’t do any worse than what he has.
Who?
TexansBull
Hall of Fame
Can't do any worse than who has?
TexansBull
Hall of Fame
You should learn what context is... the discussion was the livable forest and then you threw in a non sequitur
TexansBull
Hall of Fame
maverick512000
Hall of Fame
Not sure how you can steer it back to topic when it had already crashed, been totaled out, sent to the scrap yard, crushed and turned into recycled bicycle parts.
TexansBull
Hall of Fame
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise? I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life… He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. He became so powerful… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself.
Mangler
Toro de España
The mods closed it to allow a new Brian Gaine thread.
Dude! So after more than 6 months of no activity, you decide to revive a thread with acomment with no reference to the most recent posts and expect an old drunk to follow along? WTHIWWY?
TexansBull
Hall of Fame
Privilege of being an old curmudgeon