Death to Google Ads! Texans Talk Tip Jar! 🍺😎👍
Thanks for your support!

Why is everyone so angry at the media regarding the Williams pick?

gtexan02

Working?
I don't get it. I mean, we did screw up last year. The media reports the current opinion, and the current opinion is that we messed up. Heres the deal:

We go into 2006 draft saying we don't need a QB.
We pass on Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler (3 QBs with grat potential)
We say Carr is QB of the future and our franchise guy
Carr plays horribly all year, our offense is terrible.
Vince leads the Titans to a crazy comeback year, Matt and Cutler show promise, and we are now shopping Carr for a 4th round pick.
And to top it all off, we are considering starting a career backup or drafting Quinn

Doesn't that warrant some, "oops, they messed up!" talk?


Even if that doesn't, we go into 2006 saying we are set with our halfback situation because we have DD.
Even without him, we claim that Kubiak's system can make a 1000 yard rusher out of anyone.
The first half of the season our running game goes nowhwere
Our 2006 HB pick, Lundy, struggles in every game not during the preseason
First move we make in 2007 free agency is to sign an over 30 back, Ahman Green
And to top it all off, for the latter half of the season, Bush breaks out of his funk and starts playing like the guy everyone thought he was going to be. And the Saints go deep into the NFC playoffs.

Doesn't that warrant some, "oops, they messed up!" talk?


And even if both of those don't, we ended up drafting Mario Williams, the next Julius Peppers to fix our pass rush.
The first part of the season he was invisible
He then starts to get going, only to sort of disapear as the year progressed
And to top it all off, we cite pass rush as one of our biggest needs AGAIN this offseason

So doesn't that warrant some, "oops they msesed up!" talk?

The fact is, we pass on 3 of the best QBs to come out in a long time, and the very next year have a huge hole at QB
We pass on a fantastic playmaking RB only to sign a band-aid back the next offseason
We claim we did this to shore up our Dl and pass rush, only to relist it as one of our priorities this offseason.

I know that at the time we thought that Carr was going to be ok, I know that the OL was unpredictable beause of injuries, I know that Bush would probably not have succeeded here, I know that Williams and the rest of the DL was injured a lot last year, but you have to admit that in general, we had a good opportunity last year to pick a "media-dubbed-sure-bet" We didn't, and the guy we picked did very little. As a result, we've got to be OK with the media bashing.
We went against the grain, it didn't pan out as we'd hoped, and now we've got to live with our choices.

I personally think in time VY's technical weakness will start to show, while Leinart and Cutler will both improve. I think Reggie will be great, and I think MW will also be dominant. But for now, it SEEMS to most that we got stuck with the weakest link, and until MW comes through with a dominant year, we are going to be looked down on. And rightfully so
 

Kaiser Toro

Native Mod
Nope as there were two players on the team draft boards for the #1 pick - Bush and Williams. We made the smart move due to the impact Bush would have had on our cap, which would have created an imbalance at a spend level - 60+m vs 40M for many years. Balance on the field via a balanced cap is smart.
 

Navy_Chris

Rookie
Um, because they were right? We had 3 great QB's we could have picked.
Because Casserly's entire rationale behind that pick was 'We're not gonna be able to outscore Indianapolis, so let's draft a guy that can keep them from scoring." I'm still sick to the stomach everyday about that one.
 

Kaiser Toro

Native Mod
Because Casserly's entire rationale behind that pick was 'We're not gonna be able to outscore Indianapolis, so let's draft a guy that can keep them from scoring." I'm still sick to the stomach everyday about that one.
And we wind up beating Indy for the first time in team history.

Things that make you go hmmm?
 

Navy_Chris

Rookie
And we wind up beating Indy for the first time in team history.

Things that make you go hmmm?
Maybe it was because their run defense at the time we played them. Could it be because Ron Dayne tortured their D? I mean, DC wasn't even in the gameplan that day.

Very weak argument.
 

HoustonFrog

Dallas Frog
Long post but if you want to simplify it:

Last year was laoded with "game breakers" on offense...franchise guys

We went defensive line to put pressure on the teams in our division

A year later we still have no playmakers and are still looking to d-line and defensive help in the draft.

Oops
 

Navy_Chris

Rookie
Weak arguements are usually born from a weak premise.
For Casserly to automatically assume that we couldn't outscore Indy no matter what we did just proves his incompetence. Talk about a 'losing mentality'. He made a critical mistake by reaching for Mario Williams. You just don't pass up a special player like Vince or Reggie. It doesn't matter what your immediate needs are.

For example, if you're Cincinnati, New England, or any team for that matter and you have the #1 pick this year...you draft Calvin Johnson #1. It doesn't matter if you're already stacked at WR. CJ, just as Reggie and Vince were last year, is a guy that's too special of a player to pass up.
 

Kaiser Toro

Native Mod
For Casserly to automatically assume that we couldn't outscore Indy no matter what we did just proves his incompetence. Talk about a 'losing mentality'. He made a critical mistake by reaching for Mario Williams. You just don't pass up a special player like Vince or Reggie. It doesn't matter what your immediate needs are.

For example, if you're Cincinnati, New England, or any team for that matter and you have the #1 pick this year...you draft Calvin Johnson #1. It doesn't matter if you're already stacked at WR. CJ, just as Reggie and Vince were last year, is a guy that's too special of a player to pass up.
Williams was not a reach. If Bush went #1 where do you think Mario would have gone?
 

Navy_Chris

Rookie
Williams was not a reach. If Bush went #1 where do you think Mario would have gone?
Probably #4 to the Jets. But that's not the point. I'm trying to say that, regardless of need and 'drafting for your division', you never pass up on an instant gamebreaker. Chew on this one too, we're still looking for D-Line help one year after drafting Mario.

I'm a fan of Mario and I think he'll do well, but nevertheless, we made a mistake.

The look on Kubiak's face when he was in the war room as the pick was being announced said it all. He didn't want Mario, that was obvious from Day 1.
 

PapaL

Loose Screw
What makes Reggie or Vince so special? Have either them won a SB? They are all, including MW, untapped potential at this point.

Reggie walked onto a pretty good team. He didn't make them better; change in staff and a FA QB did.

VY I would have liked, but not at #1. Unfortunetly we could/did not trade down.
 

PapaL

Loose Screw
Probably #4 to the Jets. But that's not the point. I'm trying to say that, regardless of need and 'drafting for your division', you never pass up on an instant gamebreaker. Chew on this one too, we're still looking for D-Line help one year after drafting Mario.

I'm a fan of Mario and I think he'll do well, but nevertheless, we made a mistake.

The look on Kubiak's face when he was in the war room as the pick was being announced said it all. He didn't want Mario, that was obvious from Day 1.
Uhh no, he would have gone to N.O with the #2 pick.
 

The Pencil Neck

Hall of Fame
I don't get it. I mean, we did screw up last year. The media reports the current opinion, and the current opinion is that we messed up. Heres the deal:

We go into 2006 draft saying we don't need a QB.
We pass on Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Jay Cutler (3 QBs with grat potential)
We say Carr is QB of the future and our franchise guy
Carr plays horribly all year, our offense is terrible.
Vince leads the Titans to a crazy comeback year, Matt and Cutler show promise, and we are now shopping Carr for a 4th round pick.
And to top it all off, we are considering starting a career backup or drafting Quinn

Doesn't that warrant some, "oops, they messed up!" talk?
Um, no. That's revisionist history and hindsight being 20/20. At the time, only some a few local Longhorn fans thought we should take VY. Very few people took that seriously. I think most people were floored when the Titans took VY with the third pick because that's where Leinart was going to be reunited with his old coach.

Most people thought that Carr would be fine with a little coaching by Kubiak and improvement in our line.

No, the media all thought we should take Bush. I still don't think Bush was the right choice for us to take. He needs to share time with someone like LenDale White or Deuce McAllister because he's more of a change of pace back.

Most of us are angry at the media because:

1. They refuse to recognize that Mario filled more of a need for us than Bush would have.
2. They continue to harp every minor thing that Bush does like it's some major accomplishment when for most of the year, he really didn't perform that well.
3. They've started saying it was a mistake that we didn't take Vince when if you go back and look at what THEY were saying before the draft, everyone thought that Vince was going to be a project and probably wouldn't be able to play his game in the NFL.
4. It is now an unwritten rule that if any reporter mentions the Texans, they have to mention what a mistake it was that we didn't take Vince or Reggie and what a horrible draft we had even though we nabbed the DROY and got several other starters.

The top 4 guys on the board were Bush, Williams, Leinart, and Ferguson. And most of the reporters had them going in that order. Most of the mocks had them in that order. I think the media is just ticked off overall because the entire draft went totally differently than they had been reporting it was going to go.
 

Navy_Chris

Rookie
What makes Reggie or Vince so special? Have either them won a SB? They are all, including MW, untapped potential at this point.

Reggie walked onto a pretty good team. He didn't make them better; change in staff and a FA QB did.

VY I would have liked, but not at #1. Unfortunetly we could/did not trade down.
Reggie walked onto a 3-13 team. We were 2-14. What?

VY walked onto a 4-12 team. We were 2-14. What? Vince singlehandedly turned that team around, got Jeff Fisher a contract extension, and got them 1 game from the playoffs.
 

Kaiser Toro

Native Mod
Probably #4 to the Jets. But that's not the point. I'm trying to say that, regardless of need and 'drafting for your division', you never pass up on an instant gamebreaker. Chew on this one too, we're still looking for D-Line help one year after drafting Mario.

I'm a fan of Mario and I think he'll do well, but nevertheless, we made a mistake.

The look on Kubiak's face when he was in the war room as the pick was being announced said it all. He didn't want Mario, that was obvious from Day 1.
We made no mistake. Our issue is in the secondary, we knew that after last year's draft. We lost our two DT's to injuries and that did not help. Mario is as much as a game breaker as Bush and Young, just more subtle due to the nature of the positions.
 

The Pencil Neck

Hall of Fame
Probably #4 to the Jets. But that's not the point. I'm trying to say that, regardless of need and 'drafting for your division', you never pass up on an instant gamebreaker. Chew on this one too, we're still looking for D-Line help one year after drafting Mario.

I'm a fan of Mario and I think he'll do well, but nevertheless, we made a mistake.

The look on Kubiak's face when he was in the war room as the pick was being announced said it all. He didn't want Mario, that was obvious from Day 1.
I totally disagree. Mario was probably going #2 to the Saints. We just swapped those around. I think taking Mario was the right decision. I think Reggie would have been a bust of astronomical proportions if we had drafted him.
 

Navy_Chris

Rookie
We made no mistake. Our issue is in the secondary, we knew that after last year's draft. We lost our two DT's to injuries and that did not help. Mario is as much as a game breaker as Bush and Young, just more subtle due to the nature of the positions.
I'm not doubting Mario's potential. I think he's a darn good DE, but we needed instant OFFENSE last year. You can have the strongest defense in the league, but if you're not explosive on offense you're not going much of anywhere.
 

HoustonFrog

Dallas Frog
What makes Reggie or Vince so special? Have either them won a SB? They are all, including MW, untapped potential at this point.

Reggie walked onto a pretty good team. He didn't make them better; change in staff and a FA QB did.

VY I would have liked, but not at #1. Unfortunetly we could/did not trade down.
Sorry, but that is just plain wrong. He made them better. He let a RB that had been hurt off and on for a couple of years split snaps and have a productive year while at the same time being productive himself. Deuce getting his breathers was huge. Not only that but when you're last option is dumping it to Bush, it makes the Qbs job easier.

As for Mario. I think he is a good man who will be a strong player but why would you take a guy #1 when there were questions about his motor and taking plays off?They went for need instead of getting the best playmaker available. They are again looking for D-line help and still don't have the playmaker. It was a mistake, even if Mario turns out to be a help.
 

Kaiser Toro

Native Mod
I'm not doubting Mario's potential. I think he's a darn good DE, but we needed instant OFFENSE last year. You can have the strongest defense in the league, but if you're not explosive on offense you're not going much of anywhere.
We were not going anywhere last year, we did the right thing by preparing for the future by being cap balanced. Once Carr and his contract are gone the offense will start to breathe.
 

Ole Miss Texan

Hall of Fame
Here's my take on the whole draft hoopla of last year...and I do get upset at the media at times because none of them know anything about the Texans..they only watched us 1 or 2 games MAYBE when they were studying the Colts.

1. Vince Young was never in the picture. He wasn't rated the highest at his position let alone overall. If they took a QB overall it prob. would have been Leinart. (Vince proved a lot of people wrong including myself with his ability to adapt to the pros... Jury is still out if he is a long term phenom or just an incredible performer towards the beginning. Michael Vick is still a threat but nothing special..but VY is better than Vick...we'll see in a few years about Young) Once we signed Carr..QB was out of the question.

2. Reggie Bush is an incredible athlete. His highlight reels from USC are simply amazing. Some this year were quite phenominal...but I don't like the 15 yard rushing gain..dodging 11 defensive players...almost breaking your neck....when the next play is a 10 yard loss because he's trying to do the same thing. No doubt..ANY team in the NFL would love to have him, but he's not a franchise running back. He should be classified as ATH (Athlete). Return, slot receiver, running back. He would not have been a good fit for our team at all...UNLESS we already had an established Offensive line(which we don't) and a power runner that can go the whole game (which we don't). I was PRO reggie up untill 1 week before the draft.

3. Mario Williams is young. His stats were questionable in college because most came in a few games his senior year. There's no question this kid has huge potential...a dominating DE which was hands down the best defensive player in the draft..probably this year's too. Not a popular pick at all...probably would have been if ESPN covered him more...or he went to USC or UT..he would have gotten a lot more talk about him..

***I do not like what the franchise did in terms of our offseason moves last year.***

1. David Carr contract extension- 3 years! $8million signing bonus! He should be here throughout..but now they are talking about getting rid of him. Dumb, dumb, dumb imo. If they were unsure of him..they should have signed him to a 1 year deal and 1 year deal only. If they were fairly confident, they should be confident enough now to keep him 1 more year. I don't understand this move at all...but neither can ANY of the fans...pro carr here (why get rid of him now?) or anit-Carr (why'd we resign him?)

2. Eric Moulds- I liked the deal at the time...but why give away a 5th round draft pick for only 1 season of playing time. we now don't have a 5th rd guy playing for us for another 2-3 years..minimum. His contract was pretty heafty too..big bonus for 1 year of playing. The rest of our draft did pretty good playing time wise...i wouldn't doubt our 5th rounder would have too. Marques Hagans or Jeremy Bloom both WR could have been sweet pickups...both were there for us.

3.Domanick Davis- what the F@#%. Don't lie to us and say we have our franchise QB if you get rid of him the next season. Dont lie to us and say we have our RB when he didn't play the entire 2006 season and will get CUT..not traded but CUT. and will most likely never play football again. Poor Dom..we all liked him.


*** Vince Young proved me wrong so far..had an incredible year..sometimes I wish we had taken him so we could have some highlight tapes. Reggie is incredible but after the season has played out I'd still take Vince and I'd still take Mario (in hopes of building a stellar D).

A lot of people hate hearing this, and i don't blame them..but we are REBUILDING our team. Mario was injured all season long and will only get better. If we can give him more of a supporting cast around him along the Line, and secondary mostly...we will be great.

I am not looking for us to be the best team anytime soon. So just by that mindset naturally i won't be as hard on the texans as those that said we HAVE to make the playoffs this year or Kubiak should be fired. I'm all for building our Defense through this draft and it'll pretty much be finished imo. That leaves a lost on Offense and quite frankly...a pretty boring team to watch. I want points and awesome offensive plays just like the next but no matter what we do this draft...IT AINT GONNA HAPPEN.


The main reason I'm upset with the media about the picks last year is, quite frankly, they don't know ***** about our team. that's the truth. We are building our team for long term benifits (is...see colts the last 5 years.) and it's going to take time, and getting FA's like Ahman Green instead of Nate Clements. once we're 1 or 2 players away of being pre-season playoff favorites..then we go for the big $$ FA. Clements would be sweet next to Dunta...I wanted him so bad but felt he'd be too expensive for our FA salary cap situation...if only he would have been a FA next season..he could have been here.

i guess this was more of a rant gtexan...lol..and i think i got most of what i think out..i'm not going to re-read this anywho cuz that will take too long.

Mario Williams, Demeco Ryans, Dunta Robinson.
If we add Laron Landry, and a stud DT and LB...our Defensive will be...*krunk*
 

Navy_Chris

Rookie
I totally disagree. Mario was probably going #2 to the Saints. We just swapped those around. I think taking Mario was the right decision. I think Reggie would have been a bust of astronomical proportions if we had drafted him.
Just like Reggie was a bust for the Saints, right?
 

PapaL

Loose Screw
Reggie walked onto a 3-13 team. We were 2-14. What?

VY walked onto a 4-12 team. We were 2-14. What? Vince singlehandedly turned that team around, got Jeff Fisher a contract extension, and got them 1 game from the playoffs.
What I'm saying is that Bush did not have anywhere near the impact on his team overall then VY did. VY won games for TEN. Bush, well lets say he didn't set the league a blaze as the running back he was drafted to be. If not for Drew Brees the Saints would have still stunk it up.
 

Navy_Chris

Rookie
We were not going anywhere last year, we did the right thing by preparing for the future by being cap balanced. Once Carr and his contract are gone the offense will start to breathe.
You're talking about cap room. We would have paid Bush or Young the same amount of money we paid Mario. AND gotten better results last year. Automatically assuming we weren't going anywhere in 06 was the mistake Casserly made, and apparently the mistake you made as well. You don't just put your tail between your legs and concede.
 

TwinSisters

Veteran
There are only three AP rookie of the year QBs in the past 39 years

1970 Dennis Shaw - Bills : flamed out
2004 Roethlisberger
2006 Vince Young
 

dvs1

Practice Squad
Sorry, but that is just plain wrong. He made them better. He let a RB that had been hurt off and on for a couple of years split snaps and have a productive year while at the same time being productive himself. Deuce getting his breathers was huge. Not only that but when you're last option is dumping it to Bush, it makes the Qbs job easier.
Aaron Stecker had been a better number 2 running back than Bush was last year. He did admirably as a number 3 WR. That being said I don't see how that is a good use of top 5 draft pick.

Texans are made fun of because our second round pick outshone our first round pick, while the saints first round pick got outshone by their seventh rounder. A quick search on NFL.com had him ranked as 46th best running back, whereas Mario was ranked 50th of all Dlineman which takes into account 3 to 4 positions so a much larger sample source.
 

TwinSisters

Veteran
A quick search on NFL.com had him ranked as 46th best running back, whereas Mario was ranked 50th of all Dlineman which takes into account 3 to 4 positions so a much larger sample source.
That's ignoring his slot WR role. Throw his receiver rating in there and you will see him sky rocket to the top. 88 catches for 742 will top some teams #1 WR ( certainly there #2s ).
 

Spled

Rookie
Mario drew double teams all year on one foot. If you listen to ESPN hype about Bush, "he's valuable even when he's not in the play", then that applies to Mario as well.
 

afcman

Waterboy
A year later we still have no playmakers
Yeah, I'm of the mind that you DO NOT pass on special players. And there were two, maybe 4, we could have picked other that Mario last year. I'm happy to have Mario on the team, but I wouldn't have picked him first.

With the way our OL has been, just think how Young could have helped us with his ability to get out and run. As it has been, teams know they can blitz us a lot. Young would have cut that out.

Look.....a year later and we still need help just about everywhere. And the networks only want to show the Texans if they can't help it.
 

HoustonFrog

Dallas Frog
Aaron Stecker had been a better number 2 running back than Bush was last year. He did admirably as a number 3 WR. That being said I don't see how that is a good use of top 5 draft pick.

Texans are made fun of because our second round pick outshone our first round pick, while the saints first round pick got outshone by their seventh rounder. A quick search on NFL.com had him ranked as 46th best running back, whereas Mario was ranked 50th of all Dlineman which takes into account 3 to 4 positions so a much larger sample source.
Who said I thought we should take Bush?People are wrong though if they don't think his impact went beyond stats. When you line up and you have Colston, Deuce, Bush and a QB in Brees, you have to account for alot of talent. We don't know what he would have done as a starting RB. Duece was healthy and splitting time and he was also a WR.

Again, my problem wasn't Bush or Mario. My problem is that the scouting notes on Mario, besides have a great combine, included that he took plays off and they weren't sure about his motor. You have the #1 pick in the draft and have zero playmakers besides AJ. There are 3-4 top QBs out there and other guys like Bush....we went need and took a D-lineman who may be great. The fact is though, he wasn't as a rookie while other guys made a difference. What makes it harder to take for some is that we are still looking d-line and still don't have a playmaker. How is that?I actually wanted Mario last year...if we moved down. But you hope to only have that #1 pick once and you take BPA. I like Mario alot but if you look objectively and where we are at now..wrong move, wrong time. In order for him to be worth the #1 pick you will have to say that he was greater than all of the other guys drafted that year.
 

The Pencil Neck

Hall of Fame
Just like Reggie was a bust for the Saints, right?
Exactly. He wasn't the rookie of the year for his team, right? :)

Do you honestly think that you could take Bush, put him in Deuce McAllister's job, and have him be successful? In our offense, he would have had to have done that to be successful. We would have needed him to be the every down back and we couldn't have taken him rushing for all those negative yard plays. He would have been BENCHED on our team.

There were a lot of teams that he could be successful on but our team was/is not one of them.

It's like OJ Simpson. He got drafted onto a team where the coach did not want him and did not like him and whose offense was not the right kind of offense for him to be successful. He was a bust the first few years he was in the league. It wasn't until they got a new coach who put a new offense in place that OJ started showing what he could do.

Bush, in our offense last year, would have been the wrong guy at the wrong time. Fans would have been booing him and the media would have turned on him.
 

TwinSisters

Veteran
Mario drew double teams all year on one foot. If you listen to ESPN hype about Bush, "he's valuable even when he's not in the play", then that applies to Mario as well.
drawing a double team is nothing to sniff at, but Elvis Dumervil was drafted 126th and recorded 8.5 sacks and a forced fumble in 13 games.

He was also the 9th end taken last year.
 

afcman

Waterboy
You can't determine everything from one player or one year.
You're right. But I'm looking at what our needs were/are and the fact that the team needs a MAJOR boost. Again I say.....I believe that you don't pass up on special players. The kind of players that only come around so often.

Mario is fine. I'm glad he's on the team. But the other options would have been better for our immediate situation. I would have gone with one of the QB's, NOT Bush. Because I believe that you build the team around the QB.

But I do agree that with the division we're in that we NEED to have a killer DL. Now more than ever.

Look.....a year later and we still need help just about everywhere. And the networks only want to show the Texans if they can't help it.
 

TwinSisters

Veteran
Bush, in our offense last year, would have been the wrong guy at the wrong time. Fans would have been booing him and the media would have turned on him.
I wouldn't say that.

Kubiak was already talking about how many different things you could do with Bush prior to the draft. It's not like Dayne wasn't going to be there and Carr is the master of the overhand shovel pass... giving Bush plenty of shots to work it all the way down the field on his own.
 

TwinSisters

Veteran
Kubiak chose Mario and signed him the night before the draft. He handed Reggie to the Saints. If we are going to get personal on this, and drag the players into it, like they had a say, then anyone who is pissy about the draft needs to talk to Kubes and the FO. Getting presonal here is absurd. Talking potential performance is absurd.

The TEXANS had the first pick and they took it the night before the draft. Mario is a great pick. The foot injury was hindering, but he didn't sit the bench. It seems that Kubes is setting up his offense now. I'd kind of like to believe the guy has some semblence of what he's doing.
alright... I looked it over twice. I am not seeing personal.
 

HoustonFrog

Dallas Frog
Kubiak chose Mario and signed him the night before the draft. He handed Reggie to the Saints. If we are going to get personal on this, and drag the players into it, like they had a say, then anyone who is pissy about the draft needs to talk to Kubes and the FO. Getting presonal here is absurd. Talking potential performance is absurd.

The TEXANS had the first pick and they took it the night before the draft. Mario is a great pick. The foot injury was hindering, but he didn't sit the bench. It seems that Kubes is setting up his offense now. I'd kind of like to believe the guy has some semblence of what he's doing.

You don't know that anymore than anyone else. He didn't show it and others did show that they could be. We will see but again, he has to show he was the best player in the whole draft, just not a good guy for the future. Considering we are still looking D-line and don't have playmakers what is to say it is a great pick?
 

dirty steve

Veteran
Because Casserly's entire rationale behind that pick was 'We're not gonna be able to outscore Indianapolis, so let's draft a guy that can keep them from scoring." I'm still sick to the stomach everyday about that one.
one more time. casserly was just a "yes man" at draft time, this was kubiak's call. not sure how you could still think that c-cass had anything to do with this pick.
 

Marcus

Windmill cancer survivor
Contributor's Club
one more time. casserly was just a "yes man" at draft time, this was kubiak's call. not sure how you could still think that c-cass had anything to do with this pick.
one more time. casserly was just a "yes man" at draft time, this was mcnair's call. not sure how you could still think that c-cass had anything to do with this pick.
 

DocBar

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
I'm not doubting Mario's potential. I think he's a darn good DE, but we needed instant OFFENSE last year. You can have the strongest defense in the league, but if you're not explosive on offense you're not going much of anywhere.
That is a load of horse squeeze. DEFENSE wins championships. A good offense certainly helps. Ya gotta be able to outscore the opponent, which is much more likely when you keep the opponents FROM scoring. I don't think enough has, or CAN, be said about the character MW showed by playing through his injury. He could've EASILY taken half the year off, but he chose to stay in and get the experience he needs to excel. Not to mention, all the grief that would've been added to this topic if he missed significant time. IMHO, Mario will be an absolute BEAST next year. He's shown character, integrity, passion for the game and a willingness to do what it takes to be the best. Bush is a lot more halfa** than halfback. If the rest of the sAints team hadn't played at such a high level, they would be right next to us in THIS years draft. They improved IN SPITE of Bush, NOT because of him. MW showed much more atheleticism and heart than Bush. My jury is still out on VY. The sun shines on a dogs butt every now and then. Luck played a large role in most of the Titans wins. That, my friend, will only take you so far in pro sports. He had flahes of brilliance and definitely made things happen on busted plays, but those kinds of things tend to average out.
My 2 cents worth.
 
Long post but if you want to simplify it:

Last year was laoded with "game breakers" on offense...franchise guys

We went defensive line to put pressure on the teams in our division

A year later we still have no playmakers and are still looking to d-line and defensive help in the draft.

Oops
Mario does not play all 4 positions on defensive line. He plays DE, we are not looking to replace him we are looking mainly for DT's, so you can stop with the "we are still looking for D-Line help" talk. If you have the opportunity to add more playmakers on a dline you do it. It all starts in the trenches(like you haven't heard that before.) All of the good dline groups in the NFL have more than one good player.
 

TwinSisters

Veteran
one more time. casserly was just a "yes man" at draft time, this was kubiak's call. not sure how you could still think that c-cass had anything to do with this pick.
There are two things that linger to support this:

Kubiak called a meeting with the team and announced that no one would be on the team without Casserly. This was after the draft.

The Casserly fallguy speech where he got a little crazy and said to blame him not Mario or something like that.

While both are weak in a sense, it still leaves you to wonder.

Plus I guess there is the "I was not fired" deal that went down also. He wasn't fired and was really planning on moving into NFL headquarters ( so the story goes anyhow ).
 

ComstockLode

Waterboy
As most expect, I would agree with every word of the original post.

We have had 3 great moves in the history of this franchise: Andre Johnson, Dunta Robinson, and Demeco Ryans.

There were four instant playmakers in last years draft, we passed on two of them. We found the one in the second round. The saints found one much much later. Those are facts, and whether its great scouting or not....we got very lucky we found ryans or we would have been awful.
 

HoustonFrog

Dallas Frog
Mario does not play all 4 positions on defensive line. He plays DE, we are not looking to replace him we are looking mainly for DT's, so you can stop with the "we are still looking for D-Line help" talk. If you have the opportunity to add more playmakers on a dline you do it. It all starts in the trenches(like you haven't heard that before.) All of the good dline groups in the NFL have more than one good player.
Why should I stop..we are. Yes I know we are looking DT so that makes Travis Johnson and Mario we have picked now on the line. What people are missing is that this was THE #1 pick. It isn't a NEED pick, it is a BPA pick. There were questions on Mario. In order for it to be worth it you have top say ,after all is said and done, that he was the best player in the draft. So far, he isn't. I think he will be a solid, top notch guy but right now we are still looking to add to the D-line and we are still lacking those playmakers after having the #1 pick. Sorry but it shouldn't be that way. BTW, I liked Mario in this draft...if we moved down.
 
Top