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Texans random thought of the day

You know…..the Ravens had 12 Pro Bowl players in their 2019 season which was the most in NFL history. The sad part, their season came to end in the divisional round. 22 players are needed to fill out the starting rosters on offense/defense and as proven above, no team has ever had the luxury of 22 Pro Bowl players.

I think coaching and scheme is what brings the given talent together. This is a young team in regards to the talent expected to succeed and coaching is going to be the ingredient that pushes it up the ladder. I look forward to camp to see how coaches and this talent evolves from camp to the start of the regular season..
 
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Picture this: Obo Okoronkwo wreaking havoc for the Texans
Brooks Kubena, Staff writer
May 27, 2022Updated: May 27, 2022 11:19 a.m.


There is not room enough on the walls for the Okoronkwos and their pictures.

Frames border frames in a hall filled with faces. Frames stand on the tiled living room floor. They lean against the TV stand, the fireplace. There are more frames on the mantle.

There is a palpable warmth from the wedding portraits and family photos, the tangible timeline of the Okoronkwos’ immigration from Nigeria to America. There’s a sense of approval and completion now that the newly signed Texans defensive end nicknamed “Obo” has returned home.

“A picture is history,” Obo’s father, Benson, says. “It reflects. You see how you were, how you used to be. And that brings memories.”
Here’s a picture of a Gainesville, Fla., hospital room. Here’s Benson laying cultural fabric embroidered with the symbolic crest of the Igbo people and the words “Omu Arochukwu” over his son, who at 13 pounds, 3 ounces was the largest baby born in the hospital’s history, the family says.

Here’s Obo as a young boy, shirtless and painted, performing the traditional war dance that males of the Arochukwu kingdom once danced before battling neighbors who sold hundreds of thousands of Igbo people into the slave trade from the 17th to the 19th century.

“Omu” is the leaf of the palm tree, the Igbos’ symbolic life force. They believe they are God’s people, his descendants, and the Okoronkwos’ faith continues through Ogbonnia, whose name means favor from God.

The collective effect of the pictures nearly creates an audience, the kind of crowds that watched Obo hunt down ball carriers in high school state playoff games for Alief Taylor, classic bowl games with Oklahoma, and Super Bowl LVI while supporting a historic Rams defensive front.
That success is demonstration of the favor received, Benson says. Even with the foot surgery that cost Obo his rookie year. Or the other nagging hurts that often held him back in a reserve role during four seasons in Los Angeles. Obo chose to return to Houston in what will be his best chance to become an NFL starter for the first time, an opportunity to lift a rebuilding franchise into the sort of contender he left behind.

“You control your own destiny,” Obo says. “You get what your works deserve. There’s no dream that’s too big or too small. It’s whatever you make of it.”

Secretive start

There are no pictures of Obo playing youth football. He didn’t play the sport until he was a freshman at Alief Taylor, and he had to keep that a secret from his parents. Benson and his wife, Augusta, were culturally focused on education. Benson left Nigeria to pursue his pharmaceutical career by studying at Texas Southern, and Augusta was a nurse.

Their six children were strictly instructed to focus on academics. But Brian Randle, Taylor’s former defensive coordinator, noticed Obo’s long build in the hallway and convinced him to join the team.

Obo was considerably raw, Randle says, and he wasn’t particularly large. But he was tough and relentless, and he made for a perfect inside tackle on an aggressive three-man front that included eventual collegiate pass rushers Torrodney Prevot (Oregon) and Duke Ejiofor (Wake Forest), a 2018 sixth-round pick by the Texans who played in Houston for three NFL seasons.

Randle fixed Obo’s stance, wound him up for one-on-one matchups with guards, and watched him knife into opposing backfields. Obo’s bend and balance made him an exceptional rusher. His speed and persistence made him a lethal tackler.

Randle once watched him wrangle an Elsik quarterback on an option run, realize the quarterback didn’t have the ball, let him go, then run down the line of scrimmage and swallow the running back.

During a particularly sloppy practice, Randle challenged the defense’s work ethic. Obo threw down the running back for losses on three straight plays, each time punctuating the hits by looking over at Randle and screaming, “I ain’t got no heart?”

“Once he caught on to the game’s nuances, he was able to fly around,” says Manjah Fernandez, who coached Obo as a freshman. “After that, he was unstoppable. He manhandled people.”

Football was Obo’s getaway, his older sister Chioma says, his release from what was usually an artistic life. Like his father, he found philosophy in photography. He burned through disposable Kodaks. He authored blogs and wrote poetry. His parents let him draw on his bedroom walls. But by his sophomore year, he started to realize he had a future in football, and he relied on Chioma to help keep the sport a secret from their parents.
THE REST OF THE STORY
 
thunderkyss said:
Wow. 1st I heard Tunsil wasn't at OTAs. Who's playing at LT?
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Tunsil will show up for minicamp........June 14-16. Meanwhile, Hecht will be holding up the LT spot..

Tunsil's absence before minicamp is hardly significant, since there is no contact allowed throughout OTAs and minicamps.

When you look at the new CBA offseason rules, you have to wonder how the players get any legitimate practice time to develop. Everyone should read these better than bankers' hours/schedule RULES. :dontknowa
 
Speedy said:
Yep. I thought last year’s RB room was pretty decent as well. We all know the disaster that turned out to be. Adding Mack and Pierce sounds good, but we’re just gonna have to see how it unfolds.
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I caught lots of grief saying that corps was not strong. Mack needs stay healthy and Pearce has to be what we hope. Even then if Oline isn't great could be a replay.
 
badboy said:
Oh lord by game 1 we will be ranked top 25...

Nah

Sports Illustrated: Texans Climb In Latest NFL Power Ranking.
www.si.com

Texans Climb In Latest NFL Power Ranking

The Houston Texans have seen their stock rise in Pro Football Focus' latest NFL Power Ranking.
www.si.com www.si.com
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Every year, all these NFL power rankings make so many headlines. But these just seem to be futile exercises to sell and make money. Yet, in fact, in the end they are seldom accurate. Little attempt is made to analyze these earlier rankings in comparison with the actual final rankings at the conclusions of the seasons and post seasons.
 
CloakNNNdagger said:
Every year, all these NFL power rankings make so many headlines. But these just seem to be futile exercises to sell and make money. Yet, in fact, in the end they are seldom accurate. Little attempt is made to analyze these earlier rankings in comparison with the actual final rankings at the conclusions of the seasons and post seasons.
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Entertainment for the most part just like with mock drafts.
 
badboy said:
Mack needs stay healthy and Pearce has to be what we hope.
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I’ll be surprised if Mack looks like a thousand yard back, even though that is a “low” bar.

Casterio is striking out so far with his injured vet acquisitions.
 
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CloakNNNdagger said:
Every year, all these NFL power rankings make so many headlines. But these just seem to be futile exercises to sell and make money. Yet, in fact, in the end they are seldom accurate. Little attempt is made to analyze these earlier rankings in comparison with the actual final rankings at the conclusions of the seasons and post seasons.
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They're worth as much as people give them. I personally don't know why anybody gives a flying **** about someone's rankings, especially in freaking May, but it is what it is. It gets people fired up and talking about their team for whatever reason. I mean look at those perturbed about Mills being completely left off the Madden rankings.

In the NBA, the Warriors and Celtics were 10th and 16th respectively in power rankings at the start of the season. Now they're the only 2 left standing. Lakers were #2 and didn't even make the playoffs.

It's all just clickbait.
 
thunderkyss said:
Every time you mention a Texans RB you get a dozen replies that 17 RBs ran for 1000 yards the prior season.
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That's interesting. I didn't think that was true so I went back over the past 10 years or so to take a look at how many RBs run over 1000 yards per season. And it's strange. Some seasons only have 6 or 7 guys while some have 15-16. It looks like it averages to about 11 per year.
 
Lucky said:
For crying out loud, he was cut by the Falcons after getting 1.5 sacks in 3 years. A dollar for a donut the Texans get another crack at him.
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This is an example of why you trade late rd picks or pick swaps for guys like Miller/Cannon/Izzo etc.. if you really think a We guy can make your roster. Obviously Caserio didn't like Cominski enough to trade a late rd pick for him.
 
steelbtexan said:
This is an example of why you trade late rd picks or pick swaps for guys like Miller/Cannon/Izzo etc.
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No, it's a prime example of why you don't trade a late round pick for a guy that's about to be on the waiver wire. Because you have a very good chance and picking the player up. The Texans missed the guy with 1.5 sacks by one pick. There will be other players on the waiver wire as the offseason goes on. Even better than Mr. 1.5 sacks. Are they going to throw draft picks at every one of them? It's about patience and knowing how to let things come to you. Caserio will figure this out one day. I think.
 
Lucky said:
No, it's a prime example of why you don't trade a late round pick for a guy that's about to be on the waiver wire. Because you have a very good chance and picking the player up. The Texans missed the guy with 1.5 sacks by one pick. There will be other players on the waiver wire as the offseason goes on. Even better than Mr. 1.5 sacks. Are they going to throw draft picks at every one of them? It's about patience and knowing how to let things come to you. Caserio will figure this out one day. I think.
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If they truly want a guy then trading a late rd pick seems like a good idea to me. Seems to me like they didn't truly want Cominski. Or they lost a guy they wanted by hoping he would fall to them.
 
steelbtexan said:
If they truly want a guy then trading a late rd pick seems like a good idea to me. Seems to me like they didn't truly want Cominski. Or they lost a guy they wanted by hoping he would fall to them.
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If there was a guy in the last two drafts that I liked & considered selecting him with a 6th/7th round pick I would definitely trade a future 6th/7th round pick, or swap 5th/6th/7th round picks to get them. Even if they only had 1.5 sacks in those 2 years.

If there was a guy I considered as an UDFA in the last two drafts, but he chose to go to another team I'd consider putting in a waiver on him.
 
thunderkyss said:
If there was a guy in the last two drafts that I liked & considered selecting him with a 6th/7th round pick I would definitely trade a future 6th/7th round pick, or swap 5th/6th/7th round picks to get them. Even if they only had 1.5 sacks in those 2 years.

If there was a guy I considered as an UDFA in the last two drafts, but he chose to go to another team I'd consider putting in a waiver on him.
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Bottom line is, if you like a guy you should trade a late rd pick for him, rather than risk losing him on the WW.
 
Cominsky was a 4th round pick that was released.

I think this is a lesson to be learned on how and why Atlanta missed on a pick. That’s still an arguably important pick.

That’s a common Rick Smith level miss. Hopefully Caserio doesn’t miss on those picks too often.
 
TexansBull said:
Cominsky was a 4th round pick that was released.

I think this is a lesson to be learned on how and why Atlanta missed on a pick. That’s still an arguably important pick.

That’s a common Rick Smith level miss. Hopefully Caserio doesn’t miss on those picks too often.
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It was a pick tailored to Dan Quinn’s 4-3 defense. The Falcons switched to a 3-4 defense last season where he wasn’t as good of a scheme fit. A common thing that happens to young players on the back end of a roster. Some grow in the new situations and others flame out. So the cycle goes in the NFL. Not For Long.
 
TexansBull said:
Cominsky was a 4th round pick that was released.

I think this is a lesson to be learned on how and why Atlanta missed on a pick. That’s still an arguably important pick.

That’s a common Rick Smith level miss. Hopefully Caserio doesn’t miss on those picks too often.
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TheRealJoker said:
It was a pick tailored to Dan Quinn’s 4-3 defense. The Falcons switched to a 3-4 defense last season where he wasn’t as good of a scheme fit. A common thing that happens to young players on the back end of a roster. Some grow in the new situations and others flame out. So the cycle goes in the NFL. Not For Long.
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That was a quick lesson.
 
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