CowboysTexansFan
Waterboy
Hot off the press, I got my edition of PFW today. Its first mock draft has the Texans picking LaRon Landry at #8. Here is what PFW has to say about that:
"The talent that makes Gary Kubiak's offense go can be found, by and large, on the second day of the draft. To consistently beat the Colts and win the division, it will take defense, and Landry could make the same type of impact on the back end that Mario Williams and DeMeco Ryans have already done on the front seven."
I'm glad to see Mario also getting some love (DeMeco's gotten plenty and he deserves it). While Mario's stats weren't flashy, he deserves a lot of credit for playing through the second half of the season with a painful foot injury, and doing a lot of things that helped the team but weren't necessarily obvious. I remember reading a post where the author determined that on a ridiculous number of plays when the Texans were on defense, the other team's offense ran AWAY from Mario's side of the line. Like 80-90% of the time. Amazing. I also recall one play in particular during the Dallas game on which Mario was TRIPLE teamed but firmly held his ground, which forced Julius Jones to turn and run in another direction because there was no hole where it was supposed to be. It was great.
I think Mario's going to be a force in this league for many years and look forward to seeing him at full health next season with a year's experience under his belt. And he'll be a grand old man at 22 years of age!
P.S.: There's no link available yet, but quoting only two sentences constitutes fair use under the copyright laws. And yes, I'm a lawyer...
"The talent that makes Gary Kubiak's offense go can be found, by and large, on the second day of the draft. To consistently beat the Colts and win the division, it will take defense, and Landry could make the same type of impact on the back end that Mario Williams and DeMeco Ryans have already done on the front seven."
I'm glad to see Mario also getting some love (DeMeco's gotten plenty and he deserves it). While Mario's stats weren't flashy, he deserves a lot of credit for playing through the second half of the season with a painful foot injury, and doing a lot of things that helped the team but weren't necessarily obvious. I remember reading a post where the author determined that on a ridiculous number of plays when the Texans were on defense, the other team's offense ran AWAY from Mario's side of the line. Like 80-90% of the time. Amazing. I also recall one play in particular during the Dallas game on which Mario was TRIPLE teamed but firmly held his ground, which forced Julius Jones to turn and run in another direction because there was no hole where it was supposed to be. It was great.
I think Mario's going to be a force in this league for many years and look forward to seeing him at full health next season with a year's experience under his belt. And he'll be a grand old man at 22 years of age!

P.S.: There's no link available yet, but quoting only two sentences constitutes fair use under the copyright laws. And yes, I'm a lawyer...