Head Coach Candidate (Lovie Smith Hired) 2/7/22

[vtech9]

If you were Lovie, what would you have done differently this game?

Responding to your post I'm specifically asking about the defense

Put ex-lax in the water of all of Dolphins' starters. The Texans defense looked competitive against the Dolphins backups in the 2nd half.

 

[JB]

It's never about what is said, always about what they do. The Astros rid themselves of any player that wasn't on a rookie deal and concentrated on developing young players. Once they had a core of young players ready for the big leagues, the Astros targeted free agents and players via trades. No team is going to say, "We're about to have triple digit losses 3 years in a row." Just like Caserio won't say the Texans are tanking. Hell, he has to hide his strategy from Cal.

Yeah I had quit following the Astros closely right before then when I moved out of the country

 

[Texian]

Nick has not been great at anything so far. After looking at what he did at Illinois, and hearing the excuses he made while there, I didn't want him to be the DC, much less the HC. His defenses at Illinois were bad to average. I was so confused by the hiring. I guess when Caserio made Culley HC, I kind of forgot about Lovie.

I feel like Caserio is just throwing bodies in front of the podium to shield himself from criticism. As long as Lovie does that well, he'll be here until the talent is in place. If that doesn't happen, if Caserio doesn't draft well (I don't think he did a great job in NE), he'll be gone, and it'll be a rebuild all over again. And I know there are many people that think he's done a good job drafting guys; but just like we shouldn't be saying a guy is a bust in the first couple years, on the flip side we shouldn't say a guy is star in the first few years. It just looked at the past six drafts and there are a lot of guys that looked promising first year or two only to be complete flops.

A lot of the brigade still thinks Caserio is running the show. If you've watched the recent press conferences and paid close attention then you know this is not the case. Nick in his own words said Lovie and the coaches were responsible for making the draft picks. When Lovie said Caserio would not be in the coach's box on the headphone, many still have difficulty understanding who is now the boss and accepting the truth at face value. The bottom line here is Lovie is in charge and responsible for all football operations. No doubt Lovie told Cal that was the only way he would accept the job of being the Texans' Head Coach. He wanted no part of 2021 Houston Texans Caserio-Easterby circus.

 

[vtech9]

A lot of the brigade still thinks Caserio is running the show. If you've watched the recent press conferences and paid close attention then you know this is not the case. Nick in his own words said Lovie and the coaches were responsible for making the draft picks. When Lovie said Caserio would not be in the coach's box on the headphone, many still have difficulty understanding who is now the boss and accepting the truth at face value. The bottom line here is Lovie is in charge and responsible for all football operations. No doubt Lovie told Cal that was the only way he would accept the job of being the Texans' Head Coach. He wanted no part of 2021 Houston Texans Caserio-Easterby circus.

That kind of tells me that Caserio is letting Lovie hang himself. Maybe this makes Cal give Caserio the power to do what needs to be done after the season.

 

[TexansBull]

That kind of tells me that Caserio is letting Lovie hang himself. Maybe this makes Cal give Caserio the power to do what needs to be done after the season.

Would you say that is what the McNairs have done in the past?

Fired Kubiak and kept Smith.
Fired Smith and kept OB.
Fired OB and kept Easterby.

 

[vtech9]

Would you say that is what the McNairs have done in the past?

Fired Kubiak and kept Smith.
Fired Smith and kept OB.
Fired OB and kept Easterby.

I'm not holding my breath. As much as I want Cal to get out of the way, I don't expect it. We got Culley because Cal thought it would help appease WD-40. We got Lovie because Cal thought it would appease the NFL and shut down the Texans part of the Flores lawsuit. Cal handcuffed Caserio's HC hunt by wanting Lovie and Pep to be the DC and OC for the new HC. I think Gannon only interviewed with the Texans to see if he could talk them out of keeping Lovie and Pep, so he could bring in his own staff. When the Texans said no, Gannon, and any other real HC options, were off the table. Easterbunny and Ma McNair's love of McCown, made the HC search a laughing stock, which only made it that much harder for Caserio to find a real HC.

That's why I think Caserio is just standing back, and letting things unfold, so he can say to Cal "I told you so. Are you going to let me do what I need to do now?"

 

[OptimisticTexan]

It's never about what is said, always about what they do. The Astros rid themselves of any player that wasn't on a rookie deal and concentrated on developing young players. Once they had a core of young players ready for the big leagues, the Astros targeted free agents and players via trades. No team is going to say, "We're about to have triple digit losses 3 years in a row." Just like Caserio won't say the Texans are tanking. Hell, he has to hide his strategy from Cal.

Crane laid his plan out early. The Astros and their MiLB affiliates were in disarray when Crane stated that the rebuild would begin with the farm system. I really appreciated his up front candor and felt his baseball background contributed to his approach. Luhnow didn’t take over a shite show like Caserio did with the Texans.

 

[steelbtexan]

Crane laid his plan out early. The Astros and their MiLB affiliates were in disarray when Crane stated that the rebuild would begin with the farm system. I really appreciated his up front candor and felt his baseball background contributed to his approach. Luhnow didn’t take over a shite show like Caserio did with the Texans.

I'm pretty sure Cal is no Crane and I know Janice isn't.

I also remember the 3 yrs of rebuild suckage the Stros had and some of the same posters saying the same things about Crane/Luhnow that's currently being said about Cal/Caserio.

 

[Earl34]

I'm not holding my breath. As much as I want Cal to get out of the way, I don't expect it. We got Culley because Cal thought it would help appease WD-40. We got Lovie because Cal thought it would appease the NFL and shut down the Texans part of the Flores lawsuit. Cal handcuffed Caserio's HC hunt by wanting Lovie and Pep to be the DC and OC for the new HC. I think Gannon only interviewed with the Texans to see if he could talk them out of keeping Lovie and Pep, so he could bring in his own staff. When the Texans said no, Gannon, and any other real HC options, were off the table. Easterbunny and Ma McNair's love of McCown, made the HC search a laughing stock, which only made it that much harder for Caserio to find a real HC.

That's why I think Caserio is just standing back, and letting things unfold, so he can say to Cal "I told you so. Are you going to let me do what I need to do now?"

I've read that theory multiple times on this forum and to this day, I don't understand why anyone would think hiring Culley would appease Watson. They had no previous relationship. Culley had no experience running a dynamic offense and wasn't a young, innovative OC or QB coach. Besides allowing Caserio to pick his coaches, I still don't see the upside to hiring Culley.

Hell, if the counter argument is that they wanted to hire a minority. Wouldn't Jim Caldwell who Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy have vouched for in the past, be a better, more qualified candidate?

 

[steelbtexan]

I've read that theory multiple times on this forum and to this day, I don't understand why anyone would think hiring Culley would appease Watson. They had no previous relationship. Culley had no experience running a dynamic offense and wasn't a young, innovative OC or QB coach. Besides allowing Caserio to pick his coaches, I still don't see the upside to hiring Culley.

Hell, if the counter argument is that they wanted to hire a minority. Wouldn't Jim Caldwell who Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy have vouched for in the past, be a better, more qualified candidate?

Caldwell would've been a much better hire.

The McNair's are idiots is the only thing that makes any sense. It's not like they've not done stupid things before. Not cleanig house in 2010 and making BOB, GM/HC tops the list. One thing is for sure, the McNair's never fully clean house. It's their M.O.

 

[thunderkyss]

I've read that theory multiple times on this forum and to this day, I don't understand why anyone would think hiring Culley would appease Watson. They had no previous relationship. Culley had no experience running a dynamic offense and wasn't a young, innovative OC or QB coach. Besides allowing Caserio to pick his coaches, I still don't see the upside to hiring Culley.

Hell, if the counter argument is that they wanted to hire a minority. Wouldn't Jim Caldwell who Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy have vouched for in the past, be a better, more qualified candidate?

sjw Watson was woke. Caserio presented Culley, a good coach who had been passed over time & time again. Watson should have ate that up if it weren't for the legal issues

 

[JB]

I've read that theory multiple times on this forum and to this day, I don't understand why anyone would think hiring Culley would appease Watson

Only because Culley agreed to keep Tim Kelley as OC

 

[Texansballer74]

I've read that theory multiple times on this forum and to this day, I don't understand why anyone would think hiring Culley would appease Watson. They had no previous relationship. Culley had no experience running a dynamic offense and wasn't a young, innovative OC or QB coach. Besides allowing Caserio to pick his coaches, I still don't see the upside to hiring Culley.

Hell, if the counter argument is that they wanted to hire a minority. Wouldn't Jim Caldwell who Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy have vouched for in the past, be a better, more qualified candidate?

Exactly! If he really wanted to appease Watson, he would’ve hired Eric Bieniemy.

 

[steelbtexan]

Exactly! If he really wanted to appease Watson, he would’ve hired Eric Bieniemy.

There's a reason EB has never been hired as a HC.

 

[Texansballer74]

There's a reason EB has never been hired as a HC.

Not the point. There’s a reason why Culley never been a head coach too. And guess what the Texans hired him.

 

[steelbtexan]

Not the point. There’s a reason why Culley never been a head coach too. And guess what the Texans hired him.

Culley didn't try to coverup one of his players raping a girl.

EB being a Reid disciple would already have a HC job if he hadn't done that.

 

[Texansballer74]

S

Culley didn't try to coverup one of his players raping a girl.

EB being a Reid disciple would already have a HC job if he hadn't done that.

Still missing the point.

 

[steelbtexan]

S

Still missing the point.

The point is EB will never be a HC in the NFL. Although it doesn't surprise me that Derrick would want EB to be his HC. Those 2 deserve each other.

 

[Texansballer74]

The point is EB will never be a HC in the NFL. Although it doesn't surprise me that Derrick would want EB to be his HC. Those 2 deserve each other.

I don’t care about none of that. We’re talking about Cal trying to appease Watson and that’s it. EB was who Watson wanted along with his other crazy demands. If he really and truly wanted to appease Watson, he would’ve hired EB.

 

[Carr Bombed]

I don’t care about none of that. We’re talking about Cal trying to appease Watson and that’s it. EB was who Watson wanted along with his other crazy demands. If he really and truly wanted to appease Watson, he would’ve hired EB.

And all the Culley vs E.B. debate is irrelevant, because even if we hired E.B., he appeased Watson, and he wanted to stay.. As soon as all the sexual assault scandal stuff came out he was never going to play another down here anyways.

 

[Earl34]

I don’t care about none of that. We’re talking about Cal trying to appease Watson and that’s it. EB was who Watson wanted along with his other crazy demands. If he really and truly wanted to appease Watson, he would’ve hired EB.

Let's see. Hire EB and Reid and Mahomes call Watson vouching for EB. Hire Jim Caldwell and Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy will call Watson and vouch for Caldwell.

Hire Culley and who would call Watson and vouch for Culley's offensive system, philosophy or expertise? In fact, thinking about it. Forget Watson. Who would call the McNairs to vouch for Culley as a HC?

 

[OptimisticTexan]

If the Texans cut ties with Lovie……I could give two shites about the next HC and his staff members ethnicity. The only ethnicity I’m interested in, “Winner”. Bring a staff of winners in as well.

 

[Speedy]

If the Texans cut ties with Lovie……I could give two shites about the next HC and his staff members ethnicity. The only ethnicity I’m interested in, “Winner”. Bring a staff of winners in as well.

But Stephen A. Smith cares about it. That's what matters.

 

[steelbtexan]

I don’t care about none of that. We’re talking about Cal trying to appease Watson and that’s it. EB was who Watson wanted along with his other crazy demands. If he really and truly wanted to appease Watson, he would’ve hired EB.

I'm glad Cal didn't hire EB.

 

[Double Barrel]

McCown would have been a bad choice. The Texans problem is that they seem to be reluctant to bring in legit candidates, Daboll, Saleh, Gannon, Ryans, Leftwich, etc. Instead it's David freaking Culley, or no experience whatsoever McCown, or hey Lovie can you save us from yet another fucked up HC search.

Bolded is the crux of the matter, and I cannot comprehend why this is their M.O.

Looking back, McCown would've been a better hire than Lovie and I actually liked the Lovie hire at the time. Although I would've tried to hire an offensive minded HC.

Looking back, they all still suck.

Blitz more…& play more man….period. He likes to sit back & make teams matriculate down the field…banking on the idea of either his defense getting a TO, the offenses being unable to execute 10+ play drives to score consistently or them just making a mistake……basically he has his guys playing prevent defense all game where they are deathly afraid of taking a chance on giving up the big play…and offenses are just too good these days to depend on that type of strategy. You have to be more active in forcing mistakes..forcing them to make plays to convert…forcing the qb to be accurate with consistent pressure.. cant really do that sitting back in loose ass zones….then when youre personnel isnt good enough to stop the run, you really can’t do that.

Nailed it. I'd rather seem them go down swinging every week instead of curled up in the fetal position.

A lot of the brigade still thinks Caserio is running the show. If you've watched the recent press conferences and paid close attention then you know this is not the case. Nick in his own words said Lovie and the coaches were responsible for making the draft picks. When Lovie said Caserio would not be in the coach's box on the headphone, many still have difficulty understanding who is now the boss and accepting the truth at face value. The bottom line here is Lovie is in charge and responsible for all football operations. No doubt Lovie told Cal that was the only way he would accept the job of being the Texans' Head Coach. He wanted no part of 2021 Houston Texans Caserio-Easterby circus.

It blows my mind that they are letting an obvious short term head coach make long term personnel decisions. This is not how a rebuild is done. You don't rebuild a car and put an old blown-out engine in it while planning to put a new engine in after the paint job and rest of the car has been finished.

I think you're smart enough to know that wanting Cal to be behind the Culley hiring was not directed at you. There were two quotes being responded to. I've never said Cal doesn't have the final say, I have acknowledged as much even if it is a rubber stamp approval as it was in the Culley case.

I gotcha' and agree completely.

And all the Culley vs E.B. debate is irrelevant, because even if we hired E.B., he appeased Watson, and he wanted to stay.. As soon as all the sexual assault scandal stuff came out he was never going to play another down here anyways.

I think Watson schemed his way during 2020 to set up his exit. I don't think he ever intended to honor that contract, but rather he dictated the terms (especially the NTC) that would give him the most leverage over the franchise.

He's a P.O.S. human being, so literally everything he did and said before January 2021 should be taken with a grain of salt and assumed to be just more BS from a low life.

He knew the noose was closing in on his predatory behavior and planned to be out of Houston before crap hit the fan. This is what lying, despicable people do.

 

[thunderkyss]

It blows my mind that they are letting an obvious short term head coach make long term personnel decisions

I'm not seeing it. Neither Stingley or Pitre are Tampa Two players. They look like they were drafted for the next coach.

& I ain't seen Harris own the deep middle. So....

 

[Speedy]

I think Watson schemed his way during 2020 to set up his exit. I don't think he ever intended to honor that contract, but rather he dictated the terms (especially the NTC) that would give him the most leverage over the franchise.

He's a P.O.S. human being, so literally everything he did and said before January 2021 should be taken with a grain of salt and assumed to be just more BS from a low life.

He knew the noose was closing in on his predatory behavior and planned to be out of Houston before crap hit the fan. This is what lying, despicable people do.

Agreed except I don’t think the off field extracurricular made any difference. I think the plan all along was to get this new deal then demand out at some point. The off field stuff just sped up the process.

Giving his 1st paycheck to cafeteria workers after Harvey, man, dude really pulled one over on us.

 

[badboy]

Mughetta set up the extension with Texans including the NTC, the choice of teams he wanted Texans to negotiate with, convinced Browns to give a 100% guaranteed contract. He was the upper hand on every single part of this. From that standpoint we need someone like him as our general manager.

 

[Mr teX]

Mughetta set up the extension with Texans including the NTC, the choice of teams he wanted Texans to negotiate with, convinced Browns to give a 100% guaranteed contract. He was the upper hand on every single part of this. From that standpoint we need someone like him as our general manager.

not necessarily. DW4 didnt want to go to Cleveland, but they were apparently the only team willing to give him that guaranteed contract. For Caserio part, he also put the squeeze on….. basically told Watson and Mulagheta that if the teams he selects aren’t ponying up at least 3 1sts, don’t even come to me talking about a trade b/c he isnt accepting it. Basically used Watson potentially sitting out for yet another year against him. I think he and the Texans were also prepared to go after that 40 mil he was due that year if he tried to play hardball and not play…

 

[steelbtexan]

not necessarily. DW4 didnt want to go to Cleveland, but they were apparently the only team willing to give him that guaranteed contract. For Caserio part, he also put the squeeze on….. basically told Watson and Mulagheta that if the teams he selects aren’t ponying up at least 3 1sts, don’t even come to me talking about a trade b/c he isnt accepting it. Basically used Watson potentially sitting out for yet another year against him. I think he and the Texans were also prepared to go after that 40 mil he was due that year if he tried to play hardball and not play…

This is why I want to see Caserio at least get to draft the picks he traded for, Caserio did a great job with the trade.

 

[cuppacoffee]

This is why I want to see Caserio at least get to draft the picks he traded for, Caserio did a great job with the trade.

Ignore the word salad presented by some posters. Repeating the same opinions over and over does not make them true.

It's foolish to prematurely judge last years draft and his successful handling of the Watson trade.

Equally foolish is not acknowledging the fact that he has been shoehorned into some of his unpopular actions.
His coaching hire, i.e. doing what his employer tells him to do, being the main complaint.

I think Caserio has done a good job here and he will prove to be one of the better NFL general managers. Given the opportunity.

 

[steelbtexan]

Ignore the word salad presented by some posters. Repeating the same opinions over and over does not make them true.

It's foolish to prematurely judge last years draft and his successful handling of the Watson trade.

Equally foolish is not acknowledging the fact that he has been shoehorned into some of his unpopular actions.
His coaching hire, i.e. doing what his employer tells him to do, being the main complaint.

I think Caserio has done a good job here and he will prove to be one of the better NFL general managers. Given the opportunity.

Spot On

Liked for the use of the word shoehorned.

 

[Texian]

Mughetta set up the extension with Texans including the NTC, the choice of teams he wanted Texans to negotiate with, convinced Browns to give a 100% guaranteed contract. He was the upper hand on every single part of this. From that standpoint we need someone like him as our general manager.

Here is the bottom line on this. Caserio could have still said, NO! If the Browns truly want to make this trade then they can trade 3 1st and 2 2nds. Until then best you find Watson another team he likes.

 

[JB]

Here is the bottom line on this. Caserio could have still said, NO! If the Browns truly want to make this trade then they can trade 3 1st and 2 2nds. Until then best you find Watson another team he likes.

They could barely find 4 that would give up 3 1's. 3 of them wouldn't give up as much as Cleveland did

 

[Texansballer74]

Ignore the word salad presented by some posters. Repeating the same opinions over and over does not make them true.

It's foolish to prematurely judge last years draft and his successful handling of the Watson trade.

Equally foolish is not acknowledging the fact that he has been shoehorned into some of his unpopular actions.
His coaching hire, i.e. doing what his employer tells him to do, being the main complaint.

I think Caserio has done a good job here and he will prove to be one of the better NFL general managers. Given the opportunity.

Spot on