TexasDiehard
Practice Squad
I am a life long Houstonian, a UH grad and a huge sports fan and I remember how excited I was when I attended Bob McNair's announcement of the "Houston Texans" team name downtown and the later introduction of the team logo. Bob did an incredible job securing a new NFL franchise for Houston and gave all sports loving Houstonians hope that the long miserable years of Bud Adams would be forgotten in the wake a of a first class organization that would put pro football in Houston on the right path.
The opening day victory against Dallas was probably the biggest single event in Houston sports history in terms of the wonderful way it made all Houston sports fans proud and it was followed by an exciting Super Bowl Houston that Bob McNair made possible. Bob McNair is a great guy and a first class individual who has done great things for Houston and a I thank him for it. Unfortunately, Bob has also proven to be a very unsound CEO of an NFL franchise. Below is a summary of his failed track record to date:
* Hired Charlie Casserly despite a very questionable track record on draft picks and free agent acquisitions. He was known then as a great compiler of player data who was clueless about how to properly evaluate talent. Not surprisingly, he has compiled one of the worst drafting and free agent acquisition track records in the history of the NFL since joining the Texans and not having Joe Gibbs as a crosscheck.
Veteran NFL minds knew Charlie road Joe Gibbs coattails at Washington and was out of a job when McNair hired him because the rest of the league realized that Washington succeeded because of Joe Gibbs superior abilities in spite on Charlie's talent evaluation deficiencies. Bob confused Charlie's strong technical expertise with sound talent evaluation ability and hired a GM who could only succeed if he had a superior head coach to make the ultimate personnel judgements. Then he hired a head coach who needed a superior GM.
* Hired Dom Capers despite a very questionable track record as a first class guy, but a head coach who needed superior talent to succeed, who was hyper conservative and incapable of inspiring a sound offensive strategy, who was not a strong game day coach with superior adjustment abilities, who had difficulty evaluating and hiring superior assistant coaches, who put personal loyalty in coaching personnel decisions above sound football judgement and who lost the confidence of his players when all these flaws became apparent. What a surprise that Dom had the same issues in Houston. Bob hired a head coach that could only succeed with a GM that was a superior talent evaluator and then shortchanged the investment in coordinators who could compensate for Dom's deficiencies.
* Hired Dan Reeves to consult. Dan is a great guy with a track record of taking teams deep into the playoffs without winning the big one. He is also a guy who has been out of the league for awhile because of the perception that the game has passed him bye. Dan's contribution is to convince Bob to do the obvious and fire Capers, but to amazingly retain Charlie despite one of the worst draft and free agent track records in league history. The basis for this being that the talent wasn't being "coached up". Does any serious football mind really believe the Texans have more than 3 or 4 players who could start on a playoff team regardless of the coaching? How can anyone believe retaining Charlie makes any since at all?
* Hired Gary Kubiak as head coach. Gary may or may not be a good coach but there is absolutely no evidence that he can master the complexities of leading a NFL franchise to the highest level. The great successes in his coaching resume have come under Mike Shanahan and with John Elway at the controls of the offense. The Bronces have never made it to the highest level without John Elway. I hope Gary proves to be a great head coach, but he has been passed over as a head coaching candidate by countless other NFL franchises over the last 5 years. Hiring him as head coach of the Texans and giving him power over hiring assistants and player decisions is nothing more than a complete crap shoot with the future of the Texan franchise. The fact that the new head coach is a hard core Aggie with potential biases against UT players is not comforting as they consider the most important player talent decision in the history of the franchise. Aggies are never rational when it comes to UT, especially in the wake of UT's huge success this year.
This is especially concerning because Bob did not fire Charlie and hire a superior GM to lead the player personnel decisions. Instead of hiring a strong GM who could make cold eyed assessments of the Texan talent base and potential draftees and free agents, he kept a failed GM with a need to justify prior decisions who can only succeed with a seasoned, superior head coach who has mastered talent evaluations and possesses superior coaching skills. Amazingly, he has hired a rookie head coach to pair with a clearly failed GM who cannot succeed without a superior head coach. Unbelievable!!!! How did Bob McNair ever accumulate a huge fortune with such disastrous decision making?
In summary, Bob McNair's is a great guy, but his failed decisions are at the root of all the Texans' problems and there is no evidence that he has learned anything from his prior mistakes. This is especially distressing because there is no one in the organization that has proven to be capable of making sound personnel decisions at any level. This distress is compounded by the reality that the Texans most likely have the most valuable NFL draft pick in countless years and no one who can make the right call. Everything points to the Texans screwing up the first pick in the draft and passing on the most superior football talent in a generation.
PLEASE BOB, STOP AND THINK!!! Vince Young is a phenomenon that cannot be microanalyzed or left to unproven coaches or failed GMs to evaluate. Vince has unquestionably proven to be a superior athletic talent with icewater in his veins who is also a very rare leader who lifts all around him to over achieve at the highest level on the biggest stages in the most spectacluar ways. David Carr is a nice guy and a decent talent with questionable leadership skills, attitude and work ethic. Is he really the superior leader with the dedication and the greatest potential to lead the Texans to a championship? Who would you want at the controls with a minute to go and needing 75 yards to score the winning touchdown or lose the Super Bowl?
Bob, please, please do not subject Houston to the indignity of helplessly watching the Texans make the dumbest draft move since Sam Bowie and then possibly suffering the ultimate indignity of watching Vince lead Bud Adams to the promised land because you listened to the so called experts around you who have no proven ability to make even the obvious talent decisions. If you do this to Houston, you will have completely destroyed the last of the goodwill you have created in the hearts of many Houston fans with inevitable consequences for the value of your franchise and the spirit of our community. Even the biggest Vince naysayers among Texan fans will never forgive you if Vince lands with Bud Adams and takes the Titans to Super Bowl win(s). No one will ever judge you adversely if by some miracle David Carr or Reggie Bush ever wins a Super Bowl with anyone else.
All of Texas is watching you. You can win a lot of hearts if you make the right decision and lose a lot of hearts if you do not. The problem is that you have to dispassionately reassess your failed decision making process that made the Texans the worst franchise in the NFL in 2005 and focus on the big picture of the unbelievable opportunity you have with the first draft pick this year. Even Bud Adams had the sense to take Earl Campbell.
The opening day victory against Dallas was probably the biggest single event in Houston sports history in terms of the wonderful way it made all Houston sports fans proud and it was followed by an exciting Super Bowl Houston that Bob McNair made possible. Bob McNair is a great guy and a first class individual who has done great things for Houston and a I thank him for it. Unfortunately, Bob has also proven to be a very unsound CEO of an NFL franchise. Below is a summary of his failed track record to date:
* Hired Charlie Casserly despite a very questionable track record on draft picks and free agent acquisitions. He was known then as a great compiler of player data who was clueless about how to properly evaluate talent. Not surprisingly, he has compiled one of the worst drafting and free agent acquisition track records in the history of the NFL since joining the Texans and not having Joe Gibbs as a crosscheck.
Veteran NFL minds knew Charlie road Joe Gibbs coattails at Washington and was out of a job when McNair hired him because the rest of the league realized that Washington succeeded because of Joe Gibbs superior abilities in spite on Charlie's talent evaluation deficiencies. Bob confused Charlie's strong technical expertise with sound talent evaluation ability and hired a GM who could only succeed if he had a superior head coach to make the ultimate personnel judgements. Then he hired a head coach who needed a superior GM.
* Hired Dom Capers despite a very questionable track record as a first class guy, but a head coach who needed superior talent to succeed, who was hyper conservative and incapable of inspiring a sound offensive strategy, who was not a strong game day coach with superior adjustment abilities, who had difficulty evaluating and hiring superior assistant coaches, who put personal loyalty in coaching personnel decisions above sound football judgement and who lost the confidence of his players when all these flaws became apparent. What a surprise that Dom had the same issues in Houston. Bob hired a head coach that could only succeed with a GM that was a superior talent evaluator and then shortchanged the investment in coordinators who could compensate for Dom's deficiencies.
* Hired Dan Reeves to consult. Dan is a great guy with a track record of taking teams deep into the playoffs without winning the big one. He is also a guy who has been out of the league for awhile because of the perception that the game has passed him bye. Dan's contribution is to convince Bob to do the obvious and fire Capers, but to amazingly retain Charlie despite one of the worst draft and free agent track records in league history. The basis for this being that the talent wasn't being "coached up". Does any serious football mind really believe the Texans have more than 3 or 4 players who could start on a playoff team regardless of the coaching? How can anyone believe retaining Charlie makes any since at all?
* Hired Gary Kubiak as head coach. Gary may or may not be a good coach but there is absolutely no evidence that he can master the complexities of leading a NFL franchise to the highest level. The great successes in his coaching resume have come under Mike Shanahan and with John Elway at the controls of the offense. The Bronces have never made it to the highest level without John Elway. I hope Gary proves to be a great head coach, but he has been passed over as a head coaching candidate by countless other NFL franchises over the last 5 years. Hiring him as head coach of the Texans and giving him power over hiring assistants and player decisions is nothing more than a complete crap shoot with the future of the Texan franchise. The fact that the new head coach is a hard core Aggie with potential biases against UT players is not comforting as they consider the most important player talent decision in the history of the franchise. Aggies are never rational when it comes to UT, especially in the wake of UT's huge success this year.
This is especially concerning because Bob did not fire Charlie and hire a superior GM to lead the player personnel decisions. Instead of hiring a strong GM who could make cold eyed assessments of the Texan talent base and potential draftees and free agents, he kept a failed GM with a need to justify prior decisions who can only succeed with a seasoned, superior head coach who has mastered talent evaluations and possesses superior coaching skills. Amazingly, he has hired a rookie head coach to pair with a clearly failed GM who cannot succeed without a superior head coach. Unbelievable!!!! How did Bob McNair ever accumulate a huge fortune with such disastrous decision making?
In summary, Bob McNair's is a great guy, but his failed decisions are at the root of all the Texans' problems and there is no evidence that he has learned anything from his prior mistakes. This is especially distressing because there is no one in the organization that has proven to be capable of making sound personnel decisions at any level. This distress is compounded by the reality that the Texans most likely have the most valuable NFL draft pick in countless years and no one who can make the right call. Everything points to the Texans screwing up the first pick in the draft and passing on the most superior football talent in a generation.
PLEASE BOB, STOP AND THINK!!! Vince Young is a phenomenon that cannot be microanalyzed or left to unproven coaches or failed GMs to evaluate. Vince has unquestionably proven to be a superior athletic talent with icewater in his veins who is also a very rare leader who lifts all around him to over achieve at the highest level on the biggest stages in the most spectacluar ways. David Carr is a nice guy and a decent talent with questionable leadership skills, attitude and work ethic. Is he really the superior leader with the dedication and the greatest potential to lead the Texans to a championship? Who would you want at the controls with a minute to go and needing 75 yards to score the winning touchdown or lose the Super Bowl?
Bob, please, please do not subject Houston to the indignity of helplessly watching the Texans make the dumbest draft move since Sam Bowie and then possibly suffering the ultimate indignity of watching Vince lead Bud Adams to the promised land because you listened to the so called experts around you who have no proven ability to make even the obvious talent decisions. If you do this to Houston, you will have completely destroyed the last of the goodwill you have created in the hearts of many Houston fans with inevitable consequences for the value of your franchise and the spirit of our community. Even the biggest Vince naysayers among Texan fans will never forgive you if Vince lands with Bud Adams and takes the Titans to Super Bowl win(s). No one will ever judge you adversely if by some miracle David Carr or Reggie Bush ever wins a Super Bowl with anyone else.
All of Texas is watching you. You can win a lot of hearts if you make the right decision and lose a lot of hearts if you do not. The problem is that you have to dispassionately reassess your failed decision making process that made the Texans the worst franchise in the NFL in 2005 and focus on the big picture of the unbelievable opportunity you have with the first draft pick this year. Even Bud Adams had the sense to take Earl Campbell.