Yeah, last year was NFC South, this year's it's AFC South.

hey, if someone has free tickets I might take em.

I think last years success (relatively speaking) kind of screwed us...

Here me out...just my opinion

I believe the original plan was to clean house. But the relative success blinded us. We started to believe that maybe we could win with trash. BOB probably drank a little of the koolaid as well. So instead of following through Mission "remove all reminents of the Kubiak era"...we began mission "put a bandaid on a broke leg"...as a result we brought back scrubs and BOB started looking for his game manager...

Here we are realizing that our OLINE sucks, JJ can't just do what he wants, Cushing talks more than he walks, Arian is as injury prone as ever (no one touched him) and can't be relied on, and game managers don't last in this NFL...

So I'm pushing for us to get back to the original plan...

I think BOB is blinded a lot by New England. Tom Brady fixes a lot of problems on offense, and makes things easier for the defense as well. I think BOB thinks we can get by with an OL thats not great, subbing WR and RBs each week, and everything will be ok with the right game manager......only problem is that we don't have Brady.

The biggest problem with that is Hoyer has never been anything close to a game manager. He is neither accurate nor safe with the ball. He is at his best when throwing the ball down field and making the 55% that he completes count. He is like Ryan Fitzpatrick with less arm and less mobility.

What concerns me is that this is four games already this season where we not only lost but looked like a high school team in the process. Three games now (KC, ATL, MIA) where we were literally blown out in the first half and one game (IND) where we lost to a 40-year-old QB who was under the weather while committing nearly every stupid mistake a team could make.

THAT, friends, is a lack of preparation and THAT goes on the coaches - 1000%. If 2/3rds of your games are EMBARRASSING losses, not just losses, THAT goes on the coaches - 1000%.

Romeo and the entire defensive staff should be fired and if O'Brien won't do it, fire him too.

That's not to exonerate the front office or the offense but you have to start somewhere.

Should've kept Wade as DC.

Games likely would have been more fun to watch even with an inept O.

We know McNair won't fire O'Briene because he's got a 5 year contract plus what it cost the owner to buy out his Penn State contract.
Now they might fire Romeo. There is some talent on the defense, but very little on offense and of course with no hope in sight at QB, the offense has got a long, long ways to go.

Anyone have any thoughts about next years Qb. Will it be someone on the roster, someone we draft, or a free agent?

It's likely going to get even messier.
#Colts next 3 games:
-- at 5-0 Carolina
-- vs. 6-0 Denver
-- at 6-1 Atlanta.

We should be in 1st place at the end of all that. BUT we are not taking advantage of this opportunity and I can't see a change in sight less we make a major change this week.

Yep, but at this point I'm not really sure what changes would be a positive for this season. About the only one that comes to mind would be to give Vrabel a shot at DC. Play calling on O may change, but not sure if it would be publicized, so we would't know. There's few difference makers on the street, so the core group isn't changing.

If Mallett is still on the team after tomorrow it will tell me all I need to know about OB, Smith and McNut - especially OB. I will lose a large amount of respect and patience with OB if he does nothing with Mallett. I don't give a flying flip at this point who the starting QB is or which schlep they sign off the street as the backup. Go sign Ponder, Tebow, or hell, Vinny Testeverde for all I care, but the first message OB needs to send to this wussy-fied team is, we may suck, but we won't tolerate some dumbass malcontent.

Vinny Testeverde is 51, but he might be a significant improvement.

A question mark is used at the end of an interrogative sentence, neck. Learn English.

Also, I declared that I am giving up on this team. It's years too late, sure. But I am not necessarily going to quit posting here. I mean, Keith may finally come to his senses and pull a Sweeney leaving Bob in charge who would most likely ban me just on principle, which I would mostly understand.

So as a recovering Texans fan posting here I may come across even more obnoxious than usual.

At this point I don't think you could be too negative for the situation. This franchise is actually worse than your most doom and gloom post of the last decade.

Promote Vrabel to head coach. A similar promotion seems to be working in Miami where they made Dan Campbell HC from being TE coach, and he has less coaching experience than Vrabel.

I would like to see Vrabel as a coach. I think he would toughen up this team.

C'mon man, what are you talking about ? O'Brien has got this team in the thick of it - in second place, only 1 game out of the division lead with over half the season to go yet.
You are too defeatist - you get lemons, make lemonade.

There are so many holes on this team. On offense, we are in dire need of a Qb, 2 Rbs, an explosive Wr, 2 to 3 TEs, and probably 3 OL. On defense, we are in need of a Nt, De, and DL depth, 2 ILBs, 2 OLBs(1 for depth), 2 Safties, and at least another corner. So, if we can land a super haul next year of 20 draft picks, and hit on each one, we are right back in the middle of the super bowl race.

You imply that leaving me in charge = coming to one's senses but I would disagree. I have enough headaches with AstrosDaily. And, I wouldn't ban you if you aren't going all Hetero Doxy on us.

Part of me wishes I could run away to some other country and disconnect myself from America (other than their sports) but I'm now tethered to a job with the federal government and I'm not desperate enough to take a job as Ambassador to Libya. Yet. ;)

There are obviously no quick fixes to a decade's worth of mostly poor personnel decisions, but there is one thing the Texans can do defensively to save themselves at least a TD per game... and that is for the front seven to read and react to the screen plays.

Crennel has given Watt some leeway to freelance out there, and this worked very well in 2014 when Watt should have been MVP of the league. This year, however, offenses have figured out that the Texans defense only cares about pursuit which leaves them very vulnerable to players getting the football out in space, ESPECIALLY when the LBs and safeties are slow and severely lacking NFL-caliber talent.

Take advantage of the speed Watt and Clowney (and, ahem, you too Mercilus) to remove the screen game from opposing offenses, and this D likely goes back to looking like a bend-but-don't-break defense loaded with first rounders.

Another thing would be to tighten the coverage. Give Watt and Clowney a chance to make a play and eliminate all the quick throws. Also, always rush at least 5 players. Mercilus isn't much use, so at least let him use his speed to get after the qb, and maybe get a few cleanup sacks. I would line Clowney on Watts side, Mercilus on the other, and do a lot of praying. Maybe hire a full time chaplain.

Pertinent to earlier discussion, article from Jason LaCanfora....

Inside Football: Time for heads to roll in Houston, but not Bill O'Brien's

More at link...

Saw one play yesterday where Clowney sniffed out a WR screen. Unfortunately the other 10+ worked like a charm, but that 1 was a pretty good play.

A "local" outlook:

Houston Texans Are Failing At All Levels of the Organization

Patrick Starr

More at link.....

Here comes the power struggle....

From Brian Smith's twitter
O'Brien tried and wanted to cut Mallett on Saturday after he missed team plane. GM Rick Smith wouldn't allow it and overruled #Texans' coach

Smith should be fired along with Mallett. That is absolutely ridiculous a GM overrules a coach on cutting loose a freaking useless, backup malcontent. I can understand it if it is a key player making millions under a longterm contract, but a crappy backup under a 1-yr contrct??. WTH could Smith possibly be thinking here? If you're going to make a complete asswipe move like this and undermine the HC, then just fire him. I'm really beginning to depise this organization with Smith at the helm.

I am hoping this is Rick Smith's farewell season.

Sorta agree. If OB was in the heat of the moment and. Rick talked him off the ledge, I'd be ok with it. You can't go into a game with your punter as the QB2.

The real tell will be if Mallett survives today. If he does, Rick wins. If he doesn't, they compromised for the sake of the team on game day.

Regardless, it's never good when stuff like this is leaked to the media. We shouldn't even know about it. Drama is always bad, but especially bad for a struggling squad.

I haven't read the article because I refuse to register at chron.com just to get "insider" access to read some hack sports article. But yes, timing is key here. If this went down before the Miami game, then I can understand Smith overruling OB and hopefully it gets corrected today. But if it went down after the game, then they might as well fire OB because, IMO, it totally undermines his authority in the locker room. How I see this playing out is, if Mallett remains on the roster, I can see a scenario where OB flags him as Inactive from here on and brings up Dysert (or signs someone else) at the expense of a currently rostered player. And that's unfortunate because it impacts OB's authority as well as another player who doesn't deserve to get cut just because the idiot, inept GM wants to make a power play for a useless player.

FWIW, Mallett is not on a 1-year contract. Cutting Mallett now, if I read the cap details right, takes his 2-yr deal and puts it against this year's cap but then there's nothing against next year's cap, saving $3.5 million in 2016. $1.75 million of the contract is guaranteed which is all 2015 money.

Frankly, cutting Mallett does not fix the problem nor does it send the right message. it's not going to light a fire under these players. I suspect O'Brien has overused his profanity-laced tirades and the players have begun tuning it out.

Texans disagree. It solves one problem... Getting a pouty, malcontent, dumbass off the roster. Texans aren't out any big money so I'm glad they did it.

I'm thinking I might go over to Reliant and ask for a QB tryout. I need to exercise more anyways so it is a win/win for all parties.