2018 Playoff Thread - No Dog In The Hunt Edition

[Apollo Stallion]

I rest just a bit easier tonight knowing that even if Watt, Mercilus, and Watson never get hurt, D. Brown doesn't hold out or get traded, and AJ Bouye gets resigned we don't have a safety even half as good as Marcus Williams and we were simply spared the agony of watching Gilchrist or Moore taking out Kevin Johnson while whiffing on a throw to a mediocre receiver for an epic last second failure.  They even had the O'Brien-esque 3rd and 1 run up the middle when a 1st let's em drain the clock and the ridiculous use of time outs/challenges. 

I managed to survive the Frank Reich Bills 32 point comeback on the Oilers in 93 with the support of loved ones, intensive therapy, and about 7 years of heavy drinking, but with every new horrific collapse and subsequent showing of the Oilers/Bills I am still slightly triggered.   I now see that Slick Rick destroying this team was actually an act of divine mercy to spare us from the horrors of ever actually being in a position to fail when :10 seconds away from a Championship Game.

BTW - Since Rick saw fit to sign Rahim Moore after he set the previous standard for worst coverage choke in NFL history vs. Flacco/Jacoby Jones, I figure we can look forward to him returning in 2019 to acquire the shattered soul of Marcus Williams.  

[jch1911]

46 minutes ago, Apollo Stallion said:

BTW - Since Rick saw fit to sign Rahim Moore after he set the previous standard for worst coverage choke in NFL history vs. Flacco/Jacoby Jones, I figure we can look forward to him returning in 2019 to acquire the shattered soul of Marcus Williams.  

Fun (alleged) fact - our new 5 year contract GM (Brian Gaine) is the one who recommended / researched Rahim Moore (allegedly)

EDIT: I still think we would have signed him from his Bronco pedigree alone.  Plus RS does not have best track record with safeties.

[Texansfan713]

To be fair, Moore filled a need for us.  We needed a safety who can cover ground and force INTs.  Just sucked that he flopped with us.

[Apollo Stallion]

6 hours ago, Texansfan713 said:

To be fair, Moore filled a need for us.  We needed a safety who can cover ground and force INTs.  Just sucked that he flopped with us.

Yep he sure covered that ground between him Jacoby Jones well. It's one thing to get posterized by Julio, but friggin Jacoby Jones? Dude ran one route his entire career - sideline "go." Between that play and nearly DYING from compartment syndrome in his leg, he just was never the same as his rookie year and at UCLA.  I'll admit, I wanted the Texans to draft him badly (I've basically been banging the drum for any safety with speed and cover skills since 2008) and thought it could be one of those sneaky good "change of scenery" signings, but the dude was a mess from day one around here and never got out of RACs doghouse.  Safety seems to have a HUGE mental aspect to it (the short memory thing) and once things start going south, I haven't seen many recover (but then again, I watch the Texans, so I've seen like 2 good safeties in 15 seasons).  Once OC's (or veteran QBs) find that "weak link" it's like they smell blood in the water and the feeding frenzy begins.  Heck Kevin Johnson's confidence fell so far so fast this season, the dude couldn't even tackle anymore by the end of the season. 

[Texansfan713]

Am I the only one cheering for the Pats to beat the Jags?  Yeah im petty. 

[Longhorns90]

After watching portions of that game, the Jags played the Patriots far closer than we have at any time during the playoffs. We're gonna have to deal with the fact that they're the team to beat in this division now. Especially if they can improve their QB position, like we've been trying to do the past few years

[Texansfan713]

14 hours ago, Longhorns90 said:

After watching portions of that game, the Jags played the Patriots far closer than we have at any time during the playoffs. We're gonna have to deal with the fact that they're the team to beat in this division now. Especially if they can improve their QB position, like we've been trying to do the past few years

until their coordinators leave and they have to pay their players. 

[ET80]

2 hours ago, Texansfan713 said:

until their coordinators leave and they have to pay their players. 

I think the coordinators were part of the problem yesterday. Why stop going to the swing pass to Corey Grant? Why flip to zone after Gronk goes down when man was shutting down Amendola, Hogan and Cooks? Why take two knees with :50 going into half and nursing a 14-10 lead?

Jacksonville had opportunities to win this game, convincingly.

[Apollo Stallion]

On 1/22/2018 at 1:30 PM, EliteTexan80 said:

I think the coordinators were part of the problem yesterday. Why stop going to the swing pass to Corey Grant? Why flip to zone after Gronk goes down when man was shutting down Amendola, Hogan and Cooks? Why take two knees with :50 going into half and nursing a 14-10 lead?

Jacksonville had opportunities to win this game, convincingly.

J'Ville is going to be a force to be reckoned with, but let's not forget Oakland was 12-4 in 2016 AND had a franchise QB and came crashing back to Earth at 6-10 last year.   I think the "last place schedule" thing is overblown, but I think there is definitely something to the doormat teams catching teams asleep at the wheel a bit as clearly we prepared like week 1 was a bye week and Pittsburgh did twice.     As we know well enough here, expectations have a way of exposing the cracks and they tend to widen when adversity sets in and an offseason of hype is going to pump up some pretty big ego's.  J'Ville has talent for sure, but it's volatile talent and almost completely on one side of the ball aside from Fournette who's style is going to make him a constant threat for getting hurt.  What happens when the "fearless" team suddenly has something to lose and have teams gunning for them. How do they react when Fournette either a) get's hurt for a stretch (see what happen to Dallas w/o Elliott)  or b) starts running out of bounds to avoid getting hurt.  Marrone held things together well this year, but what happens when every decision gets scrutiny like the hyper conservative playcalling going into the half.

Obviously, the QB issue itself is big enough to rip apart a team and it doesn't have easy answers.  Marrone strikes me as a loyal dude with a bit of an O'Brien stubborn streak willing to go against the grain, so it wouldn't shock me at all to see Bortles back there which creates plenty of drama since that means he'll be making $19 million and have Super Bowl expectations and be playing to hit a $100 million lottery ticket.  Personally, I've always thought Bortles has been unfairly disregarded as I think half the league, fans, and press pay so little attention to the Jags that they think Blake Bortles and Blaine Gabbert are the same person and you just associate J'Ville w/poor QB play.  When you play for a team that's always behind you're going to throw a bunch of ints and frankly his durability has been amazing considering the pounding he's taken.  Bortles isn't one of these guys like Gabbert or Osweiler who scouts pumped up based on the size/arm strength prototype despite mediocre play as Bortles absolutely carried that Central Florida team to a top 10 finish.  All that being said, the second Bortles starts making some Bortles plays the skeptics are going to pounce just like they did on Alex Smith and I don't think that locker room is immune to the "he's holding us back" dialogue.

So if they don't bring Bortles back, that sets up an even more volatile situation as Bortles got them within a few plays of the Super Bowl, so the new QB will expected to do BETTER.  I personally HOPE it's Eli Manning who I think is the polar opposite of Bortles in that he's always been massively overrated because of his name and playing his best football at the right time, twice. If INTs are Bortles problem, Manning has 228 of em folks, including season in his prime with 20, 25, and 27!   The rest are all Dangerfields (don't get no respect) in Cousins, Keenum, Bradford, Bridgewater, Taylor and personally, aside from Cousins I think they're all steps down.   I do think it's entirely possible that they try to trade up to grab one of the 4 top guys like we did with Watson, but we caught lightning in a bottle and putting "Super Bowl or bust" on a rookie is tough.  They could pick up Bortles option AND draft a QB high, but like in KC, every int or bad half is going to have everyone crying for the new guy to take over.  Usual result is Trubisky "well he's trying" level which works when your looking at 6 wins, notsomuch when you have Super Bowl aspirations. 

[ET80]

@Apollo Stallion - don't know where to put this so I'll start here:

What was your take on the Seth Payne v Josh Innes flare up today? Was that staged, or legit? 

[Texansfan713]

17 hours ago, EliteTexan80 said:

@Apollo Stallion - don't know where to put this so I'll start here:

What was your take on the Seth Payne v Josh Innes flare up today? Was that staged, or legit? 

I know you directed that to stallion but i want to chime in.  Its definitely legit from what I'm hearing.  I'm cool with Jayson Braddock so I know behind the scenes info with 790 and Texans stuff unlike years past.  As you have told me, you only listen to 610, but on 790 Innes is known as a tool and a cocky individual.  Mostly because he came from Philly.  I personally don't hate him like others do but I can see how he gets under people's skin. 

[ET80]

7 hours ago, Texansfan713 said:

I know you directed that to stallion but i want to chime in.  Its definitely legit from what I'm hearing.  I'm cool with Jayson Braddock so I know behind the scenes info with 790 and Texans stuff unlike years past.  As you have told me, you only listen to 610, but on 790 Innes is known as a tool and a cocky individual.  Mostly because he came from Philly.  I personally don't hate him like others do but I can see how he gets under people's skin. 

Heard about the 790 credentials being revoked following the altercation, so I highly doubt it was staged. 

Innes has been a tool since his 610 days, and Seth Payne simply OWNED him. There is no redemption for Innes, who was now publicly exposed for being the insecure, lying piece of trash that he is. Hopefully he'll enjoy his 2nd career as a Starbucks barista by day and sad podcaster by night...

[Texansfan713]

LOL your last sentence was hilarious. 

[Apollo Stallion]

On 1/31/2018 at 4:57 PM, EliteTexan80 said:

@Apollo Stallion - don't know where to put this so I'll start here:

What was your take on the Seth Payne v Josh Innes flare up today? Was that staged, or legit? 

I'll speak in generalities in this forum since this runs a bit too close to my professional life for me to get to specifics or address the actual parties or their employers. I can tell you that radio personalities and/or Program Directors trying to get under the skin of a competitor and force a reaction is as old as the industry itself.  You grow audience by either a) getting your core listeners to listen longer or more often  or b) getting new listeners to sample your station and try to convert them into core listeners.  In that sense, this is mutually beneficial as it certainly makes for appointment listening for Seth's show for the next few days, but generally a ratings leader should never react to a needling competitor as you are serving their goal of reminding listeners to punch the other buttons on the car radio and likely sacrificing listening occasions as listeners tune in to hear their reactions as well. 

Stern set the model for people tuning in even if they hate him "to see what happens next" and it's practically a trope when morning shows have beefs with their own afternoon shows or management, and sports radio is one of the last bastions where there are actual personalities broadcasting live to even react.  Frankly, a seasoned broadcaster would never cede a second of airtime to mention a competitor better yet openly engage and bash them them on-air, so this strikes me as an attention seeker fulfilling his mission to get the top dog off his game and react like a football player, not part of the leading sports morning show.  It's a bit like Cortland Finnegan getting Andre Johnson to lose his head as a underdog Titan fan will take that trade off any day.    As it happens, sometimes these things backfire and one party is forgiven for an out of character moment that most fans will feel is justified, while the other gets his reputation as an annoying pest cemented in the eyes of many.  The reality is that broadcasting has become more risk averse than ever as these are huge corporations operating on thin margins where losing a few key advertisers is not worth the risk of some slight ratings bump from manufacturing controversy. 

Of course, the grizzled old newspaper guy (McClain) just shaking his head and walking off to get more pancakes leaving the broadcasters whip it out to see who's is bigger completes the "old media" picture perfectly, except ultimately the incident is one of the few times his paper will deem broadcasters worthy of mention in their vaunted print publication.  Sadly there will come a time when some punk blogger renders him obsolete and will happily burn his press pass for the opportunity to cultivate an edgy online persona.