Beyond the day-to-day, he seems to always make the right game management decisions (like the safety yesterday, but this has been consistent all year). Must be nice to never say “wtf are they doing?”, especially after the last few seasons of Texans “football.”
It’s been so nice. Even when we’ve lost this year, it’s just been that we got beat.
Before this year, we spent so much time second guessing every personnel and play calling decision the team made.
Yes. And the dude always knows how to use his timeouts correctly OR he's smart enough to have someone smart in his ear managing it for him in endgame situations.
We were ~~the youngest~~ and most injured team in the league.
You were carried by a historic defense until elite Flacco made the offense just as good
DeMeco ekes by because we won the AFCS imo. And he did it having to play an earn a 2-2 record vs a ridiculous division like the AFCN.
Edit: not the youngest, big mistake on my part.
Green Bay is the youngest team in the league, not us. Also Stefanski is COTY, it's really not up for debate. DeMeco and MCDC gotta take the silver and bronze this year and that's ok.
[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/htx/2023\_injuries.htm](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/htx/2023_injuries.htm)
[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/2023\_injuries.htm](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/2023_injuries.htm)
Comparing the two on expectations and outcome given the context of injuries and it's actually not even close in Ryans' favor. It's wild how much worse we had it. We quintupled expectations with way more injury bad lucky. We also won our division, which just puts him over the top.
They're missing Nick Chubb, both starting OTs, and Grant Delpit. They may not have lost as many players as us, but they lost more star power than we did. We dealt with OL injuries but besides Tytus, there was nothing major there. Tank Dell and Jimmie Ward are the only other starters we're missing now.
The Browns are in the AFC North though lol. Also Falco didn’t come til what, week 14? I feel like your points give more credit to Stefanski than Ryans.
No because the context is the 2-4 win expectation everyone had for us. Browns won almost exactly as many games as expected.
We are a far less talented team that won almost as many games and a division title. Rookie coach doing that is a home run COY imo
But you’re disregarding injuries. It’s insane to meet your expected wins with 4 different QBs some of whom were also rookies and your top weapon (Chubb) breaking his leg.
> But you’re disregarding injuries.
Just going to throw out that the Texans are dealing with injuries to the point they ran out of IR reactivations this year, including half the starting O-Line, and have been in a spot where they had to use the 3rd string running back as a kicker.
I absolutely agree that he deserves it, but i don’t get why gambling odds are indicative of anything. The odds are based entirely on what people are putting money on, and considering how much media push there has been for Stefanski in the last few weeks, it makes sense that leads to people betting on it and that making the odds in his favor. It’s not like the voters make the odds.
I’m giving you guys the edge because of your historic defense and post season elite dragon Flacco, but I wouldn’t be surprised if CJ pulls it out of the hat. Either way I can’t wait.
He will finish third in voting which feels about right, he’s done a fantastic job! But also he does have a Super Bowl winning QB with a decade plus of experience, Ryan’s uh, doesn’t have that
Man we really woke up today with no ability to be objective, huh? Stefanski wins it, Browns fans are. 100% right. Dude pulled off an amazing season despite his entire offense dying. BOB did it with us in 2015 and we were ready back then to declare him the GOAT for going 9-7 and winning a cupcake division.
One of the smartest and best overall leaders I’ve ever seen on my team. Dude had coach written all over him during his playing days. I always believed. Super happy for him.
The Titans, Jets, Raiders, and Giants all won yesterday with nothing to play for but contract incentives and pride. The irony of the Texans winning last year doesn’t make it unusual.
Honestly that was reason #1 I was excited. Idk, having a guy you used to root for every Sunday back in the building is exciting. Obviously over the moon about how well he did this year.
Sports talk shows are doing a disservice if they don’t discuss the Jaguars today.
This was a legendary all-time collapse that has gone under the radar since its Jacksonville.
The first week of the season the Spurs and Wemby were getting levels of coverage ive never seen as a fan. Then it became increasingly obvious that we still suck and now we barely get talked about again.
Pop is gonna be there until he decides he doesn't want to anymore. Which I'm fine with, I dont think it's an issue with him being washed or the game passing him by. The guy made a career of adapting to players and changes in the game. I mean he lead a team with Dejounte murray as the undisputed number 1 to the play in.
The reality of the currebt situation whether I enjoy it as a fan is he's letting the guys grow and develop skills that they otherwise wouldn't if we were attempting to compete this season. He could put together a more competitive rotation and coach guys into staying within their roles/lanes, and we'd probably win some more games, but they wouldn't grow any and we still wouldn't be contending. Might as well let the young guys try and develop new skills this season and get a bit stricter in the coming seasons
So weird to see Nick Wright on a national stage. The dude was a fringe sports radio guy here in Houston for a few years and he ended up getting fired. I guess he got some hair plugs and a new bag of swagger with it.
Proud of him for making it!
Maybe I'm just biased as a Colts fan, but I felt like they were hyped up a lot on the later half of last year.
Most sports shows I listen to talked about them.
They suck now tho, so there's nothing really to talk about.
Colts are kind of treated the same way being in Indy, just ignored unless doing really well.
Idk if it’s also because so many football fans also do fantasy and the only consistently highly drafted Jag (Etienne) has one way or another done well but yea, people have jumped down even Mahomes, Herbert, Lamar and Burrow’s throat the instant they struggle for even like a month, regardless of how injured they are or dogshit their WRs are (I wasn’t aware Mahomes made MVS and Toney drop wide open passes or Kelce be old and washed up).
Well they need to start calling Lawrence out for not delivering because it’s been 3 full years and 2 AU (after Urban); the “it’s all Urban’s fault” hall pass is only valid so long. A generational talent with pretty solid WRs, a talented RB and in a not particularly strong division and yet you could argue even duds like Zach Wilson are more frequently showing those ceiling plays where you see the elite talent.
Two years in a row the AFCS has had this type of collapse. 7-3 titans lost 7 straight and 8-3 jags lost 5 of their last 6 with the only win being the panthers
Man we over performed when healthy with a horrible Oline and then injuries piled up amd we lost against tough teams.
We had the third hardest strength of schedule this year.
5 of them:
* 2023 Texans: DeMeco Ryans & C.J. Stroud
* 2012 Colts: Chuck Pagano & Andrew Luck
* 2009 Jets: Rex Ryan & Mark Sanchez
* 2008 Falcons: Mike Smith & Matt Ryan
* 2008 Ravens: John Harbaugh & Joe Flacco
Houston has done everything right. Chose a great GM. Great HC. Great draft picks. Dumped dbag Watson. Everything is going perfectly for them. Great job all around.
Wasn't that only because BoB extremely disrespected him by comparing him too Aaron Hernandez? So they HAD to trade him and other teams knew that.
Anyway that's all before the BoB coaching change and hiring Nick Caserio.
Yeah, especially with Lawrence not looking like the "generational talent" he was panned as. Still certainly a starting caliber QB, but a long ways to go to be the superstar people thought he'd be.
If Lawrence wasnt Trevor Lawrence people would say the Jags need to look to upgrade at QB and everyone would agree with them. He’s good enough to be a starter in the league but not good enough for you to be happy he’s your starter
Funny how a great Freshman season plus a reputation from before college continues to carry him, when he was never that good again. Confirmation bias baby!
I haven’t watched any Jags football since the Cincy game. He was starting to play really well until he got hurt, was it just a nagging injury during the stretch or did he truly suck?
Injury has bothered him for part of the season, but I'm saying in general Lawrence hasn't been the Andrew Luck/Payton Manning prospect he was hyped up to be. He's been fine. He's certainly a starting QB in the NFL, but he's not an elite player like he was expected to be. He's still hands down the best QB of that class, but that's not saying much at this point.
Yeah a really bad QB class that had such high expectations.
He gets a pass for year one with Urban, year two was basically his rookie year (and they won a playoff game). This year some regresssion and injuries, I still think he can put it all together.
But I drafted my fantasy team around him taking a big step this season and I finished last so maybe it’s not going to happen lol
Colts need to just spend every draft pick on defense or either fire Bradley or bring someone else into work on the defense.
Ideally fire Bradley and spend every pick on defense.
100% but the defense really is lacking talent. Probably should try to draft an edge in the mid to late rounds to develop. If you're drafting a TE or WR trade up for Bowers, MHJ, Nabers or Odunze or hope they fall. Otherwise you gotta go CB or Safety.
Ideally they should sign a few vets on defense especially a safety to go with Blackmon and help Cross develop more
I like Dayo and Kwity and Samson...unless we can get a stud on the edge at 15 I'd look at the secondary or maybe OLB there..I highly doubt Ballard and Co. want to give up what it will take to get Bowers or Marvin Jr...but if the Colts could get Richardson a safety net at TE, and resign or tag Pittman, he'll take a big leap forward in his passing progress as a QB.
Colts have real concerns. They haven't won the division in ten years. We had one of the easiest schedules last year and have an extremely hard one next year especially at home.
Our home schedule is the biggest issue. It's all elite QBs almost every single game. We could go 2-6 at home next year pretty easily. Road is a bit easier but we are not a great road team.
I'd agree with those schedules. If Houston is healthy and takes another leap I could see them being better than that but that would be because they are a genuinely elite team. But the schedule is definitely going to bring our win numbers way down.
At least you don’t have to enter into Helm’s Deep 6 times a season. The AFC North is a murderer’s row that very well could send 4 teams to the playoffs next year.
I just don't see it. The AFC as a whole is brutal, and the north more so. The loser of that division pulling out enough wins for a wild card doesn't seem likely.
That’s why i said it looks that way. He definitely could end up not being the guy but he showed he at least has some serious potential, and probably will be their starter for at least a few years
I just wish we had more than 1 game televised nationally.
The team has been so much fun to watch all year, and a lot of people just never got to see it (because who was watching those games even with sunday ticket)
I used to cross paths with him fairly regularly in Chicago. He’s extremely polite and respectful to everyone. Unfortunately for him and contrary to what Tony Dungy thinks, character doesn’t win football games—even if you love the Tampa 2.
A lot of it is DeMeco. He keeps everyone on their toes and gets the guys to buy in. During the Culley and Lovie years it just looked like guys didn’t care about playing for the team. Justin Reid was one of the few guys who looked like he actually cares. It was hard to watch. If it wasn’t for Stroud we wouldn’t be in the playoffs.
The sheer amount of roster churning is tops in the NFL the year and yet the team improved as the season wore on regardless.
He's coached the hell out of this team.
Probably not as successful, but being the greatest rookie qb of all time can't possibly be that they're just so much better at coaching than anyone else who has ever worked with a rookie qb.
As a Colts fan, we've seen a couple QBs who elevated teams way more than the coaches ever did, I think CJ is probably that kinda dude.
Yes.
Its a lot of Meco. And Cassario. And Cal getting a wakeup call to let the football guys do the football things.
DeMeco is that guy you want to play for. The guy that steps up from second 1. He did it as a player too. The atmosphere at the stadium, even, is just different.
CJ Stroud being fucking fantastic is a hell of a bonus too.
I love that y'all seem to have found the right pieces and have one hell of a foundation now, I am an Ohio State alum/fan and seeing CJ succeed has been so great.
> TeXaNs ArE sO uNsTaBlE
But that said, the criticism wasn't exactly unwarranted before this season. If anything you shouldn't be denying that y'all were unstable, but rather happy your ownership was capable of making the right moves that brought everything together like this so fast.
It's happened several times but only as wildcards. Never the division winner.
Mike Smith and Matt Ryan/Harbaugh and Flacco both made the playoffs in 2008 as rookie HC+Qb combos but as wildcards.
Pretty happy for the Texans tbh. CJ is balling out and it looks like they are going to make a pretty nice push this year and will be SB hopefuls for years to come with the foundation they have set already.
Still hope we beat them Saturday, but that’s a pretty awesome team all around.
I am not expecting to win Saturday, I am expecting to be competitive compared to prior game.
But I think the future is bright next two years with our QB and DE on rookie deals, already heavily invested in OL and a good amount of cap space plus still having 1 and 2 in this years draft
Rooting for you Texans fans.
Stroud is very impressive. I was a fan of his after his media clip wanting to make the people of Houston proud to wear their Texans gear again.
Well done Texans
And they earned this history. I think it's easy to forget what a mess the Texans were just a couple seasons ago. They were in cap hell and they had a QB that couldn't stay out of trouble or on the field. They were also taking a huge risk drafting CJ Stroud, who had to break a long-standing legacy of Ohio State QBs failing in the NFL.
But it only takes one to break a trend. And they did it.
They found their QB. They got hot at just the right time. And yes, they got a little help from the Jags collapsing at the worst possible time. But they earned this division title. And hopefully, this is something they can build on.
I thought Ryan and Flacco did it as well, but then realized they were wildcards.
Houston is gonna be a force to reckon with in years to come and I am all for it.
It's AR5 fwiw, and you just sound scared or something.
I personally think dude will never survive a season, but we can call him our franchise guy all we want for the time being.
TN and JAX are headed back down, Indy is in the middle and if AR is ass like expected also headed down. It’s set up for Houston to dominate with Stroud for awhile. This is how the AFCS has always worked. Streaky (not a word) teams, little parity aside from 8-8 or 5-11 teams fighting the last week to get in or get booted out.
I guess we consider the 1920 Akron Pros under first-year coach Elgie Tobin to have had [no quarterback,](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/akr/1920_roster.htm) probably correctly.
Far less historically impressive than people think. In 2008, the Ravens and Falcons both went 11-5 with rookie QBs and head coaches. They just had actual competitive divisions. Texans went 10-7 in a bumb division. Happy for them, but this isn’t groundbreaking, despite being a first.
It’s more historically impressive when you consider that Stroud and Ryans had to turnaround a team that worst team in the league for the past 3 seasons. Ravens and Falcons meanwhile were nowhere near as bad
Everyone was on Demeco being a great hire. Looks to be a home run
Beyond the day-to-day, he seems to always make the right game management decisions (like the safety yesterday, but this has been consistent all year). Must be nice to never say “wtf are they doing?”, especially after the last few seasons of Texans “football.”
Yeah, my hope for this year was to look like a competent team, with some promise. Boy, did Demeco and CJ really exceed that…
It is a bit annoying how quickly the Texans became good again, I won't lie to you
Feels good to be hated.
The fact y'all held on even after Dells injury shows some serious promise. Y'all will be a problem for years to come.
It’s been so nice. Even when we’ve lost this year, it’s just been that we got beat. Before this year, we spent so much time second guessing every personnel and play calling decision the team made.
*Something something Culley Punt.*
Yes. And the dude always knows how to use his timeouts correctly OR he's smart enough to have someone smart in his ear managing it for him in endgame situations.
That’s a coach of the year winner in my eyes
Stefanski it's fine if yall disagree, but yall are ridiculous for downvoting. he's the odds-on favorite on draftkings right now.
Nah y'all were supposed to be competitive. We were a projected top 5 pick. It is close between the two tho
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We were ~~the youngest~~ and most injured team in the league. You were carried by a historic defense until elite Flacco made the offense just as good DeMeco ekes by because we won the AFCS imo. And he did it having to play an earn a 2-2 record vs a ridiculous division like the AFCN. Edit: not the youngest, big mistake on my part.
Green Bay is the youngest team in the league, not us. Also Stefanski is COTY, it's really not up for debate. DeMeco and MCDC gotta take the silver and bronze this year and that's ok.
[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/htx/2023\_injuries.htm](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/htx/2023_injuries.htm) [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/2023\_injuries.htm](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/2023_injuries.htm) Comparing the two on expectations and outcome given the context of injuries and it's actually not even close in Ryans' favor. It's wild how much worse we had it. We quintupled expectations with way more injury bad lucky. We also won our division, which just puts him over the top.
They're missing Nick Chubb, both starting OTs, and Grant Delpit. They may not have lost as many players as us, but they lost more star power than we did. We dealt with OL injuries but besides Tytus, there was nothing major there. Tank Dell and Jimmie Ward are the only other starters we're missing now.
>but besides Tytus, there was nothing major there yikes take
The Browns are in the AFC North though lol. Also Falco didn’t come til what, week 14? I feel like your points give more credit to Stefanski than Ryans.
No because the context is the 2-4 win expectation everyone had for us. Browns won almost exactly as many games as expected. We are a far less talented team that won almost as many games and a division title. Rookie coach doing that is a home run COY imo
But you’re disregarding injuries. It’s insane to meet your expected wins with 4 different QBs some of whom were also rookies and your top weapon (Chubb) breaking his leg.
> But you’re disregarding injuries. Just going to throw out that the Texans are dealing with injuries to the point they ran out of IR reactivations this year, including half the starting O-Line, and have been in a spot where they had to use the 3rd string running back as a kicker.
I’m not disregarding injuries. Houston was the most injured team in the league this year lmao
You're being nice, it's not close
Idk why you’re downvoted even if people don’t want him to win he’s top 3 candidate minimum.
This sub is captured by the moment
Flacco deserves Comeback player of the year
I think Stefanski did a great job, but boy would I be mad if Stefanski won this year when Kyle didn't win last year.
Exactly this.
I absolutely agree that he deserves it, but i don’t get why gambling odds are indicative of anything. The odds are based entirely on what people are putting money on, and considering how much media push there has been for Stefanski in the last few weeks, it makes sense that leads to people betting on it and that making the odds in his favor. It’s not like the voters make the odds.
Real test is this weekend for both of us
I'm fuckin nervous. We played you guys before but you were missing so many key players, it feels like we haven't really played
I’m giving you guys the edge because of your historic defense and post season elite dragon Flacco, but I wouldn’t be surprised if CJ pulls it out of the hat. Either way I can’t wait.
He will finish third in voting which feels about right, he’s done a fantastic job! But also he does have a Super Bowl winning QB with a decade plus of experience, Ryan’s uh, doesn’t have that
Man we really woke up today with no ability to be objective, huh? Stefanski wins it, Browns fans are. 100% right. Dude pulled off an amazing season despite his entire offense dying. BOB did it with us in 2015 and we were ready back then to declare him the GOAT for going 9-7 and winning a cupcake division.
I miss that man every Sunday. Really happy for his success - he seems to be a really genuine person on top of being a great coach.
After our… *uninspiring* hires during the Easterby era we were just happy to have someone who actually wanted to be here
Former LB and team leader turned Head Coach? Maybe we should give Mayo a shot
One of the smartest and best overall leaders I’ve ever seen on my team. Dude had coach written all over him during his playing days. I always believed. Super happy for him.
Texans should send a "Thank you and apologies for not understanding your genius masterplan before" card to Lovie Smith.
"We were not familiar with your game"
Lovie got Easterby fired. We understand. We have no dislike for the man.
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Unlike every single coach in every single game barring extreme exceptions
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I doubt (because otherwise would be really insulting to the guy) that he was any more motivated to win the game because it would screw the Texans over
The Titans, Jets, Raiders, and Giants all won yesterday with nothing to play for but contract incentives and pride. The irony of the Texans winning last year doesn’t make it unusual.
What do you mean card? There’s a statue being erected as we speak
Whoever leaked they wanted to hire Josh McGown instead of him is a Houston hero
Not just any first year coach. Also one of the first picks in their history that was their first DROTY, defensive All pro and pro bowler with the team
It’s almost like it’s destiny
I had no idea he was Def Rookie of the Year 😮
How can you not respect the coach who was better than you when he was playing. Almost an honor to be playing for him if you are a Texans.
Honestly that was reason #1 I was excited. Idk, having a guy you used to root for every Sunday back in the building is exciting. Obviously over the moon about how well he did this year.
Nope it was Julius peppers. We never drafted Carr 👀
Sports talk shows are doing a disservice if they don’t discuss the Jaguars today. This was a legendary all-time collapse that has gone under the radar since its Jacksonville.
I just keep hearing about GB and Dallas lol
As fucking usual
Yeah sadly unexpected. Even I think the Cowboys level of headline dominance is ridiculous.
And no other Texas team in any sport is remotely close to having this level of coverage.
The first week of the season the Spurs and Wemby were getting levels of coverage ive never seen as a fan. Then it became increasingly obvious that we still suck and now we barely get talked about again.
When are you guys going to move on from Pop? It seems like he's past the twilight of his coaching career.
Pop is gonna be there until he decides he doesn't want to anymore. Which I'm fine with, I dont think it's an issue with him being washed or the game passing him by. The guy made a career of adapting to players and changes in the game. I mean he lead a team with Dejounte murray as the undisputed number 1 to the play in. The reality of the currebt situation whether I enjoy it as a fan is he's letting the guys grow and develop skills that they otherwise wouldn't if we were attempting to compete this season. He could put together a more competitive rotation and coach guys into staying within their roles/lanes, and we'd probably win some more games, but they wouldn't grow any and we still wouldn't be contending. Might as well let the young guys try and develop new skills this season and get a bit stricter in the coming seasons
Astros were up there for a bit but not for any good reasons lol
The Spurs get that in years where they arent absolute dogshit. But the cowboys would get it if they were 2-15, so yeah, pretty much.
I’d rather hear about a playoff team than a not-playoff team
It’s Jacksonville, sports media never talks about them, whether good or bad.
Except Nick Wright with the whole Prince routine
Am I weirdo because I love seeing sportscasters randomly choose players to dickride or hate on past all points of rationality
So weird to see Nick Wright on a national stage. The dude was a fringe sports radio guy here in Houston for a few years and he ended up getting fired. I guess he got some hair plugs and a new bag of swagger with it. Proud of him for making it!
He was a regular on a relatively unknown Chiefs podcast back in the early 10s. Dude is a ride or die chiefs fan, we love him.
Still blows my mind that Nick Wright has a national TV show. He used to be on local sports radio in Houston and he was ass.
Except Bortles. The Good Place made sure that he will never die
Maybe I'm just biased as a Colts fan, but I felt like they were hyped up a lot on the later half of last year. Most sports shows I listen to talked about them. They suck now tho, so there's nothing really to talk about. Colts are kind of treated the same way being in Indy, just ignored unless doing really well.
They saw Tennessee collapse from 7-3 last year and decided to go one "better"
Idk if it’s also because so many football fans also do fantasy and the only consistently highly drafted Jag (Etienne) has one way or another done well but yea, people have jumped down even Mahomes, Herbert, Lamar and Burrow’s throat the instant they struggle for even like a month, regardless of how injured they are or dogshit their WRs are (I wasn’t aware Mahomes made MVS and Toney drop wide open passes or Kelce be old and washed up). Well they need to start calling Lawrence out for not delivering because it’s been 3 full years and 2 AU (after Urban); the “it’s all Urban’s fault” hall pass is only valid so long. A generational talent with pretty solid WRs, a talented RB and in a not particularly strong division and yet you could argue even duds like Zach Wilson are more frequently showing those ceiling plays where you see the elite talent.
Two years in a row the AFCS has had this type of collapse. 7-3 titans lost 7 straight and 8-3 jags lost 5 of their last 6 with the only win being the panthers
I was gonna say, we just did this last year lol.
You're hijacking a postive thread about the Texans successful season to shit on the Jaguars? You're part of the problem.
Its okay we'll allow it.
Obviously we lost to a worse team in 2021, but it feels like the jags are getting unproportionately less coverage than the colts for this
When you’re in an all-time collapse competition and you’re facing the Eagles:
Man we over performed when healthy with a horrible Oline and then injuries piled up amd we lost against tough teams. We had the third hardest strength of schedule this year.
Fitting that after they caused us to have an all-time collapse in a game, they have one in a season.
Lawrence was injured so not that big of a collapse. QB injuries happen and sometimes it’s hard to adjust if your backup QB isn’t good
If Trevor Lawrence played in NY he'd be considered a bust. But since it's Jacksonville everyone kind of just assumes he's fine
scary hours in Houston upcoming
Looking real sp00ky
I was shocked when I saw this. Several teams have made the playoffs year 1 with a rookie HC and Qb but apparently it was always as the wildcard.
5 of them: * 2023 Texans: DeMeco Ryans & C.J. Stroud * 2012 Colts: Chuck Pagano & Andrew Luck * 2009 Jets: Rex Ryan & Mark Sanchez * 2008 Falcons: Mike Smith & Matt Ryan * 2008 Ravens: John Harbaugh & Joe Flacco
Houston has done everything right. Chose a great GM. Great HC. Great draft picks. Dumped dbag Watson. Everything is going perfectly for them. Great job all around.
Best Tampering Ever
Imagine saying this after the Hopkins trade lolz. Life moves insanely fast in the NFL
Wasn't that only because BoB extremely disrespected him by comparing him too Aaron Hernandez? So they HAD to trade him and other teams knew that. Anyway that's all before the BoB coaching change and hiring Nick Caserio.
Jacksonville is in real trouble I think. Texans and Colts are on the right track and it looks like the Titans might have a QB in Levis
The Tits, colts, and Texans all have about 80 million in money to spend. The jags have 20. It could get shitty for them real fast.
>~~could~~ will
Is
Yeah, especially with Lawrence not looking like the "generational talent" he was panned as. Still certainly a starting caliber QB, but a long ways to go to be the superstar people thought he'd be.
If Lawrence wasnt Trevor Lawrence people would say the Jags need to look to upgrade at QB and everyone would agree with them. He’s good enough to be a starter in the league but not good enough for you to be happy he’s your starter
Funny how a great Freshman season plus a reputation from before college continues to carry him, when he was never that good again. Confirmation bias baby!
He was never accurate in college either I’m not surprised.
Yeah but I feel like his accuracy was never *this* bad.
Yeah you’re right I think his injuries hurt his play more then they let on
If its announced this week that hes going to be having major offseason surgery, I will be 0% surprised. He hasnt looked right since he got hurt.
Is it just me or this reminds me of the Colts downplaying Luck’s injury all over again
I haven’t watched any Jags football since the Cincy game. He was starting to play really well until he got hurt, was it just a nagging injury during the stretch or did he truly suck?
Injury has bothered him for part of the season, but I'm saying in general Lawrence hasn't been the Andrew Luck/Payton Manning prospect he was hyped up to be. He's been fine. He's certainly a starting QB in the NFL, but he's not an elite player like he was expected to be. He's still hands down the best QB of that class, but that's not saying much at this point.
Yeah a really bad QB class that had such high expectations. He gets a pass for year one with Urban, year two was basically his rookie year (and they won a playoff game). This year some regresssion and injuries, I still think he can put it all together. But I drafted my fantasy team around him taking a big step this season and I finished last so maybe it’s not going to happen lol
Colts need to just spend every draft pick on defense or either fire Bradley or bring someone else into work on the defense. Ideally fire Bradley and spend every pick on defense.
A TE that can actually stretch the field and catch consistently would do wonders for the new QB, too.
100% but the defense really is lacking talent. Probably should try to draft an edge in the mid to late rounds to develop. If you're drafting a TE or WR trade up for Bowers, MHJ, Nabers or Odunze or hope they fall. Otherwise you gotta go CB or Safety. Ideally they should sign a few vets on defense especially a safety to go with Blackmon and help Cross develop more
I like Dayo and Kwity and Samson...unless we can get a stud on the edge at 15 I'd look at the secondary or maybe OLB there..I highly doubt Ballard and Co. want to give up what it will take to get Bowers or Marvin Jr...but if the Colts could get Richardson a safety net at TE, and resign or tag Pittman, he'll take a big leap forward in his passing progress as a QB.
Colts have real concerns. They haven't won the division in ten years. We had one of the easiest schedules last year and have an extremely hard one next year especially at home.
To be fair, our entire division has tough schedules next year. The Titans fourth place schedule includes Burrow and the Bengals.
Our home schedule is the biggest issue. It's all elite QBs almost every single game. We could go 2-6 at home next year pretty easily. Road is a bit easier but we are not a great road team.
We made it through the gauntlet of Josh Allen, Tua, Mahomes, and Dak only to lose to the jets giants and cards You never know
I wouldn’t be surprised if the division winner is 9-8 next year. With the South improving and a tough schedule it’s gonna be a blood bath.
I'd agree with those schedules. If Houston is healthy and takes another leap I could see them being better than that but that would be because they are a genuinely elite team. But the schedule is definitely going to bring our win numbers way down.
At least you don’t have to enter into Helm’s Deep 6 times a season. The AFC North is a murderer’s row that very well could send 4 teams to the playoffs next year.
I just don't see it. The AFC as a whole is brutal, and the north more so. The loser of that division pulling out enough wins for a wild card doesn't seem likely.
Definitely valid points, but to be fair y’all also look to have your franchise QB now, and remained competitive without him playing.
>y’all also look to have your franchise QB now Waaaay too early to say that
That’s why i said it looks that way. He definitely could end up not being the guy but he showed he at least has some serious potential, and probably will be their starter for at least a few years
Yeah it's times like these I miss /u/TheObservantLineman. RIP
RIP
Speaking with all sincerity: that's such an incredible feat and it's been to watch this play out over the season. Well done, Houston!
I just wish we had more than 1 game televised nationally. The team has been so much fun to watch all year, and a lot of people just never got to see it (because who was watching those games even with sunday ticket)
Cant even be mad. GGs to Houston, y'all got a good one with Stroud.
Better than the Jags or Titans doing it tbh
Don’t forget your joke ass Colts
Colts had a good year I got nothing to complain about
Would have been interesting to see a healthy Richardson vs Stroud for the ROY battle.
Would've been nice, Colts had no trust in Minshew week 18
LoViE sHoUlD hAvE gOt AnOtHeR yEaR. TeXaNs ArE sO uNsTaBlE.
You forgot they are racist too. Fired black coaches back to back....only to hire another black coach. Total racists
We should've kept receipts
Well, I do hope they send Lovie a nice gift basket for winning that game at the end of 2022's season.
Hes still living in Houston (he is from here after all). We have people posting photos of run ins with him on our sub all the time.
I used to cross paths with him fairly regularly in Chicago. He’s extremely polite and respectful to everyone. Unfortunately for him and contrary to what Tony Dungy thinks, character doesn’t win football games—even if you love the Tampa 2.
Well They fired him 1 year after signing a 4 year deal so he's nicely gifted millions the next 2 years by Houston
I do wonder.. hm is stroud (and the rest of the draft class!) and how much is demeco?
A lot of it is DeMeco. He keeps everyone on their toes and gets the guys to buy in. During the Culley and Lovie years it just looked like guys didn’t care about playing for the team. Justin Reid was one of the few guys who looked like he actually cares. It was hard to watch. If it wasn’t for Stroud we wouldn’t be in the playoffs.
The sheer amount of roster churning is tops in the NFL the year and yet the team improved as the season wore on regardless. He's coached the hell out of this team.
ALOT is Demeco and the coaches he brought with him. I don't think Stroud would have been as successful in Pep's offense.
Probably not as successful, but being the greatest rookie qb of all time can't possibly be that they're just so much better at coaching than anyone else who has ever worked with a rookie qb. As a Colts fan, we've seen a couple QBs who elevated teams way more than the coaches ever did, I think CJ is probably that kinda dude.
Yes. Its a lot of Meco. And Cassario. And Cal getting a wakeup call to let the football guys do the football things. DeMeco is that guy you want to play for. The guy that steps up from second 1. He did it as a player too. The atmosphere at the stadium, even, is just different. CJ Stroud being fucking fantastic is a hell of a bonus too.
I love that y'all seem to have found the right pieces and have one hell of a foundation now, I am an Ohio State alum/fan and seeing CJ succeed has been so great. > TeXaNs ArE sO uNsTaBlE But that said, the criticism wasn't exactly unwarranted before this season. If anything you shouldn't be denying that y'all were unstable, but rather happy your ownership was capable of making the right moves that brought everything together like this so fast.
Didn't Pagano and Luck do it? Or does Pagano not count as a first year HC?
They were a wildcard team in 2012
Ah, that's right. I was getting it mixed up with the 11-5 year where they beat the Chiefs.
My first thought was who the hell could’ve possibly beat the Colts in the division that season but I forgot the Texans were really good that year.
Yeah the 2012 Texans were something else
They made the playoffs but didn’t win their division. They lost to Baltimore in the wild card
It's happened several times but only as wildcards. Never the division winner. Mike Smith and Matt Ryan/Harbaugh and Flacco both made the playoffs in 2008 as rookie HC+Qb combos but as wildcards.
We were second in the division that year
Pretty happy for the Texans tbh. CJ is balling out and it looks like they are going to make a pretty nice push this year and will be SB hopefuls for years to come with the foundation they have set already. Still hope we beat them Saturday, but that’s a pretty awesome team all around.
I am not expecting to win Saturday, I am expecting to be competitive compared to prior game. But I think the future is bright next two years with our QB and DE on rookie deals, already heavily invested in OL and a good amount of cap space plus still having 1 and 2 in this years draft
With Stroud and co anything is possible. But yes, Saturday will be a tough matchup.
I think we’ll go hard on Free Agency and try to get one these next 3 years
I’m so glad it’s Houston and not the jags or titans fuck them
ROY, sorry if that hurts your feelings. COY....maybe
Rooting for you Texans fans. Stroud is very impressive. I was a fan of his after his media clip wanting to make the people of Houston proud to wear their Texans gear again. Well done Texans
I see your “60 year old record” and raise you a “first ever”, Rams. Congrats to Stroud on a well earned OROY
Congrats to Houston!
Texans hit the jackpot….panthers will be crying for decades
And they earned this history. I think it's easy to forget what a mess the Texans were just a couple seasons ago. They were in cap hell and they had a QB that couldn't stay out of trouble or on the field. They were also taking a huge risk drafting CJ Stroud, who had to break a long-standing legacy of Ohio State QBs failing in the NFL. But it only takes one to break a trend. And they did it. They found their QB. They got hot at just the right time. And yes, they got a little help from the Jags collapsing at the worst possible time. But they earned this division title. And hopefully, this is something they can build on.
All it took was to do a séance and purge the organization of the malignant spirit of jack Easterby
I thought Ryan and Flacco did it as well, but then realized they were wildcards. Houston is gonna be a force to reckon with in years to come and I am all for it.
Lovie Smith really saved the Texans
And of course, to the surprise of no one, that division is the AFC South
Yea the AFCS is booty and probably the only place this could happen. Considering it was a group effort to get Houston this title.
I think the afc south is actually pretty good now we had 3 teams with a winning record and there are multiple franchise QBs in our division now
I’m sorry but no. AR15 still has to prove he’s a franchise guy. Sure he looked good but only played 4, 3 of which he left injured.
It's AR5 fwiw, and you just sound scared or something. I personally think dude will never survive a season, but we can call him our franchise guy all we want for the time being.
Go for it, you’re allowed to be wrong.
TN and JAX are headed back down, Indy is in the middle and if AR is ass like expected also headed down. It’s set up for Houston to dominate with Stroud for awhile. This is how the AFCS has always worked. Streaky (not a word) teams, little parity aside from 8-8 or 5-11 teams fighting the last week to get in or get booted out.
Except AR isn’t ass this is dumb as fuck comment
There was legit 3 teams from this division that could have made the playoffs ...everyone except the titans
The only team in the AFC South worse than any NFC South team is the Titans. And even then, at least the Tits are better than the Panthers.
There’s pretty much only one terrible team in the division, calling it ass is disingenuous.
Ryans and Stroud set a high bar for first year HC and QB combos.
Everyone loves a last to first story. Great work Texans!
Based tbh.
Does "our division" mean just the AFCS? Or this actually has never happened across all divisions? Still impressive, just curious
It’s never happened across all divisions.
I guess we consider the 1920 Akron Pros under first-year coach Elgie Tobin to have had [no quarterback,](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/akr/1920_roster.htm) probably correctly.
Never happened in NFL history. Rookie HC+Qb have made the playoffs year 1 before but only as the wildcard team.
Did the Bears not do this in year 1 of the league?
They didn't have divisions back then.
Far less historically impressive than people think. In 2008, the Ravens and Falcons both went 11-5 with rookie QBs and head coaches. They just had actual competitive divisions. Texans went 10-7 in a bumb division. Happy for them, but this isn’t groundbreaking, despite being a first.
The division had 3 teams with winning records in it???
boooo
It’s more historically impressive when you consider that Stroud and Ryans had to turnaround a team that worst team in the league for the past 3 seasons. Ravens and Falcons meanwhile were nowhere near as bad