Now in their 20th NFL season, the Houston Texans are the youngest team in the NFL. When the Oilers left town for Memphis TN after the 1996 season, Bob McNair, who had become an energy industry titan (founding Cogen Technologies in 1984 which he sold to Enron in 1999), was determined to bring NFL football back to his home town and, at a cost of $1 billion, was awarded the rights to an expansion team which began play in 2002. The team has enjoyed some success over the past two decades winning six AFC South division titles starting since 2011 but the franchise remains the only one of the league's 32 teams never to have played in a conference championship game.
McNair died in November, 2018, leaving his wife Janice as majority owner. Son Cal McNair is the team's general manager. After the 2019 regular season, the Bills played their second playoff game of the Sean McDermott era in Houston and lost by a field goal in overtime. The Texans went on to lose to the eventual Superbowl champion Chiefs in the next round. Since then, the team has sunk to the lowest competitive level in the NFL. Bill O'Brien served, mostly successfully, as head coach of the Texans from 2014 to 2020 but was disliked by players. The title of general manager was added to his responsibilities in early 2020 and his first move was to trade Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins away for a running back, some draft picks and bag of footballs. This was a move from which he would never recover and he was fired from the team early in the 2020 season.
This past off-season, Deshaun Watson, the team's star quarterback, officially requested a trade from the Texans (which he never got) and refused to report to any of the team's spring workouts. Before training camp began this summer, Watson was accused by several women in the Houston area (and the number is now approaching 20) of sexual misconduct. The disgraced former 12th overall pick has not dressed for the Texans this season and may never take another NFL snap.
NFL team fortunes can change quickly as rosters turn over year-to-year more than in any other sport and for some players, one calendar year can make the difference between being a serviceable player and finding themselves out of the league. The Texans fall from the top tier of teams to the bottom has been as fast as any I can remember. The formula was simple: take an unpopular coach, make him general manager, have him trade away a top player, fire him, appoint your son as general manager and have your star quarterback's personal life derail his career. The Texans entered the game with a deceptive 1-2 record but their win came in week one against their division cousins and fellow basement dwellers, the Jacksonville Jaguars who are now playing better each week. I predict that will turn out to be the only win they register and that the Texans will finish the season 1-16. All of which is why yesterday's contest in Orchard Park looked more like a football practice for the Bills than an actual game.
The box score is as lopsided as any I can recall. The Bills posted 26 first downs to the Texans 6. Buffalo racked up 450 yards of offence to the Texans 109. 109 yards of total offence. Add 4 interceptions, a lost fumble and pelting rain to the mix and you have a laugher. I felt sorry for Texans quarterback Davis Mills (whose name sounds like he should be Commodore of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club) who was drafted in the third round this year to serve as a third stringer behind Watson and Tyrod Taylor who Bills fans will remember well. Mills looked overwhelmed and, at times, terrified and rightly so. On offence, both Singletary and Moss ran well for the Bills who had no need to dig very deeply into their playbook.
They will probably need everything they've got in the playbook this week as the Kansas City Chiefs are up next at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday Night Football. The Bills lost twice last season to the Chiefs - once in October at home and then in the AFC Championship Game. Defensively, they are much better this year but will it prove to be enough to slow down Patrick Mahomes? That's why they play the games.
No comments:
Post a Comment