Houston Texans: Five thoughts as to why to be optimistic about this team
By Neal Sharma
Thought #1: A look back at what transpired
During that 2016 season, every time that man had the ball in the pocket, I felt like fainting because the amount of stress that resulted from the action eventually leading me to tears. It was simple, the franchise wasted time and money on a quarterback that had to hand it off to workhorse Lamar Miller to not take a risk and we had eventually tired out that said workhorse.
He was averaging more than 16 carries a game which was a vast increase compared to his 12 carries per game with the Miami Dolphins and you know what? Jeff Allen was nowhere to be found.
Despite the tenacious defense — by the Houston Texans led by Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus, they managed to be the No. 1 in the league despite J.J. Watt being out for the season. Despite the dangerous wide receiving duo of Deandre Hopkins and Will Fuller, the incompetence and inconsistency of Osweiler’s overshadowed the positives and proved to be costly as he threw three interceptions in the divisional round against the Patriots after a monumental half. Oh lord.
Well, once again the Houston Texans had a struggling offense *surprise, surprise* and what do we do now?
I must say the 2017 off season was quite impressive. The first crucial move made was a trade from the Houston Texans to ship the blundering incumbent in Osweiler to the Cleveland Browns to clear cap space, which also required one of our second-round picks in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
You know what I was thinking at the time? Great — we had solved a problem we created in the first place but the team still had no quarterback and they lost a second-round pick to get rid of him.
It didn’t take Rick Smith long to roll the dice, as he made another crucial move at quarterback by trading up to No. 12 pick — they were going to pick 25th — and surrendering their 2018 first-rounder to select National Champion and determined winner Deshaun Watson.