Eric Winston

NFL Free Agency 2013: "Dead Money" Overview

As a concept, the NFL salary cap is a fairly easy one to understand. Unlike the NBA, with its myriad of loopholes, exceptions, and fine print that allow teams like the Lakers and, well, almost everyone else to zoom past the artificial "cap", the NFL is a simple hard cap. What you spend is what what ... More >>

NFL Free Agency 2013: Your Texans Cheat Sheet (Cap Numbers, Restructure Candidates, and More!)

Back in the day, when I used to have oodles and oodles of idle time on my hands during prime game-show watching hours (that's code for "back in college"), Wheel of Fortune was a staple of my game-show dance card. (For the record, Tic Tac Dough, Joker's Wild and Price is Right -- the Sopranos of game ... More >>

Good, Not Great: Why Texans Need A Daryl Morey Approach To QB Position

If good is the enemy of great, the Texans are in a lot of trouble as they map out a plan to break through their second-round ceiling. Owner Bob McNair and head coach Gary Kubiak are publically saying the happy, feel-good things. "We're very close," McNair said after the loss in New England, while K ... More >>

Patriots 41, Texans 28: Offense Turns Offensive On Big Stage. Again.

Ignore the main box score numbers. Forget the 425 total yards for Houston and the 28 points. Same for the 41 placed in the New England column. In the big picture, it's more of the same. Gary Kubiak, Matt Schaub and the Houston offense shoulder the majority of blame in yet another crucial game, this ... More >>

Packers 42, Texans 24: Troubling Trends Continue in First Loss; The 5 Biggest Holes to Fill

It may be only one loss, but the trend lines are concerning. For a second straight week, the Texans (5-1) were outplayed in a handful of key areas, most notably within the once-vaunted line play as well as individual battles of receivers vs. cornerbacks. But unlike this past Monday, when the Texans ... More >>

Former Texan Eric Winston Rips Chiefs Fans Cheering Matt Cassel's Concussion

Eric Winston has opinions on lots of things, and he's not afraid to express them. It's what made him a favorite of most of the media and a large portion of the fan base during his time in Houston. Eric Winston was an open book, and for better or worse, Texan fans felt like they knew him. Winston ha ... More >>

Texans 27, Jaguars 7: Power Game Makes Long-Awaited Return

A week ago, Texans coach Gary Kubiak said he'd have trouble sleeping after his team struggled in the run game on both sides of the ball - a concerning trend that began in the preseason. He should rest a lot easier this week. The Texans (2-0) physically demolished Jacksonville (0-2) up front Sunday ... More >>

The 2012 Season Preview: The Texans Will Be Super If...

Two days are left. After eight long months away, that's all that remains before the most anticipated season in Houston football history finally kicks off. Even the 1993 Oilers, whose brilliant 11-game win streak ended with a home loss to Joe Montana's Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs, ... More >>

2012: Year of the Texans

Assessing all their strengths and weaknesses, we could be looking at a repeat or better.

Saints 34, Texans 27: Five Things We Learned

In name, Saturday did represent the clichéd dress rehearsal for the Texans. In practicality, it was only the case on one side of the ball. With the defense missing Shaun Cody, J.J. Watt and Brian Cushing, there isn't that much use to reading fortunes on that side of the ball. The Saints are an eli ... More >>

Texans 20, 49ers 9: Five Things We Learned (Including Linebacker Controversy?)

Check out the rest of our photos from this weekend's preseason Texans game. It was brief and incomplete, but Saturday offered the first glimpse of how the Texans (2-0) may stack up with the league's elite. Houston starters played for essentially a full half against the Niners, a team known for its ... More >>

Texans Draft Recap: Six Things We Learned

Few things are sillier in sports analysis than "draft grades" given before players have taken their first steps onto a professional field. Texan fans know this quite well, considering the abundance of Fs given to them by analysts in 2006 for having the gall to choose Mario Williams over the anointe ... More >>

Texans Draft Notebook: What The Mercilus Pick Means For The Weekend

The Texans, as expected, addressed a need with their first-round pick Thursday night. It just wasn't the sexy playmaker position that many expected. Whitney Mercilus, a projected linebacker at the NFL level who led the NCAA with 16 sacks in his junior year at Illinois, proved too much value for the ... More >>

Texans Draft Preview: Understanding Needs In A Gary Kubiak Offense

For the first time in years, the first round of the NFL Draft may not be about defense for the Texans. After spending exhaustive resources to rebuild the depleted unit, the consensus among pundits is that Gary Kubiak will use the 2012 draft to add youth to his offensive core -- namely, in the passi ... More >>

Breathe Easy, Texan Fans, Arian Foster Saved from the Madden Curse

In general, I think Texan fans are excited for the upcoming 2012 season, but that has more to do with how strong the team looked in 2011 than the collective offseason efforts of the front office. In fact, the offseason has been littered with far more bad news than good, highlighted (or lowlighted, a ... More >>

The Texans Unleash Their Free Agency Assault...by Signing the Rams' Punter

The offseason started out just fine for the Texans, with the team inking star running back Arian Foster to a five-year, $40 million contract. Since then, other than the re-signing of center Chris Myers, it's been a depressing parade of one guy after another either leaving or being asked to leave. ... More >>

Texans Trade DeMeco Ryans -- The Players Speak Out

Okay, this one I didn't totally see coming. After a somewhat tumultuous one-week period that saw the Texans lose outside linebacker Mario Williams and guard Mike Brisiel to free agency, and cut offensive tackle Eric Winston as a cap casualty, the Texans decided to shed more salary yesterday afterno ... More >>

Crisis Averted, Texans Fan -- Peyton Manning Spurns Titans for Broncos

In a Texans offseason that has seen some good (Arian Foster's and Chris Myers' multiyear contract extensions), some bad (Mario Williams' leaving, although the Texans have proven they can survive that), and some ugly (the dismantling of the right side of the offensive line), strangely enough, the Tex ... More >>

A Look Ahead To Texan Free Agency, And Why It Won't Involve Peyton Manning

It was less than a month ago when I believed the Texans would consider making a play for quarterback Peyton Manning. But on the verge of the NFL's free-agent signing bonanza on Tuesday, it looks as though any Texans' changes will be on a smaller scale -- and rightfully so. It seems clear the Texan ... More >>

Houston Texans Spring Cleaning Hits Winston, Leinart, Vickers

If you're looking for more signs of the Texans continuing shift from also-ran to legitimate Super Bowl contender, you needn't look any further than the "Transactions" portion of any NFL related website the last two days. Whereas in past seasons (hell, as recently as last summer), the Texans were d ... More >>

Texans Must Take Long-Term Approach to Free Agency

A great irony of sports in 2012, particularly sports that are fiscally governed by some sort of salary cap, is that we as sports fans have all become so emotionally invested in the performance of our teams that we've become more astute in "advising" management of our teams on how to spend and alloca ... More >>

Texans/Bengals -- 4 Winning Plays That Never Would Have Happened in 2010

T.J. Yates is on a roll.​Sunday morning, about an hour before the Texans and Bengals kicked off, I was driving to the grocery store with my girlfriend Amy to pick up some "Texans watching" supplies -- chips, sandwich paraphernalia, beverages, etc. (Xanax no longer necessary this season.) Unsol ... More >>

Texans 17, Falcons 10: The Day Gary Kubiak Won The City Of Houston

Yes we can​One of the major criticisms of Gary Kubiak has been an alleged lack of guts. From his turning away on game-winning field goal attempts to generally conservative playcalling when ahead, Texans fans wondered over the years if he had the killer instinct to win big. But the 2011 season ... More >>

Texans 23, Dolphins 13: Balanced Effort Exorcises Road Demons

Andre Johnson: Good hands.​The long-standing reputation for the Gary Kubiak-era Texans has been that they fold under pressure. When teams hit them, they rarely hit back. They don't finish the job, especially on the road. In the season's second week, the Texans took yet another step toward exo ... More >>

Houston Texan Winston to Host Online Monday Night Football Show

Could Eric Winston's new online MNF simulcast be MST3K for sports fans?​Houston Texans offensive tackle Eric Winston is a funny and insightful guy who is a regular on local and national sports talk shows as well as a very good follow on Twitter. Tonight, he launches a Monday Night Football com ... More >>

Texans-Colts: Five Things to Watch

No Peyton, no chance.​With Peyton Manning out for Sunday's opener and potentially the entire year after undergoing a second surgery on his neck, the narrative for Houston changes from a statement game to one of trends. That is, there should be no way to actually lose, or for the final score t ... More >>

The New Normal

The Texans start operating like a bona fide NFL team.

Prayerapalooza: The Response At Reliant Stadium With Rick Perry And A Packed House

GroovehouseGovernor Rick Perry leads Reliant Stadium in prayer on Saturday morning. ​Our country's credit rating was downgraded just less than a day before The Response event at Reliant Stadium opened its doors. The world is scary and getting more so by the day. People are afraid of the future ... More >>

Houston Texans: My Way Too Early Guess At The 53-Man Roster

Everyone's favorite kind of guy​We all have that friend who not only loves to be right, but also loves to point out that they're right and then continuously remind you that he (or she -- yeah, ladies, you're guilty, too!) is right. They'll text, they'll tweet, they'll take screen shots of Spo ... More >>

And In The End, The Aeros Lose To The Best Team In The AHL

John RoyalPatrick O'Sullivan feels the weight of the world​In the end, it wasn't about the officiating. Or about whether Binghamton had tested the hockey gods by releasing the victory parade route plans hours before game six had even started. In the end, it probably wasn't even about the Aer ... More >>

Texans 20, Titans 0: Andre Punctuates Big Win With Knockout Blow

Marco TorresAndre Johnson (left) was ejected from the game after a fistfight with Titans player Cortland Finnegan. See more photos from the game in our slideshow.​For the first time in four weeks, the Texans left someone other than themselves and their fans feeling the effects of a punch. In ... More >>

Chargers 29, Texans 23: If The Offense Can't Be Trusted, Then Why Is Kubiak Here?

Oy.​See photos from the game and the tailgating competition in our slideshow. The Andre Johnson drop-turned-interception was the epitome of fluke. The Arian Foster touchdown-that-wasn't was an awful call that resulted from a terrible rule. But when the 4-4 Texans reflected on their heartbrea ... More >>

Favre In Charge -- "The Media Still Sucks" Edition

Brett Favre finally wins a big game for the Jets​The mainstream sports media couldn't avoid the topic forever. Eventually, the story of Brett Favre's penis would have to be addressed. And as deafening and infuriating as the silence in Bristol and points beyond was, we knew that the only thing mo ... More >>

Giants 34, Texans 10: Another Tough Defense, Another Breakdown For The Houston Offense

Texans: Let's not get physical​We knew the Texans' young defense could have games like this. A second disastrous performance in five outings for the supposedly-elite Houston offense, however, is incredibly concerning.The numbers are baffling. 195 total yards. 1.6 yards per rush with what had been ... More >>

Game Time: Houston Texans -- Business Is Good (plus my stab at a 53-man roster)

Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs!?​At their core, the Houston Texans are a business, just like any other business, and they have customers -- you, the season ticket holders. The Texans have been above .500 for a total of eleven weeks in their history. I mean, let's face it, for the better p ... More >>

Texans 23, Cowboys 7: Does Houston Finally Have An Offensive Line

Arian Foster may actually have holes to run through​Over the course of their brief existence, the Texans and offensive line woes have been synonymous. Could it now be that the long-standing source of franchise ridicule has become a foundation of strength?In recent years, savvy draft picks like ta ... More >>

GAME TIME: Texans Thursday AM Practice Report (LIVE from New Orleans!)

Maybe the Texans can get a little Rebirth in NOLA​While on the surface, this is technically a "business trip" for me, it's really hard to call any trip to New Orleans an out and out "business trip." I mean, I spent fifteen years in the corporate world, where "business" meant mind-numbing meeting ... More >>

Texans' Eric Winston Pinch-Hits For Sports Illustrated's Peter King

A second career opens up for a Texan​Sports Illustrated's Peter King is off covering the World Cup (because why the hell not?), so the publication has turned to some substitutes to keep up the popular NFL rumors/analysis column Monday Morning Quarterback.Today's pinch-hitter: Houston Texan Eric Wi ... More >>

Game Time: FREE BEER!...Now That I Have Your Attention, Behold My TEXANS HOME RUN DERBY Dream Team

The thrill of Celebrity Home Run Derby​Save the date!Free beer will be served at Nick's Place on Friday, May 28. Well, to be clear, since there are probably legalities involved in a bar literally giving away beer, someone will be paying for the beer -- and that someone is my co-host John Harris. ... More >>

Texans 34, Patriots 27: Progress But No Playoffs

Photo by Mark C. Austin​The Texans legitimately won nine games. The New York Jets legitimately won seven. The Texans displayed tremendous heart on Sunday in rallying past a Patriots team playing its starters and remaining aggressive almost throughout, while the Jets were given a handout for ... More >>

At Long Last, Texans Play According to Plan

​For a franchise that has spent its entire existence searching for signs of turning a corner, the Texans on Sunday showed as many as they ever have. On the field, the Texans did what they never seem to do - win big in a game they're supposed to, routing the hapless Raiders 29-6 at Reliant St ... More >>

Texans Almost As Bad At Hitting Home Runs As Astros, Charity Event Reveals

Videos and photo by Craig HlavatyThe guys who get paid to do it aren't exactly tearing the cover off the ball -- the Astros currently rank 24th in the majors in home runs. So it's nice to see some fresh meat in the oddly-shaped confines of Minute Maid Park, even if it does only benefit charity and ... More >>

Texans Better. Mario, Not So Much.

Football U: The Thugs Love Us!

Football U: The Thugs Love Us!