"Wheels up! GM Rick Smith is on his way to pick up free agent S Ed Reed in #Texans chairman & CEO Bob McNair's private jet!" -- @HoustonTexans, Thursday morning The Texans' Twitter proclamation about Rick Smith's early morning travel schedule on Thursday served a dual purpose, providing a symbolic ... More >>
Ultimately, the 2012-13 Houston Texans season will go down as a disappointment. An impressive 11-1 start gave way to a 1-3 finish, loss of home field advantage and second straight one win and out in the playoffs. Still, there were some bright spots for the team and some of the individual players thi ... More >>
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, in the sight of God and his company, to mourn the loss our valiant football heroes, the United-States-Houston-Texas Texans. They were taken from us too soon, to be sure. But know that theirs was a lush, well-lived life full of successes earned and achiev ... More >>
It was, to quote Yogi Berra, "Like deja vu all over again." In this case, the Texans' loss to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on the road in prime time was eerily similar to week six when they were dismantled by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. In what was being billed as the most ant ... More >>
The Texans won't tell you it wasn't a disaster. It was. It was not, however, something that's automatically repeatable. Even in a 28-point game, the beatdown on Monday Night Football essentially came down to five plays on which the Patriots were spotted 28 points. With one exception, the Texans we ... More >>
See pics: Texans fans celebrate win in chilly Chicago. It seems an eternity ago, but it's been less than two years since many considered the Texans soft. Led by second-year defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, the evolution is finally complete. The "Bulls on Parade" are now bullying long-establish ... More >>
"It's just one game." "Nobody would have beaten Aaron Rodgers tonight." "Hey, if someone had told you before the season they'd be 5-1 going into the Ravens game, you'd have taken it, right?" Those are just a few of the dozens of different ways Texans fans and media rationalized last weekend's 42- ... More >>
One week after exorcising their Peyton Manning demons, the Texans found themselves squarely in the crosshairs of another familiar enemy: complacency. In 2011, a 3-1 start turned sour with a demoralizing loss to Oakland in Reliant Stadium. Likewise, a home disappointment against Carolina ensued afte ... More >>
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 >>
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 >>
Thursday night, the Texans' 2012 preseason wraps up with a game against the Minnesota Vikings. The game is meaningful to a couple dozen guys still battling for roster and practice squad spots (and REALLY degenerate gamblers -- seriously, final preseason game gambling is the bestiality porn of the ga ... More >>
On our radio show on 1560 The Game this past Monday, John Granato and I were breaking down various aspects of both the Texans 26-13 win over the Panthers and the preseason in general. The topic was the defense, specifically Whitney Mercilus and the various ways that Texans defensive coordinator Wade ... More >>
It takes looking at just one final box score to show the relative importance, or lack thereof, with early preseason scores. Patriots 7, Saints 6. So the Texans' thorough road dismantling of a capable Carolina team may not signal much, particularly considering most first-teamers played less than a ... More >>
On Sunday morning at the Texans' second day of practice of the young preseason, I was hanging out with my co-host John Granato watching the wide receivers go one-on-one against the cornerbacks in pass catching drills when Evan Koch of the Texans media relations team walked by and asked us who we tho ... More >>
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 >>
I made an analogy on my radio show this morning on 1560 The Game that the NFL Draft tonight is like Christmas Day for many NFL fans. Air of anticipation, excitement of the unknown, food, it's all there. (My co-host, John Granato, compared it to Hanukkah because it's played out over several days, but ... More >>
Peyton Manning was cut loose by the Indianapolis Colts yesterday, and while Peyton himself picks up the pieces and figures out which team's tens of millions to take next, the city of Indianapolis will take decidedly longer than Peyton himself to recover from yesterday's events. In 2012, we no longe ... More >>
There was a time not too long ago when the last-minute defection of wide receiver Deontay Greenberry from my alma mater Notre Dame to the University of Houston would have sent me into a mental funk that would have taken me a week from which to recover. After all, Greenberry is a dynamic "four star ... More >>
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involving wit ... More >>
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place -lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good- so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email it to sheaserrano@gmail. ... More >>
Well, the time for worrying is over. Soon Saturday will be here and the playoffs will be upon us, and as the great Bobby Knight once said, if the entire two-deep winding up in the hospital at some point is inevitable, why not sit back and enjoy it? So I'm done worrying about whether or not T.J. Yat ... More >>
2011: Penn State's horrible yearYou know how, in the series 24, the way a season unfolds? How just when you think there has been some sort of resolution to the bad guys being bottled up, right then and there a new (often worse) layer is introduced, and ultimately in like Hour 22 Jack Bauer wi ... More >>
Photo by Marco TorresTexans battlefought their way to a win in Battle Red"I still don't like them, and I have no respect for them at all. It was just the dirty stuff they were doing. I don't want to get into specifics; I just don't like them. . . . I'm not going to get into names or anything ... More >>
It just feels like home to the Texans' ox.Sometimes it's good to shake things up a little bit. We sit here every Sunday night for the last three football seasons and it feels like invariably we wind up saying the same thing -- "same ol' Texans." So this week, I took a trip to Chicago, and wa ... More >>
It feels like virtually every fall Monday the last two years have been spent listening to callers to my show, co-workers around the office, people around town all saying "same ol' Texans." And to be sure, it's much harder to argue that it hasn't been "same ol' Texans" than argue that the team has be ... More >>
The Texans start operating like a bona fide NFL team.
At least this shouldn't happen tonight.It's the final game of the 2011 preseason tonight with the Texans' backups taking on the Minnesota Vikings' backups in the newly inflatable-roofed Metrodome. If you're the Texans, I suppose the good news is that you're traveling to Minnesota in September ... More >>
It's another big night for you, Matt LeinartI don't know that there was ever any point during the NFL lockout where I was fearful that we wouldn't have football this season. Still, the specter of the work stoppage that loomed over us throughout thus summer made us at least ponder life without ... More >>
Everyone's favorite kind of guyWe 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 >>
"Happy to do a solid, bro," Jesus repliesYesterday, on my radio show at high noon, when the Texans' roster of free agent signings consisted of three re-signings of their own free agent backups on offense, I invoked prayer to help find what was clearly a disabled or trapped Wade Phillips. I as ... More >>
Kareem Jackson: Filling the empty hours.While the NFL's work stoppage has fans (and several players needing a cash influx) a little bit nervous that we may not see football start on time this fall, there has been a silver lining in players' being banned from the teams' facilities. The work s ... More >>
With first pick of draft, Texans choose...David Carr!!! Da!!!Let me first say that I really like the Houston Texans' public relations staff. The group that we, the media, interact with on a frequent basis (and during the season, on practically a daily basis) are some of the best at what they ... More >>
We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>
You are looking LIVE....The Houston Texans' Kareem Jackson struggled through his rookie season, having trouble covering receivers. One thing he can cover: Cockfighting. Jackson made his debut as a sideline reporter via Twitter, as reported by CBSHouston, which is the web outlet for KILT-AM. ... More >>
That's entertainment"Look at all these people that be at these chicken fights, you would think its a college football game." -- Reemboi25 (Kareem Jackson's Twitter handle) Early March is the meaty part of the NFL's offseason relaxation calendar for players. The season has been over for a co ... More >>
Obama's punting on this one"If we can make the kind of progress that you needed to make to have a further extension, that's where we'd be looking." -- Jeff Pash, lead negotiator on behalf of the NFL owners ...and that's exactly what happened. On the heels of a 24-hour extension of the curre ... More >>
Who will be the next Texans draft bust?Guess what kids, according to the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Texans are going to use this upcoming draft to address problems with the defense. Yeah, that's rather shocking news because, God knows, they've been ignoring the defensive end of the team ... More >>
Texans fans hold their breathFor the first nine seasons of the Houston Texans franchise, the biggest problem for owner Bob McNair has been his inability to properly handle or frame success. The beast could be about to rear its ugly head yet again. A week ago, the thought was that eight lo ... More >>
One more for 2010...I love the last week of December. Between Gary Kubiak and the option to just pick out some category from the past year and recap it, it's ready-made content. Just add snark! So in the spirit of lazy "Year in Review" style posts (one of which I've already submitted today! ... More >>
At least the Texans cheerleaders are worth watchingFor some reason, there were many people out there who thought the Houston Texans were going to be a good team this year. Playoff good.I didn't read anything about Gary Kubiak getting a brain implant during the off-season, so I could never u ... More >>
Not this Jason AllenSometimes we initiate change, and sometimes change is thrust upon us. I'll let you guess which category your Houston Texans fall into, just know that for better or worse, they went out yesterday and found a new body to plug into the secondary. Of course, it took safety D ... More >>
Headlines don't lieEvery home game Sunday, the Houston Texans put out a free publication called the Tailgate Times that gets handed to ticket holders and media members as they pull into their respective Reliant Stadium parking lots. It's essentially a four-page piece of upbeat Texans propaga ... More >>
Winning a squeakerWith Andre Johnson's ankle seemingly healthy again, the Texans' offense on Sunday silenced concerns about its ability to remain among the NFL's elite.That might mean something if head coach Gary Kubiak and defensive coordinator Frank Bush can find a way for their defense to not ... More >>
Texans: Let's not get physicalWe 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 >>
Big Blue leaves a bruise in HoustonDriving down Murworth to the media lot on Sunday morning at around 10 a.m., if it weren't for signs directing us to various colored lots and a few orange cones, you'd have barely known there was anything going on at Reliant that day, let alone an NFL football ga ... More >>
Photo by Aaron M. SprecherMario Williams kept up the pressureIt only took one offseason and one Arian Foster to transform the Texans' running game from shaky to the club's foundation.As a result, the Texans on Sunday allowed star wideout Andre Johnson to rest his ailing ankle and saw their offens ... More >>
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 >>
Photo by Mark C. AustinYou can't spell OTAs without Houston!! (And an 'A' from somewhereMy first Cushing-free football blog post in a couple weeks -- now I know how Pedro Gomez felt after Barry Bonds retired. "What the hell am I going to talk about???"Thankfully, the Texans start voluntary organ ... More >>
I would have to say the NFL's taking the first round of its draft and transforming it from hardcore niche sporting event on Saturday afternoons to Must-See TV Thursday night melodrama was a success in its first year. We got plenty of shaking and moving (seven draft night trades involving firs ... More >>
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