It appears that the Houston Texans have reportedly come to terms on a one year contract for soon-to-be-washed-up quarterback Rex Grossman. Incredibly, this will be Grossman’s seventh year in the NFL. As you may remember, he spent the past six seasons with the Chicago Bears and led them (or rode the coattails, depending on your point of view) to Super Bowl XLI where they lost to Indianapolis Colts. Grossman will compete with fellow questionable signal caller Dan Orlovsky for the right to back up Matt Schaub (which could translate into a significant amount of playing time given Schaub’s injury history). Orlovsky signed with the team earlier this offseason.
If you have picked up on my tone at all then you will realize that this Texans fan is less than excited for his team’s newest offseason acquisition. In reality this is a pretty tense time in the Texans fan-osphere. We are entering our eight year of existence with immense expectations, both Dunta Robinson and Owen Daniels are holdouts with contract disputes and now the front office has brought in the second quarterback they hope they never have to play of the offseason.
I never thought I would say this but I am going to miss Sage Rosenfels. Although we were all pretty convinced he was going to blow any game he entered in biblical fashion we also had that small part of us that new he could lead us to a victory every now and then (in fact, he was 6-5 as a starter in three years for the Texans). Can anyone stand up with a straight face and say that they think Rex Grossman can become a successful NFL quarterback this late in the game? His career touchdown to interception ratio is slightly worse than 1:1. He has an injury history which includes torn knee ligaments and a broken ankle which has led him to miss a significant amount of playing time throughout his career. He has also been benched on multiple occasions in favor of Kyle Orton and Brian Griese, not exactly stalwarts of the quarterback position. Whatever the upside is to this move, I’m having a very hard time understanding.
I STILL love this team and, health permitting, I STILL think this team makes the playoffs. I love the offseason acquisitions of Antoine Smith and Shaun Cody and I can’t speak highly enough about our draft class. I STILL believe in Rick Smith and Gary Kubiak and I hope to see Dunta and Owen on the field by the time the preseason kicks off. I STILL like our chances every bit as much as I did an hour/day/week/month ago.
Alls I am saying is this: we are being set up for heartache by bringing in a volatile player like Rex Grossman. Throughout his career, Grossman has made a name for himself with his inconsistancy and questionable decision making. Like Sage, Grossman has had some cataclysmic meltdowns of his own (just check his career game log) not to mention that he is notorious for missing the occasional wide open receiver. He has not handled criticism from the media very well in the past despite the fact that he has given them plenty of bullets to use. The real question is, what can we expect him to contribute to this team? Can we trust this guy to come into a game where we have the lead and expect him to hold onto it?
A lot of questions such as these rush through my head as I begin to come to terms with the signing. In the end I think Orlovsky will secure the backup gig and I truly believe that he will come into his own and prove to be a valuable piece of this team albeit in a backup role. On the other hand I can’t envision a scenario where Grossman makes this team out of camp, I really don’t. At this point Alex Brink looks like the odd man out but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hold onto the 3rd string job when the season rolls around. There will be plenty of time for Grossman to piss off the coaching staff.
Although my pessimism in not unfounded, I do apologize for it. I will go ahead and resort to my favorite cop-out and say that I have full faith in the GM and the head coach and believe in any direction they steer this team. At least for now…