Houston Texans: Are There Any Questions?
By Bob Dove
What is the answer for this season? There isn’t one.
The Texans will keep doing the same things and hope for a different result. Rick Smith and Bill O’Brien linked their Texans careers to Brock Osweiler’s success. There is no way Tom Savage will see the field unless Osweiler is injured, so there is no cavalry ready to ride to the rescue. Either Osweiler improves or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t, he, Smith and O’Brien will be gone at the end of the 2017 season.
Would a stronger offensive line help Osweiler? Yes, but with Newton down an acquisition is now pretty much a zero sum game. It would make the Texans line better than they are now, but not appreciably better than they were before Newton’s injury…which was not very good. That makes the high cost of a trade less palatable.
The receivers are not likely to suddenly find a way to get open. There is no one on the roster, or on the street, that improves the Texans defensive line. Only one player can come back from IR, and why risk a hasty recovery in a season going nowhere? The game plans and play calling could improve, but how does that get better when the same folks are calling the shots?
I’m a Texans fan, but try as I might, at this point 2016 looks no better than 2015…and maybe worse. It appears the best the Texans can do is struggle a little less than their rivals and then catch lightning in a bottle in the play-offs. It has happened before. Surely it can happen again. Hope springs eternal. Just don’t bet on it.