Finding silver (or deep steel blue) linings in Sunday's 27-24 loss by the Texans to the Arizona Cardinals is a tough thing to do. If you watched the game you saw an offense that's sputtering, a defense that, unless JJ Watt makes a play, struggles to do much of anything and special teams that are anything but special. From a pre-season filled with anticipation and a (shaky) 2-0 start to a 2-7 record that includes a team-record 7 game losing streak this Texans team will go down as one of the most disappointing in franchise history.
So you wake up this morning and you think "Let's have some sober analysis on this team". So you turn to the former newspaper of record and you find: Randy "Larry" Harvey wasting several inches of copy space saying nothing, Jerome "Curly" Solomon telling us five things that we learned (but really didn't) and John "Moe" McClain pathetically telling us how pathetic and horrific the Texans are. Unfortunately, for the fan, not one of the Three Stooges have a clue and neither does the rest of Houston's CheerMedia. The reality is, this team needs an overhaul and it needs it now. Not later, right now. It should start against the Raiders.
That's not to say there's all that much you can (initially) do for the product on the field. The Texans are a bad team with a few good players; nothing is going to change that for the remainder of this year. As is commonplace in Houston, our media overstates the team’s talent and, for the most part, gives the front office a pass. The first thing that needs to happen is letting Rick Smith go. Not at the end of the season, now. Fire the GM who put the team in this mess (and in an impossible salary cap position), name an interim GM and start the search for the next guy. At this point it's better to get a new guy in place (and his talent evaluation staff) to get a jump on the next draft.
The 2014 NFL Draft is going to be pivotal. If the Texans want to compete any time soon then they're going to have to nail it. By "nail" it I mean that the first 4 round selections need to make meaningful contributions next year, and rounds 5 & 6 need to have potential. They also need to make some impactful free agent signings, probably to shore up a horrendous linebacking core. There's little evidence out there to suggest that Rick Smith is the guy to get this done.
Finally, quarterback. I'm not convinced that Case Keenum is the long-term solution, but he might be worth keeping around as a quality back-up, and short-term starter should the Texans be able to find their next QB in the draft. However, I do believe that they should wait until later in the draft to make this selection, offensive line is too much of a priority right now. No matter who is taking the snaps they're going to struggle unless you shore up this unit, and fast.
The way I see it there are only two players that are untouchable on this roster: JJ Watt and Andre Johnson. Everyone else is expendable. That includes Keenum, it includes Arian Foster (whose career might be finished anyway if what I'm hearing about his back injury is true) and the oft-injured Brian Cushing. Watt is the best defensive player in the league and should be considered the cornerstone of any rebuilding plan, and Johnson is still an elite receiver who will likely be the first Texans enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Keep those two, evaluate everything else, and start the rebuilding process now.
The good news is that there are several recent examples in the NFL of teams going from bad to good in one year, and that should be the expectation of Texans fans everywhere. Sadly, I have little expectation that any of this is going to happen. Bob McNair lacks the constitution to make wholesale changes of this sort, so we're going to hear a lot about "patience" and "building it the right way".
This is disappointing, because I've a feeling it means more of the same next year, and probably the year after that.
