Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
How many years were the Arizona Cardinals picked to finally have their breakout year? It seems like they were the dark horse pick to have a playoff run every offseason. But since they went to the Super Bowl last year, they can't be that sneaky hot team any more.
Maybe the Texans take over that spot. Their franchise has never had a winning season, and the last two 8-8 seasons have only resulted in higher expectations. Houston's offense ranks about the same as the Cardinal offense, their special teams is better and their defense worse. The Texans are trying to fix that bad defense by replacing a number of coaches on that side of the ball.
In their first drive last week, the Vikings offense scored against the Texans defense in 4 plays. It was a typical start to a Texans game. They have by far worst red zone defense in the league, allowing touchdowns 17 of 25 times for a 81 percent red zone rate. The 213 points the Texans have allowed is 4th most in the AFC.
Football Outsiders currently has the Texans defense ranked 30th (compared to 12th for the offense and 4th for special teams). They ranked the Texans pass defense at 21 and the rush defense last in the league. I believe that most of the pass defense improvement in recent weeks is that teams know the Texans rush defense is garbage, and also they have faced a parade of horrible QBs (Orlowsky, Fitzpatrick, Frerotte).
Hey, but there has been some improvement right? Maybe this young defense is figuring it out? Perhaps if you live in blind optimism land, but this week, a thin defense limited in playmakers has become thinner.
Yohei Hori is a system engineer who lives in Tokyo. He is also a huge Houston Texans fan who writes a Japanese language blog focusing on the team. As he explained to me, he knows English, but the translation plug-in for his blog that translates from the Japanese leads to really messed up, humorous results.
The translated name for his blog is "Da Bull Pen - TEXANS cheering blog: Houston Texans and the NFL that, and I love it."
Admittedly, I must confess I enjoy reading the silly Japanese to English translations of all things Texans and NFL. Check his blog out and find your favorite odd, yet somehow accurate account. It's like bizarre poetry.
I discovered Yohei posting as "texamaniac" at the I'm a Texans Club website (the above graphic spells "Houston Texans" in Japanese). He agreed to answer a few questions about what it is like to follow the NFL in Japan, and how he became a fan of the Texans.
Q: How popular is the NFL in Japan?
A: American football is a very minor sport in Japan. It is a pity, but most Japanese don't even understand the rules.
As we get ready for the Steelers-Texans game, I laid out three things that look good for the Steelers. Now here are three worrisome aspects of the game for Steelers fans.
1. The Steelers offensive line will face a tough test.
Yes, we could say this every week, but facing Mario Williams will give Pittsburgh plenty of challenges. Williams will likely be facing Marvel Smith for most of the game, which is actually a very good thing for the Steelers. If Williams moves around and flops over to the other side, he could give Willie Colon nightmares, especially as Colon sometimes has trouble maintaining his blocks when he gets double-team help (something that would be required if he's asked to block Williams). If Williams is left on the right side, facing Smith, Pittsburgh can at least endure that with minimal problems.
Mario Manningham was a lightning rod of criticism leading up to the NFL draft, boasting a what's what of recent draft infamy. Sprinkle a little bit of Vince Young (Manningham was reported to have scored a six out of 50 on the Wonderlic), add a dash of Luis Castillo, Calvin Johnson, Gaines Adams, and Amobi Okoye (being outed as a nasty, evil marijuana smoker -- the evil! -- and then admitting so in a letter to teams), and top it off with some flair and originality (sending the letter only after originally lying with no success, and then admitting to two other failed tests).
To be honest, squeezing all of that into three months is impressive. Add in a reputation for attitude problems and it's easy to see why a guy with such a college resume, an arguable first-round talent, fell all the way into the third.
The Giants didn't have to draft Manningham. They've got cemented starters and talented depth. But they saw Manningham's play in college and took a chance. And it looks to be working so far.
The former Wolverine missed time in training camp because of a quad injury, but made his preseason debut late in the Giants' third game and played again in last night's 19-14 victory over New England, and he's shown glimpses of the on-field ability that he showed in college. Better yet, he's integrated into the locker room seamlessly.
Manningham won't be much more than a fourth or fifth option in the Giants' offense, but he's going to make some plays, and establish himself as a player to watch.
Okoye, who last year was the youngest NFL player in 30 years, was sober and happy and wasn't photographed doing anything stupid. Bloggers might be bummed, but kids who look up to him aren't.
I can't speak for all bloggers because we aren't a collective who thinks in lockstep (duh). Personally I would be ecstatic if Amobi Okoye and other talented athletes didn't risk everything getting stupid drunk. It would also make me happier if Wickersham hadn't promoted a wildly dangerous drinking practice in the structure of his article.
Wickersham organized his article by saying "let's do 21 shots" to discuss Okoye's birthday plans, and how he no longer wants to be defined by his age. It's an allusion to how some 21 year olds celebrate their birthday by trying to drink 21 shots.
I'm not your mom, but I think it is worth mentioning that this newish binge drinking fad kills people. Being deaded or put into a alcohol-poisoned coma isn't the best way to spend a birthday. You would think people would know that drinking 21 shots in short succession is dangerous, but apparently not. Education is the only way found to reduce the number of people doing this, and it's not a good idea to normalize this behavior in a sports article.
Oh, and belated birthday greetings to Okoye. Sorry, I didn't get you anything but I'm guessing with 400 people at your birthday party, you are doing okay in the gift department. Check out this link if you have interest in seeing Okoye photographed doing non-stupid things on his birthday. He is wearing a sweet suit. A bit heavy for June in Houston, but it can get cold in those overly air conditioned ballrooms.
I've been told by the Houston Texans that they will be increasing the amount of football-technical information on their team website. A recent example is this article describing zone blocking schemes, and the must-see video above with members of the Texans talking about the scheme and how helpful it is to have offensive line guru Alex Gibbs teaching it. If that's not enough ZBS info, well then, check out my previous entry on this subject called Zone Blocking Schemes: A YouTube Tutorial.
I think the trend of becoming more technical in football news coverage is a great thing, because I've always believed that the more you know about a team, the more interesting it is to watch what they are doing on the field. (Though I suspect some of you just visit the Texans site for the 360 degree view of cheerleaders. I'm not judging you, just making an observation. After internet voting, the Texans added Krista [pictures] to the squad, if you care to know such things).
A number of you aren't going read this because as Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says, the public prefers to follow news of celebs and sports figures who are "[expletived] up." The rise of the sports blog generally hasn't be driven by fans' desire to read do-gooder stories. (Though I have to say, I think that would be an interesting niche sports blog).
In any event, I want to highlight a few stories in the news this week that talk about NFL players doing good in the world.
The New York Times had a great article yesterday about four NFL players with ties to Nigeria visiting the country in March. They must have been an impressive display of defensive linemen big people: NY Giants' Osi Umenyiora, Houston Texans' Amobi Okoye, and Chicago Bears' Adewale Ogunleye and Israel Idonije.
It was Okoye's idea for them to all go to Nigeria as a group, figuring they could do more good works together than separately. They also could get scared together as the bus they were traveling in got broadsided by a truck on the first day of their trip. The article is certainly worth a read.
Another article worth checking out is the continuing help that Tampa Bay running back Warrick Dunn gives to single parents looking to purchase their first homes. He does this to honor his police officer mother who never owned a house. She was shot while working her off-duty security job, and a 17-year-old Dunn along with his grandmother found themselves taking care of his five siblings. To date, his foundation has helped 77 single parents buy their first homes by providing a down payment and home furnishings. (Here's the donation link).
If you look to 2007 NFL team win-losses, the Texans have the 7th hardest 2008 schedule in the league. The start of the season is a brutality with four of the first five against last year's playoff teams, and being one of only two NFL teams with three of four on the road in September. (The Cardinals are the other team with a road September).
The Texans need to learn quickly how to win on the road against good teams given that they won only twice on the road last year, both against teams with losing records.
In an attempt to find a bright side of the schedule, I will direct you to this Pro-Football-Reference blog post from a few years ago that says that though strength of schedule absolutely does matter to teams, estimates of schedule strength based on last year's numbers don't really matter. Some teams that were bad last year will be good and vice versa. You probably knew that already, but it is nice to see actual numbers that say the same thing.
It is coming up on year three of the Texans under coach Gary Kubiak. Even though they haven't completely implemented it, you can see they have a very specific philosophy on offense.
The defense, with the transition from the 3-4 to the 4-3 has been a bit more of a mystery. I have read every thing written about the Texans defense, and the best I can tell it is supposed to be an aggressive 4-3, which translates to telling you pretty much zero about it.
For example, you know what types of defensive players a lot of teams covet in the draft and free agency, but do you know much about what the Texans are looking for in a defensive player? What is the Texans defense supposed to look like other than bad?
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
In their first drive last week, the Vikings offense scored against the Texans defense in 4 plays. It was a typical start to a Texans game. They have by far 
Yohei Hori is a system engineer who lives in Tokyo. He is also a huge Houston Texans fan who writes a Japanese language blog focusing on the team. As he explained to me, he knows English, but the translation plug-in for his blog that translates from the Japanese leads to really messed up, humorous results. 
As we get ready for the Steelers-Texans game, 
According to Seth Wickersham of ESPN, Texans DT 
A number of you aren't going read this because as Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says, the public prefers to follow news of 
It is coming up on year three of the Texans under coach Gary Kubiak. Even though they haven't completely implemented it, you can see they have a very specific philosophy on offense. 
