Still prefer Okoye to Willis?

[HPF Bob]

Flash back to the 2007 draft and the Texans are on the clock at the 10th place in the first round: DT Amobi Okoye or ILB Patrick Willis?

I so wanted to see Watchootalkinbout Willis playing for the Texans but the wise guys said "we must get to Peyton Manning" and chose Okoye. Going into the 2010 training camp, Willis is considered the new Singletary and Okoye is, well, old news.

"We already have Demeco," said the smart guys. "We have no room for Willis." So we couldn't have moved Ryans outside and not selected Roid Boy in the first round last year, maybe selected a stud corner or a RB who doesn't fumble?

I'm still thinking about how many mismatches we could have created with Mario, Demeco and Willis on our front seven. (((sigh)))

[painekiller]

I wanted Willis, did then and I still think he is the better player. That said, how would I have laid the defense out, I am not sure.

Willis could have been a SAM or a MIKE, and Ryans could have been a MIKE or a WILL.

My question would be what if we had Ryans Willis and Cushing?

That talent would point to another issue, would we be running a 3-4 with those guys?


If you are going to second guess the Okoye pick shouldn't you second guess the entire draft? Jacoby Jones, Fred Bennett, Brandon Harrison, Brandon Frye, Kasey Studdard, Zach Diles.

[HPF Bob]

LIFE! The board is a-l-i-v-e! :eek:

Seriously, I would have tried Ryans at Will and Sam and put him at the one he played best. And if there was a way to align Ryans, Willis and Roid Boy where they could play well together, I could live with that too. Our secondary would still suck, though.

But the idea of all those heat-seaking missiles in the LB corps would sure have been fun to watch.

[Joe Joe]

I still wish they wouldn't have traded Rudy Gay for Battier. Oh wait...wrong board.

[TheMatrix31]

Man...Willis/Ryans.....man....

[painekiller]

Texans push Amobi Okoye to finish (http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/24799/texans-push-amobi-okoye-to-finish)

Defensive line coach Bill Kollar, who’s entering his second season, agrees that Okoye is better, but says he hasn’t improved enough.

And toughness is the major theme.

“I watched all the games from the year before [2008] and the guys here said he needed to be a more physical player,” Kollar said. “We kept on him: ‘Hey, man you’ve got to hit, when that ball carrier is going down you’ve got to go down and get him, you’ve got to finish plays more.’ It was a big thing. He definitely did a better job, but he can do more…

“Don’t come over and stand by the guy, you’ve got to finish it off… If you don’t like getting in there and scrapping and grinding, you can’t play in this league. We’ve got to make sure when the pads are on that’s what he’s doing.”


Not sure the kid has the stones to be a NFL DT.

[Bigtinylittle]

We should have drafted Jordan instead of Olaijuwon.

[painekiller]

We should have drafted Jordan instead of Olaijuwon.

No we should have taken the trade with Portland that would have sent Ralph Sampson to Portland and garnered us the #2 pick in that draft.

And had the Rockets taken Clyde Drexler in the prior draft instead of Rodney McCray, we would have had Hakeem, Clyde and MJ. Now that would have been basketball history.

But so much for the 20-20 hindsight...

[Bigtinylittle]

I have always thought that. We would have had the best basketball team of all time. But at the time Jordan was underrated, Sampson was overrated, McCray was overrated, and Drexler was underrated. Hindsight is 20/20.

[Joe Joe]

.... Sampson was overrated....

He got hurt. Before his injury, he was not under-rated.

[Bigtinylittle]

I think you meant overrated. But he WAS. In Olaijuwon's first year, Olaijuwon was already clearly outplaying Sampson, who came out of college being touted as the best big man of all time. For a big man, Sampson was extremely athletic and also a good shooter. But he was lazy and he didn't have a head for the game.

I remember in his first year as a Rocket he tried to get the coach fired for working the players too hard in practice. I remember when he disappeared against the Celtics in the playoffs. I remember when he got booed by his own fans for dribbling the ball up the court like he was a point guard and getting it stolen over and over. And all these were BEFORE he got injured. No head no heart.

[NBT]

I have to admit it, I have about given up on Okoye. He has had 3 years to get it right, so it is about time to move on.

[superbowlbound]

PK, the Portland trade offered us Drexler AND the no. 2 overall for Sampson, so we necessarily would've had Jordan, Drex, and Hakeem. The Celtics/Lakers would've had nothing on us.

[painekiller]

PK, the Portland trade offered us Drexler AND the no. 2 overall for Sampson, so we necessarily would've had Jordan, Drex, and Hakeem. The Celtics/Lakers would've had nothing on us.

Even better!