Bye week assessment

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Warren

Smith wasn’t in on the Kubiak hiring since he himself wasn’t hired until several months later.

He deserves credit for picking JJ, but I don’t buy that he believed that JJ would turn into the dominant player he has. The Texans had a deal in place to trade up with the 49ers (#7) for Patrick Peterson. The Cardinals took Peterson at #5 so the Texans stayed put at #10 and “settled” for JJ.

Same for Foster – if Smith had a strong belief that Arian could become a franchise back, he would have drafted him instead of hoping that he’d be able to sign him as an undrafted free agent. And he wouldn’t have exposed him to waivers by cutting him at the end of that training camp, or kept him on the practice squad for most the season where someone could have signed him away.

I get what you're saying about JJ and Arian, but the same can be said of any draft pick. The Patriots passed on Brady 5 times. And they never would have played him if Mo Lewis hadn't put a hole in Bledsoe's chest.

Part of being a GM is luck, just like part of being a GM is bad luck (like making great picks that get derailed by injuries when there was no injury history, or having a RB with no history of trouble miss a season to child abuse).

I have no idea how much of the JJ pick was Smith and how much was Wade. I know we had other targets we wanted even more. The fact that Peterson was one of them actually reflects well on Smith since he might be the 2nd best player in that draft. But the bottom line is the card the Texans turned in said JJ Watt. Probably one of the best picks any GM has made the whole decade (Russell Wilson is the only one I can think of that comes close). So I will give Smith credit for that pick just like I'll blame him for any unlucky ones.

[Nconroe]

For me, frustrating, mainly because see some promise, but not success yet, could characterize season so far. And hope for improvement still there.

Want to see Mallett and maybe even Savage before season ends.

Hope for team to improve as games go by, new system to learn, quite a few new players and injuries to deal with.

Clowney and other 2014 draft picks, hope they get more involved and productive as gain experience.

Not sure if 3W-4L is realistic to expect now, if so, end up at 7-9 record.

I do expect team keeps positive attitude and continues to play hard and thus keep the entertainment value up there.

[Arky]

Bye week viewing in the Houston area:

Sunday early:

CBS = Tennessee @ Baltimore -- Andrew Catalon, Steve Tasker, Steve Beuerlein

FOX = Dallas vs Jacksonville (in London) -- Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa

Sunday late::

FOX = NY Giants @ Seattle -- Joe Buck, Troy Aikman

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SNF (NBC) = Chicago @ Green Bay

MNF (ESPN) = Carolina @ Philadelphia

[Arky]

Early line for the upcoming Cleveland game has the Browns favored by 3 to 3.5.

Seems a little low to me... Given the 3 pt home field advantage, they are saying the teams are about even.. Cleveland, fresh off a nice TNF win over Cincinnati @ Cincinnati vs. the Texans who have trouble beating good teams and who are starting a new QB on the road, I would have made the line about 5 to 5.5. Makes me think that nationwide, the Texans have a bit of a following in the betting community because quite often, I see the odds makers giving the Texans a lot of "respect" - for lack of a better word....

[nunusguy]

Agree with all you say here about the line Arky, so it's also puzzling to me. Then there's the additional scenario of a Sunbelt team traveling up north to
play in what's forecast to be inclement weather conditions. But hope the line is in the ballpark which would mean we'll be in the game and that would give us a chance.

[HPF Bob]

I suspect the oddsmakers are not sold on the Browns yet but what I saw against the Bengals was a hungry team that seems loaded for bear. Just be glad we get this game now and not in a few weeks when some of their suspensions expire. We won't be seeing Josh Gordon.