“With the first pick of the 2014 NFL draft, the Houston Texans select Jadeveon Clowney,” were the words spoken by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that were possibly the worst kept secret in sport and also signalled the start of Jonny Manziel’s slide down to pick number 22.
Clowney’s selection gave the Texans another defensive playmaker capable of taking over games by himself to devestating effect: just ask Vincent Smith! If only the Texans had somebody on the other edge with similar impact, a player like JJ Watt for instance. Oh wait, JJ, possibly the best defensive player in the league even on a 2-14 team is already set in stone on the Texans DL, a player drawing double and some triple teams every game. Clowney’s role just got a bit easier as you can not double team both players and have any offensive threat yourself. After Clowney ran his 40 at the combine in Indianapolis, a Colts staffer was heard to mutter “please God, don’t let the Texans take Clowney.” Andrew Luck beware, as it seems God is not a Colts fan.
There was a case being made for a QB to go number one, the most likely option in that eventually was probably Manziel the local college boy with the celebrity status and friends. But new coach Bill O’Brien was obviously not convinced that he was a true number one overall pick, and the idea probably only remained floating around the Texans because of what that may mean in potential trades. Why would a number one overall QB be an option at all? Well, it’s supposed to be a passing league now, the QB is king, and Houston’s QB from last season just set a record for consecutive games with interceptions, a QB now struggling to hold on to Oakland’s starting job from Derek Carr.
I pose this question though: is the QB really the be all and end all, certain media outlets would have us all believe? Let’s look at the three most recent Super Bowl winning QB’s. Russell Wilson of Seattle, Joe Flacco from Baltimore, and Eli Manning from the Giants. Not bad players at all, but no ones rushing just yet to put them into Hall of Fame consideration. All those teams had fantastic defensive play, the ability to run the ball, and win the turnover battle. This shows us all you can win in many ways!
If you could have an Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees or for that matter an Andrew Luck, of course you would take it, but in Arian Foster the starting QB for Houston has one hell of a safety blanket. When your running back is that good, whoever your QB is doesn’t have to win the game. Admittedly Adrian Peterson at Minnesota plays a similar role to Foster in being clearly the best player on the offense, and the Vikings QB’s collectively seemed to struggle mightily, so even the simplest plans will not always work.
Going into training camp at the end of the month, Ryan Fitzpatrick was named the Texans quarterback to start. Not an inspiring choice to many, but he did enough in Buffalo to convince them he was worth the big money. Backing him up is Case Keenum, the 2nd year man who showed some promise in his rookie year which saw gather a lot more playing time than anyone thought likely heading into that season. Keenum could well be pushing for the start on opening day. There is also the ongoing talk about Patriots QB Ryan Mallett and his potential availability for trade, a trade that could see Texans send unsettled WR and potential hold out Andre Johnson to New England. Johnson would be a big loss to the receiving corp but Mallett, fresh from understudying Tom Brady and impressing in limited playing time, could be a legitimate QB to silence the critics.
Trade talk though is just speculation at this point, and you would assume that Fitzpatrick will be starting this year as things stand. If this happens, Foster will see a lot of the ball, and second year receiver DeAndre Hopkins will need to step up from his rookie 800 yard, 2 TD effort. Will the Texans be able to score enough points? This is the big question, and how many is enough? Well thanks to JJ and Jadeveon, etc… It may not be that many required.
I expect this defense to flourish in 2014, and many OCs around the league will have headaches figuring out how they can slow this defense down. Is the defensive effort enough to take the Texans back to the playoffs? I don’t know, probably not quite, but Watt is the key and I believe he has the strength of character to drag everyone with him and that this will be a playoff standard defense. On the offensive side, the Texans will look for a healthy Foster to return with a career year. Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins, when healthy, are as good as anything receiving tandem in the NFL.
Yes, you would like a star at QB and Houston may well not be heading to Arizona next February, but this team is going to be back with a bang. The Colts look to be the class of the field, but Houston are very much alive and kicking, so don’t expect Houston to be the first team on the clock for the 2015 draft.
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