Sports

[gardenman]

Interesting. The Texans have decided to fire their GM. Word on the street is that the working situation in Houston is not ideal, so it'll be interesting to see who they get to go there. Joe Douglas of the Eagles just turned down the Jets job (for now anyway) so maybe that inspired the Texans to try and grab him? Word is their first choice is the guy from the Patriots, but the Patriots wouldn't even let him interview last year when the Texans fired their old GM.

[gardenman]

And just that quickly, the Jets had a rethink and decided to hire Joe Douglas from the Eagles after all. There had been a million dollars in dispute between the two with Joe wanting more money for his staff. The Jets had said no. Joe had said goodbye to the Jets. The Texans suddenly were looking for a new GM, and miracle of miracles, the Jets found the extra million for Joe's staff.

[teganslaw]

Strange how the Jets suddenly found an extra million to pay the new GM.

The Texans firing GM Gaines is surprising. The organization said that "he was good, but not that good" whatever that means. The Texans won the division last season; what more do they expect? Maybe losing the wildcard games is a factor in the decision.

The Colts' draft pick, Bobby Okereke, was accused of assault in 2015, something the Colts already knew when they drafted him. No charges were filed and the university didn't take any action, so all it came down to were unproven allegations. Ballard was OK taking him despite that. Nothing ever emerged in the past four years.

The case against Tyreek Hill is closed. No charges were brought because it was unclear who was to blame: Hill or his fiancee. However, Hill could get reprimanded by the NFL later on. It's also possible that the case could be reopened if new evidence was found.

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

Interesting. The Texans have decided to fire their GM. Word on the street is that the working situation in Houston is not ideal, so it'll be interesting to see who they get to go there. Joe Douglas of the Eagles just turned down the Jets job (for now anyway) so maybe that inspired the Texans to try and grab him? Word is their first choice is the guy from the Patriots, but the Patriots wouldn't even let him interview last year when the Texans fired their old GM.

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@gardenman @teganslaw 

No jobs in Houston are ideal---LOL! Some Texas humor for you..😆..talking about the city not the team--most hated city in Texas, by people living in Texas..  But seriously, the Texans have remained stagnant ---areas of need haven't been addressed.and they've lost some good free agents too....high expectations for this team....they need a better line...and have other positions with major holes....I'm surprised Bill O'Brien is still there too...The family took over after McNair's death, Bob's wife, Janice became the principal owner and Senior Chair of the Houston Texans, while their son, D. Cal McNair became the Chairman and Chief Operating Officer.  I wonder if this change has impacted the team behind the scenes....you never know with these family dynamics....

[Spurt]

A real interesting article in HogsHaven Blog, Espn Redskin Reporter John Keim  researched the situation regarding the Redskin's Medical & Training Staff, his analysis included interviews with past and current players :

The players love the Strength and Conditioning Coach, Chad Englehart. 

Head Athletic Trainer, Larry Hess is a different story....

The players and the Training Staff/Medical Staff can be at odds because they have different perspectives.  The player is looking at his personal health and prolonging his career as long as he can, and the athletic training staff is getting ‘leaned on’ by the coaches to get this guy ready because they’ve built their offense around this player, so, ‘please get him back out there’. So, there’s always gonna be a little bit of tension there.

With the Redskins the main thing with regard to this team is that it always seems to revolve around communication. It just feels like the players aren’t being told, or getting the same word from the athletic trainers that, maybe, the medical staff has communicated to them. There’s always a breakdown in communication

Medical Staff:

The team of three comprises two orthopedic surgeons and a primary sports care physician. The latter is Dr. Peter H. MacArthur, MD, the second orthopedic surgeon is Dr. Brandon J. Bryant, MD. Their goal--To provide the highest quality medical care, where the focus is to improve performance, decrease injuries and provide immediate access to an elite group of medical specialists.”  This is where the medical problems have cropped up.....

John Keim indicated that there have been a lot of questions raised by players about the Medical Care, and that “the recovery aspect has been a big deal.” the post-operative infection that Guice had to deal with, and the apparent effort to “rush” Colt back to the field late last season are good examples. 

The major problem is these 3 Departments aren't communicating with each other, and aren't on the same page giving players different information, or they seem to be working toward different recovery timelines. (in the past they did work closely together).  Also the Staff is not holding players accountable for follow up treatments....

One point that was interesting is regarding Dan Snyder, he  wants to do the right thing, but can’t figure out what the right thing is that needs doing, he wants the best for the team and spent big bucks on the Recovery Center, but doesn't know how to get things accomplished. More of a lack of coordination, competing goals by Departments, and lack of communication

This sums up the Redskins:

The front office executives seem unable to do more than respond to symptoms; they seem unable to recognize and cure the real and long-term underlying causes of the repeated issues that arise in the Redskins franchise-

 Bruce will try to put out the fire regarding this issue (or at least hide the smoke), Dan will hold a meeting followed by a well-intentioned but ultimately fruitless memo of admonishment, Jay Gruden will be left having to answer questions about things he has no control over....And that sums it up pretty well for my team 

[gardenman]

I wonder if the Texans firing Gaines has something to do with Jadeveon Clowney's situation? Clowney has been tagged, but no contract signed. Did Gaines want to trade him, or maybe refused to trade him? We'll have to see what the interim GM does. If Clowney now gets traded, it's likely Gaines was against trading him. If Clowney now signs a big new deal, maybe Gaines wanted to trade him. Those two could very well be linked in some manner.

[gardenman]

Just to follow up on the Clowney speculation, they gave him the franchise tag that lets him sign elsewhere if the team signing him surrenders two first round picks. Now, if you're a team that expects to be successful the next few seasons and drafting very late in the first round, giving up two late first round picks for Clowney might not seem like a bad idea. Teams like the Patriots, Eagles, Rams, Cowboys, etc. that expect to be good for the next two years might just consider that a fair price to get a guy like Clowney. Maybe the Texans ownership wasn't happy with that tag being placed? It is odd to fire a GM after just one year with no obvious gaffes.

[Spurt]

I was looking at over the cap.... Can the Cowboys afford Clowney???? Texans have 40 mill in Cap Space for 2019 and 82 mill in 2020...why wont they sign him...they need him....Looks like the family doesnt want to spend money.....

Cap Space for 2019---

Redskins 8 mill in cap space

Giants 13 mill

Cowboys 19 mill

Eagles 20 mill

The Eagles will only have 1 mill cap space in 2020

Redskins will have 35 mill in 2020

Giants 65 mill in 2020

Cowboys 74 mill but contracts for Dak, Cooper, and Zeke will cut into that

[gardenman]

The Cowboys could afford him the easiest. They'll spend $30+ million on Dak, probably $15-20 million on Cooper. That would leave them with around $19 million. I would expect them to tag Elliott for a year or two. Runningbacks are pretty tag friendly. They'd have to squeeze out some more cap space, but that's not too hard. That would give them Lawrence and Clowney as defensive ends which would be pretty powerful. Of course, they'd lose two more first round picks after not having one last year too. I'm not sure you want to lose first round picks three years in a row. It's something to watch though.

[Spurt]

Our local guys were saying what the Cowboys were initialy going to offer Dak was $22 mill.....Now théy are going to have to up their ante...that piddly amount won't do at all....

From what I'm reading/hearing....the Trent Willim's thing seems to be more about his contract....Former Redskin, Brian Mitchell, said that Trent has the upper hand and the Redskins never seem to have a backup plan to cover their tail....there's no one to replace Trent...Flowers isn't the answer and young Christensian isn't ready ...Brian said same thing happened when Samuels had a neck injury...Redskins need to do a better job of planning...

Folks that leads us to....#FIREBRUCEALLEN!  And wouldn't you think Bruce should have a plan, considering Trent's injury history and age...one of the key positions--- protecting the QB's blindside...All Bruce says is we've talked and I know the truth, he's a good Redskin and valuable player....  And poor Jay Gruden is trying to send a message to both in his press conference, like a voice in the wilderness ...He's important to our team, we need him back......

@teganslaw 

High praise given to Colt's LG Quenton Nelson, RG Mark Glowinski, RT Braden Smith, LB Darius Leonrd who made ProFootball Focus's All NFL Clutch Team First Team......