HOUSTON BOUND?
Battle Red beacon: 5 reasons Mike Evans should be eyeing Houston Texans
Feb 2, 2024, 2:58 pm
The Texans could use Mike Evans' help at wide receiver. Photo via: Wiki Commons.
5 exciting last-minute trade scenarios for Houston Texans
These are the dog days of winter for the Houston Texans who are still unpacking their improbable 2023 season that stirred dreams of future deep postseason runs.
If no one saw last season coming – the AFC South Division title, a postseason game at home complete with an underdog win – then it’s OK to look ahead with rose-colored goggles. Head coach DeMeco Ryans is a strong candidate for Coach of the Year, quarterback C.J. Stroud should win Offensive Rookie of the Year unanimously, and the offensive coordinator is being lauded as one of the best young minds in the NFL. That’s the big picture for sure.
But it’s the little things that point to the Texans being taken seriously as a legit budding powerhouse, and two of them happened over the past few days.
A couple of nights ago Tampa Bay Buccaneer free agent receiver Mike Evans attended a Rockets game at Toyota Center. When they flashed Evans’ image on the big scoreboard, a tingle shot up Texans fans’ legs. Could the Texans be interested in signing Evans … and would an all-pro talent like Evans want to play here?
Two years ago, the answers would have been hell no! Superstars want to play where they have a chance of winning a Super Bowl ring. They want to play for respected coaching staffs. They want to play in cities where the NFL team dominates the sports headlines.
You might recall that the Texans were a disastrous franchise of unimagined failure – four coaches in four years. One season the team was paying three of them at the same time. The stands were practically empty. No one seemed to care, which is the worst that could happen to a pro team. Fans could count Texans wins on one hand and have fingers left over to show the team owner what they thought of him.
Now? Why wouldn’t Evans want to come to Houston? He grew up in Galveston and played his college ball at Texas A&M. More important, where would he find a better situation to pad his Hall of Fame credentials? In Tampa Bay where Baker Mayfield may or may not be your quarterback? Or in Houston where one of the best young passers in NFL history would be calling your number?
Maybe it’s because he’s played his entire career in small market Tampa Bay, but Evans is compiling numbers that compare favorably with the all-time greats. He racked up more than 1,000 receiving yards in each of his 10 seasons. Last season he caught 79 balls for 1,255 yards. He’s big, 6 ft. 5 and 231 pounds, and he goes deep. He led the NF L in touchdowns last year with 13. Imagine a Texans receiving corps with Evans, Nico Collins and Tank Dell.
Evans will want big bucks, but he’s proven he’s no whammy.
Equally important to the Texans status as an up-and-coming contender, but in a weirdly different way, a Houston Texan has landed a national commercial – the first local hero since J.J. Watt plastered his face on products ranging from Reebok to Gatorade to Ford trucks to Verizon Wireless.
C.J. Stroud has hooked up with Cheetos Crunchy Buffalo snacks. The hook of the Cheetos campaign is, while these chips will never top Buffalo wings, sometimes No. 2 is the best place to be. It’s a play on the Texans landing Stroud with the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft behind Bryce Young.
Stroud’s message: “Buffalo wings have always been superior and king at watch parties in the football season. So Cheetos came out with a new flavor, Buffalo Crunchy Cheetos. We’re trying to take over the second spot right under Buffalo wings. I know a thing or two about being second and still trying to bring the heat.”
How 3 major x-factors could tip the scales in Texans-Colts: Week 1
Sep 5, 2024, 7:27 pm
Each football game of a season carries much more weight than one game in a 162 Major League Baseball schedule. That reality, combined with the National Football League campaign opening and with it the most anticipated season in Texans’ history, the Astros are relegated to second banana this weekend. Just the way it goes despite the Astros’ phenomenal extended run from 10 games out of first place in mid-June to now having control of the American League West race and a likely (though definitely not yet certain) eighth consecutive year of postseason play.
It is reality that getting swept out of Cincinnati cost the Astros two games in the standings to Seattle the last two days and trimmed their division lead to four and a half games going into this weekend. There was nothing shameful about getting swept. It’s not as if they choked. They got outplayed and beaten in all three games. Stuff happens within a 162-game season. The 2019 Astros were vastly better than the 2024 Astros. The 2019 ‘Stros posted the best record in franchise history at 107-55. In Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole they had the two best pitchers in the AL. The Reds finished 75-87 in ’19. In the lone Astros-Reds series five years ago, Verlander and Cole started two of the three games. The Reds swept the Astros out of Cincy by scores of 3-2, 4-3, and 3-2. Stuff happens. The following week the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez. There is no Yordan coming to fortify the offense now, but wait! Is that Kyle Tucker's music?
The Astros host the NL champs this weekend
It’s highly unlikely but it’s still a possible World Series preview at Minute Maid Park this weekend with the Astros home for three games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The reigning National League Champions woke up under .500 July 11, but since then have been sizzling with 33 wins against just 15 losses. Over the same time frame the Astros are 27-21. The Diamondbacks by a large margin have scored the most runs in MLB this season, and that’s while playing the last nearly three weeks without Ketel Marte because of a high ankle sprain. Marte has been far and away the best second baseman in the game this year. He may return this weekend in a designated hitter role. The Arizona offense overall has been sensational, however it has vulnerability against left-handed pitching, in significant part because it typically takes lefty-hitting platoon beast Joc Pederson out of the lineup. The D’Backs are 55-35 in games facing right-handed starters, just 24-27 in games started by opposing southpaws. The Astros have lefties Framber Valdez and Yusei Kikuchi set to go in the first two games this weekend. While the Astros deal with the Diamondbacks the Mariners are in St. Louis for three against the Cardinals.
Eleven Diamondbacks have had at least 200 plate appearances this season. Only one of them has an OPS below .725. The Astros also have 11 guys with at least 200 PAs. Five of them lug around sub-.715 OPSes: Jeremy Pena (.714), Jake Meyers (.664), Mauricio Dubon (.645), Jon Singleton (.697), and Chas McCormick (.566).
Maximizing Tucker's return
Speaking of returns, Tucker fiiiiiiinally should see action for the first time since his June 3 bone bruise. Oh wait, broken leg. Shame on the Astros for their BSing over this and other injuries. Yeah, Alex Bregman slept funny. Whatever. To boost the lineup Tucker doesn’t have to be the .979 OPS MVP candidate he was when felled. Ben Gamel has done some good work, but over time he’s Ben Gamel. Same for Jason Heyward. If Tucker's legs are under him his power is a B-12 shot and only Yordan is in his league in on-base percentage. Joe Espada has decisions to make as to how slot the batting order. Against a right-handed starter Jose Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, Bregman one through five makes sense with Tucker dropping down below Yainer against a left-handed starter. No question those are the top five in some order. How much of a workload Tucker is ready for bears watching. Presumably he doesn’t initially play the outfield day in day out. When Tucker DHs obviously Bregman (and Yordan) can’t so Alex’s ailing elbow holding up is key. One might say hopefully the bone chips don’t fall where they may. Tuesday the Astros start a stretch playing 16 days in a row.
Keep hope alive!
If you’re an Astros fan holding out hope of chasing down the second seed to avoid having to play the best-of-three Wild Card series, say it with me, whatever nausea it may induce: “Go Dodgers Go!” Hurt as it might, business is business. The Dodgers play host to the Guardians. The Astros trail Cleveland by five games with just 22 to play, but do finish the regular season with three games at Cleveland. It's pretty much over for the Astros to catch both the Orioles and Yankees.
Season-long trends mean nothing once the playoffs start, and that’s a good thing for the Astros provided they are in the playoffs. They continue to flat out stink in close games. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Reds has the Astros record in one-run games at 15-24. In two-run games they are 10-14. Correlatively, the Astros also continue to routinely fail late in close games. The Astros have played 14 games that were tied after seven innings. They have lost 11 of the 14. In games tied after eight innings they are 7-13. Every team loses an extremely high percentage of games when trailing after eight innings, but the Astros haven’t pulled out a single game they’ve trailed going to the ninth. 0-50. Oh and fifty. But hey, the White Sox are 0-92!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.