EVERY-THING SPORTS
Here's why the Texans will make the playoffs under Lovie Smith
Mar 2, 2022, 11:37 am
Where's the Love? Photo by Getty Images.
9 important Texans takeaways from Lovie Smith's press conference
When the Texans got rid of David Culley after one season, eyes immediately fixated on general manager Nick Caserio. Caserio made the bizarre Culley hire last offseason and had moved on from him with the prospect of hiring their new, presumably long term, head coach.
Rumors and speculation were running rampant on who’d get the job. People were choosing sides and collectively losing their minds. It really got tense when Josh McCown was assumed to be the next hire. It was a bad enough Culley was seen as a placeholder because he didn’t have any previous head coaching experience. Hell, he hasn’t even been a coordinator before! McCown was seen as a similar hire with buddy ties to Jack Easterby. Anyone associated with Easterby is pariah adjacent.
The shock when Lovie Smith was not only retained, but promoted to the head coaching gig was awesome! People were caught off guard because they got sucked into the rumor vortex and believed McCown, Brian Flores, or Jonathan Gannon were the finalists. (Mostly because that's what the Texans posted on their own social media platforms). When reports started circulating about Smith, lines were drawn and people took sides.
Some thought it was a great hire because of the yeoman’s work he did with the defense. Others were upset because the guy they wanted wasn’t hired. The subsets within are even crazier. Personally, I’m happy Smith was given the opportunity and believe he can lead this team through the rebuild and beyond.
When rebuilding a team, it’s void of talent. The best way to rebuild is through the draft so you have tons of young cheap talent and don’t over spend on vets. You want a mix of vets to help the youngsters along, but the right kind of vets who understand the goal. Lovie is the guy for this type of rebuild.
He’s been a head coach previously. He may only be slightly above .500 for his career, but he’s also brought a team to a Super Bowl and coached six playoff games (3-3). He’s been a coach and coordinator on the NFL and college levels. At 63 years old, he’s been around the game long enough to understand it, but has achieved players' coach status. That was evident when current Texans spoke highly of him after his hire.
If Caserio did his due diligence and settled on Smith, it was by design. He’s a smart enough guy to know the impact this hire would have and made his choice. He’s coming into his second year of a six-year deal. Getting this hire wrong could cut short his first GM gig and may even preclude him from getting another one. Why would he hire another placeholder as coach? That doesn’t make sense.
If Caserio believes in him, so does ownership. When the players expressed they believed in him and nobody had a bad word to say about him, that tells me he’s a man of integrity. An underrated part of this hire was keeping Pep Hamilton. He will man the offense while Smith handles the defense. It’ll be Caserio’s job to give them the ingredients to cook the right meal. I can see the three of them working well together.
I love Lovie and I love this hire. I truly believe he will lead this team to its next playoff appearance, provided Caserio does a good enough job of acquiring talent. If he can do what he did this past season with a defense void of much talent, imagine what he can do with a few more weapons? Let’s see how it goes this season and next. While I’m not expecting an 8-10 win season next year, I do expect an improvement. If they find a franchise quarterback and build around him, I can see playoffs within two to three years. I love Lovie! How about you?
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.