TEXANS IN TURMOIL

Here's why the biggest loss for the Texans is flying under-the-radar

Texans JJ Watt
Jamey Rootes' departure will devastate the Texans. Composite photo by Brandon Strange

The Houston Texans, seemingly in the blink of an eye, have hired a new head coach with no experience as a head coach, a new general manager with no experience as a general manager, fired their popular director of media relations and other popular behind-the-scenes personnel, said goodbye to the team's biggest and most beloved star, traded their best receiver for peanuts and, while they deny it, they're on the verge of losing their divinely talented and accomplished quarterback for a bushel of untested draft picks.

Oh, yeah, and they've gone from perennial division champions to a 4-12 disaster.

The Texans are in turmoil. They're the laughingstock of the NFL. But here's what I'm wondering:

Does Texans Chairman and CEO Cal McNair know that fans refer to him as "Hee Haw" and "Jethro" and "Hillbilly Cal" and believe he simply doesn't have the intelligence to run an NFL franchise?

Does McNair know that fans see Jack Easterby as an evil Svengali who has mind control over McNair and has driven the Texans into the dumpster and created a toxic work environment? Seriously, I know very smart people who believe that Easterby has photos on McNair. They're not saying it as an expression, they think there are actual photos.

Does Easterby hear fans call him a phony TV preacher and puppet master who is pulling the strings at Texans headquarters. They say that Easterby has singlehandedly destroyed the Texans as a winning NFL franchise. Well, not singlehandedly since his other hand is up McNair's backside controlling the CEO's mouth.

For me, the final brick in the Texans' demolition project was team president Jamey Rootes' resignation last week. Because Easterby refuses to talk to the media, McNair shouldn't, and Deshaun Watson won't, we don't know what's really going on with the Texans – except every move they make of late is a head shaker.

This much I do know, Rootes' departure will devastate the Texans, not so much on the field (that's Easterby's wrecking ball), but off the field where the Texans are one of the most successful, valuable and admired sports franchises in the world. The Texans are a $3.3 billion empire in Houston. To a large measure, that was Rootes' doing.

Rootes came aboard the Texans in 2000, two years before the Texans even played a game. Team owner Bob McNair hired Rootes from the Columbus Crewe soccer team. Over the next 20-plus years, Rootes helped build a spectacular, state-of-the-art stadium, negotiated contracts with sponsors and vendors and hired the business staff. He helped lead the charge that brought two Super Bowls to Houston.

Most important, Rootes created the "culture" (Easterby's favorite word, except it's b.s. when he uses it) that inspired the love affair between Houston fans and Houston Texans. Every home game ever played in NRG Stadium has been a sell-out. It's not a little thing to Rootes, but the Texans host the best tailgate parties in the NFL.

Rootes wasn't just leader of the Houston Texans, he made his mark in Houston as Board Chairman of the United Way of Greater Houston, Chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership and professor at the University of Houston. Rootes ran the Houston Texans Foundation that raised $32 million for youth activities in Houston. After Hurricane Harvey, he helped coordinate NFL fundraising efforts that provided $50 million for the United Way.

He was named the Steinberg/DeNicola "NFL Humanitarian of the Year" in 2020.

Rootes once told me, "We are the most diverse big city in America in terms of people, cuisine, culture and industry. Houston is a fun city. If you want to do it, you can find it in Houston - and it's affordable, and you can do it year 'round. This is a special city. If you can dream it, you can do it. That's the essence of the brand we're selling, the message we're trying to get out."

I asked Rootes, what exactly does an NFL team president do? His answer was "I just find the best people and put them in position to best use their talents and succeed. I trust my people and I let them do their jobs."

That's the biggest difference, I guess, between late owner Bob McNair and prince Cal McNair who inherited the Texans reins. Bob McNair hired Jamey Rootes and let Rootes do his job. Which Rootes did magnificently.

They say an apple doesn't fall from the tree. In Cal McNair's case, he's stumbled completely out of the orchard.

Cal McNair hired a reputable search firm to find a new general manager for the Texans. The firm gave him two recommendations. McNair ignored them. Instead, he hired a Jack Easterby disciple with no experience. After recruiting a distinguished panel to help pick a new head coach (Rootes was a member of the panel), McNair ignored them and hired a head coach also with no experience in that position, a choice that came as a shock to Texans fans.

With Rootes' departure, the team's rudder, the adult in the room, is gone. While Rootes has not announced his next move, some say he will put together an ownership group to buy a pro soccer franchise.

I've got a better idea. I know a city that's begging for new ownership of its NFL team.

Most Popular

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome

Listen Live

ESPN Houston 97.5 FM
The Thunder beat the Rockets, 111-96. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

It was midway through the third quarter of the Oklahoma City-Houston NBA Cup semifinal matchup on Saturday night. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had just made a short jumper in the lane and, to his delight, a time-out was immediately called.

He needed it.

He retreated to midcourt, crouched down, propped himself up by his fingertips and took deep breath after deep breath. It was that sort of night. And given the way the Rockets and Thunder have defended all season long, such a game was predictable.

In the end, it was Oklahoma City 111, Houston 96 in a game where the teams combined to shoot 41%. The immediate reward for the Thunder: two days off to recover. The bigger reward: a matchup with Milwaukee on Tuesday night for the NBA Cup, with more than $300,000 per player the difference between winning and losing.

“That's what defense does for you,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, whose team has held opponents to 41% shooting or worse a league-best 11 times this season — and is 11-0 in those games. “It keeps you in games.”

The Rockets-Thunder semifinal was basketball, with elements of football, rugby, hockey and probably even some wrestling thrown in. It wasn't unusual. It's how they play: defense-first, tough, gritty, physical.

They are the two top teams in the NBA in terms of field-goal percentage defense — Oklahoma City came in at 42.7%, Houston at 43.4% — and entered the night as two of the top three in scoring defense. Orlando led entering Saturday at 103.7 per game, Oklahoma City was No. 2 at 103.8, Houston No. 3 at 105.9. (The Thunder, by holding Houston to 96, passed the Magic for the top spot on Saturday.)

Houston finished 36.5% from the field, its second-worst showing of the season. When the Rockets shoot 41% or better, they're 17-4. When they don't, they're 0-5.

“Sometimes it comes down to making shots,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Especially in the first half, we guarded well enough. ... But you put a lot of pressure on your defense when you're not making shots.”

Even though scoring across the NBA is down slightly so far this season, about a point per game behind last season's pace and two points from the pace of the 2022-23 season, it's still a golden age for offense in the league. Consider: Boston scored 51 points in a quarter earlier this season.

Saturday was not like most games. The halftime score: Rockets 42, Thunder 41. Neither team crossed the 50-point mark until Dillon Brooks' 3-pointer for Houston gave the Rockets a 51-45 lead with 8:46 left in the third quarter.

Brooks is generally considered one of the game's tougher defenders. Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the game's best scorers. They're teammates on Canada's national team, and they had some 1-on-1 moments on Saturday.

“It's fun. It makes you better,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “That's what this league is about, competing against the best in the world and defensively, he is that for sure. And I like to think that of myself offensively. He gives me a chance to really see where I'm at, a good test. I'd say I handled it pretty well.”

Indeed he did. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 32 points, the fifth instance this season of someone scoring that many against the Rockets. He's done it twice, and the Thunder scored 70 points in the second half to pull away.

“We knew that if we kept getting stops we would give ourselves a chance,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And we did so.”

SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome