THE PALLILOG
Will Fuller signs with possible Texans trade partner, and surprising Rockets odds
Mar 19, 2021, 10:07 am
Will Fuller is heading to Miami. Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images.
The sexual deviant allegations against Deshaun Watson are disturbing and depressing. Either Watson is a pathetic degenerate who belongs in jail (at this point not an option with these being civil suits) or Watson is the rightfully irate victim of a disgusting smear attempt with the smearers deserving time behind bars. The only possible middle ground is an implausible series of horrible misunderstandings.
This jaw dropping addition to the Deshaun Watson/Texans mess first surfaced mere hours after the Texans struck a deal with Tyrod Taylor to become their starting or backup quarterback. Taylor is a vast upgrade over A.J. McCarron as a number two, but if Taylor is the starting QB, the whole Texans' season looks that much more like number two.
Taylor was one of the more than a dozen entirely unexciting roster additions new general Manager Nick Caserio made this week. No high impact signees and definitely not a promising collection of younger guys. More than half the new Texans will be at least 29 years old when the season starts.
In the short term, Watson's situation likely has some chilling effect with respect to trade interest in him at what cost. The Texans' posture remains they have no interest in a trade. Nevertheless, interesting that logical potential trade partner Miami is signing Will Fuller to bolster the Dolphins' receiving corps.
Rockets favored?
It can't get much worse than the Rockets vs. the Pistons Friday night at Toyota Center. Despite their brand spanking new franchise record 18 game losing streak the Rockets are actually small favorites. Overall at 11-28, the Rockets sit just one half game behind the Pistons for the second worst record in the NBA. Opportunity knocks! A Rocket loss would strengthen their chances of finishing with a bottom three NBA record, which is where they must fall to have their maximum chance of 52.1 percent to keep their draft choice if it winds up in the top four of the draft lottery.
The Rockets got a minimal and reasonable return in trading P.J. Tucker to Milwaukee. They project to move up eight picks or so in the draft from near the top of the second to somewhere in the bottom seven or eight picks in the first round. New General Manager Rafael Stone basically has to move Victor Oladipo by Thursday's trade deadline. The Knicks seem the most logical trade partner. Newly acquired D.J. Augustin makes no sense for the Rockets' roster next season for which he's guaranteed seven million dollars. Stone has to be looking to move him as well. If the Rockets could literally give away Eric Gordon they would. There would be no takers.
After having only three losing seasons in the last 36, it is very possible the Rockets stink for several years. Christian Wood looks good when healthy, Kevin Porter Jr. flashes some nice skills. That's it for guys who reasonably project as average or better NBA starters going forward.
March Madness
By their two seeding in the Midwest Region, anything short of the Elite Eight would be a disappointment for the Houston Cougars. I'm sure their players would agree, if anything they might say anything short of the Final Four would be disappointing. The odds are against them getting that far. Cleveland State should pose no problem in round one, after that any team the Coogs play will be capable of beating them. The Clemson/Rutgers winner is no gimme on Sunday. UH clearly played the weakest schedule of any of the top 16 seeds in the tournament. Had the Cougars been in the Big 12 or Big 10 there is no chance their record would be 24-3. They are a two seed however because they are damn good. Sensational is understating the job Kelvin Sampson has done with the program. With the whole NCAA Tournament being held in Indiana using six venues and the UH-Cleveland State game set at Indiana University's Assembly Hall, Sampson returns to the campus where he was fired for NCAA rules violations and then functionally banned from college coaching for five years.
Baseball is coming
Inside two weeks to the Astros' season opener at Oakland. No position battles. Hardly any roster spots are up for grabs. Zack Greinke is tabbed as the Astros' game one starter. Greinke has previous Opening Day starts with the Royals and Diamondbacks. Only two pitchers have made Opening Day starts for five different franchises. Name 'em? One best known for his curveball, the other for his spitball. Answer below in Buzzer Beater #3.
Buzzer Beaters:
1. Sure Michigan likely routs Texas Southern Saturday, but the way the Tigers won the SWAC Tournament to reach the First Four, then their rallying from 10 down at the half to beat fellow 16 seed Mt. St. Mary's…good stuff.
2. In five of the last seven tournaments a 14 seed has stunned a three seed. Beware Texas Longhorns vs. Abilene Christian.
3. Bert Blyleven and Gaylord Perry. Three other pitchers most defined by one pitch in their repertoire: Bronze- Trevor Hoffman change-up Silver- Bruce Sutter split fingered fastball Gold-Mariano Rivera cutter.
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Sengun has 32 points and 14 rebounds as the Rockets beat the Grizzlies
Jan 10, 2025, 2:32 pm
Everyone raved about the leadership of second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud this week as the Houston Texans prepared for their wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Everyone, that is, except the man himself.
“I don’t think I’m a great (leader),” Stroud said sheepishly. “I don’t know. That’s probably a bad thing to say about yourself, but I don’t think I’m all that when it comes to leading. I just try to be myself.”
But the 23-year-old Stroud simply being himself is exactly what makes him the undisputed leader of this team.
“C.J. is authentic, he’s real,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It’s not only here, it’s in the locker room around the guys and that’s what leadership is to me. As you evolve as a leader, you just be authentic to yourself. You don’t have to make up anything or make up a speech or make up something to say to guys. C.J. is being C.J.”
Sixth-year offensive lineman Tytus Howard said he knew early on that Stroud would be special.
“He has that aura about him that when he speaks, everybody listens,” he said.
Stroud has helped the Texans win the AFC South and reach the playoffs for a second straight season after they had combined for just 11 wins in the three years before he was drafted second overall.
He was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, when Houston beat the Browns in the first round before falling to the Ravens in the divisional round.
His stats haven’t been as good as they were in his fabulous rookie season when he threw just five interceptions. But he has put together another strong season in Year 2 despite missing top receiver Nico Collins for five games early and losing Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to season-ending injuries in the second half of the season. He also started every game despite being sacked a whopping 52 times.
“He’s taken some crazy shots,” Howard said. “But even if he’s getting sacked and stuff like that, he just never lets that get to him. He just continues to fight through it, and it basically uplifts the entire offense.”
He also finds ways to encourage the team off the field and works to build chemistry through team get-togethers. He often invites the guys over to his house for dinner or to watch games. Recently, he rented out a movie theater for a private screening of “Gladiator II.”
“He’s like, ‘I want the guys to come in and bond together because this thing builds off the field and on the field,’” Howard said. “So, we need to be closer.”
Another thing that makes Stroud an effective leader is that his teammates know that he truly cares about them as people and not just players. That was evident in the loss to the Chiefs when Dell was seriously injured. Stroud openly wept as Dell was tended to on the field and remained distraught after he was carted off.
“It was good for people to see me in that light and knowing that there is still a human factor to me,” he said. "And I think that was good for people to see that we’re just normal people at the end of the day.”
Stroud said some of the leaders who molded him were his father, his coaches in high school and college, and more recently Ryans.
His coach said Stroud has been able to lead the team effectively early in his career because he knows there are others he can lean on if he needs help.
“Understanding that it’s not all on him as a leader, it’s all of our guys just buying in, doing what they have to do,” Ryans said. “But also, C.J. understanding a lot of guys are looking up to him on the team and he takes that role seriously. But it’s not a heavy weight for him because we have other leaders, as well, around him.”
Stroud considers himself stubborn and though some consider that a bad quality, he thinks it’s helped him be a better leader. He's had the trait as long as he can remember.
“That kind of carried into the sport,” he said. “Even as a kid, my mom used to always say how stubborn I was and just having a standard is how I hear it. It’s stubborn (but) I just have a standard on how I like things to be done and how I hold myself is a standard.”
And, to be clear, he doesn’t consider himself a bad leader, but he did enjoy hearing that others on the team consider him a great one.
“I just don’t look at myself in that light of just I’m all-world at that,” he said. “But I try my best to lead by example and it’s cool because I don’t ask guys and to hear what they have to say about that is kind of cool.”
Though he doesn’t consider himself a great leader, Stroud does have strong feelings about what constitutes one. And he’s hoping that he’ll be able to do that for his team Saturday to help the Texans to a victory, which would make him the sixth quarterback in NFL history to start and win a playoff game in both of his first two seasons.
“That would be making everybody around you better,” he said of great leaders. “Kind of like a point guard on the offense, the quarterback on the football team, the pitcher on a baseball team — just making everybody around you better.”