LANCE ZIERLEIN

Winning in the NFL "is hard," but here are some things that are harder. Plus World Series and Lil Yachty

Winning in the NFL "is hard," but here are some things that are harder. Plus World Series and Lil Yachty
Bill O'Brien explaining to a ref how hard winning can be. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

After Sunday’s convincing 20-7 win over the would-be bullies of Jacksonville, Bill O’Brien was asked about winning ugly and, as you might expect, he didn’t really appreciate the question. To be fair on both sides, the Texans are on a four-game win streak and were coming off of a fairly dominating road performance of a Jacksonville squad who may expected win the division. On the flip side, the Texans winning streak has been far from impressive or even fluid.

O’Brien commented about how hard it was to win in the NFL and something to the effect of it being one of the hardest things to do in sports. I’m paraphrasing a little bit, but just go with it because it works best for this section of the article. I will now attempt to lay out things in sports that are harder than winning an NFL game:

  • Beating Khabib Nurmagomedov appears to be infinitely harder than winning an NFL game at this juncture.

  • Trying to beat the Golden State Warriors in a playoff series as an opposing coach would appear to be harder than winning an NFL game.

  • Trying to get a hit off of Justin Verlander is absolutely, without question, harder to do than winning an NFL game.

  • Making a hole in one….. Harder.

The Who Cares World Series

On paper, the Red Sox and Dodgers make for an interesting and potentially entertaining World Series, but if you are an Astros fan, can you even watch? I might catch a game or two, but that could have been us.

Why am I going to pay attention to what the Mega Millions winner does with their money? Why am I going to pay attention to what an ex-girlfriend does after we are broken up? I’ve got World Series FOMO, but we ARE missing out so I’ll just check out. Plus, this is obviously Boston’s year so it’s a wrap anyway.

Setting Low Bars

We all know that society is being dumbed down and is actively dumbing itself down on a regular basis. I’m not telling you something you don’t know. If I am, then you are the culprit, dummy.

I saw two examples that perfectly capture just how dumb we are getting. I’ll start with Subway. They are trying to get us hyped about their new Chipotle Cheesesteak and nothing gets me more hyped than bottle flipping.

Now one bottle being flipped is pretty cool. I mean, that’s a huge achievement. But when you are trying to get people really hyped up, you have to raise the stakes, right?!
 

OMFG!!!!! He just killed the f*#*ing game!!!! He did a four bottle flip!!!!! Give me those Chipotle Cheesesteaks right now! I want 10 of them! If this kid can flip four bottles then anything is possible! Maybe China won’t continue to lap us! Maybe robots aren’t going to take all of our jobs and then murder us! This is a wonderful celebration of accomplishment!

Oh, and it wasn’t just that. Monday Night Football featured Lil Yachty. They intentionally booked Lil Yachty because someone thought it was a good idea. I’m not fan of mumble rap and, in fact, I think it’s a classic example of how we are sliding into oblivion. There are still some very good hip hop artists out there, but somehow acts like Lil Yachty are not only in the spotlight, but are selling to the same people who think bottle flips are electric. The trick shot people are wondering how in the world bottle flips passed them. Here is some Lil Yachty in case you don’t believe me.

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How Rockets' latest move could say a lot about what’s next

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Astros keep doing this, and it’s getting hard to ignore

The Rockets are in it to win it this year. Composite Getty Image.

While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.

The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.

Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.

As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.

The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.

VanVleet signs extension

Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.

For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!

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