Houston Texans GM Rick Smith: On his way to his office to pull the plug on the deal that will send team captain DeMeco Ryans to the Philadelphia Eagles for draft choices and chump change chops at the salary cap.
What is it with Houston Sports teams? Or maybe we should start with: How many different ways are there to keep raising the same question or keep striking at the same point? Is Houston the most “bad luck” cursed sports city in America? Or are we just excellent at creating our own bad luck and then disguising it as so-called “random circumstance” in interplay with the laws of probability as our best explanation for why, most of the time in major professional collegiate sports, except for the Rockets in 1994 and 1995, when Michael Jordan was taking a two-season nap, our teams always end up in the “close, but no cigar” chair?”
The other day I wrote (again) about the painful UH Cougars loss in the 1983 NCAA basketball title game to NC State, 50-48. It all came down to a last second stuff at the basket that only became possible when Akeem Olajuwon allowed himself to be pulled out of defensive position under the basket.
Was that bad luck?
Was it bad luck in Pittsburgh at the 1979 NFL Championship Game when Oilers receiver Mike Renfro was called pout-of-bounds on a TD catch that could have turned the game around for Houston over the Steelers?
Was it bad luck in 1980 when Nolan Ryan couldn’t hold a 3-run lead at home in the 8th inning of a game that could have sent the Astros to their first World Series?
Was it bad luck again in 1986 when pitcher Bob Knepper of the Astros couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead at home in the 9th inning over the Mets in the NLCS Series, blowing a win that would have tied things and forced New York to face nemesis Mike Scott in Game Seven?
Was it bad luck in 1989 when Nolan Ryan left the Astros for the Rangers after Houston owner John McMullen asked him to take a pay cut?
Was it merely bad luck in 2005 when Albert Pujols of the Cardinals hit that monster shot off Astros closer Brad Lidge in the NLCS, forcing the club to use Roy Oswalt one more time for the clinching NL pennant win that also knocked him out of his planned start in the World Series – a series that included plenty of its own “bad luck” plays on the way to a 4-0 sweeping win by the White Sox?
Are the Texans’ current personnel losses due to the bad luck fall out of signing superstar running back Arian Foster and now being to close to the salary cap to keep two of their best defensive players, Mario Williams and DeMeco Ryans, plus several others who have now signed elsewhere?
Houston has a bad habit of reaching for the top rung and then falling short. Is that because our clubs don’t reach high enough? Or because they don’t see where the top rung really is? Are we just being led by stupid and inept office people? Or is it because meddlesome owners eventually always get in the way? Or is it due to the fact that the cost of getting there is always just a little too steep for ownership’s pockets? Or is the cost of winning today so high that it can only be sustained for a season or two before you have to give up the players who made you competitive?
Or, in our case, is it just plain old bad luck – served up Houston-style?
The Pecan Park Eagle 
March 22, 2012 at 3:21 pm |
I think you can find more than one answer through all those examples but I would look at the recent personnel decisions of the Texans in another context. Mario Williams and Demeco Ryans were excellent defenders in a 4-3 defensive scheme. Whether through injuries or differring assignments, neither were worth the financial value they sought while playing in the 3-4 defense of Wade Phillips.
And who can argue with the results Phillips got last year even though Williams missed more than half the season and Ryans was off the field in obvious passing situations?
At least the Texans got something for giving up Ryans. If they get anything for Mario, it would be compensation in 2013 that would likely be no better than a third-round pick.
Every season brings a new draft and new players. Because of that, we have to let go some guys who were darned good while they were here but no longer fit, either in terms of salary or scheme.
Williams, Ryans and Eric Winston were all selected in the 2006 draft. Their bodies now have six years of wear and tear on them. So you now replace them with younger, cheaper players and hope to reach a critical mass while staying within the salary cap. Viewed in that context, I wouldn’t see these moves as “bad luck” but rather the necessities of current pro sports management.
March 22, 2012 at 10:03 pm |
Dear Bob:
I don’t think the Texans gave up on Williams and Ryans because they were ill-suited for the 3-4 defense. That sounds more like a
placating line that ownership is feeding to disappointed fans to smooth over their real reason for running into salary cap trouble. They needed to re-sign RB Arian Foster and they could not afford him and Mario Williams too. Now they’ve traded Ryans to improve their cap situation, even if it means giving up their team leader, because they know he has no value to them at the end of his current contract.
Unless the Texans declare themselves in a rebuilding mode, the test on this one is easy. If they do not improve on their second round playoff finish in 2013, it was a bad way to go. But who knows? Maybe they had no good choice.
I do think you did an excellent job of defining NFL economics today. The window of opportunity is now very narrow and very expensive. It’s hard to know when to back up the truck, but its important because few, if any, clubs can afford anything that resembles an old style dynasty. The demand for players with Super Bowl experience or potential will cause some team to pull a Mario Williams free agency steal on your best stock to build their own limited time shot at the top, if you get up against the wall on the salary cap.
And maybe Ryans was an example too of the old Branch Rickey philosophy: “Trade your best players a year before, not a year after, they’ve had their best seasons.”
March 22, 2012 at 8:08 pm |
Hi Bill, I just stumbled across your blog while looking for information about your fellow McCurdy in the Astros minor league system. You distracted me from my work with some good reading material. I enjoy your writing!
March 22, 2012 at 9:15 pm |
Dear Mike:
Thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed it the point of distractibility.
Regards, Bill
March 23, 2012 at 2:57 pm |
Ownership of the Astros and Texans latest moves ,”again Just plain old Bad Luck, served up Houston Style ” I agree with you Bill on that .
Must be someting in the local water.