The Texans are trash, but they shouldn't fire Bill O'Brien

No, they should fire Rick Smith.

This isn't really a hot take. Many Texans fans have been saying this for years. Rick Smith has been the General Manager of the Texans since 2006, and became the Executive Vice President and handles all of Football Operations on top of his managerial duties. In Smith's 11 years as GM, the Texans have won 4 Division Championships in the awful AFC South, which all amount to their 4 playoff appearances. None of which have even sniffed the AFC championship.

You may be saying "Royden, isn't it the coaches job to get those teams the extra mile in the playoffs?" Well yes invisible reader, it is. However, I would argue that only once have the Texans had a team that could have competed for a Super Bowl, in the 2012 team that went 12-4, but were promptly demolished by the Patriots.

Every other time the Texans have made the playoffs it's because they have played over their talent level. In 2015 and 16 when they won the AFC South at a pedestrian 9-7 when they had possibly the worst QB situation in the entire league.

2015 saw the likes of Brian Hoyer start for the Texans, and I will blame Bill O'Brien for having him as the starting QB because he was an "O'Brien guy" from his time with the Patriots, but that is where I think the blame stops with O'Brien as far as personnel goes. The rest you can all put on the shoulders of Rick Smith. It's not O'Brien fault that Rick Smith traded for a QB with a lower I.Q. than Forrest Gump, in Ryan Mallett. It's also not O'Brien's fault that Smith signed possibly the worst quarterback ever in Brock Osweiler.

Rick Smith seriously thought that both these guys were starting QB's because they were tall and had big arms. The only reason these guys were even remotely okay is because Bill O'Brien was able to scheme around their inefficiencies, and a Super Bowl caliber defense. 

If I have to give Smith credit for one thing, it's that he is great at picking defensive players in the first round. He found diamonds in the rough in J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus. He took a shot drafting Mario Williams over Reggie Bush and Vince Young, which I will say worked out. Also, Brian Cushing, for all his flaws was a good draft pick. I won't give him that much credit for Jadeveon Clowney because he was supposed to one of the most can't miss prospects ever, and he is slowly turning into the player everyone thought he would be. 

My praise for Rick Smith starts and ends with his first round drafting talent. Take a look at Smith's draft history after the first round and tell me what you think. When O'Brien arrived in 2014, he had almost zero offensive talent to work with outside of DeAndre Hopkins. Like clock work you could almost guarantee that Smith was going to draft a first round defensive player. Yes a great defense can win you a championship, but not when the offense can only score 13 points. As you have seen the last couple of years, the Texans are trying to make up for lost time drafting Will Fuller, and possibly the franchise QB Texans fans have been waiting for in Deshaun Watson. 

When Watson played, it was like O'Brien finally found the sacred key that would unlock his book of magic play calling spells. Amazing what even a competent quarterback will do for you. But Watson made up for a lot of flaws in the player personnel with his ability to create on his own. When Smith was busy drafting another safety that would get cut in the preseason, he totally forgot that you might need an offensive line to protect that QB. The only reason that Watson wasn't killed behind the Texans cardboard cutout offensive line is because he can move in the pocket. Throw Thomas Savage back there and the dude got hit so hard he had a seizure on the field. 

It's been a rough year for Texans fans. You came in to the season expecting to compete and the all of your best players outside of Hopkins, Clowney, Lamar Miller go on the IR. I don't blame Billy O for not having his best players. I do blame him for having even a thought that Tom Savage was a starting quarterback but that experiment is over. But despite all of the injuries, you should be able to at least stay in games with the players that remain. But with a secondary that can't cover anyone, and a swiss cheese offensive line, it's hard to compete. And for that I blame Rick Smith....

Too bad Smith and Bob McNair are best friends and Smith was extended through 2020.

Oh well...I'll just sit here and watch Deshaun Watson highlights until next season.

I'm not crying! You're crying!