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    A Death Rattled Texans QB

    Rob Bironas death-rattled Ryan Fitzpatrick only shows he's human: Ryan Mallett buzz absurd — and worse than any Case Keenum talk

    Chris Baldwin
    Sep 21, 2014 | 11:53 pm

    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — An NFL reeling from tragedies of its own making — ones produced by some of its muscular marvels heartlessly hitting and terrorizing women and children — felt the effects of a tragedy beyond its control Sunday morning. As word filtered around the league about the single car crash accident death of longtime kicker Rob Bironas at the heartbreaking age of 36, it left reverberations in many locker rooms.

    Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick certainly felt it.

    A teammate of Bironas last year in Tennessee, Fitzpatrick would open his postgame press conference hours later with some heartfelt words about the dead kicker, ex teammate and new husband. Fitzpatrick called Bironas "a great guy" and noted how "everybody in the locker room loved him." He sent his condolences to Bironas' wife Rachel Bradshaw, the daughter of Pittsburgh Steelers legend and Fox commentator Terry Bradshaw.

    In between finding out that Bironas had died and expressing his sadness, Ryan Fitzpatrick played a football game.

    And he didn't do it very well. Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions — and he needed some breaks not to throw two more. Midway through the second quarter, he was sitting on a 6.2 quarterback rating. Fitzpatrick's the biggest reason Bill O'Brien's surprising Texans are no longer undefeated or as surprising. The coach's QB choice couldn't have gift wrapped this 30-17 New York Giants victory any better than the pros at the mammoth Macy's across the river.

    It is a resounding reminder that there are some things you can't come back from. And throwing three interceptions isn't close to one of them.

    No one's saying Ryan Fitzpatrick played a bad game because he was shaken by Rob Bironas' death. The Bearded One himself would be the last one to suggest such a thing. Uncle Fitz doesn't do excuses in general. And he'd certainly never trivialize this real car crash horror by tying it to a football game.

    The too-soon death does bring home the point that these guys are only human though.

    You never know what's affecting them in any single game. In truth, no one ever wondered if the very ordinary Fitzpatrick is human. But even he deserves to be excused for an occasional clunker. That's all this road loss to a desperate, proud Giants team is. A solitary dud.

    "No one's going woe is me," veteran receiver Andre Johnson says in Met Life Stadium's unusually large visitors locker room. "No one in this locker room is thinking it's like last year all over again. There's none of that."

    This loss doesn't mean the Texans are exposed. It doesn't mean that they're doomed to a new parade of frustrating Sundays. And it certainly doesn't mean the Texans need to consider a quarterback change.

    Ryan Mallett Ridiculousness

    The idea of benching Fitzpatrick for Bill Belichick reject Ryan Mallett is silly at this point. Yet it hung in the gloomy, overcast air at Met Life Stadium for much of Sunday afternoon. Mallett even took several warmup throws on the sidelines late in the second quarter. Whether that was Mallett's own doing or prompted by a Texans coach is uncertain.

    Mallett never got to play quarterback on a day when punter Shane Lechler did though. And that's a good thing.

    For Fitzpatrick came back to complete eight of nine passes for 125 yards in the third quarter, including a beautiful 44-yard bomb to Damaris Johnson. That punctuated a run in which the Texans pulled back within 17-10, no small feat considering they looked capable of getting blown out the way Tampa Bay was in Atlanta for the first two hours of this game.

    It couldn't last. Not without Arian Foster, the running back whose legs all of O'Brien's plans depend on the way a baby depends on his mother. When Foster — whose hurting hamstring is the most important tendon in all of Houston — is sidelined, the Texans have no chance. It's no real surprise that Fitzpatrick looks worse playing without Foster than Case Keenum looked playing without Foster last season.

    No non-superstar quarterback's going to look anything but awful with this Texans team when No. 23 is out. (That guy who wrote about how underpaid Foster is last week looks like some kind of genius.)

    There's no magic in Fitz, never was. "We're not going to win any games when I play like that," the quarterback says himself.

    In between finding out that Bironas had died and expressing his sadness, Ryan Fitzpatrick played a football game.

    These Texans — as flawed as they are — can win plenty of games with Foster back and O'Brien continuing to be a daring play caller though. That much is clear even before the sun breaks through the clouds late in the third quarter in New Jersey.

    "We got some things going in the passing game," says DeAndre Hopkins, the second-year receiver who keeps showing more and more big play ability. "I think that's something we can build on."

    Fitzpatrick hears about the death of a friend Sunday morning. He plays a dud of a football game early Sunday afternoon. Unrelated as those two things may be, it is a resounding reminder that there are some things you can't come back from. And throwing three interceptions isn't close to one of them.

    Ryan Fitzpatrick's entitled to an off day now and then. Let's table any absurd Ryan Mallett talk.

    "Like I always say, you know, the sun will come up tomorrow," O'Brien says.

    If you're one of the lucky ones.

    Ryan Fitzpatrick found himself battered and dumbfounded by the New York Giants' defense.

    Ryan Fitzpatrick Texans inept
      
    Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
    Ryan Fitzpatrick found himself battered and dumbfounded by the New York Giants' defense.
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    J.J. Watt Dance Master

    J.J. Watt's supporting cast needs to be shown the money now: Keeping Case Keenum at QB key to retaining rightful MVP's help

    Chris Baldwin
    Dec 28, 2014 | 11:52 pm
    J.J. Watt's supporting cast needs to be shown the money now: Keeping Case Keenum at QB key to retaining rightful MVP's help
    Photo by Michelle Watson/CultureMapSnap
    J.J. Watt spent most of the Houston Texans' season-ending win over the Jaguars dancing.

    J.J. Watt breaks into a shimmy, rolling his hips like he never could in that omnipresent Verizon commercial. The most dominant defensive football player of this generation is forever dancing in the Houston Texans last game of the season.

    It's almost like Watt's determined to prove to everyone that he really can dance — while winning the NFL MVP.

    When you're this good, why not multi-task? So Watt breaks into dance after his first sack, after his second sack and after the safety that accounts for his third. He shimmies after nearly every time that "Turn Down For What" — or "Turn Down For Watt" in Texans land — song blares over the NRG Stadium sound system. Which seemingly happens after almost every defensive play on this rollicking Sunday Funday.

    Watt's day ends with those three sacks (making him the first player in NFL history to record two separate 20-sack seasons), a forced fumble, a safety, six tackles and a 23-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. It doesn't add up to a playoff berth for Bill O'Brien's great first-year turnaround story, but that should hardly deny Watt his rightful league MVP.

    "I love this team, love this city. I have a lot of friends here. And I almost feel like we're finally here (as a team). It'd be sad to leave."

    MVP voters who won't vote for Watt now because of no playoffs are essentially saying their decision hinged on whether the Baltimore Ravens would choke enough to completely blow a playoff berth. How does that make sense?

    No, Justin James Watt is the 2014 NFL MVP. He earns it by getting the most out of his freakish athletic ability on every single play.

    "I’m trying to make sure they get their money’s worth and our fans get their money’s worth because they deserve that," Watt says. "I was a kid once. I grew up watching a team, I know what it’s like.

    "You want to be that superstar that every average Joe would be if he was a superstar."

    Watt is that worthy $100 Million Superstar, but even a supernova needs some support. And that's why O'Brien's team finds itself at a critical telling point. Watt played at a superhuman level all season. But the Texans truly took off when the rest of the defense caught on, giving defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel the confidence to unleash his full array of disguised coverages and fronts. Over the last month of the season, the Texans arguably played the third best defense in the entire NFL, behind only the defending champion Seahawks and maybe the Rams.

    Now a huge chunk of that defense — six of the 11 starters — are up for free agency and another vital piece (cornerback Johnathan Joseph) could be facing the kind of pay cut scenario that everyone else is trying to force onto Andre Johnson. Watt's great, but he needs many of these guys for the Texans to go anywhere in the future.

    This Texans defense can be great. If its key pieces are kept together.

    "This is something we can look at and build on," safety Kendrick Lewis says after the Texans play lights-out defense for the third straight week. "We have to pick up where we left off. I believe in the defense that we have here, the type of attitude that we have.

    "It is like blood in the water. We want a taste for more."

    Kareem Jackson's Future Keys All

    Cornerback Kareem Jackson is the No. 1 must sign by far, but the Texans would be wise to re-sign Lewis, nose tackle Ryan Pickett (a perfect veteran fit for Crennel's defense) and linebacker Brooks Reed who has been a consistent playmaker for weeks now as well.

    "Of course," Reed responds when asks if he wants to return. "I love this team, love this city. I have a lot of friends here. And I almost feel like we're finally here (as a team). It'd be sad to leave."

    The most disruptive force in football will be one lonely $100 Million Man, if Houston doesn't retain much of this company.

    Desire doesn't necessarily equal reality in the hard-line NFL though. If O'Brien gave Case Keenum a real chance at quarterback, the Texans would have more money to bring back more of their defensive core — and add more important pieces. But it'd be a stretch to expect this coach to think that way.

    It'd be a shame to see this emerging defense disbanded though. Watt & Friends aren't just making Blake Bortles — an offensively challenged rookie who likely would have been the Texans quarterback if Jadeveon Clowney wasn't in the draft — look lost. They flummoxed Andrew Luck and Joe Flacco in back-to-back weeks too.

    "Our defensive kind of changed late in the year," Reed says. "We ran a lot more disguises, made it hard for quarterbacks to see what coverages we were in. It's allowed a bunch of guys to make plays."

    Watt is not the only making them now — the way he was during that 2-14 nightmare last season. Jared Crick — the third-year defensive end who is under his rookie contract for another season — sacks Bortles, drops a running back for another loss and knocks down a pass against Jacksonville. Reed runs sideline to sideline, tracking running backs with his long hair flapping behind his helmet. Jackson . . . well, the once-mocked Jackson just changes everything for these Texans.

    The most disruptive force in football will be one lonely $100 Million Man, if Houston doesn't retain much of this company.

    "I’d definitely love to be back," Jackson says. "At the end of the day, I understand the business side of it. For me, I just have to sit back and just see what happens."

    This Texans defense has come too far to lose key pieces and essentially be left needing to start over learning Crennel's complex schemes in training camp. Watt's the MVP that everything centers around, but he cannot be Bob McNair's only big defensive buy this football year.

    There's a solution staring the Texans in the face: Give Case Keenum the chance to be the effective, low-cost winning starting quarterback. Develop a passer with tons of potential and keep the supporting stars on the other side of the football.

    "We have a chance to be a really explosive defense," Joseph says.

    Only if they're not torn apart. Even a shimmy-happy MVP cannot do it all by his lonesome.

    J.J. Watt spent most of the Houston Texans' season-ending win over the Jaguars dancing.

    J.J. Watt Texans dance Jags
      
    Photo by Michelle Watson/CultureMapSnap
    J.J. Watt spent most of the Houston Texans' season-ending win over the Jaguars dancing.
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    series/htx-texans
    news/sports

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