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    Mallett Schools Manziel

    Ryan Mallett schools a dumbly benched Johnny Manziel on how it's done: Texans hero knows the backup game

    Chris Baldwin
    Nov 17, 2014 | 5:48 am

    CLEVELAND — Ryan Mallett marches into the huddle, full of purpose and controlled fire. He's a man on a mission, certain he's right where he is supposed to be.

    Matthew McConaughey's Wall Street tycoon seemed less sure of himself than the Houston Texans latest would be quarterback savior does on this day. Mallett lets everyone in the Texans huddle know what he wants in clear, decisive terms. They'll keep up with the Mothball Quarterback or he'll leave them behind.

    Suddenly, the Texans are moving faster on offense than they have all season, finally playing with something close to the type of pace first-year coach Bill O'Brien has yearned for all fall. Mallett will get everyone moving, pushing forward toward the same goal.

    What? You think the forgotten University of Arkansas gunslinger is going to be a little hesitant because he is starting his first game of any significance in nearly four years, starting his first NFL game ever? Please. That's not Ryan Mallett.

    "He's certainly confident," veteran receiver Andre Johnson says, letting out a rare chuckle when asked about Mallett. "Very confident."

    Considering the circumstances, it's no stretch to call this one of the biggest regular season wins in Texans franchise history.

    Mallett's confidence, a monster workhorse game from rookie running back Alfred Blue that no one could have expected and the type of out-of-this-world game from J.J. Watt that almost everyone's starting to always expect adds up to a critical 23-7 Texans win. It is Mallett's unbending, painfully patient confidence that Johnny Manziel, a Texas reared quarterback, needs to learn from though.

    In truth, it's absurd that Manziel never gets into this game against the team he wants to beat most. The Browns offense is a mess and Brian Hoyer looks overmatched and befuddled for large stretches of the afternoon. With Watt, Brian Cushing and Ryan Pickett completely shutting off Cleveland's running game, Hoyer hoists the ball up 50 times and only completes 40 percent of those passes.

    He looks more lost than a tourist in Times Square.

    And still Manziel sits and sits — and sits. At one point it looks like Hoyer is hurting, so Manziel quickly yanks on his helmet and starts toward the field. Not so fast, Johnny. False alarm. False hope.

    If Browns coach Mike Pettine turns to Johnny Manziel in the fourth quarter, he might have a chance to steal this game with a spark. Instead, he sends his team stumbling out of first place.

    It's apparent that Johnny Football will need show more patience than almost anyone anticipated. He could do much worse than looking across the field to Ryan Mallett for an example of true resolve.

    "It made the four years worth it," Mallett says after running off the field as a giddy winner in his long-awaited career NFL start No. 1. "I couldn't ask for a better start to my career."

    No one wants to wait as long as Ryan Mallett has. It makes Johnny Manziel's vigil look like a cup of coffee. But there's Mallett on a frigid day in Northern Ohio, with his parents in the stands, spreading the ball around to six different receivers, throwing for 211 yards and two touchdowns, giving the Texans hope again.

    New Texans & Manziel Reality

    With the tough conditions win, Houston's now 5-5, still alive in the AFC's playoff picture. Considering the circumstances — the team's best offensive player (Arian Foster) out with an injury, breaking in a new quarterback, playing on the road in the cold against a red-hot division leader, fighting to keep the playoffs in reach — it's no stretch to call this one of the biggest regular season wins in Texans franchise history.

    This one belongs right up there with that franchise debut upset of the Cowboys, that first playoff-berth clinching win in Cincinnati and that toppling of Peyton Manning and the Broncos in Denver.

    "I don't think many people had us coming in here and winning," left tackle Duane Brown says. "Especially winning convincingly. This is a huge win for our organization."

    At one point it looks like Hoyer is hurting, so Manziel quickly yanks on his helmet and starts toward the field. Not so fast, Johnny. False alarm. False hope.

    It leaves O'Brien talking about the smile on Johnson's face, about the payoff for all the veterans who kept their belief in the new coach's plan. "Andre Johnson, that guy just wants to win," O'Brien says, admiringly.

    One thing that marks Bill Belichick coached teams is they improve drastically as the season goes on. Maybe, just maybe, this Belichick disciple is bringing that type of in-season jump to Houston. For at least this week, the Texans sure look like a much better team coming out of their bye.

    "I think this is the type of win that defines our team," Cushing says. "This was a very tough football game, played very physical, played in the cold. I don't know if people see us this way, but this is a tough team.

    "I think we've found our identity."

    These Texans aren't pretty. Even their new quarterback is more brute force than pinpoint touch. Ryan Mallett towers above the pocket and fearlessly uncoils missiles with his cannon arm. Mallett is a 6-foot-7 drill sergeant rather than a Joe Cool Montana style of quarterback. He's very much a part of the fray, overpowering throws.

    "He has a very strong arm and it showed today," second-year receiver DeAndre Hopkins says. "He can basically get the ball wherever he wants."

    Somehow Mallett still stays ultra confident in his one big gift through all the years of wait. Johnny Manziel needs to keep his own belief through his own agony. That bravado is one of the biggest gifts Johnny Football has.

    "It made the four years worth it. I couldn't ask for a better start to my career."

    In his own way, Andre Johnson knows what it's like to think things are never going to change. When he's dressed in a postgame blue pinstriped suit, looking very much like a Wall Street power player himself, someone actually asks him what it feels like to know the Texans have "found their quarterback." After Game One of Mallett.

    Johnson doesn't take the bait — or shoot an incredulous, you-know-how-many-times-I-have-heard-that look. No. 80 knows he and the Texans have been fooled before. Still, it is nice to have that guy who's so sure of what the Texans need to be doing march into the huddle.

    "He doesn't do it in a cocky way," Johnson assures of Mallett's confident approach.

    Johnson flashes a slight smile. You never know with quarterbacks. Even when they've been in the NFL's version of suspended animation for years.

    "It felt good today," Mallett says in his podium moment. "It's like driving a car."

    Sometimes a coach gets smart by just throwing the waiting guy the keys. That's sure something for the Browns to think about. The snow doesn't start falling in Cleveland until Ryan Mallett's left the stadium. But Mallett's performance may very well end up whiting out the obstacle in Johnny Manziel's way too.

    Ryan Mallett made the most of his first career NFL start, leading the Houston Texans to a commanding victory over the Cleveland Browns.

    38 Texans vs. Browns first half November 2014 Ryan Mallett 15
      
    Photo by © Michelle Watson/CatchLightGroup.com
    Ryan Mallett made the most of his first career NFL start, leading the Houston Texans to a commanding victory over the Cleveland Browns.
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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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