Team owner/GM Shawn Wilson and head coach Jim Johnson are seated in front of a sea of media members, all eagerly awaiting to hear what they have to say.
Mr. Wilson: Well ladies and gentlemen, its been quite an eventful offseason. But even so, the main core of our team remains the same, as was our plan all along. But we did manage to add some new pieces to the puzzle, and I think you'll agree with me when I say that our team is improved heading into the 2006 season.
Where do we start? Ah, yes, the draft. We made the most of the draft this year, drafting not one, not two, but THREE immediate starters on our team. We're a little pressed for time here, so I'm just gonna talk about our first rounders. We originally had the 7th overall pick, but we traded down with the Titans and got two first rounders, the 10th overall and the 32nd overall. With our 10th overall selection, we picked up athletic linebacker Will Derting out of Washington State. He can play on the outside or the inside at linebacker, and he may do both during his career in Houston; but for right now, we believe it is best to put him at OLB. He'll start on the left side for us going into the season. We didn't pick again until the 23rd pick of the first round, but we didn't need to. We grabbed our target for that pick: TE Marcedes Lewis out of UCLA. We love Marcedes' size; he's a beast at 6'6" and 250 pounds. But he balances out that size with good speed for a TE, and he can catch the ball with the best of 'em. With the final pick of the 1st round, we took DT C.J. Mosley. C.J. has a combination of speed and strength that we love. Admittedly, it might take some time for him to make the adjustment to the NFL, but once he does...watch out.
We made a couple of trades this offseason. The first was a deal with the Baltimore Ravens. Houston sent their 3rd and 4th round picks of the draft to Baltimore for RT Orlando Brown and a 5th round pick. We're very pleased with this trade, and while it was hard to pass up the chance to draft rookies and add youth to the team, we added a very solid veteran to bolster the offensive line.
That brings us to our blockbuster trade of the offseason. We sent WR Muhsin Muhammed and LG Chester Pitts to Detroit along with a 3rd round pick in the 2007 draft, and in return received a 1st round and 2nd round pick in that same draft. We we're reluctant to part ways with Muhsin, as he has no doubt been a big part of our #1 ranked offense. We wish him nothing but the best in Detroit.
Free Agency...we were lucky this season in that not many key players had expiring contracts at the end of last season. But, that doesn't mean that we didn't lose anyone important. We had intentions of resigning our reliable kicker, Kris Brown, but New England made him an offer that he couldn't refuse, and one that we just could not top. Kris hit more FGs than any other kicker this season, and he will be sorely missed by our franchise. Our other important Free Agency loss was TE Dwayne Carswell, who also bolted for New England. We wish both of these players luck in the future.
We also made a couple of signings in Free Agency. Kicker John Kasay will replace Kris Brown. Mr. Kasay certainly has the talent to fill Kris' shoes, and we're confident that he'll do just fine.
Our main goal in Free Agency was to sign a top notch cornerback so that we could move Joey Galloway back to his natural position of WR. We thought we had a pretty good shot at this, with both CB Ty Law and CB Samari Rolle being available. However, we soon learned that the contracts for these two would be way beyond what we have in the bank. So it was on to plan B: pick up a WR to replace Muhsin Muhammed. That we succeeded in. We are proud to announce that just hours ago, former Green Bay Packer and former Cleveland Brown Robert Fergueson as signed with Houston. There's not a thing that Fergueson can't do: he's tall, fast, has good hands, can shed tackles better than any WR I've ever seen, and he will help out greatly with blocking in the running game.
Overall, I think this year's Texans will be a better team than we fielded last year...not only because of what we added, but what we gained in maturity and the progress our young players have made. Don't forget, we finished strong last year with a 3-2 record the last five games, beating the Rams, who had the NFC's best record, and the Titans, the eventual Superbowl champs. We definitley have the chance to sneak up on some teams that make the lethal mistake of taking us lightly.
I think that's just about everything. Any questions?
Right off the back you talk about being pressed for time... but you put have the reporters to sleep, how do you feel now? (joke... not a serious quetion)
Your in a very strong division that had the superbowl champs last year and team that just got stronger offensively... what do you think it will take to make the playoffs, let alone win the division?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Disturbed
The simple fact is that he is a over rated piece of **** that can't cover. He makes bad reads on routes and lacks the ability to recover when he is beaten.
For Madden people the best way to explain it is that he has a very low awareness.
Right off the back you talk about being pressed for time... but you put have the reporters to sleep, how do you feel now? (joke... not a serious quetion)
Your in a very strong division that had the superbowl champs last year and team that just got stronger offensively... what do you think it will take to make the playoffs, let alone win the division?
LOL...well, a lot has happened since our last press conference, so we had a lot to say. Next year we'll probably have shorter, more frequent press conferences throughout the offseason instead of just one big one.
I'm not gonna sugarcoat this...its gonna take a hell of a lot to make the playoffs this year, and even more to win the division. All of the teams in our division got stronger, which means we didn't gain any ground on anybody. And that means that we have to play mistake-free football. We lost a ton of close game last year that we very easily could have won if we hadn't made mental errors and bad decisions. Cutting down on stupid mistakes is gonna give us our best shot at making the playoffs. And even then, it will still be a challenge.
Thanks for your question. I'm really looking for questions about our offseason here, and you guys can save your questions for the season for our next press conference. So, any more questions?
You mentioned possibly putting Galloway back at WR, is he unhappy at CB, or are you unhappy with him there or what?
No, no, its nothing like that. He's been fantastic at CB, and he doesn't mind playing there at all. But after trading Muhsin Muhammed, we had a void to fill at WR. Galloway could have fit the void nicely, and then we could have signed a premier CB such as Samari Rolle or Ty Law in Free Agency. But Law and Rolle went for more money than we had to give, so we resorted to plan be and picked up a great, young WR. Galloway will be a CB again in 2006.
As of right now, do you believe that your division could have 2 wildcard spots?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Disturbed
The simple fact is that he is a over rated piece of **** that can't cover. He makes bad reads on routes and lacks the ability to recover when he is beaten.
For Madden people the best way to explain it is that he has a very low awareness.
As of right now, do you believe that your division could have 2 wildcard spots?
With the talent in our division, I believe that that is a very real possibility.
You have to look at the Titans and Colts, who are perennial playoff and Super Bowl threats. And then you have us and the Jags...and I believe both of us have playoff potential.
But then you look around the rest of the league, and there's talent everywhere else, too. I can't pick out a single team in the AFC West that doesn't have the talent to make the playoffs. So that's 8 playoff caliber teams in 2 divisions...and only 4 teams at most can make it from those 2 divisions.
I think you're gonna see one hell of a playoff race in the AFC this year. Its gonna come right down to the wire...I know this sounds cliche, but every game is gonna count, no doubt about it.
what are the chances of seeing galloway on offense this year?
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disturbed
The simple fact is that he is a over rated piece of **** that can't cover. He makes bad reads on routes and lacks the ability to recover when he is beaten.
For Madden people the best way to explain it is that he has a very low awareness.
what are the chances of seeing galloway on offense this year?
We want to make it clear to the media and to our fans that Joey's primary position is now CB.
That being said, chances are he'll play offense in at least a game or two.
It all depends if we feel we have the strength at CB behind Galloway...and right now, its too early to tell. But Dunta is steadily progressing his way into #1 CB status, and we think he'll be able to match up with the best receiver on most other teams. Then behind Dunta is our 3rd round selection from last year, Derrick Johnson. Derrick has been a pleasant surprise so far and we are very happy with him as our nickelback. However, I still think Derrick has to prove that he can start on the NFL level. If he excels at his nickelback position, it would make me a lot more comfortable having him as our #2 CB.
If Joey is to see time on offense, it will probably be more towards the middle-end of the season, when Derrick Johnson has enough experience to hold down the starting job for a game or two.
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