(David J. Phillip/AP Photo; previous weekly reviews here)
Texans 34 Broncos 13
It was the Mario Williams show last Thursday evening as the second-year defensive end dominated the line of scrimmage in leading Texans’ (7-7) to a convincing victory over the Denver Broncos (6-8). Backup QB Sage Rosenfels chipped in with his second straight efficient performance in leading the Texans’ offense to one of its best outputs of the season (358 yds total offense/200 yds passing on 16-27 passes/158 yds rushing). And no one should overlook the fact that the Texans’ offense is a different unit altogether when WR Andre Johnson (6 catches for 86 yds) — who missed eight games earlier in the season with a knee injury — is punishing opposing teams’ secondaries with his special combination of size and speed. About the only thing wrong with the Texans on Thursday night was their all-red uniforms, which made the players look like a bunch of rather large lollypops.
But the real story surrounding the play of Williams has been the blogosphere’s exposing of the vacuous, irresponsible and mostly unwarranted criticism of Williams over his first two seasons by much of the local mainstream media. When the Texans chose Williams over local favorite Vince Young and USC RB Reggie Bush as the first player taken in the 2006 NFL Draft, the local mainstream media crucified Texans management and Williams, even though a few of us in the blogosphere noted at the time that it was not an unreasonable selection.
Then, as Stephanie Stradley masterfully recounts here, the local mainstream media continued to criticize the Texans and Williams throughout the 2006 season and even much of this season. Although Williams pass-rushing ability was hampered during the 2006 season because he played the entire season with a painful injury (planters fasciitis), Williams actually played quite well against the run. Then, this season, with his mobility no longer limited by injury, Williams has continued to play well against the run and, over the past five games, has exploded into one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL. But until recently, much of the local mainstream media continued to characterize Williams as a bust, although Williams’ spectacular play over the past couple of games has generated a number of mea culpas.
As distasteful as the local mainstream media’s treatment of Williams has been over most of the past two seasons, it is indicative of something important that is happening in the information marketplace. Much of the mainstream media misrepresented Williams’ perfomance in order to stoke controversy (and sell papers) over the Texans’ decision to pass on Young and Bush in favor of Williams. It was blogs such as Stradley’s and several others that provided an objective and accurate assessment of Williams’ performance.
Local mainstream media management better review what happened in regard to their reporting on Williams. Stoking controversy with inaccurate reporting may sell more papers over the short term, but it’s no way to engender customer loyalty in the long run. Particularly not from customers who now can obtain better information from sources other than the mainstream media.
The Texans travel to Indianapolis to play the playoff-secure Colts (12-2) next Sunday before returning home to play the Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4), which probably will be playoff-secure by the time of that game. Inasmuch as both the Colts and Jags will likely rest and protect key players in those games for the playoffs, the Texans have a decent chance to set a franchise record for wins and finish the season with their first non-losing record in their six year existence.
The University of Houston hires Kevin Sumlin as its new head coach.
After a two-week search, UH Athletic Director Dave Maggard finally selected 43 year-old University of Oklahoma assistant coach Kevin Sumlin to replace Art Briles as the head coach of the Houston Cougars. Sumlin has been an assistant coach in a half-dozen major programs, but he really first made a name for himself five years ago when he was on R.C. Slocum’s final coaching staff at Texas A&M. Three games into that season, Slocum named Sumlin to replace Dino Babers as A&M’s offensive coordinator and Sumlin did a good job under those difficult circumstances holding A&M’s offense together and then actually improving the unit as the season wore on. OU head coach Bob Stoops took notice and hired Sumlin, who rose up through the ranks of the OU staff over the past five seasons to become co-offensive coordinator. Stoops, who is a real “coach’s coach,” lobbied Maggard hard on behalf of Sumlin, which is a real feather in Sumlin’s hat.
Having said that, the performance of Stoops’ former assistants as head coaches has been somewhat checkered — we already have reviewed Mike Leach‘s uneven performance at Texas Tech; Mark Mangino had a great 2007 season at Kansas, but he is only 36-36 in six seasons there; Chuck Long is 7-17 after two seasons at San Diego State; and Mike Stoops is 17-29 in four seasons at Arizona where he is on the hot seat in 2008.
As with all head coaches, Sumlin’s ultimate success or failure at UH will largely depend on the quality of the coaching staff that he puts together. Jack Pardee, the other finalist for the UH job, had already assembled an impressive group of assistants to serve on his staff had he been hired. Sumlin would be smart in filling out his staff to consider several of the assistants who Pardee would have hired.