ssmitty

After further review


Understanding why the Texans took Williams instead of Bush
By Todd Wright
May 3, 2006





Why?

Millions of football fans are still searching for the reason why the once-again expansion Houston Texans would pass on the opportunity to draft Heisman Trophy-winning, awe-inspiring, “once-in-a-lifetime� prospect Reggie Bush in favor of North Carolina State DE Mario Williams,

Honestly, I can’t give you a single reason.

There probably isn’t one.

Instead, I can offer you several.

While the court of public opinion believes the Texans just made the worst decision since New Coke in the ’80s or Hugh Grant in the ’90s, I’m in the minority that understands exactly what went into the choice.

Even if this proves to be the equivalent of Mandarich over Sanders in 1989, the reasons are sound for why the pick itself turned out to be smash over flash:

1. Between the tackles. Name a truly great running back who couldn’t run in this area of the field. Brown, Sayers, Sanders, Payton, Emmitt all had as much success inside as they did bouncing out. Bush’s highlight reel rarely features a run off a straight handoff up the middle of the field. When it did, Bush (and LenDale Wright, too, for that matter) often didn’t have to make a cut until he was already eight yards past the line of scrimmage. The USC offense and blocking scheme were just that good, and not even the Alex Gibbs-taught scheme of Denver and Atlanta can achieve that at the next level.

2. The opposite. Remember the episode of “Seinfeld� when George gets the ball rolling on a lifestyle change with the lunch order of chicken salad untoasted with a side of potato salad and a cup of tea? Well, now is the era where most teams desire the opposite of the know-it-all, me-first media darlings regardless of their actual talent. Williams has been described as the anti-T.O., thanks to his humility and lack of ego, and some have gone as far as to say it’s his best attribute. Bush’s multiple somersaults into endzones pretty much end any conversation about his lack of interest in individual attention before it can ever start.

3. Playing time. While it’s almost mandatory to rotate defensive linemen in the National Football League, chances are that Williams will be on the field more often than Bush. Williams will only leave the field for rest as he can play anywhere on the line and on any down-and-distance situation. Even the most adamant Bush apologist never went out of his way to say that Bush was an every-down running back, because he’s not. Bush wasn’t used that way in college, and he won’t be in the pros. NFL coaches don’t want to be running back by committee, but many do it because they have no other choice — or no running backs named Alexander, James, Tomlinson or Larry Johnson. Every time Bush takes the field at wide receiver, slotback or as a return man, that’s one or more fewer plays he’s lining up at tailback.

4. Answers, not questions. When making a first-round selection, especially at the top of the first round, a team is best-served to take the player who has the fewest red flags. Players hate this exhaustive, negative-based part of the pre-draft evaluation process since all teams are basically looking for all reasons of any kind NOT to select a player. Whether it’s his childhood, his family, his size, his versatility, his durability, his college production, his pain threshold, his 40-yard times or his vertical jumps and bench reps at the Combine, Williams simply doesn’t have any real question marks.

5. Deal or No Deal. Bush had to openly deny telling the Texans that he was asking for a $30 million signing bonus. The fact that this even became public made Bush look really bad. Know who probably was the source of the information? My guess is someone on the Texans, of course. It obviously was not in Bush’s nor his agent’s best interest to leak this, so that leaves the Texans to float it out there while the whole time negotiating a more reasonable contract with Williams. As soon as Williams had a contract, word surfaced that Bush’s agent might try to save face in playing more hardball, only now with the Saints. This already has the scent of one of those “Pay my client top-pick money anyway� situations that may keep Bush out of an NFL uniform long enough to make him no factor in 2006.

6. Karma. Seriously, name something positive that has happened involving USC football since the Trojans took a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl. Vince Young scored, USC failed on 4th-and-short, Young scores again, Matt Leinart runs out the clock throwing incomplete, Texas wins the national title, White’s rear end becomes bigger in size than his head, Winston Justice’s arrest record sinks his draft stock, reports that Bush and his family received illegal benefits surface, one of Leinart’s potential replacements at quarterback is accused of sexual assault, former USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow’s Titans pass on Leinart for Young in Tennessee, etc. Right now, USC football has more bad karma than Earl Hickey did before making that list.

7. Live and learn. As written in this space just a couple of weeks ago, the Texans would love to do it all over again, considering how selecting the flashy, top-ranked offensive prospect instead of the top-rated defensive end has worked out since the 2002 draft. While new head coach Gary Kubiak is standing behind David Carr, it’s not like he had much choice. Had the Texans dumped Carr, they would’ve had nothing to show for owning the first overall pick just four seasons ago. Word is that the Texans thought more highly of Williams this time than they did of Julius Peppers that time. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on the Texans.

There — a half-dozen-plus-one legitimate reasons for Houston choosing Williams over Bush.

Now, somebody help me out and explain to me what the Bills were thinking.


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saintswhodi

Bowie over Jordan.

stylee10

Yeah, the karma argument is really persuasive
And yeah, it's bad if Reggie's versatile enough to line up at multiple positions because that means he's getting less reps at HB.
Because that's what we care about, just the HB position, not improving our offense exponentially with someone who can do damage from anywhere. Having two super-talented backs is awful and no team would want to be in our position of having Duece and Reggie.

yasoon

Who's Lyndale Wright?

Another hack writer without an editor.

LKelley67

zzzzzzzz, pretty lame

Tobias-Reiper

...because he's good enough, smart enough, and gosh! darn it! he looks oh so much like Julius Peppers..

JimBone

Mario Williams type players come out every year. We have one and his name is will smith. Julius peppers, dwight freeney...guys like Reggie Bush are hard to come by. Yeah, he may not be in the backfield every down, and that is what makes him special...he is as good as a reciever as he is as a running back...what a stupid arguement.

gandhi1007

Because they are ......well......Texans!

patdog

Maybe they flipped a coin and it came up ass, i mean tails.

wheelman

They picked Mario because they're teh stoopidx.