It was just a year ago when the Houston Texans bid an understandable goodbye to Lovie Smith after just one season at the helm ... a maybe ill-advised hire.
It was just a year before that when the Texans bid an even more understandable goodbye to David Culley after his single season - a definitively ill-advised hire.
Those two moves triggered into action ESPN loudmouth Stephen A. Smith, who knows very little about the NFL and even less about the Texans ... but who is undeniably the Worldwide Leader in stirring up crap.
Stephen A. called the organization “an atrocity” and “an embarrassment.” ... two big words, one of them hyperbolic. ("Embarrassment,'' we'll buy. "Atrocity'' is a word best reserved for, you know, atrocities.)
But Smith said something else that - had anyone actually considered him expert enough to have followed his advice - could have been seriously damaging for all involved.
Black head coach candidates, Smith bellowed, should “hope beyond God that the Houston Texans never call you. ... Something needs to be said about it!''
OK. We will say "something about it.'' ....
The suggestion, of course: Culley and Lovie didn't get a fair shake because they are African-American ... a take that is on its face illogical, because if the Texans are truly a racist franchise - and that is what Smith is saying here - why did they hire Culley and Lovie in the first place?
DeMeco Ryans, of course, did not listen. He's led Houston to the playoffs in his first season as head coach of the team, working with GM Nick Caserio and with rookie QB C.J. Stroud (who happens to be Black) to key a notable franchise turnaround.
It was not all Lovie's fault that he went 3-13-1, of course.
It was not all Culley's fault that he went 4-13, of course.
But this time, Houston's search for a fourth coach in four seasons was about quality, and not much else. And as a result? Houston went 10-7, won the AFC South, and will host the Cleveland Browns in the opening round of the playoffs on Saturday.
The Houston Texans, from ownership on down, have experienced far too many moments of embarrassment. (Along with exactly zero "atrocities.'') But it's a damn good thing that DeMeco Ryans ignored Stephen A. Smith here ... which is actually good advice for anybody who wants more than dangerously comical bloviating in their NFL coverage.
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