The Texans have parted ways with offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and two other coaches after the offense took a step back in their second season.
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00:00All right, don't call it a Friday News Dump.
00:09The Houston Texans have made some personnel changes.
00:14Your man D'Amico Ryans let you know on Monday that they were going to take the week, and
00:20they took four to five business days.
00:22He was accurate.
00:23And on Friday, they let us know that the Houston Texans have parted ways with offensive coordinator
00:29Bobby Slowick, offensive line coach Chris Strasser, and assistant offensive line coach
00:35Cole Popovich.
00:36So, wow.
00:37Yeah, the big news of the day, Bobby Slowick is indeed out as offensive coordinator of
00:43these Houston Texans.
00:44And a lot of people on the text line, on the YouTube, on the Twitch, all of those are ways
00:49to feed in, have conversations about this.
00:53Really surprised.
00:54I think that's the prevailing kind of sentiment that I'm seeing, first and foremost, is surprised
00:59that the Texans actually had that level of urgency, that level of, I don't know, commitment
01:04to being great, that they were like, look, man, that was not sufficient.
01:08Thank you, Bobby, for your two seasons of work here.
01:10However, we want to move in a different direction.
01:12All right, so let's dig into how this happened, what it means, and what it means going forward,
01:18especially with personnel on the offensive line.
01:21But let's start right here.
01:24Long live the king is dead, long live the king.
01:26People immediately are going to be going, all right, who's up?
01:29What's the next offensive line?
01:30Next man up.
01:31Next man up mentality.
01:32What's the next quarter coordinator going to look like?
01:35Be very clear about this.
01:36This had to be one of the most, if not the most, difficult football decisions that D'Amico
01:42Ryan's ever made.
01:43When I say they were close, they were close.
01:46They were close.
01:47Bobby Slowick and D'Amico Ryan.
01:49So what that tells you is, obviously, they all say it, and it always comes true, this
01:55is a business, and he had to make a business decision.
01:59And they understand they have a quarterback on a rookie deal, they have very expensive
02:05offensive linemen, we'll see about what happens there, but they've got very expensive offensive
02:09linemen.
02:10Yeah, and that's one of the things that I've been looking at.
02:13Changes clearly need to happen on that offensive line, however, it's not going to be an easy
02:17situation.
02:18You have expensive offensive linemen that are also not, they're not up for those deals
02:22to be over within the next year or two.
02:24You've got guys that are relatively locked in, which again, you can lay at the doorstep
02:30of Nick Casario, but that is still the circumstance.
02:34In your favorite parlance, it is what it is in that regard, and so you have posited this
02:39in some ways in trying to kind of think around the circumstance of the coordinator decision
02:44of, is it either the offensive coordinator or the offensive line?
02:48And sometimes, I don't think it always has to be a binary, but if you were to view it
02:51as that right now, they chose, it's easy to move on from the offensive coordinator,
02:55an offensive coordinator who had an offense that was promising that then regressed in
02:58year two, you saw regression in some ways from your quarterback, and I feel like that
03:03probably all came out to, this is not sustainable.
03:06Plus, you saw them had to change the way that they ran the system.
03:10They literally moved away from Bobby's system and saw better results, including with that
03:13offensive line, where they were able to block up to the second level and you were actually
03:16able to run the football on a Kansas City Chiefs team that admittedly has not been running
03:20the, stopping the run as well in the second part of the season.
03:24But again, that was one of the better performances, and I imagine that that's got to put in your
03:27mind somewhat.
03:28Well, if we move away from Bobby and we find, or what Bobby wants to do and we find a little
03:33bit of success with the guys that we've put in there, guys that I imagine they evaluated
03:36and felt had something, and you find that they're doing better in a different system,
03:40I imagine that also probably factors in a little bit.
03:42All right, so as this is happening, you know, immediately, four things come to mind that
03:45I think are important for our listeners to know.
03:48Let's just go stream of consciousness.
03:50Yeah, stream of consciousness.
03:51This is a personnel passing thoughts, if you will.
03:54Hit the music thingy.
03:55With a little, no, you don't need to do that.
03:58With a little bit of just, you know, not just observation, but just sort of insight on what's
04:01happening over there.
04:02I can tell you this, let's start with the decision itself.
04:06And I'm not reporting this.
04:07I just, this has all the markings of, Cal and Hannah, they picked their spots when they're
04:15going to go ahead and be intimately involved.
04:19Yeah, we've given them a lot of credit for recognizing when to empower your people to
04:23do things.
04:24Yes, that's number one.
04:25Cal and Hannah, they came in, they picked their spot when there were other head coaches
04:29that were being rumored and reported to come to Houston, and they picked their spot and
04:32said, no.
04:33D'Amico's the man.
04:34They said me.
04:35So you think they have a say-so in this?
04:36I think they have a say-so in this.
04:39And that's not like, oh, they hated him, or this or that.
04:42I think they're, hold on, just real quick.
04:44I think they're feeling what I'm talking about.
04:47They're feeling, this is our time, the whole rookie quarterback thing.
04:50We've got money invested, not just in the offensive line, but in the wide receiver position.
04:54Nikko got a new deal.
04:55They want to sign Stefan.
04:56They got Joe Mixon.
04:57There's noise.
04:58They got all these guys.
04:59This is our time.
05:00It's time for us to get involved in this type of decision.
05:03Right, there's not just noise, not just from us, right?
05:05Not just the folks bloviating here on Sports Radio 610, but national outlets looking at
05:10this and saying, yo, this is a poorly-schemed thing.
05:12There's instances where, oh, this is bad, this is whatever.
05:14Somebody on the text line very rightfully pointed out, JJ was criticizing blocking with
05:17the tight end.
05:18Sure.
05:19You know, and some of those instances in big-time moments where you have a defensive end being
05:23picked up by only Dalton Schultz, right?
05:25These things, this thing has gotten loud.
05:27Like I think that there was a lot of people talking about this as well.
05:30We know that they, not that they have rabbit ears per se, but that they're also not completely
05:34immune to what is widely being talked about in the NFL world.
05:38Here's another one that just immediately sort of passing thought on this.
05:41So I feel like Cal and Hannah, I'm not saying our way or the highway, but I feel they were
05:46deeply involved with Nick Casario and Namiko Ryans and had a say in this.
05:50I think they picked their spot and they picked this spot.
05:52I can see that.
05:53I'm not, okay.
05:54Yeah.
05:55Yeah.
05:56Number two, everybody in that building knows what the relationships really are like with
06:00coordinators and players, coordinators and your franchise quarterback.
06:05CJ Stroud has said nothing but good things about Bobby Slowick.
06:09I think CJ Stroud really likes Bobby Slowick.
06:12I think there is a level of frustration that they know about.
06:15I think I'm not reporting anything.
06:17I think there is a level of frustration that they know about CJ.
06:21And I said this, I think Tuesday, yes, maybe Monday.
06:24You weren't in Tuesday.
06:25Remember?
06:26Oh, that's right.
06:27That's when, that's when you did, you did five barrel rolls and it must've been Wednesday.
06:32I said this this week.
06:33You can just sense that CJ in year two, he deserves and has earned the right to have
06:40more say in how they're doing things offensively, what he's doing and the adjustments and, and,
06:46and things they're doing in, in game plans and in game management.
06:50So they, I'm not saying CJ went in there either and said, Oh, he's got to go.
06:54I think they understand CJ is his ass is out there.
06:58He's got to have a better sort of back and forth with, it's not my way or the highway.
07:03Let's talk about this.
07:04You know?
07:05Sure.
07:06Right.
07:07Yeah.
07:08I mean, CJ, at least he said the right things.
07:09If, if he had any level of different sentiment, I can't speak to that, but he said that, I
07:13mean, he, he basically, not even basically, he pretty outrightly said that he would like
07:17to continue working with Bobby Slowick.
07:18So I'm wondering like what that dynamic is there, but I think you're, there is some fairness
07:22to you would like to see him better integrated into the designs of what is happening here
07:27and what makes him most comfortable.
07:29I think you are, when you have a young quarterback early on, you're trying to determine, is this
07:35our guy?
07:36That answer has been settled.
07:37He, he is the guy and he is capable of doing it now.
07:40What can we do to best fit what he does?
07:42And it felt like, I think it's easy.
07:44The, the, you know, layman can look at this Texans team this past season and see, it didn't
07:49feel like you did enough to fit what he, what he does well, and maybe you need to have something
07:53that is tailored better, not just to all of your talent, but specifically to your quarterback.
07:58Number three, uh, of my four passing thoughts that immediately, I think are huge here.
08:03I still think offensive line decisions, tough decisions are on the table.
08:10And one of the biggest reasons why Reggie, I can't see D'Amico leaving this offensive
08:14system.
08:15He played defense for Kubiak, who had this offensive system and benefited from it.
08:21He played for Andy Reid, who has a version of this type of system.
08:25He went to San Francisco and was defensive coordinator, knows the Shanahan system brought
08:30in Bobby Slowick specifically for this system.
08:32I'm not so sure that he's going to say, all right, we're going to go, we're going to go
08:37heavy.
08:38We're going to go big.
08:39We're going to double team the guards and tackles and, uh, I mean the defensive tackles
08:42and nose guards, and we're just going to change the way I, I don't think that's necessarily
08:47the case.
08:48And I think that this, the search might be somewhat similar to, and of course, like with
08:52some more accounting for who you have personnel wise, that's clearly one of the things that
08:56burns you is like, Hey, making sure you match who you hire to what the job is.
09:00I think that that's still going to matter.
09:01But I think also some of this is like matching who is out there and who is, who is the best
09:06available for what you're trying to do.
09:08And I mean, you might find a little synergy with not that I've done all the digging on
09:12all the possible names, but I know that there's been a lot of buzz around Nick Kaley, who
09:16was one of the guys that was brought up, uh, in various things, including the, uh, the
09:20jet search.
09:21Right.
09:23He is a, he is on Sean McVay staff, obviously not coordinator and staff, you know, calling
09:27things there, but like, he's part of, uh, the passing game and that is a dude, you know,
09:31that Sean McVay is in that same tree, like that you're in that same vein.
09:35And he's a young talent to do that is getting a lot of buzz.
09:37Like maybe that's the type of name that you're talking about that can maybe bridge that gap
09:41that you're talking about.
09:42But also, I mean, if there's another young, talented coordinator out there, you think
09:45they would take themselves away from that just to stay with the system.
09:47I'm not certain that that's the case.
09:49I think that this is going to be a lot more dependent on what is out there available for
09:52you, but it's good that they're getting into the market to where now they can have those
09:55kind of evaluations of, is this guy, is it just on the system or is this guy going to
10:00fit what we're trying to do and then get in here and be able to work his magic or would
10:03be able to, you know, execute as coming back to that word, execute a vision for the scene.
10:09And number four, let's go bring, we're not bringing beer.
10:13Gary Kubiak is off as a coordinator.
10:14Let him rest.
10:15The system.
10:16And that ties in with my other big thought here in terms of what has happened and how
10:22it might play out and what happened behind it.
10:25They're also related.
10:27They also relieved the fired Chris Strasser and Cole Popovich, the assistant offensive
10:33line coach.
10:34Unless I'm missing something, we have not heard anything on Bill Lazor or Gerard Johnson.
10:40Keep an eye on those two guys.
10:41Potential internal hires?
10:42Yeah.
10:43Keep an eye on those.
10:44Keep an eye on those.
10:45That was going to be my next question.
10:46Do you think they hire outside or they keep it in the house?
10:48I think they could obviously do either, but we haven't heard anything on those guys.
10:52No, we have not.
10:54And because you can imagine, Hey, do you clean the whole staff?
10:57And that was not what they did.
10:58They cleaned specific parts of the staff that you're right.
11:01That could possibly, you know, portend that you're going to have largely the same staff
11:05except for problem areas and hire from within to have some continuity.
11:09Going back to the Peyton Manning, what he was talking about, about young, young quarter
11:13or young quarterbacks and wanting to keep some level of continuity with what they're
11:17doing.
11:18Don't smile at me, show.
11:19Don't smile at me.
11:20I don't like what you're doing right now.
11:21Whatever you're doing right now.
11:22I don't even know what he's smiling about.
11:23He wasn't the biggest fan.
11:24But whatever he's smiling at me about, I don't like it.
11:26But yeah, leaving some continuity.
11:28Peyton Manning has talked about this.
11:29I think he was talking within the terms of Bryce Young, right?
11:32And how he didn't want to see continual turnover because with young guys, you want to have
11:35some familiarity and some continuity.
11:38That would be a way to have continuity either between Bill Lazor, who has been a offensive
11:42coordinator before.
11:43Four times.
11:44Three times.
11:45Not necessarily to a ton of repute, but I think boom, that is there.
11:49And then Gerard Johnson, who is clearly a hot name.
11:50He was involved in the hiring cycle last year and this year you've already seen his name
11:56come up.
11:57At the very least with the Jets position, offensive coordinator position.
11:59And I can tell you Gerard, I think most people know this, just from if you've been around
12:03this team at all, has a very good relationship with CJ Stroup.
12:06Like very, very good.
12:08So we'll see.
12:09I'm not saying either or, but I think it's telling that neither of these guys has been
12:14mentioned as being released.
12:15Yeah, and maybe you find a way to keep both of them in somewhat positions of elevation.
12:21Or maybe let him play out, you know, sort of.
12:25No, of course.
12:26Play out.
12:27I think that that's an option.
12:28I think as you laid it out, you're very right.
12:29I think that is an option.
12:30And what you would do if you could find some level of marriage that works there is you
12:33would have a great connection with the quarterback, continuity, and a little bit of experience
12:38with Bill Lazor.
12:39Although the question then that keeps coming back to, which is one that I asked earlier,
12:41which is if you have some experience there, why does it not, why did it not feel like
12:45it was showing up on the field?
12:46Like those are the questions that, the questions that I think you had for this team.
12:50Yes, Bobby takes the brunt of those, you know, of the responsibility for those.
12:53But I think that falls for the whole staff in some ways.
12:55Like, hey, why are we not seeing some of, some of those things implemented on game day
12:59if you do indeed have answers?
13:00I don't know.
13:02But we'll see.
13:03But ultimately the biggest news of the day, we're starting here, right?
13:06We're starting with the fact that today, Friday, January 24th, Bobby Slowick, Cole
13:12Popovich, the assistant offensive line coach, and Chris Strasser, the head offensive line
13:16coach were released, were, were, you know, fired, I guess, in an indelicate way of saying
13:21it from this Houston Texans staff.
13:23So that is, that is what we're moving on from.
13:25Now it's time to cull together a short list or a long list of, of coaching candidates
13:30and go that way and seeing how you can get this offense back to the expectations, the
13:35heights that you had hoped when you put together a quote unquote five headed monster.
13:39All right.
13:40You're in the loop right here on Sports Radio 610.
13:41Somebody said they don't want to see promotions.
13:43We'll have plenty of time to talk about that.
13:45We will take the weekend and really dive in, I imagine, in a big way.
13:49And next week, I imagine now you're in the, you're in the coaching cycle, right?
13:54You're on the board.
13:55You are on the board.
13:56Houston Texas offensive coordinator is a job.
13:58Go ahead and get to nd.com or whatever to get your lead chip Kelly out of this.
14:03Really?
14:05You being selfish.
14:06Damn right.
14:07Damn right.
14:08I am.
14:09I'm trying to take my players and coaches.
14:10What did Chip Kelly do against Michigan?