B-Mac to have season-ending shoulder surgery. Alex McGough is cut from the Practice Squad (again), making room for LB Kyle Emmanuel who was signed from the Raiders practice squad. Deshaun Watson nominated for FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.

Report: Texans ILB Benardrick McKinney done for the season with a shoulder injury
By Mark Lane, TexansWire

Excerpt: The Houston Texans inside linebacker corps has taken a hit to its leadership and on-field ability.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, Pro Bowl inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney will undergo shoulder surgery, which will knock him out for the rest of 2020. The club is expected to place McKinney on injured reserve.

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Texans sign Kyle Emanuel off Raiders’ practice squad
By Charean Williams, ProFootballTalk

Excerpt: The Texans signed linebacker Kyle Emanuel off the Raiders’ practice squad, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Emanuel reunites with Texans inside linebackers coach Bobby King, who was an assistant with the Chargers when Emanuel was drafted.

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Texans QB Deshaun Watson nominated for FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week
By Mark Lane, TexansWire

Excerpt: Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has been named a finalist for the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week for his performance in Sunday’s 30-14 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at NRG Stadium.

Watson completed 25 of 35 pass attempts for 359 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 109.1 passer rating, helping the Texans to their first win of the season in Week 5.

Brandin Cooks becomes un-invisible with 8 receptions for 161 yards and a 28-yard TD catch on a 4th and 5 play to put the game out of the Jaguars reach. Next up: A trip to Nashville…maybe.

Texans 30, Jaguars 14: Postgame News

Deshaun Watson says Texans’ goal was to get WR Brandin Cooks going early
By Mark Lane, TexansWire

Excerpt: According to quarterback Deshaun Watson, one of the big parts of the game plan was to involve Cooks was the start.

“I know Cooky didn’t have a catch last week so we wanted to get him going early,” said Watson, who threw for 359 yards and three touchdowns on the afternoon. “He had a big day, made some big-time catches. But that’s what we wanted to do, just kind of set the tone from the jump and get myself in a rhythm because as far as I go, the offense goes.”

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4th down gamble comes up big for Texans
By Drew Dougherty, HoustonTexans.com

This article needs to be read! Lots of great quotes from RAC, Cooks, Watson, and Roby.

Excerpt: Romeo Crennel wanted five yards.

Brandin Cooks gave him six points.

Leading Jacksonville, 23-14, with 4:46 remaining in regulation, the Texans faced a 4th-and-4 at the Jaguars’ 28-yard line. Crennel, in his first game as Houston’s interim head coach, could’ve easily sent kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn on to attempt a 45-yard field goal. Instead, Crennel wanted to move the chains, so he put Deshaun Watson and his offense back on the field.

Watson found Cooks over the middle, and the veteran receiver blazed into the end zone for a touchdown. Fairbairn’s extra point staked the Texans to a 30-14 advantage with 4:39 left in the game.

“All I was trying to do was get the first down because it was a two-score game,” Crennel said. “And the field goal, even though it would have put points on the board, potentially it might not have made a difference if they had gone down and scored. And so I wanted to try to get that done and kind of put it out of reach and make it much tougher for them to have a chance to come back.”

Happy footballing everyone! Check out https://506sports.com/ for schedules and broadcast information.

I don’t really watch SNL, but tonight’s SNL is hosted by Bill Burr so I’m going to be tuning in to see ‘ol Billy Red Ass give it a go.

This compilation is from appearances on Conan, which his comfort level on Conan and Conan’s ability to get out of the way and let a GOAT do GOAT things like Burr can do it’s just great TV. Fallon could never.

Barry’s back with another Heh Report. It’s finally Friday!

Week-4-Heh-Report

Trying a new concept. It’s in no way permanent, just as an FYI. With 400+ comments at the mid-afternoon mark, let’s have a new space to continue the daily discussion.

The tweets below were released Wednesday night as the 12-minute pre-recorded interview with Cal McNair was aired during the 6:00 p.m. Texans All Access program on 610 AM radio. Thanks to Z for posting those during last night’s TexansChat “after hours” discussion thread.

You can listen to the interview here, as well. I think it’s required listening. I tried to transcribe the audio using the Voice to Text in the Edit menu of Google Doc but it wasn’t working well. If anyone would like to take the audio and transcribe it using an app or software or whatever, send it to me via the Contact form (top right of the main menu of the TexansChat site) and I will post it for those who prefer reading instead of listening.

Cal McNair has named Jack Easterby as interim general manager until a permanent one is hired: "At that time, Jack will switch back to the job he had before, which is in football ops." #Texans

— SportsRadio 610 (@SportsRadio610) October 7, 2020

My understanding is Jack Easterby will be the acting GM for the remainder of the season. Then the #texans will be hiring both a head coach and GM after the season and Easterby will no longer be the GM and move back to his former role.

— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) October 7, 2020

Cal McNair: "I want to see our guys having fun. I want to see the defense flying around. I want to put the Rock Boy band back together. I want them to play their songs." #Texans

— SportsRadio 610 (@SportsRadio610) October 7, 2020

Here's the full Cal McNair quote and his explanation of the DeAndre Hopkins trade. #Texans #Cardinals pic.twitter.com/bpIJIuxW1Y

— SportsRadio 610 (@SportsRadio610) October 7, 2020

Daily thread got a lot of comments. New thread here for the rest of the night.

Some names for GM, according to Mark Schofield. Albert Breer thinks and senses BoB didn’t ask for/push for the GM role. Colin Cowherd with an idea for Houston to clear cap space and regain draft capital at the same time.

Who are the best candidates to be the Texans’ next general manager?

Mark Schofield of TouchdownWire has brief write-ups for Texans GM candidates. The list includes the following:

• Nick Caserio, director of player personnel, New England Patriots
• Duke Tobin, director of player personnel, Cincinnati Bengals
• Doug Williams, senior vice president of player development, Washington Football Team
• Louis Riddick, analyst, ESPN
• Scott Pioli, former general manager, Kansas City Chiefs

Albert Breer With Quite The Tweet. Albert’s Source: Himself

“One thing I think…” and “My sense is…” Are we sure it’s others out there who are getting something wrong? I said there’d be noise, and here it is.

One thing I think people are getting wrong on the Houston situation: Bill O'Brien didn't push for the GM title. My sense is Cal McNair gave it to him—w/o a raise or extension—as a way of telling him, "OK, this is your show, you're accountable."

Eight months later, here we are.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 7, 2020

Colin Cowherd: Clear Cap Space and Regain Draft Capital by Trading JJ Watt

If you click to listen, he lists potential trade partners for Houston. Do you hate the idea altogether? Do you hate it but would be understanding if it happened? Do you think it has to be done?

What's next for the Texans after parting with Bill O'Brien?@ColinCowherd: They have to trade JJ Watt pic.twitter.com/xsJCN5fjlD

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) October 6, 2020

RAC is the Texans interim HC. There’s an endless buffet of analysis and commentary pieces on the world wide web. I’ll attempt to list a few. Feel free to add into the comments section things you find out there.z

BoB is Out, Easterby Remains. For How Long? And in What Role?

Jack Easterby bio on HoustonTexans.com
(pay attention to the 2nd sentence of the 4th paragraph)

A question emerges about Jack Easterby’s NFL biography
Meaningless oversight. That’s the Texans’ official response to an inquiry by ProFootballTalk. Maybe there’s some semantics at play, i.e. “Assistant TO the director of football operations” isn’t the same as “Assistant Director of Football Operations.” Is this PFT being sharky, or is there something there worth some criticism of the Texans organization and/or Easterby?

Patriots.com Spotlight on Jack Easterby (Nov. 2018 article)
At Newberry College in South Carolina, Easterby captained the basketball and golf teams while majoring in sports management. Upon graduation in 2005, he landed a job with Jacksonville Jaguars football operations. Working mainly on salary cap matters, he quickly realized it didn’t suit him. So, he enrolled at Erskine and Liberty Theological Seminaries.

“Just really wanted to learn more about Scripture and how to apply things more specifically to everyday life,” he explains. “I love people. I love Microsoft Excel, but not that much. I felt like I was called to go back and build relationships.”

OMB Notes: Houston 12-year veteran numbers guy, Chris Olsen, was elevated to interim GM on June 7, 2019, after Brian Gaine was fired and then Olsen was fired January 19, 2020.

According to a Sept. 12, 2020, HoustonChronicle.com article that factored in Watson’s new deal: In 2021, the Texans have 38 players under contract and are currently projected at roughly $6.9 million over the projected salary-cap limit of $175 million. The NFL and NFL Players Association could come up with a higher cap figure depending on how bad a hit they take in terms of lost revenue this year.

Report: Bill O’Brien lost the team after Texans’ 33-16 loss to the Ravens

Former Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien may have lost the team after the club’s 33-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2.
According to Dianna Russini of ESPN, the offense was frustrated with the lack of production through the first two weeks, even resulting in what Russini referred to as a “verbal blowup” in practice.

I spoke with sources in Houston and they tell me two weeks ago is when it really started to fall apart. One source said “that’s when OB lost the team”
The offense was beyond frustrated and it even turned into a verbal blowup at practice. #Texans

— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) October 5, 2020

Watson’s Mentor A Key Piece To HC Search?

Read the replies in the 2nd tweet below. Multiple people replying with what I’ve read in the past (last year) that Reid calls the plays and Bienemy relays the call into Mahomes’ helmet. An issue I have with Quincy is he cuts people down to size about their lack of knowledge, and yet he’s connected to Watson and many other players throughout NCAA and NFL…and doesn’t know if Bienemy is calling the plays or not, or he’s stating he’s right and asking people to tell him he’s wrong. That’s a detail you ought to know by now, it’s not EB’s 1st game on the sideline.

“Hey Big Head!” – Texans to Eric Beinamy

— Quincy Avery (@QuincyAvery) October 5, 2020

Sure looks to me like Eric Bienemy calls the plays in KC. Am I wrong?

— Quincy Avery (@QuincyAvery) October 6, 2020

NEVER https://t.co/yFrNr94HXT

— Quincy Avery (@QuincyAvery) October 5, 2020

Run game bad, run defense bad, takeaways = 0 (again), another loss, “we have to be better”…it’s just another week, same story for the Houston Texans. The 1-3 Jaguars visit NRG next Sunday.

Houston Texans vs. Minnesota Vikings game recap: Everything we know
By Mark Lane, TexansWire

Excerpt from the article: The Texans gave up 162 yards rushing on the ground along with three rushing touchdowns. Returner DeAndre Carter also fumbled a punt return with 1:18 in the first quarter. Quarterback Deshaun Watson took three sacks. Houston’s run game produced just 96 rushing yards. The Texans did not produce a takeaway for the fourth straight game.

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Texans say they must “keep fighting” to get in win column
By Drew Dougherty, HoustonTexans.com

Excerpt from the article: Following the defeat, several Texans described what they must do to climb out of the depths.

“We’ve just got to keep fighting, keep pushing forward, and that’s it,” quarterback Deshaun Watson said. “But for me personally, I’m not going to let it take my joy. I’m going to continue to live life, continue to work my ass off, continue to come in here every day and play football.”

For the fourth straight game, the Texans also lost the turnover battle. They’ve now turned it over five times in 2020, without recording a takeaway in that same span.

Houston hosts the Jaguars next Sunday at Noon CT. Jacksonville fell to 1-3 Sunday after losing, 33-25, at Cincinnati.