Tom Gower's Archive

Friday news dump! The Houston Texans announced they have fired general manager Brian Gaine.

Gaine was hired in January 2018, replacing GM Rick Smith, in what was seen as a win in a power struggle by head coach Bill O'Brien. One division championship and 17 months later, he is out. Nobody is quite sure why. Before hiring Gaine, the Texans attempted to interview Eagles exec Joe Douglas, a candidate for the open New York Jets general manager position, but were blocked. Maybe that's part of it? Maybe letting the Eagles snipe them for Andre Dillard in the first round?

Coming out of the draft, the Texans and Jaguars could still use some big offensive playmakers, Tennessee needs more beef up front, and the Colts need more defensive stars to go along with Darius Leonard and Jabaal Sheard.

Everyone has passing needs down south -- the Jaguars need someone to throw them, the Colts need someone to catch them, the Titans need someone to pressure them, and the Texans need someone to cover them.

Black Monday, the NFL's annual post-season day of coach and/or GM firings, got its start on Sunday, as news broke the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired head coach Dirk Koetter. The Jets also fired head coach Todd Bowles. Comment on all the firings and non-firings in this thread.

The Jacksonville Jaguars' seven game losing streak claimed a victim Monday morning, as they fired offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett after yesterday's 24-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Hackett, who previously worked for Doug Marrone in Buffalo, was in his third season as offensive coordinator. Prior to this week's games, Blake Bortles had a passing DVOA of -13.4%, down from the 0.3% he had last season but not far off from the -9.9% and -10.0% he posted in 2015 and 2016. In other news, sometimes coaches get fired because you can't fire the players.

The shoe finally dropped in Cleveland today as the Browns fired head coach Hue Jackson after yesterday's 33-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cleveland's record of 2-5-1 was 1.5 more wins than Jackson managed in his first two seasons with the Browns, but owner Jimmy Haslam had finally finally finally finally finally seen enough. Jackson's list of accomplishments in Cleveland includes a record of 1-35-1 in games played on Sundays, likely a record that will stand for a long time.

Football Outsiders Almanac 2018 media: Steph Stradley asked me a few questions about the Houston Texans for her blog at the Houston Chronicle, and I answered them. Topics covered include the Texans as a whole, Deshaun Watson, and some things that may be surprising to people that watched Houston.

Does the SEC produce more NFL defenders than other conferences? Yes. Does it produce the best NFL defenders? That's complicated.

Minnesota Vikings offensive line coach Tony Sparano passed away, the team announced Sunday.

The Jaguars and Titans both won playoff games last year. Are the days of this division being the NFL's laughingstock over? Maybe not -- all four clubs failed to address critical weaknesses in the draft.