Gallant: The Texans Upgraded In Hiring Carl Smith

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Photo credit Credit: Kirby Lee: USA Today Sports
Oh hi. I'm Paul Gallant, co-host of Mad Radio with Mike Meltser & Seth Payne. Here are some of my random thoughts:
CARL SMITH COMETH

The Texans made a few moves this week. And for the most part, I have no clue what to make of them.

Tim Kelly is the new offensive coordinator? Meh. A guy already on staff getting promoted is cool and all, but with a resume as small as his, what hot takes can you make? He doesn't even have a wikipedia!!!

Some old Texan players joining the staff? Alright. Brian Cushing’s on the field persona seems EXACTLY like the kind of guy who’d be a great motivator in the weight room (no matter how awkward it is that he was suspended 14 games for using P.E.D.s). The T.J. Yates – King of the Bengals – proved he knows Bill O’Brien’s offense pretty well when he subbed in on short notice in 2015 & 2017. Akeem Dent . . . also was here. Now those two are offensive and defensive assistants. Essentially, they're interns.

Wes Welker leaving for San Francisco to be the 49ers wide receiver coach could be a loss. Considering the lack of production from Texans’ slot receivers over the years before he joined, you could argue that Welker – an ex slot - helped Bruce Ellington, Keke Coutee, and DeAndre Carter play well here.

But there is one move to have a hot take on: the Texans replacing quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan with veteran Carl Smith.

First, I’ve got to get this out of my system. CAAAAAAAAAAAAAARUL.

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARULLLLLLL.

Yes…I said REPLACE. Come on, compare the two resumes. Sean Ryan was a hot up and comer when he left the Giants. But that was because of his success coaching New York wide receivers, not Eli Manning. Meanwhile, Carl Smith was quarterback coach for Drew Bledsoe with the Patriots in 1997, Matt Leinart at USC in 2004, Byron Leftwich (2005, Leftwich's best season) and David Garrard for a then competitive (’05-’07) Jaguars team, and most recently current top 10 (and arguably top 5) QB Russell Wilson for the entirety of his career. This last point is HUGE. Because there’s really only 1 QB in the NFL with a skillset similar to Wilson: Deshaun Watson.

The Texans had no reason to push Sean Ryan out the door. And maybe they didn’t. Maybe Sean Ryan was upset about Tim Kelly being promoted to Offensive Coordinator and decided to leave on his own. But he took a lateral move to be a quarterback coach in Detroit. Since a coach with a better resume replaced him, I choose to read between the lines. The Texans looked to upgrade their coaching staff from the outside. By hiring Carl Smith, they were successful.

Give Bill O’Brien credit for this move. A lot of us assumed he was resistant to bringing in established outside help that he’d never worked with before. This is uncharted territory for the oft-criticized, and in my gut I think it’ll work out.

ATL ADVENTURES

Last week, the SportsRadio 610 team was in Atlanta for Radio Row leading up to Super Bowl 53. I had a blast, with this sequence being the highlight of my week.

O.G.
A post shared by Paul Gallant (@paulygallant) on Jan 27, 2019 at 7:34pm PST
Who wore it better though
A post shared by Paul Gallant (@paulygallant) on Jan 28, 2019 at 9:58am PST
#Journalism
A post shared by Paul Gallant (@paulygallant) on Jan 28, 2019 at 9:31pm PST
Our interview on Mad Radio with Texans QB Deshaun Watson was pretty awesome too.
#TBT to #MadRadio’s sit down with #Texans QB @deshaunwatson last week. He talked about his offseason plans, being a leader, explained #SlimeSZN to us, and could not have been more relaxed. It was a great interview! If you missed it, click the link in my bio. . . . #HTX #Houston #HoustonTexans #HoustonTexan #HoustonTexansFootball #WeAreTexans #Texas
A post shared by Paul Gallant (@paulygallant) on Feb 7, 2019 at 1:37pm PST
I’ve been to Atlanta three times over the last two years, and I love it. From the hilly scenery to the fried chicken, it’s a place with a unique personality . . . one that you can actually see. For example, take the Krog Street Tunnel and the Atlanta Beltline. I've never seen graffiti look so good.
My third visit was marked by three things: how easy downtown was to walk around (despite the cold weather), a steady supply of scooters that you can rent through your uber app, and . . . well, the smell. Either Snoop Dog was visiting or it’s always like that!
I didn’t get a full tour of Atlanta, but here are some of the spots I checked out:

  • The College Football Hall of Fame gets a solid B, largely due to the fact that I’m an old at heart. If you’re into interactive museums, it’s a pretty cool place. When you enter, you pick your favorite football program. As you walk from exhibit to exhibit, a digital lanyard will fire up fun facts about said school. I’d have liked to see more physical exhibits highlighting the absolute best of the best, but that’s probably impossible for a sport played by so many for so long.
  • The Media party was at the Georgia Aquarium, and it was quite the party. Hell, they had THE ACTUAL WOLFGANG PUCK – who I thought was actually just a fancy name for Keurig Coffee cups, not a real human – making us morsels! But better? Seeing a Whale Shark for the first time, Manta Rays, and Diego the hot dogging Sea Lion.
  • If you’re ever in Atlanta, I recommend two reasonably priced restaurants: The Vortex Bar & Grill and Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken. Vortex – described by a friend to me as a goth/rock burger bar – has an INCREDIBLE variety of high quality hamburgers. And you’ve got to get fried chicken when you go to Atlanta. Both were cheap options and very tasty. Two thumbs up for both.

TV TAKES

Fun fact: did you know that Paul Gallant loves watching television shows? I’ve been binging two over the last few weeks: True Detective season 3, and The Bachelor. Yes, The Bachelor.

Let’s start with True Detective, an anthology fictional crime show. The first season – headlined by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson – was damn good. The second season – starring Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, and Vince Vaughn – was a disjointed mess with WAY too many storylines. On top of that, it took itself WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.

Season 3? It’s simpler, if you don't mind piecing together the memory of an old man with dementia to follow the plot. But damn, it’s been ssssLooooooow. If you can get towards the end of the 4th episode, it might pull you all the way in. Unfortunately, I’m not quite there. The idea of octogenarian detectives solving a cold case sounds more like a 1.5 hour comedy starring Adam Sandler and Nic Cage.

And yeah, I like the Bachelor. What can I say? Watching whippersnappers slowly lose their minds while trapped in the same house and competing for the same thing is oddly entertaining!

I can’t get enough of the show’s best character: Demi. She’s from Texas, her mom is in jail, and she just does not give a f*ck. While many of the other girls are playing coy, polite, and guarded, Demi keeps it real and uses psychological warfare to destroy her opponents.

She’s basically Perky Cersei from Game of Thrones. And on the last episode, she offed two of her enemies with some devious tactics.

On a show featuring many COMPLETELY uninteresting characters – including the supposedly virgin “ex-pro football player” (I’ll give him credit for making offseason rosters and practice squads, but his wiki even put “career” in quotation marks. Stop over-hyping him ABC.) Colton Underwood – Demi is must see TV.

Paul Gallant hosts Mad Radio - mornings 6-10 CT on SportsRadio 610 - with Mike Meltser & Seth Payne.Want to get in contact with Paul? Talk to him on twitter, facebook, or by email.