Commentary: Three steps in the right direction
By JEROME SOLOMON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
March 2, 2009, 1:32AM
The best thing about the Texans’ offseason is it does not appear they have made any major mistakes.
OK, that’s not cause for celebration, but this is March. The first game is six months away. There are many moves left. But this was a good weekend.
After clearing some dead weight, the Texans made two additions in free agency — backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky (Sunday) and defensive end Antonio Smith (Saturday) — and they made the 21st trade in franchise history in moving QB Sage Rosenfels to Minnesota for a fourth-round pick (Friday).
For what the Texans would like to do defensively, Smith might have been the best available defensive end this side of Julius Peppers, at a lower salary and without the costly trade value. His signing opens the draft door for the Texans and should keep them from overvaluing the ends who are available when they are on the board.
“That was an excellent get for them,” an AFC scout said. “Their defense takes on a different look immediately.”
The other two moves go together. The Texans swapped one quarterback who earned notoriety for a curious on-the-field move this past season for another (and a fourth-round pick).
Dueling blunders
Orlovsky’s back-of-the-end-zone blunder was more embarrassing than Rosenfels’ error in judgment against the Colts. In his first NFL start for Detroit, a week before he had a solid game at Reliant Stadium, Orlovsky gave up a safety by inadvertently running out of the back of the end zone against Minnesota.
It could have happened to anybody. Well, anybody who is accustomed to the 25-yard deep Canadian Football League end zones. Orlovsky took seven steps along the white border before the referee’s whistle saved him from further humiliation.
“Ten seconds after, I realized how idiotic it was and how dumb it was, but I wasn’t going to change it,” Orlovsky said Sunday. “It’s one of those things that you wish your name was never attached to, but it was.”
Also attached to his name are losses in his seven starts during the Lions’ march to 0-16, the worst season in NFL history. But Orlovsky had a couple decent games.
Orlovsky brings four years of NFL experience to the Texans, having completed 150 passes with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. You wonder just how bad a quarterback must be not to have earned the job with the Lions, but that’s not important. The Texans aren’t bringing Orlovsky here to earn a starting job.
When Rosenfels came to the Texans, he too had four seasons in the NFL, with 109 completions, six touchdowns and six interceptions.
Rosenfels had tried and failed with the Redskins and Dolphins. One wondered just how bad a quarterback must have been not to have earned a job with those quarterback-starved teams. We were surprised Rosenfels was a halfway decent QB.
Tough break
He thought he was better than David Carr, and he was right, but Rosenfels got hurt just when he was about to get his chance to start. When the Texans got Matt Schaub the next offseason, Rosenfels’ fate as a backup was sealed.
Gary Kubiak deserves credit for how solid a backup Rosenfels became. Give Kubiak time with Orlovsky, and the same is possible.
Smith is better than Anthony Weaver, Rick Smith has an extra draft pick in play, and Kubiak will make Orlovsky better than he is. That’s why this was a good weekend for the Texans.
jerome.solomon@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/texansfront/6288949.html
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