Whether people want to admit it or not, luck plays a huge part in the future of an NBA franchise. Players staying healthy over the course of a season, a team making a great trade, and teams drafting well all play a part in a franchise’s life cycle. Imagine what the Portland Trailblazers would be today if they drafted Michael Jordan instead of Sam Bowie in 1984; or taking Kevin Durant instead of Greg Oden in 2007. Continue reading DALLAS MAVERICKS: MAXIMIZING LUKA DONCIC
The Texans were a wild ride during the 2018 season. After starting out 0-3, Houston went on to rip off nine straight victories. The Texans would end up at 11-5, eventually losing to the Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card game.
However, the future is bright in Houston. Deshaun Watson looks like a star, the best receiver in football. Meanwhile, Deandre Hopkins is looking to make another big impact this season. The defense will look to capitalize on another dominant year behind JJ Watt and Jadeveon Clowney. Like all teams, Houston has some question marks heading into the 2019 season. Will their offense be able to take the next step forward? Can Houston protect Deshaun Watson? What can the Texans do to take control of the AFC South?
1. Will the Texans’ offense take the next step forward?
When you look at the numbers last year from the Houston offense, they won’t jump out at you as anything special. According to Pro Football Reference, the Texans finished 17th in passing yards, and 8th in rushing yards. The numbers aren’t amazing, but they are fine for a team in the AFC South, where there are still questions about who the favorite is.
All the skill pieces are there for this offense to be truly special. Watson has a great arm, and has shown time and time again he can make plays with his legs if need be. They have the best receiver in Deandre Hopkins, who I’m pretty sure was bitten by a radioactive spider and can also climb walls. That’s how good his hands are. Lamar Miller won’t blow you away, but he’s consistent. Miller has rushed for at least 875 yards every year he’s been in Houston, and he’s doing that whilst also playing behind a horrible offensive line.
What really sticks out to me about his offense is Will Fuller. He’s one of my favorite players to watch because he can take the top off any defense on any given play. The Texans are at their best when Fuller is healthy, which hasn’t been the case since he entered the league. He only played in seven games in 2018, after playing just ten the year before in 2017.
If Will Fuller can stay healthy, I think this offense has a chance to be something special heading into the
2019 season.
2. How can Houston protect Deshaun Watson?
I feel like you could just copy and paste this question every year with the Texans, how can they protect star quarterback Deshaun Watson? Take a guess at how many times Watson was sacked last year…the answer is 65 times. 65 TIMES. The next closest was Dak Prescott at 58 times.
Whatever the plan is, it needs to be fast tracked, because Watson can’t be taking hits like this year after year. Remember how that worked out for Andrew Luck? He ended up having two straight seasons with shoulder issues. Now look at him, once Indianapolis put resources into the offensive line, Luck was sacked just 21 times last season.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the Texans haven’t tried. It did take a lot of draft capital to move up to get Watson. They just need to do better, which is why they drafted Tytus Howard in the first round of the 2019 draft. It was an interesting move at the time to say the least, considering Tytus started his career at Alabama State to play Quarterback. However, he’s big, he’s fast, and the Texans staff love him. Through camp, he’s played left guard, which is fine, but that’s not what you drafted him to be.
There is a certain left tackle in Washington that I would like out of that situation…and his name is Trent Williams. If I’m Houston, I’m staying on the line and making sure no other teams can call.
If the Texans want to take that next leap, they need to make sure they protect their franchise QB.
3. What are the next steps to take control of the AFC South?
If you take a look at the rosters in the AFC South, you’ll notice that everyone has talent and there isn’treally a dominant team. The Colts have a good offense, but lots of questions on their defense. The Jaguars have a good defense, but question marks on their offense. Like will we see the Nick Foles we’ve seen the last couple of years in Philly? Or will we get the guy from St. Louis who was honestly kind of terrible? And then there’s the Titans who, as usual, have more questions than answers.
The truth is, the Texans really don’t have to make significant changes in order to take hold of the division. They don’t need to make a bold trade, or even a small trade. They just need to get better internally.
Houston is already in a really good position. They have one of the best defenses in all of football, one of the best young QB’s in the game, and weapons on offense that will make a majority of teams jealous.
They just need to take a tiny little baby step forward on offense, and they’ll be the division favorites
Samuel Allen
HOUSTON McDONALD’S GRAND OPENING
VENICE – A NAME OF ROMANTICISM!
THREE BIG QUESTIONS HEADING INTO THE 2019 SEASON FOR THE DALLAS COWBOYS
You know it’s close to football season when you see Jerry Jones beginning to thaw from his yearly hibernation, which means it’s time to talk about America’s team: The Cowboys! After coming off a season where they lost to the Rams in the Divisional Round, they are now looking to try and make that next step to contention. But alas, football is a fickle mistress and the boys have some tough questions heading into the 2019 season. Is Dak Prescott the right man at the QB position, especially when he needs a new deal? Will the offense take that next step forward with Amari Cooper’s first full year in a Cowboy uniform? Finally, what can the Cowboys try and do to keep up with the Eagles in the NFC East? I’ll explore these questions and more!
1. Can the Cowboys Afford to Keep Dak Prescott?
Money isn’t the issue here, let me make that perfectly clear. Jerry Jones could wipe his butt with $100 bills and not even bat an eye, which is the kind of rich I aspire to be someday.
In addition to Dak, here are the other major free agents for the Cowboys after this season: Amari Cooper, Jaylon Smith, Byron Jones, Sean Lee, La’el Collins, and Robert Quinn. Dallas has almost $67 million to play with in cap space next summer, which should be adequate for a majority of these players.
The issue is do you want to be spending a good bit of your salary cap to keep Dak Prescott as your quarterback? Now, Dak has been good for the first three years of his career. But do you know what his best stat is? His contract. Getting this kind of production out of a fourth-round pick has so much value. So many times, we reference tiers when we talk about QB’s in the NFL. So, I made a list of QBs that I believe are on the same level as Dak. They are Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, and Matthew Stafford. Dak stacks up evenly against the other QB’s on this list, except for salary. Reports from around the NFL are that Dak could get up to $30 million per year… in the business that’s what we call a really big number. A big number for a guy who’s known as a game manager and his best skill is not turning the ball over.
But now let’s look at the alternatives, which are either getting a QB in free agency, or drafting one. A QB better than Dak rarely hits the open market, unless they’re really old. I don’t anticipate that happening anytime soon with the Bree’s, Rivers’, and Brady’s of the world.
Drafting a QB is extremely tough. Teams even get it wrong with a guy taken #1 overall. Do the
Cowboys really want to try and roll the dice again? They are too good to try and tank for a top pick, so they would already be taking a QB that isn’t in the upper half of the 2020 draft.
The point is, the Cowboys are stuck, and the only viable option is to just pay Dak. Will Dak actually get $30 million a year? No, I don’t believe so. I think it’ll be close to that, and if not, Dak needs a new agent. That being said, the Cowboys window to win is now, and they’ll need Dak to take that next step if they hope to contend in the NFC.
2. Will the Offense Rebound from Last Season?
When I hear the word rebound, I think of someone making a questionable decision after getting out of a long-term relationship. Maybe you shouldn’t be hitting on the guy with multiple face tattoos. I mean unless that’s your thing, then hey, don’t let me stop you!
When I say the Dallas offense needs to rebound, I don’t mean it as they were one of the worst offenses in the league. They ranked 10th in rushing yards, and 23rd in passing yards respectively according to Pro Football Reference. That’s really not terrible, considering you have teams like the Cardinals last year who just decided they weren’t going to play offense at all. Yes, I was a David Johnson fantasy owner last year, no I’m not bitter still…why do you ask?
The best piece of news is that they get Travis Frederick back, who is arguably the best center in the league, after sitting out all last season with a complication from an illness. This will boost what was already a good offensive line. Zeke will continue to do his thing, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of connection Dak and Amari Cooper have after an entire offseason of working together.
The offense doesn’t need to be that much better if the defense plays the way it did last year. The Cowboys defense ranked 13th against the pass, and 5th against the run. If they can just keep that pace, and the passing game improves on offense, the Cowboys could be looking at a deep playoff run.
3. How can Dallas Keep up with Philadelphia?
If Dallas and Philadelphia are the grownups of the NFC East, the Redskins are the child that will throw tantrums in public when they don’t get what they want. No one takes them seriously, and the parents just leave them until they decide to stop crying. If Washington is that child, the Giants are the child that eats Legos for fun, no matter how many times you take them to the Emergency Room, just something about those blocks that make them want to eat more!
Philly has arguably done the best to surround their team with talent during this championship window. Obviously, they’ve already won one the Super Bowl, but Nick Foles isn’t around anymore to save them if Carson Wentz gets hurt again. Dallas has done a fine job of making the playoffs while still able to acquire talent through the draft and trades.
The offensive talent is there, with a top receiver and running back to go along with one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. If the Cowboys did try to negotiate a trade, I would anticipate it being for a #2 or #3 wide receiver, especially if Michael Gallup (SP) starts out slow
Samuel Adams
The mystery of the strange purple ribbon in the North American night sky is solved, with NASA’s help.
Continue reading NASA – CITIZEN SCIENTISTS SOLVE NIGHT SKY MYSTERY CALLED STEVE
Recent news, relating to Dr. Dao and the unfortunate experience he had with United Airlines, shows the power of social network in influencing business changes. The uproar from the voluminous posts to the two leading social networks helps to drive United’s actions and led to the conclusion acceptable by both parties. This is one case for the usefulness of social networks. However, the use of social network in an environment where it is one of the key providers of “info-tainment” can be a powerful and positive impact to a business’ bottom line, especially online retailer in Viet Nam.
In Viet Nam, this key environment exists. Much of the population of Viet Nam is under the age of 30; thus with most of the available hours dedicated to work or study, the need for a home entertainment does not exist for those under 30. Hence, social network becomes the major medium to get news and entertainment, mostly through mobile handsets. It is vital for online retailers in Viet Nam to get the most return from their marketing budget by using this avenue for marketing and advertisement. Through social network, an online shop can market its brand, advertise its products/services, and use the platform as CRM-light to interact with its customers. Moreover, the leading social network in the country, with a 40% penetration of the population (37 million users out of a total population of 92 million Vietnamese), provides targeted advertisement functionality, in which a retailer can hit a sweet spot of targeted ads, for example showing ads to women under the age of 30 for a lady line of shoes.
The use of social network to market and advertise works greatly in Viet Nam! I have a few friends there who own and operate online retail shops and beauty services. I was in a position where I can initiate the marketing and advertisement campaigns for my friends on this largest social network, in part because of the English language barrier and the lack of credit cards for online payment by Vietnamese; for most cash is still the only way of payment. Speaking recently with one of my friends, she mentioned her sales ballooned by 1600% in just over a few days, after I launched her advertisement campaigns for her lady fashion lines. Her shop is now so busy with orders that she has to hire additional staffs. Another friend, who owns a makeup and beauty service, has requested that I stopped advertising altogether. She now has more than enough repeat businesses and that she cannot handle more; that is a great problem to have, I told her. Gay porn watch https://www.gaypornhd.xxx/ online free! The other two friends also have incredible growth with their shops. They have now taken over the marketing campaigns following my instructions and training. One friend mentioned that he is taking his web site down because he gets more business from social network. I wonder if this may be a new trend. No doubt, marketing on social network in Viet Nam works, for it has started a new service industry where one advertises for others on social network.
• ĐẠI NGUYỄN
Technology Evangelist
Software Professional