Brian Hoyer Named Starting Quarterback for Texans

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Feisty Brian Hoyer has been named the Houston Texans starting quarterback for the season opener with the Kansas City Chiefs.  Hoyer, who has been much-maligned by the Houston sports radio crowd, will get a chance to prove it on the field.  While everyone talks about the importance of the QB position, it probably won’t matter who Coach Bill O’Brien has taking snaps unless there is a marked improvement in the offensive line.  Since the dismissal of Chris Myers and the failure of Sua’filo to emerge as a legitimate starter, the O-line is in relative turmoil inside the tackles.  The main reason the Cowboys were a playoff team last year was because they have spent capital and precious draft picks on offensive linemen and now sport one of the best units in the NFL.  The Texans had a similarly excellent line only 4 seasons ago and it carried them to the playoffs twice.  With a journeyman quarterback and Arian Foster out for the foreseeable future, 2015 could be a long year for the Deep Steel Blue, Liberty White and Battle Red clad fans at NRG.

At least, Hoyer understands the situation.  After the pathetic offensive performance in Saturday night’s preseason game against the Broncos, Hoyer said, “I think at this point there’s definitely things that need to be corrected and get fixed. But I don’t feel poorly about where I’m at. I don’t know if I’d say I feel great. I think we have a long way to go as an entire offensive unit, myself included.”

Hoyer will definitely need to improve on last year’s line with the Browns.  Read it and weep, Texans fans.

Rank
Comp. pct. 55.3 32nd
TD-Int ratio 0.92* 31st
Total QBR 39.8 30th
Yards per att. 7.6 9th

TCU and Baylor Flying High in AP Preseason Poll

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Texas and Texas A&M – not so much.  Ohio State pulls off a first ever sweep of the 61 first place votes up for grabs in the AP Preseason Top 25.  TCU ranks second and Baylor (despite current travails) is in fourth place in the meaningless annual preseason exercise.  Ohio State has been top-ranked 7 other times at the beginning of the season and has never won the national championship in any of those years.

Texas comes in unranked but in 38th place in the voting with a mighty 3 points.  A&M lands just outside the rankings with 61 points in 26th place.

The Longhorns at least have a chance to move up quickly when they face Notre Dame in South Bend on Labor Day weekend.  The Aggies also would get a huge boost from beating a highly regarded Arizona State team in the Texas Kickoff Classic at NRG Stadium in Houston on September 5  and probably would move into at least 15th place.   As usual, most of the top 25 play the typical first game assortment of lower division patsies, perennial doormats and conference weak sisters.  A handful of the top 25 may face actual tests in the first week.  Notable matchups other than Texas v. Notre Dame and A&M v. Arizona State include:

No. 1 Ohio State at Virginia Tech

NO. 2 TCU at Minnesota

And the likely game of the week in  No. 3 Alabama v. No. 20 Wisconsin

Is Ken Paxton Also Just a Bad Lawyer?

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Ken Paxton’s already shaky legal legacy took another hit this week when newspapers across the state began examining his role as an ad litem attorney for two children of Tanner Hunt – one of the children of Ray Hunt who killed himself in 2011.  According to the San Antonio Express-News, Paxton was an ineffective if not possibly corrupt ad litem attorney for the two young girls.  Paxton attempted to settle their claims to a multi-million dollar trust for $750,000 and would have had them disclaim inheritance rights to the larger Hunt oil family fortune.  Paxton appears to have been in way over his head in attempting to protect the rights of his clients.  Either that or something else was going on.  But either way, Texas’ top lawyer again has shown that he is simply not up to the job – whatever it is.

 Tanner Hunt, son of Dallas oil billionaire Ray Hunt, texted the mother of his two young daughters in fall 2011 for a picture of the girls in their Halloween costumes.

The next day, he took a Glock pistol, pressed it to his chest and fired a single shot, an Austin police report states.

At age 31, he left behind a $200,000 estate and no will, records show.

His daughters stood to inherit not only that estate but had potential inheritance claims on a $2 million trust that had been established for their father and possibly other trusts created by their great-grandfather, legendary wildcatter Haroldson Lafayette “H.L.” Hunt, who died in 1974.

But the following year, state lawmaker Ken Paxton was appointed attorney ad litem in Tanner Hunt’s probate case. He later put forth a settlement that called for Tanner Hunt’s daughters to receive just $750,000, which Paxton would invest for them — if they relinquished any claim on any further inheritances from the Hunt family.

That settlement was rejected by the girls’ mother, Crystal VanAusdal. It ultimately was replaced by a more generous, confidential settlement after the mother filed a motion asking the judge to recuse himself.

Red thinks there may be more.

Today in Texas History – August 24

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From the Annals of Independence –  In 1821, the long Mexican fight for independence from Spain came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Cordoba.   The treaty was signed by Juan O’Donoju, Captain General of New Spain and  met Agustín de Iturbide, General of the Mexican Army of the Three Guarantees.  The war had begun on September 16, 1810 when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla issued the famous “El Grito” from the steps of his parish church in Dolores, a small town east of Guanajuato.  Spain’s attempt to control Mexico was doomed after former royalist Iturbide came to terms with independence leader Vicente Guerrero in 1820.   After 10 years of turmoil and incredible bloodshed from mostly local revolts and guerrilla actions, the unification of the factions effectively ended Spanish control.  At the time of the treaty, Spain only controlled Mexico City and Veracruz and the end of colonial rule was inevitable.

Is Art Briles a Liar?

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USA Today remains on the case of soon to be embattled Baylor Head Football Coach Art Briles.  In a press conference, Briles denied any knowledge of the trouble and violent past of Sam Ukwuachu who was dismissed from the Boise State program after attacking his girlfriend.  Washington Coach Chris Petersen calls Briles out on that one.  According to Petersen, he personally called Briles to inform him about the potential danger with Ukwuachu.

Washington head coach Chris Petersen issued a statement Friday saying that he informed Baylor’s Art Briles about why defensive end Sam Ukwuachu was dismissed at Boise State.

“After Sam Ukwuachu was dismissed from the Boise State football program and expressed an interest in transferring to Baylor, I initiated a call with coach Art Briles. In that conversation, I thoroughly apprised Coach Briles of the circumstances surrounding Sam’s disciplinary record and dismissal,” said Petersen, who was Boise State’s coach at the time.

Briles said in a news conference Friday morning that he had no knowledge of Ukwuachu’s violent past at Boise State.

Jade Helm 15 Update, Cont.

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Red would have like to have been hot on the trail of the jack-booted thugs of Jade Helm 15 who are, as we speak, plotting to take away our women, children and most importantly guns this week, but the torrential rains have required Red to stay a bit closer to home, and since not a single dang JBT has been spotted in Red’s sedated subdivision or prowling suspiciously near the local Stop & Rob, Red is convinced that a road trip to parts further west may be the ticket to finally unraveling the mystery of why not one darn WCAMIG has yet turned up missing such that it would be traceable back to the JBT’s and their nefarious plans to occupy Texas and make it subject to the U.S. government which already more or less controls it anyway.  Take that Joseph Conrad.   So if not otherwise occupied cleaning up storm debris at Casa Red, the Redmobile will be in action and cruising some of the more lonely highways in our glorious state in search of the seemingly non-existent evidence of Obama’s plan to subject Texas to its nominally lawful sovereign and get his kicks by rounding up Mrs. Red and taking away Red’s prized possessions the Brown Bomber (Browning 7mm mag) and Ol’ Alley Clearer (Beretta 12 gauge over and under).   Chances are that while the JBT’s are coming in the front door to sweep up Mrs. Red (heaven help ’em if they show up during Project Runway), Red will be storming out the back with his PP’s and J. Edgar (Red’s Belgian Shepherd) in tow for parts unknown.  Until that dreadful day, Red will be keeping you up to speed.

Vigilantly yours,

Red

Fire Art Briles Now!

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USA Today excoriates Baylor Head Football Coach Art Briles for taking in Sam Ukwuachu when there was strong evidence that he was a danger to the young women on campus.  Ukwuachu was dismissed from Boise State after viciously attacking his girlfriend.  The sad tale came to an end when Ukwuachu was convicted after raping a Baylor student.  If Briles knew all this and let young women at Baylor be exposed to Ukwuachu then he is indeed a scumbag who should be fired immediately.

When Art Briles recruited Sam Ukwuachu to Baylor University, he turned every female on campus into a potential victim. When Briles’ superiors signed off on bringing the talented defensive end to Waco, they tacitly approved of putting students in harm’s way.

It was all right there in the most basic of investigations into Ukwuachu’s exit from Boise State, when he was dismissed from the program in May 2013 because he attacked his girlfriend. Despite the clear warning signs of violent behavior, Baylor had brought Ukwuachu into their community because, by golly, he sure could help the pass rush. Five months later, all that had really changed about Ukwuachu’s tendencies was the venue.

On Thursday, in a district court in Waco, Ukwuachu was found guilty of sexually assaulting a former Baylor women’s soccer player, who was 18 and in her first semester of college in October 2013 when the big-shot football transfer twice her size attacked her.

Maybe if she had been warned that the Baylor football player in her tutoring sessions once became so crazed during a domestic dispute at Boise that he broke a window, she wouldn’t have even been in position to be in his apartment that night. Maybe if Briles, athletics director Ian McCaw and school president Ken Starr had looked at his background and realized Ukwuachu didn’t belong at Baylor, she wouldn’t have had to go get a rape kit the next morning.

Today in Texas History – August 21

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From the Annals of Heroism –  In 1968, Staff Sgt. Marvin Young was killed in action near Ben Cui, Vietnam.  Young was a native of Alpine who enlisted in the army in 1966. He was leading a patrol of Company C, Fifth Infantry, Twenty-fifth Infantry Division when they were attacked by a large force of North Vietnamese. When the squad leader was killed, Young assumed command and repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire, while encouraging his men.  He ignored orders to pull back and remained behind to assist several of his men who were unable to withdraw.  Even after being wounded, he refused assistance and stayed to cover the withdrawal of other troops.  He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Photo from http://www.vvmf.org

Wonder What Ted Thinks of The Donald Now?

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Sen. Ted “Canadian Bacon” Cruz (TP-Texas) has practically fallen over himself in his attempts to alternately praise and avoid criticizing Donald Trump.  One might think that Cruz was positioning for a Vice-Presidential nod from the Grand Old Party, but that clearly is not his style.  And anyone willing to take the firebrand Cruz on as a second banana certainly gets what he deserves.

But a new poll commissioned by a group called the Texas Bipartisan Justice Committee shows that Trump is eating at Cruz’s house.  The Florida-based Gravis Marketing firm conducted the poll.  And it’s really bad news for TC.  In June, Cruz sat at 20% in the Texas Politics Project poll.  Now Trump is at 24%, while Cruz is 8 points back with 16%.  What will Ted do?

It’s even worse for JEB!!!!$$$$$? who is in 4th place with 9% behind a guy whose brother and father didn’t pave the way to the White House for him.  Meanwhile Rick Perry’s flagging hopes took another hit.  In June, Perry was a respectable second with 12%.  He now polls at 4% in the state that he ruled for 14 years.  It now seems only a matter of time until the fat lady serenades Rick with a rousing “Adios Mofo.”

Texas Border Town Has Reasonable Response to Illegal Immigration

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While GOP frontrunner Donald Trump continues to bloviate and propose absurd solutions to the undocumented alien problems in our country, others are trying to do something about the humanitarian crisis that unrest and instability in Central America is creating on the southern border.  The Guardian takes a long look at how McAllen has responded to the large numbers of Central American refugees that have landed in their midst.

While Trump and his ilk want to wash their hands of the problem by constructing a supposedly impenetrable wall and deporting lawful U.S. citizens, the reality is that much of the current crisis has been caused by families and children fleeing the widespread drug gang violence in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras.  And who is consuming those drugs?  And who is providing the guns that fuel the violence? Sensible drug law reform in the U.S. would go a long way towards solving the problem.  Stopping the flow of weapons into Mexico and Central America would probably help too. But that makes way too much sense to ever make into the Tea Party ranting that passes for public discourse in the GOP presidential battle currently being won by Trump.