Are the Houston Texans One of the Worst Teams in NFL History?
It has been a real struggle for the Houston Texans in 2022. They have won just one of their opening ten games this season, and they were fortunate to win that, as they scored just 13 points in a 13-6 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Texans fans have not had much to shout about over the last few years. Many would be forgiven for switching allegiances. Houston had losing seasons in 2020 and 2021, winning just four games in each of those years.
The Houston Texans are now as big as +50000 in the NFL betting to win the AFC South title. Those odds suggest how big of a surprise it would be if Lovie Smith’s side were able to turn it around at this stage.
Smith is back in the NFL in a head coaching role for the first since he oversaw the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2016. The Texan head coach is a likable guy, with many neutrals rooting for him to do well in Houston. However, it looks as though he has been handed a tough hand with the roster he has adopted.
The Texans are in danger of finishing this season as one of the worst teams in the history of the league. Their leading players must now try and lift their teammates to avoid going in the books with that label.
Comparisons to Cleveland Browns of 2017
Only five teams in the history of the NFL have gone a whole season without a win. That success over the Jaguars ensures the Texans don’t join that list. Since the league expanded to 32 teams, only two teams have gone 0-16. Detroit Lions were the first in 2014, while in 2017, the Cleveland Browns became the second team to pick up the unwanted record.
The Browns team in 2017 was expected to do quite well. They had three first-round picks earlier that year in the NFL Draft, including the number one overall selection, Myles Garrett. However, it ended up being a disaster of a season for Cleveland.
Cleveland’s 2017 campaign was largely down to not having a competent quarterback. They showed why teams invest so much money into that position, as without an elite QB, you don’t win many games in the NFL.
Positive: Likely to Receive Number One Pick in 2023
Although it will feel like doom and gloom for everybody at the organization, the one positive about being so poor this year is that Houston looks very likely to get the number one pick at the 2023 NFL Draft.
Next year’s class of quarterbacks is highly regarded, so it could be their chance to land a franchise QB, just like the Kansas City Chiefs have with Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen.
Some fans expect the Texans to ‘tank’ from here until the end of the season. That suggests they will be happy to just keep getting beat to ensure they have the worst record. However, it’s hard to see the group of players doing that, as they are playing for contracts for next season.
Houston will know things can change quickly in the NFL. If they can add some quality in the 2023 NFL Draft and during free agency, there may be much more to celebrate next year.
New signage erected by Suffolk Canal & River Trust
“If I could walk with the animals and talk with the animals Grunt, squeak, and squawk with the animals, and lord, they could talk to me!”
…so go the lyrics of ‘Talk to the animals’ by crooning rat-packer Sammy Davis Jnr. But now, thanks to the help of ‘Dog Whisperer’, Johnny Morris OBE, the dead Welsh television presenter best known for talking to animals on BBC kids’ show, Animal Magic, we can!
Suffolk Canal and River Trust campaign
Morris, who, as reported in the Suffolk Gazette earlier this month, came back from the dead to help police unstick Larry the Cat from the road outside No.10 Downing Street, has returned from the nether world once more. This time, to help the Suffolk Canal and River Trust dissuade dogs from fouling on their footpaths.
Spiderman, Spiderman…
Avuncular corpse, Morris, 106, speaks several animal languages including: bird, terrapin, orangutan, and most recently, dog. He developed his skills in the 1950s and 60s when his wife and he stopped engaging in interesting conversation with one another. After befriending a talkative spider who lived beneath the Morris’s kitchen sink, the bored TV presenter set up a lonely hearts club for multi-lingual animals and humans called ‘The Tail & Chin Waggers’ whose members included a number of high profile animals including: Blue Peter’s ‘Shep’, Rainbow’s ‘Bungle’, and Keith Harris’s alter-ego ‘Orville’. Human members stalled at Morris and a young Jeremy Paxman – being the only two known Britons who can talk to members of the animal kingdom in their own tongue.
Erect signage
After seeing the new signage erected alongside the River Blyth in East Suffolk, we conducted a séance at the offices of the Suffolk Gazette to ask Morris what the words ‘grrrrr’, ‘bark’, and ‘woof’ meant in dog. Using the Ouija board that we had hastily fashioned out of the office Monopoly game and a cut-up Toblerone box, we made contact with the undead miniature railway enthusiast who told us “G R R R R R = S T O P. B A R K = T A L K I N G. W O O F = S H I T.” We asked Morris if the message would be understood by dogs. His reply was “N O T D O G S. P A X M A N.”
Sporting goods supplier, Sports Direct has been banned from selling their oversized promotional mugs.in the Suffolk area after a recent spate of spillages caused severe flooding across the county.
The 6 litre mugs, favoured by football coaches, car mechanics, and white van men,.have been deemed a hazard by Suffolk Environmental Health after a number of clumsy tea-drinkers spilled, or knocked-over their cuppas causing floods in local areas and communities.
Chilli sauce with that, mate?
It is reported that Sunny Smiles Nursery in Great Livermere, W.Suffolk was devastated by a tsunami of Yorkshire tea.which sent teachers, toddlers, tables, and chairs careering through Pryce Street, after a careless builder tried unsuccessfully to balance his Sports Direct mug on top of a step ladder. The builder was later said to be devastated by the consequences of his slip-up. Fortunately, no-one was seriously hurt although many of the toddlers are said to have ended-up with tea leaves in their ears.
Another tea-flood incident resulted in a number of vehicles floating down The Studio Chapel Lane.in the hamlet of Forward Green, Stowmarket. According to a source, the mechanic from the Autoglean Car Valeting company.dropped his cuppa after the greasy kebab he was eating caused the heavy, bucket-like mug to slip out of his fingers. The resulting flood caused £12,000 in damage to vehicles and nearby buildings.
Barry Craddock, the Environmental Health Inspector behind the ban explained “Not only are the Sports Direct mugs, tacky, of poor quality, and impossible to fit into the crockery cupboard, they are also extremely dangerous if not handled correctly. We have been left with no alternative but to suspend their use for the purposes of serving hot beverages across the country – until further notice.”
Chocolate Cup Cake
On a brighter note, Mr Craddock confirmed that the ban does not prevent local coarse fishermen (or women if there are any), using the mugs to take a dump in when caught short on the riverbank.
In 2018, the global revenue in the gaming industry grew by 10.9% to reach $135 billion, and in 2021, the revenue for this industry increased to $180.1 billion. This is just the beginning as analysts believe the industry will reach as much as $300 billion by 2025. The growth is mainly coming from mobile games. With an audience of 2.5 billion “regularly active” players, they lead the industry.
Special emphasis is placed on occasional play: “casual” and “hyper-casual” games, which are lite games that you play while waiting for the bus. With the mechanism of “in-game” purchases (the games are virtually free, but while you play you can buy extras for small amounts that make the game more fun), casual gaming is the growth pole par excellence. 99 cents for a handful of “coins”, multiplied by about 2.5 billion players and the bill is rapidly increasing. Not surprisingly, the strongest growth has come from Asia, especially Bahrain, where online Bahrain casino كازينو البحرين and e-sports are very ‘hot’. Very popular are the (role) games in which many players can participate at the same time (massive multiplayer).
Despite the large number of gaming companies available on the scene, this industry is led by six main companies, namely:
Microsoft
The American Microsoft develops both games and large game systems and is a major competitor of Sony, which actually does the same. At the moment, the 2020 release, among other things, contributes significantly to the income, namely game console Xbox Series X/S. It is also acquiring many game companies, including Bungie (Halo), Mojang (Minecraft) and most recently Activision-Blizzard (World of Warcraft).
Microsoft software is ubiquitous. The Windows operating system still controls the PC market, while SQL Server is one of the major database platforms. In addition, Office 365 & Microsoft Dynamics are among the most popular software applications for businesses. Finally, Azure ensures that Microsoft is one of the most important cloud players. But something few investors know is that 38% of revenue comes from the gaming division.
Microsoft divides its activities into 3 segments, which is not a superfluous luxury to keep an overview. ‘Personal Computing’ includes the well-known Windows operating system for PCs and the hardware of our own making, such as the Xbox console for (online) gaming and the Surface tablets. This department still accounts for about 40% of revenue, with Windows accounting for the lion’s share.
Microsoft’s market capitalization is$929 billion, the largest stock in the world. The estimated P/E ratio for 2019 is 27.29x. KBC Asset Management has a “Buy” recommendation with a price target of $125.
Some of the best games that the company released are:
· Sea of Thieves
· Minecraft
· Age of Empires
· Forza
Sony
Sony from Japan does much more than games. Walking in 7 slots at the same time is not good, but Sony doesn’t seem to be bothered by that. It is a household name in the technology world, but certainly also in that of games. Sony develops its own games and its own consoles, of which PlayStation 5 from 2020, in particular, is a high flyer. It’s a shame there are so many delivery issues, otherwise, Sony could have been much more successful. After all, people not only invest in a console but then also buy games for it.
Nintendo
When you say Microsoft and Sony, we also must mention Nintendo. The third and last major pillar when it comes to making game consoles, although Valve is now also lurking with its Steam Deck to become known for hardware. Nintendo needs no introduction: The Japanese puzzle company was founded in 1889, but shifted to video games in the late 20th century. A smart move: the most beloved and recognizable game characters in the world belong to Nintendo: the characters from Mario, Zelda and Pokémon. In addition, it makes its own game consoles, of which the handheld console hybrid Switch is also a huge hit.
Activision Blizzard
Despite Activision Blizzard being recently acquired by Microsoft but right now it is still a gaming powerhouse in its own right. The company was founded in 2008 by the merger of – unsurprisingly – Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The American company has since created and developed many of the largest franchises and a number of competitive, online games: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Call of Duty, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Crash Bandicoot games and more.
Tencent
Founded in Shenzhen, China, Tencent has grown into one of the largest game companies in the world. Its revenue from games was 13 billion euros in 2021. It is best known for mobile games, such as PUBG: Mobile and Honor of Kings.
Tencent is a bit of an odd one out. While most publishers launch games for PC and/or consoles and offer mobile versions, Tencent mainly derives its income from online gaming and (online) advertising. That makes Tencent the largest online gaming company in the world.
Tencent has a significant advantage over other online gaming companies as it enjoys network effects through WeChat’s very sizable customer base. Tencent thus created a digital ecosystem that aims to meet a wide range of online lifestyle needs of its users. The company plays it smart: it also has shares in many other major game companies around the world. From their ownership of League of Legends developer Riot Games to their 40% stake in Epic Games and 5% stake in Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft, Tencent “messes” with many of the game companies featured in this article that way.
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts (better known as EA) was founded in 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins. The company pioneered software game development and has managed to stay relevant to this day. Thanks in part to long-running franchises such as Battlefield, Need for Speed, The Sims, Dragon Age, Star Wars, FIFA, Madden NFL and NBA Live. EA is especially good in sports games, which are innovated every year and played by countless sports fans (and sports pros). EA is also at the helm of major game studios such as DICE, BioWare and Respawn Entertainment.
It has a market capitalization of $29.3 billion. Americans invest heavily in interactive games and Electronic Arts has a separate department for this: The Competitive Gaming Division. The digital component accounts for 65% of revenue. That includes games offered through Sony’s Playstation Network, Microsoft’s Xbox Store, Apple’s App Store, and Google’s Play store. The estimated P/E ratio for 2019 is 25.08.
About the Author
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An inflatable trophy collapsed at Fifa Word cup 2022 stadium
Doha regrets hosting the Fifa world cup after an embarrassing incident at the stadium when an inflatable trophy collapsed.
Sports Correspondent “Jimmy Hill” Doha
As I sit here in Doha waiting to find out when and where the 2022 Fifa World Cup will start. I can’t help but think back to the great tournaments of the past… 1966, England, the incredible rerun of WWII in which England came out 4-2 victors after extra time – with a little help from a Russian linesman. 1978, Argentina. The blazing heat. The Cruyff no-show. The ticker-tape final in which Mario Kempes’ double strike claimed the $20 million, 18-karat gold FIFA World Cup Trophy. 1998, France. Zinedine Zidane’s masterclass in heading steers the hosts to their first WC Trophy win over a Brazil team in disarray. All incredible, iconic moments in world football. And what did they all have in common? People watched it. In their millions.
Just popping down the Red Lion, love.
Yes. People used to actually watch the Fifa World Cup. It was considered exciting, important even. Men would gather in pubs with big flatscreen TV’s, and leave the remaining members of their families to gather around transistor radios in dingy, poorly furnished living rooms to listen to cracking commentaries from me, John Motson, and Barry Davies.
Children would buy or steal packets of Panini stickers from their local newsagents with which they would quarter-fill their albums. Boy racers would attach flags to their Ford Cortinas as they sped between pubs honking at other fans or teenage girls hanging around shoe shops on the High Street.
Fifa World Cup Fever
Café owners of all nationalities (especially the Greeks and Portuguese) would drape their interiors with their national flags and posters of their star players as they huddled around badly tuned, wall-mounted TVs cheering, yelping, and yelling at every kick of the ball (or foul, if they were Argentinian.)
And boys (this was before girls played football) would take to parks and street corners to emulate their favourite players and re-enact wondrous goals from the day’s play. Even invent winning goals for upcoming games in which they dreamed they’d play.
They think it’s all over… it is now.
I’ve been sitting here for three days, waiting for something to happen. Apparently, the tournament began on Sunday with a game between the hosts and Ecuador. I have no idea what happened. Nor, it seems does anyone else. All I know is that lots of people aren’t allowed to wear rainbow armbands and that something is going on in the stadiums while everyone is at work
Chris Rea will be prevented from driving home for Christmas this year due to his local garage failing his beloved Fiat 500’s MOT.
Rea, 71, famous for driving home from concert tours for Christmas to his wife, Joan, and children, Josephine and Christina, told the Suffolk Gazette that this year he would be spending the whole festive season out on the road to hell with his band. “Yeah, wey am gooted laike.” (Rea is from Middlesbrough) “Ah alwees draives hyem for Chrismass laike, but this year I can’t.
Them basstuds in the garage, wouldn’t pass me Fiat laike. Even wen ah ses tiv ‘em… ‘D’yee knaa who ay am?’ They ses ‘actuaaly, we de knaa who yee are. Yoor that Chris Rea off ther radio who sings that sang – Driving hyem fur Christmas aren’t yee leik?’”
We tried to keep up with what Rea was saying…
“’Aye’, I ses. ‘Ow d’yee knaa who I am, then?’ ‘n’ this cheeky basstud says ‘Becos yee left yoor cack CD in yer car radio and that’s an instant fail.’”
Your name’s not down. You’re not coming in to Qatar World cup 2022.
LGBTQ+ football fans are justifiably feeling excluded from the 2022 Qatar World Cup because of the Muslim Country’s hostile treatment towards same-sex couples.
Gay, lezzer, and all the other exotic sexual preferences are banned in the ‘somewhere-in-the-middle-eastern’ country, preventing followers from enjoying not only sporting tournaments, but also: the Eurovision song contest, BBC re-runs of ‘Are you being served?’, Village People tribute acts and documentaries about Martina Navratilova.
Qatar World Cup: Discrimi-nation
But LGBTQ-plussers shouldn’t feel alone. Why? Because everyone else in the world has been excluded too! Qatar WC ’22 is the most inaccessible world cup ever staged. For a kick-off, no one knows where Qatar is, let alone how to get there. If it could be found on a map, it is rumoured to be one of the most expensive regions in the Middle East for a tourist to visit. The cost of beer, wine, and spirits in Catarrh is super inflated with a pint of draft beer costing about £12, and an off-license bottle of wine around £30 – and you have to get pissed when you watch football.
We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun… before Qatar WC ‘22
Then there is the choice of season. It’s winter FFS. World cups are supposed to be held in summer so that the picture on the telly is fuzzy due to the heat rising up from the cauldron atmosphere of the arena. And English football fans back in England like to go to the pub wearing singlets, shorts, and sandals. Not anoraks, balaclavas and Wellington boots. And who agreed for England matches to take place on a Monday at 1pm? 1pm? On a Monday? Do people in Catarrh not have jobs? Lunch breaks in England end at 1pm – FFS.
We all stand together
So there we have it. Welcome to Qatar World Cup 2022, slogan “Now is All” which apparently stands for “When you live your dream, realise your destiny – and own the moment.” What bollocks. No-one in the UK, whether gay, straight, or employed is living a dream, realising their destiny, nor owning the moment. And considering no one is able to affordably visit the place, a more fitting slogan would be…
“Qatar World Cup 2022. Your name’s not down. You’re not coming in.”
A man who found a cheque to the value of £4 million made out to Confectioners Haribo, has been ‘rewarded’ with only six bags of sweets.
Retired bus driver Hernando Aribo, 71 from Lagos, Portugalnoticed the cheque lying in a puddle on the platform of Gosbeck station in Suffolk.
Haribo’s Hero
Hernando who has lived in Gosbeck for over 30 years, told this reporter that upon noticing the sum on the cheque. He nearly fell over backwards. “When I saw the sum on the cheque. I started to fall over backwards, which was unusual because I normally fall forwards when I find something of this nature.”
Maybe
Mr Aribo grew up in Portugal as the fourth son of a goat herder from the small town of Ikanna near Lagos. The family was dirt poor but little Aribo always dreamt of being a multi-millionaire bus driver. “I always dreamt of being a multi-millionaire bus driver. I used to say to myself – Hernando – Maybe one day some luck will come your way and you will easily get your £4 million. Maybe. But maybe not.”
Maybe not
Hernando, who, as a retired public servant doesn’t have to ha’pennys to rub together,.wasn’t sure what to do with the cheque. “I noticed that the cheque was payable to Haribo, which is a coincidence because my initials are H.Aribo. How strange! The only difference between the payee and my own name is a little tiny full-stop dot. Such bad luck! Ha ha ha. Even though I had always dreamt of having £4 million,.and even though the only thing that was stopping me from being able to cash the cheque was the omission of a little tiny full-stop dot, and even though I had a black biro pen in my jacket pocket, I just didn’t know what to do with cheque.”
So what did you do with the cheque, H.Aribo?
“I sent it to Haribo and got six bags of sweets as a reward.”
