Battle Red Blog
The Houston Texans organization has pulled a fast one on its fans and the media. They’ve drawn a veil of ignorance over us, trying to hide the truth about Joe Mixon until it was certain he’d miss part of the season. When they couldn’t delay anymore, they announced Joe Mixon would be put on reserve/non-football injury list, sidelining him for at least four games.
Third-year head coach DeMeco Ryans and seasoned GM Nick Caserio delayed, denied, and diffused any questions regarding running back Joe Mixon’s health until the last possible moment. That moment occurred last Tuesday when official 53-man rosters were required to be announced.
This is the first true deception under the DeMeco Ryans’ era. It felt both uniquely pernicious, but oddly familiar. It harkened back to the dictatorial era of Bill O’Brien where nothing was certain and the media were impertinent for even asking.
We can only speculate, but it’s possible they were well aware he was not fit to play at any point this offseason, and instead of inform the public early on, they chose to deceive everyone with vague, future-tense phrases and jargon. Press conferences communicating Mixon’s health situation was “Still developing” and “is progressing”, which eluded to his future return were all purposefully vague with the intention to delay and shroud.
This is how trust wanes between the media and the front office. This is how fans don’t take the front office’s communication at face value. While this is an insult from the Texans’ organization, the media also failed to press hard enough to elicit the right information from the coach and GM.
To be clear and fair, this is not a request to violate players’ HIPPA rights. Nor is this asking for team doctors to post TikTok’s of their players’ updates. What the request is for Houston sports media to step up its expectations for honest and transparent communication from its professional clubs. Coming from someone with no media pass, there are no ramifications of me requesting harder questions from our media collectives. However, those who do have the ability to get facetime with the leaders of the Texans franchise should do so with a starwart desire for the truth.
Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan M. Alexander put it well on Twitter where he voiced his grievances with Ryans’ off-putting comments on the media’s ability to be incorrect without perceived repercussions. If anyone has done their part, it’s Alexander who continually asked and exclaimed about Mixon’s health.
So here we are, days away from the 2025 season with our RB1 sidelined for an indefinite period and a motley crew of running backs to replace him. Those replacements being an over-the-hill Nick Chubb, unproven fourth-round rookie, a one-hit-wonder in Dameon Pierce, and a guy named Dare Ogumbowale. Here’s to hoping the passing game takes off more than our media’s willingness to press its sports’ teams.
