I’ve had this post in drafts for a while and it’s finally time to release it to the public.

After a 2-14 2013 season, the only reward Texans fans were looking forward to was the 1st overall pick. Jadeveon Clowney was a once-in-a-generation talent and was supposed to pair up with J.J. Watt as one of the best combos of pass rushers in NFL history.

But it was all too good to be true. Clowney tore his meniscus in the second quarter of his debut. He was expected to come back during the season though and contribute, as he was expected to just miss 4-6 weeks.

Aug 23, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Houston Texans linebacker(90) on the sidelines in the third quarter of a preseason game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Texans defeated the Broncos 18-17. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

In classic Texans luck, Clowney was on the long end of the timetable, missing weeks 2-7 with the leg injury. Before week 7’s MNF tilt against the Steelers, the Texans were hopeful he could see some playing time. He got in two limited practices but would end up being inactive to try and get him fully healthy for week 8.

By week 8 the Texans were 3-4 having lost three straight tough games against the Cowboys, Colts, and Steelers. All three were winnable – a story for a different time – but for whatever reason, whether it be QB play, lack of a pass rush, some terrible turnovers, the Texans couldn’t pull it out.

Clowney was active in the Texans week 8 win against the Titans and played on a bit of a “pitch count” but the Texans said he came out healthy.

Then the weekend of week 9 happened. Clowney should have been feeling pretty good after week 8’s game but apparently he had an illness that had to keep him out week 9. What’s interesting is that some reported he was out with an illness on Friday, almost 48 hours before the game.

Reports that weekend swirled that the Texans were growing frustrated with Clowney’s inability to get healthy from his torn meniscuc and then the illness. Jayson Braddock (SportsTalk790) actually reported the Texans frustration a full two weeks before Rapoport, saying the Texans wanted him to play against the Steelers.

The Wednesday after the Texans loss to the Eagles, in which Clowney missed the game, Clowney said his knee was still not right. From John McClain (Houston Chronicle):

“There are certain things going on with my knee still,” Clowney said. “I’m not able to do the things I want to do. “It’s just not where it needs to be right now. We’re taking a step back and trying to get it to where we need it be so I can play.” Asked if he’s concerned that playing might make his knee worse, Clowney said, “There’s some concern, but a lot bigger concern is playing with it now and not being able to do the things I want to do, that I was doing before I got hurt. We’re going to keep working to get back to that.”

The bye week came at a good time for Clowney and he would return against the Cleveland Browns in week 11. He played in 40-of-79 snaps and looked pretty solid in his return. He played against the Cincanatti Bengals in week 12, but the only memory of him playing in that game for me was when he was clearly offsides on a pick-6 the Texans returned for a TD.

A week later Clowney went to see Dr. James Andrews and he was then placed on IR and underwent microfracture surgery on December 9th to repair his torn meniscus.

Now lets talk about Ryan Mallett.

Nov 16, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Houston Texans quarterback(15) at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

As y’all probably know by now, I was on the “Mallett should start at QB” train since he had been acquired in late August. Unfortunately, I only got my wish week 11 following the Texans bye week.

Mallett, as expected, looked really good against the Browns. He completed 20-of-30 passes for 211 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT. Most importantly, Mallett threw the ball deep. He looked for both Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins on routes over 20 yards and actually connected a few times.

Everything was looking pretty good for the Texans at that point. Besides Clowney’s injury issue, the Texans were 5-5 with 6 games to go and certainly in the playoff race.

But something strange happened week 12 against the Bengals. Mallett was totally off. He finished the whole game completing just 21-of-45 passes for 0 TDs and 1 INT. His QB rating was just 49.2. He misfired high a bunch of times and looked completely out of sync.

So what happened? According to the reliable Ian Rapoport (NFL.com), Mallett injured his pectoral muscle during pregame warmups. A few days later the Texans placed him on the Injured Reserve ending his season.

This is where someone needs to be held accountable. Twice this season the Texans had key players injured and were brought back too early.

Let’s start with Clowney. Yes, Clowney was the #1 overall pick and there’s a lot of pressure for him to perform and get on the field right away. However, if the guy is hurt the guy is hurt. Who let him come back against the Titans in week 8?

It’s clear that the week 9 illness was NOT the reason Clowney was held out of the game. That was a complete coverup by the Texans front office to not get bashed for his mishandling. If anyone watched ESPN’s pregame coverage on Sunday they showed Clowney walking into the stadium. Clowney was smiling and actually looked pretty healthy to me.

It was clearly a coverup. The Texans brought him back to early, his knee acted up, and the Texans decided to use an illness as coverup. I actually believe he was sick, but who rules out someone with an illness a whole 48 hours before the game is even scheduled? Two days is plenty of time to recover and most players would play through the lasting hours of a flu or whatever the sickness actually was.

That was just the first time the Texans botched an injury. Someone on the Texans is responsible for the way they mishandled Clowney and someone, maybe the same person, is equally responsible for the mishandling of Ryan Mallett.

What happened between the time that Mallett was injured pregame to the time the game started? I’m going to assume team doctors evaluated him and Mallett likely said he could play through it. I’m also going to assume Head Coach Bill O’Brien was involved in the decision. Did he see Mallett through post injury during warmups? I don’t know.

But the way the Texans poorly handled the Mallett situation cost them the game and very likely the playoffs.

You could see right away Mallett was terrible in the first series against the Bengals. Nothing changed the second, third, or fourth series. What was O’Brien thinking if he knew Mallett was injured? Why wasn’t he pulled for Ryan Fitzpatrick? Heck, I was the biggest fan on the “Bench Fitzpatrick, Start Mallett” train but you don’t continue trotting out your quarterback if he’s hurt.

If O’Brien knew about Mallett’s injury he should have pulled Mallett right away. It cost them the season. That one may be on O’Brien, assuming he knew Mallett was injured pregame.

Is O’Brien the one to blame for Clowney’s mishandling? I don’t know. Maybe it’s the training staff, maybe it’s a specific doctor or coach. It’s unclear.

The Texans, or someone within the Texans, really screwed up with Jadeveon Clowney and Ryan Mallett’s injury and it cost them a chance at the playoffs.

Who it was, we may never find out.