I’ve posted no shortage of biased and shoddy journalism here, but today’s example is a pretty breathtaking example of basic journalistic incompetence, even though it comes from outside the world of politics.
This Sunday, the Texans beat the Steelers 30-6, thanks in large measure to continued strong play by Texans rookie quarterback C. J. Stroud. But after discussing that win, Timm Hamm of FanNation (owned by Sports Illustrated) wanted to talk about the offensive line in “Texans’ Pricey O-Line Is Making CJ Stroud A Star.”
Houston general manager Nick Caserio knew the importance of protecting the team’s investment at quarterback and paid special attention to improving the offensive line in the offseason.
In March, Caserio traded for Bucs right guard Shaq Mason, then extended left tackle Laremy Tunsil, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. A month later, Caserio moved up in the 2023 NFL Draft to take Penn State center Juice Scruggs.
“If you want to be a great offense, you got to have a great protector at the left tackle position,” coach DeMeco Ryans said, “and that’s what Laremy provides for us.” But Caserio wasn’t done yet. In the month following the draft, Caserio extended Mason and right tackle Tytus Howerd [sic. He means Tytus Howard.-LP].
All of this is true, but omits one vital piece of context: Mason, Tunsil, Scruggs and Howard didn’t play in the Steelers game. The Texans have suffered a staggering number of offensive line injuries in the preseason and the first few games.
For the third consecutive week, the Texans were forced to play without four starting offensive linemen. Laremy Tunsil missed his third consecutive game with a knee injury.
In addition to those starters missing time, the Texans also were without backup left tackle Josh Jones, who has a hand injury.
The Texans started 2022 sixth-round pick Austin Deculus at left tackle. Deculus was signed from the practice squad to the roster ahead of the game. The Texans also played Geron Christian Jr., who signed to the team’s practice squad and was called up prior to the game as a standard elevation.
Indeed, the truly amazing thing about Stroud and this Texans team’s success is how well they’ve done despite the O-line injuries, a rookie quarterback, a rookie head coach (DeMeco Ryans), and a rookie offensive coordinator (Bobby Slowik).
Will the Texans play better when their starting offensive line is healthy? Probably. But the entire point of the article, that Stroud was playing so well in some measure thanks to how much money Houston has put into the offensive line, isn’t supported by the facts because the very players Hamm just discussed weren’t in the game he was just talking about.
Is Timm Hamm an AI, or is this just massive journalistic incompetence? And how much massive incompetence in the media do we miss just because we’re not experts on the subject, or simply weren’t paying attention?
Tags: Football, Houston Texans, Media Watch, NFL, Sports Illustrated, Texas, Timm Hamm
I’ve said it elsewhere and I’ll say it again, one of the best things anybody could do would be parking a panel truck filled with ANFO under or next to the HQ’s of every MSM firm in the country, Canada, and Europe.
The MSM are not private entities. Not anymore. They are 5th columnists plain and simple. They have been acting as an unaccountable institutional estate in the West and are completely shot through with intelligence agents, Marxists, freeloaders and political operatives of all varieties. They don’t even pay lip service to the objectivity of yesteryear, if they ever were.
Destroying them is right up there in priority to torching the Fed.
“…how much massive incompetence in the media do we miss just because we’re not experts on the subject…”
Just so.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_Amnesia_effect
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a television recap and the recapper gets basic facts wrong about what happened in the episode, what a character did or who a character was, etc., and I always think to myself “These people get paid for this!!!”