Texans special teams are preventing your bad team from hiring its next head coach

Never, ever forget about the crucial third phase of a football game. Fresh off their first playoff victory of the DeMeco Ryans era, the Houston Texans have been more than a problem for the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Divisional Round. While it was an offensive fireworks show at home last week vs. Joe Flacco and the not-elite Cleveland Browns, it has been all about their special teams.

Houston's first 10 points in their win-or-go-home road game at Baltimore were because of the Texans' special teams. Their first three points came off the sure-footed boot of Ka'imi Fairbairn. Field goals are field goals, but Steven Sims' punt return helped tie the low-scoring game up at 10 points apiece. All the while, we may have to wait yet another week for Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik to get his own NFL team.

See, the Texans' special teams unit is what is keeping Houston in his game, despite being the road underdog. Slowik will almost certainly be the first branch to stem off the DeMeco Ryans coaching tree. Along with Ben Johnson of the Detroit Lions and to some degree Dave Canales of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, these are the young, up-and-coming head-coaching candidates who are offensive coordinators.

So if your bad NFL team needs another week to hire Slowik as your next head coach, that is why.

Texans special teams preventing Bobby Slowik from getting a better job

With the New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders promoting defensive minds from within, that leaves us with six head-coaching vacancies across the league. While teams like the Atlanta Falcons and the Los Angeles Chargers seem to favor candidates with previous head-coaching experience, it remains to be seen what the other teams will want to do. Surely, all six teams want to speak to Slowik.

The appeal to hiring Slowik is obvious. His side of the ball is what wins and loses games more readily in the NFL. He stems from the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree from his days working alongside Ryans in San Francisco. Because he worked at Pro Football Focus for a few years in between coaching jobs, he has a reputation for being one with analytics. Plus, have you seen how well C.J. Stroud is playing?!

While not all offensive minds pan out as head coaches, this may be the offseason cycle that Slowik gets a team of his own to lead. Johnson is more likely to get one over him because his name first came up during last year's revolutions on the coaching carousel. Slowik may be deemed a tad green, but he is more likely to get a job than Canales would, all things equal. It is all about winning the games.

It is only fitting that Fairbairn missed a field goal shortly before the end of the first half of the game...