While I agree with you, re: Schaub - I'm not by any means disappointed in him; I do disagree with dumping this on Kubiak. Kubiak expects his guys to make plays. And for 3Qs, Schaub made plays - look at the #s I posted earlier: 15/25, 266, 1 TD and to my memory, few, if any, WTF throws through 3Qs. Solid game. No, no - GREAT game. He's on pace for 355 and no INTs on 33 passes. Darn impressive. Kubiak asked *that* guy, Mr. 60%; 355, to go win the game. And... Schaub shrunk. He had issues, sure - no Foster, some drops, improved defense...... But the plays are there - go rewatch: open receivers, etc. And darn-near threw 3 picks in the quarter. If you're telling me Kubiak should expect his QB to falter in the 4Q and gameplan accordingly then, well, we've got a MAJOR problem at QB.
You've got a QB who goes down very easily when pressure comes, a RB who doesn't pick up blitzes well, doesn't catch the ball well out of the backfield and doesn't do his job on screen plays. In the 4th quarter, why are you running a play that leaves Schaub alone in the backfield while his RB is jogging around forgetting to look for the ball? Go max protect. The Saints start blitzing the hell out of Schaub. Take Tate out of the game if he can't pick it up. Put Casey back there and use him as the RB to help block for Schaub or be his safety net. We know what Schaub is. Schaub is immobile, but worse, he's clumsy. When he tries to get away from a sack he normally loses his balance and falls. He can't throw the ball very well on the move. When the game is on the line and you KNOW Greg Williams is going to crash the backfield with 6 or 7 guys, why are you leaving Schaub back there to lose the game for you by getting killed?
4 drives where we left 16 possible points on the field. vs. 2 drives where we left 14 possible points on the field. (And that's being kind, since those drives started so far back that a field goal was a much more acceptable outcome, as opposed to the earlier drives, a few of which started inside the Saints' 40) If we had converted two of those early drives, it changes the entire complexion of the game, and we likely win it. Failing 4 times inside the 15 is a bigger deal than failing 2 times on our side of the field.
Schaub QB Rating splits (season) 1st Q: 96 2nd Q: 138 3rd Q: 84 4th Q: 76 And he definitely looked paler and paler as the 4th quarter went on yesterday. I did notice that we almost completely abandoned the boot yesterday. I do wonder if that was intentional, given how Miami started sending blitzers from Schaub's blind side (the direction of the boot) a week ago and the Saints are eager to blitz as well. I still can't express how batty it made me when Moore caught a solid pass for a first down and Kareem felt that was a good moment to start jawing at him. Enter Lance Moore's beast mode, including a TD on Jackson.
I mostly agree; especially swapping Casey for Tate. I will put that on Kubiak. The reason they're throwing is because it's wiiiiiiiiide-open. Schaub wasn't throwing into triple or even double-coverage. Guys are open on every play. He made poor decisions; poor decisions he hadn't made in the first 3Qs. He handed the game to Schaub and he coughed it up. He did. He was terrible in the 4Q. His interception wasn't a result of being rushed and his two-other near picks were terrible decisions where, again, he wasn't flushed from the pocket.
Anecdotally only (not looked for stats), I feel like his 4th quarter woes are often the result of the other team blitzing more at the end of the game.
When the other team Blitz's that is a great time for a QB to take advantage of matchups in the 2ndary. DD
This is kind of a silly "season" stat. Until yesterday, Matt had thrown 5 passes in the 4th quarter all year. So, you might as well just show us a picture of the Saints game, where he threw 17 passes in the 4th quarter.
Donny, No one is blaming all of this on Matt, but we can all certainly say he did not play up to his own standards in the 4th. Clearly the team could have scored more in the first half, and more in the 2nd half..... Sometimes the offense is called upon to win the game, or even tie it up, and it choked. Some of that is on Schaub, some on Kubiak...but the thing is that this has been a recurring problem for years, there is a reason the team loses all those close games......and it is something that needs to be fixed......for this team to go where it really should be, talent wise... Schaub is good enough to win a Superbowl with, but he needs better play calling, and he needs to quit getting happy feet in the redzone...... DD
The Saints score 23 points in the fourth quarter yesterday ... and ... people here are giving grief to Kubiak and Schaub for not scoring more points!!! The Texans lost the game since their defense could not stop the Saints offense, especially in the fourth quarter.
Maybe because we expected the offense to be on the field a little longer than they were Defense was practically on the field the whole 4th question. They could not get off the field and when they did . ..the Offense had them back out there in like a minute or two . . . barely time to get their breath Rocket River
I wouldn't say he's THAT bad but from what I have observed, he gets very rattled when there's pressure coming up the middle that forces him to backpedal. Plus, if you can get a couple of good hits on him, he does get the "happy feet". Schaub is basically a system QB who has to get (and stay) in a rhytmn in order to be effective. He will not elevate those around him nor can he be counted on to carry a team like say a Manning, Brees or Rodgers. But if you can keep him upright, run the ball successfully and not turnover the football, you can win with Schaub.
WTF does this even mean? Can somebody explain this or quantify it? Is this just the lazy man's way of saying he doesn't have good mobility or a big arm?
They didn't need to score a single point in the 4Q. What they needed to do was drain the clock, move the ball and, at the very least, make NO drive the length of the field to score. The offense made it far too easy for the Saints to exploit our defense.
I think its a way of saying he's not elevating the system. Cody Carlson could run the run-n-shoot effectively; but not as well as Warren Moon. (Or, more apt comparison - Sage Rosenfels succeeded in this system; but wasn't as good as Schaub. See also: Tate and Foster.)
