No, no – understood. And I agree, totally. I’ve been supremely disappointed these past two years. FWIW, I don’t actually consider my posts “arguments” – I’m merely trying to bring a little context to what I find is the angry, knee-jerk, “fire everybody!’ vitriolic responses (not that you’re guilty of that here; I’m speaking more generally) that too often dominate these discussions. I think mentioning/discussing “deeper” (term used VERY loosely) context makes it easier to grasp just how far away/close the team really is to actually achieving its goals. I look at these last two years (well, year and half), and the one thing that stands out first and foremost to me is that, for all that’s wrong, for all their faults - they really, truly are - *literally* - 6 plays away from potentially being a much *different* team. Remove those 6 games (both JAX games last year along with ARI and TEN; and then the JAX game this year along with NYJ), and the team is 14-8. That’s a 10-win pace. So if they just win 63% of those 6 games, they’re 18-10. I am not – NOT, NOT, NOT – arguing they should be 18-10. But I think it gives us a clearer picture that, warts and all, this team is very, very close to being as good as we want them to be. And I think – my opinion, of course – is that when you’re talking about PLAYS – not games but plays – that comes down to the personnel. Kubiak the head coach has had his team in position to potentially win 6 additional games. I’ll put the inexplicable halfback pass game on him; but Kr/Chris Brown not successfully completing elemental tasks for professional football players of their ilk? A ridiculously unfortunate bounce on a one-in-a-million Hail Mary? A seemingly impossible 80-yard drive in 50 seconds with no timeouts? I think they lack the appropriate personnel. I’m in favor of a new head coach; I think Kubiak has had long enough to get this team over the hump. I’m merely suggesting that Kubiak, the GM, has been the real culprit here and that IF McNair wants to bring him back, I’d be OK with it if they hire a real GM, strip Kubiak of final-say personnel power and force him to hire a non-pipeline defensive coordinator who can bring a list of accomplishments to the table.
you would get a lot of arguments from the people in Dallas, Washington, Philly and NY on that statement Having 2 "average at best" teams (Jax and Houston) does not qualify this as the toughest division in football.....the NFC East, imo, has been way tougher over the past 10 years. Just because the division is tough for the TEXANS to win, doesnt mean its a tough division.
I'm actually not; I'm merely arguing all these "one year turnaround wonders" are not apples-to-apples applicable to the Texans, given those teams aren't a) as bad as the Texans were in 2005; b) having those turnarounds within the most inhospitable AFC South. If you ask me, straight-up: Have the Texans underachieved these past two years? I'd answer, definitively, yes. But if you were to ask me: Is it fair to hold the Texans to the same standard as (insert quick turnaround team here), I'd answer, "No. Not at all." I don't consider those excuses.
I was talking specifically about the last 2 years. Saints were 13-3 last year and 8-3 this year, yet the Falcons are still ahead of them in the standings. Like I said, I'm only talking about the last 2 years - years when the Texans had enough talent IMO to make the playoffs. So with that being said, 09 and '10 are the only years that matter. Like I said earlier, if we don't get SWEPT by the subpar jags, we go 11-5 and make the playoffs. Throw in the fact that no one wants to win the division this year and you have 2 years when the Texans really had a shot at making the playoffs but somehow found a way to blow it. A hail mary, an untimely INT to a lineman, letting a team go 75 yards in 20 seconds...can't you see a pattern here? We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I'd agree if we were talking about college football. There's just too much parity in the NFL to blame the schedule every year. Well....a lot of that is because each team in the division gets to play the Texans twice a year. But they were 3-13 last year. You can't argue that they haven't improved. Can you say that about the Texans? Can you say the Texans have improved at all in the last 4 years? What about last year? We should have beaten: JAC (endzone fumble), ARI (spotted them 21 points), TEN (how about stopping VY on 3rd down just once...), and JAC (Stagger Lee II). Win just ONE of those games and we're in the playoffs and not even having this discussion. Like I said, it's a pattern. This song should be the Texans fight song: Spoiler <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rXPMYA7EqYE?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rXPMYA7EqYE?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
BTW, which division are the Texans playing this year? It's actually pretty doggone close - but I'd argue the South has been better since 2002. Here are the top two win totals each year for the South’s first and second place teams (excluding the Texans), followed by the East's: ’02: 11, 10 | 12, 10 ’03: 12, 12 | 12, 10 ’04: 12, 9 | 13, 6 (three teams finished 6-10, FYI) ‘05: 14, 12 | 11, 10 ’06: 12, 8 | 10, 9 ’07: 13, 11, (and 10 - FYI) | 13, 10 ’08: 13, 12 | 12, 9 ’09: 14, 8 | 11, 11 Combining top 2 records, the South had the two better teams in 6 of the past 8 seasons. And in that time, the East has had at least one 10+ loss team in all but 2 of the years (same as the South - but we're including an expansion team in that mix; excluding the Texans, the South has had a 10+ loss team in just five of the past 8 seasons.) But, ultimately: irrelevant. The AFC South has undeniably been a terrific(ly hard) division for every single year of the Texans' existence.
As I said: I think the Falcons are a fair comparison. But they've pretty much taken as long as the Texans, this year excluded. And I'm not excluding it because I'm discounting what they've done this year but because it's the first year where you can legitimately say, No doubt, no fluke: It looks like the Falcons have gotten over the hump and separated themselves from the Texans. I'm not *blaming* the schedule so much as *crediting* it - see the difference? I think the Texans should be winning 60-odd% of their games. I don't think, however, if given the same schedule, you could say the same about the Chiefs and/or Bucs. They have easy schedules and are taking advantage. The Texans have a hard schedule and are shrinking to the challenge. I don't think I've argued they haven't improved; but let's see what their record is next year before we dismiss an easy schedule and just assume they're now a legitimate playoff contender. And, FYI: We don't how the season will play out, but the Bucs have thus far enjoyed a 4-game improvement over last year; same as Kubiak enjoyed in his first season. I'm just sayin'...
Point taken. However, I'll bet if Morris goes 8-8, 8-8, 9-7, and 6-10 in the next 4 years, he gets canned.
If the Texans go 8-8 and end up keeping Kubiak then McNair better pull a Bud Adams on the coach. Remember when Jack Pardee's defense wasn't getting it done so Bud Adams went ahead and hired Buddy Ryan to be his defensive coordinator. McNair and Ric need to go outside of Kubiak's circle of friends and bring in Phillips to run the defensive side of the ball.
I have come to terms that there will be no honorary discharge from battle for Kubiak. The only logical thing would be to bring in a new DC. I think wade would be a perfect candidate. During the Colts vs Chargers game, they were talking about how awesome Mr. Rivera was and that he consulted with wade all the time. That the 3-4 was basically the 4-3, with the ability to hide where the extra defender is coming from. I say Clean house and change defensive scheme. Go to any team that runs the 3-4 and offer a 3rd round pick for their back up nose tackle, but don't mention that your changing schemes. Then you draft a play making safety, linebacker, linebacker, linebacker, and linebacker. We already do that with TEs. Mario has the ability to play the 3-4 end technique so no problem there. SS:first round pick FS: Nolan CB: New veteran free agent/ another veteran free agent/jackson CB: GQ/allen ROLB: Barwin ILB: RYANS ILB:Cushing LOLB:Second round pick/Diles LDE: Mario NT: Ron Brace via NE for third round pick RDE: Antonio smith We can go from the 31st most god awful D to the 20th ranked D!!! Hopefully this upcoming season the organization realizes that we need some veterans at the cornerback position.
They are the Redskins and Chiefs game away this year from being 3-9 instead of 5-7. They've had similar games, that but for a few plays, could have gone either way the last 2 year as well. Which is why they are 8-8 ish every year. maybe a game or two. when there's a trend, though. no. coaching definitely has an impact. moreover, coaching has an impact in how you get to those plays. why are you in so many close games? the Jax and NYJ games this year, you only have on your list because they had those great comebacks in the second to get in position to have that one play where they blew the game. Great that they made it back....why were they so far behind in the first place? we all know its been a tale of two halfs this year. that's coaching. and that's coaching that ultimately results in situations where at best the game could go either way.
FIFY This year the Texans are a SECOND HALF TEAM last year. . . it could be the 1st . .could be the second. . you never knew but you knew. . . it was ONLY GOING TO BE ONE HALF Rocket River
But 5 of those 6 games just puts you into overtime. There is no guarantee they win those games had those plays been converted. As stated already, you can make the case that the Washington and KC game could have been losses. What if NE plays Brady for the whole game at the end of last years? It's a trend that they can't seem to close games out and that falls on coaching.
