I think Schaub can be successfull if he takes better care of the ball, but he needs a much better running attack, Slaton is great but you really shouldn't expect him to be a 30 carry per game workhorse. Winston- agreed , overall played well WR's- I think Walters and Anderson are pretty good against cover 2 but they can get man upped and struggle. I would like us to scheme Owen Daniels alot more and get him the ball more. The real issue is on the defensive side. The offense I think could settle down to more ball control with a larger RB to tandem with Slaton, takes pressure off Schaub. The defense just can't cover - the secondary is really bad, at least for making the playoffs. (Greenwood needs to go- I'm ready to see if Abibi (?sp) can play)
Hate to agree but it's true...Kubiak, IMHO, doesn't have his players buying in...I don't see the sense of urgency/intensity...Smith supplies to players, which are suspect at best...We have some good players, but the majority of them don't fit...
mckinney said the same thing monday morning on john and lance's show. i think (as usual), justice is off his rocker saying this morning that the team quit on kubiak sunday. if anything, they quit on rosenfels. how can you not be demoralized by his performance sunday coming on the heels of what he did against the colts? as for ryans, he said absolutely nothing. the author isn't just taking liberties, he's making **** up; there's no substance to his quote.
sorry - just now saw this and i disagree. first of all, you're dismissing a key component: he's signed, drafted and/or developed most of the contributors on offense and he deserves credit for that. walter was a 4th or 5th string WR in cincinnati; daniels was a 4th round pick; schaub was a back-up with two career starts - they've all played exceedingly well this year. hell, look at rosenfels: there was a time fans thought he was good enough to start and other teams were actually offering us picks for him - considering his unstellar career prior to coming here, that's on kubiak, too. kubiak's biggest fault is his (seemingly) indecisiveness during games - i think he overthinks things. and it's gotten worse, which makes me think he's probably missing mike sherman more than we know (and who would probably crawl back and clean toliets right now if it got him a one-way ticket out of that mess he inherited in B/CS). i hope those things can get ironed out as he moves forward without a sherman-type mentor for him to lean on. i think kubiak should be beyond safe. if guys like dunta are making that kind of declarative statement about him, he obviously hasn't lost his players.
There has obviously been a HUGE improvement in draft picks and FAs since the Capers/Casserly era but that's not really hard to do. But that's only half of the job. Look at the Bengals, they have unbelievable talent on the offensive side of the ball but they are downright terrible. I really think the Schaub trade is still up in the air, mainly because of how much we gave up for him. I also think you could argue that not trading Sage when his stock was high might have been a mistake, but I think that goes back to Schaub and not being able to rely on him staing healthy. Absolutely agree. Kubiak's decision making this year has been questionable at best. I think going from a veteran coach in Mike Sherman to a 28-year old assistant in Shanahan has been a problem. Richard Smith is terrible.
I thought players were all professionals and gave the same amount of effort under all circumstances, etc, etc? Or is there actually something called leadership (or lack of, in this case) in play?
yeah, schaub is good; but he's not two 2s good - and few QBs are. in theory, i agree with the rosenfels idea - but then, who'd be playing QB right now? and i know, i know - they're 3-6, who cares. but considering they're literally two plays away from being 5-4 (and that doesn't mean i think they SHOULD be 5-4) - would you really want.... bradlee van pelt as your #2 on a potential contender? good point on shanahan.
they would have been 5-3 hosting 5-3 baltimore this weekend with... alex brink at QB. they would've been contenders by definition.
They'd have been pretenders. Contenders are teams with legitimate chances to win in the playoffs. The Texans, no matter what their record is, was, or will be by the end of the season, were not contenders going into this season and they aren't going to be at any point in it. The talent level is so low on this team.
again, at 5-4, no matter their level of legitimacy, they would have been viewed as contenders - especially by all these fans sick and tired of the losing. they would have been apocolyptic that the season they've been waiting 15 years for was about to be handed to billy joe tollivar - or whomever. if schaub is their guy, they HAVE to have a competent back-up QB until he proves he can play an entire season upright.
I know this thread was appropriately discontinued, in preparation of the big Texans blowout they'll put on the Colts.. IMPROVEMENT = Better than before. I spook in a generic kind of absolute that good coaches make lesser guys play better (a good coach makes EVERYONE play better, hence why they're good.) I said it "appears" the Texans do not have a good coach. Which implied the Texans have "enough" on D (to be good) and blame falls squarely on the coach. Again, appearing to not be good is a broad, general observation. If there is a unit on the Texans where the casual observer can make that comment, its the Texans defense. That doesnt necessarily mean to not hold mediocre players accountable and get the coaching carousel going. But, NFL is the grand game where you are what you are, your record is exactly where you're at and speaks for itself. You talk down about the product you're being too down unreasonably trying to stir emotion in the fanbase. If you talk up the product as being better than it shows, you're still being unreasonable? Cuz it will lead to overly heightened expectation? Better yet, you say they have 6 decent guys you're still being unreasonable. Cuz they really only have 4...but then to look at the bright side again and notice the incremental improvement cuz its better than the 2 they had before? Sports...
This season is rapidly shaping up as a referendum on not only R Smith but G Kubiak as well. Now I have to agree with Shroopy2 in that you are what you your records says that you are and for the Texans, that pretty much sums it up. I would also have to agree with Ric in principle that compared to what went on before, Kubiak has indeed improved the roster in a significant way. However, that's not really saying all that much. They were so abysmally coached and managed under the previous regime, that compared to what went on before, some improvement was inevitable with the dismissal of said group of dimwits. So the real question is why, despite all of the improvement made by Kubiak, why haven't the results on the field been better? I believe the answer goes back to something that has concerned me from the beginning with Kubiak: his decision making. I still not sold on his decision-making capacity. In my view, this is what has served to hold this team back. He was wrong on Carr, Green, Reeves, Brown and Richard Smith. His decision to entrust the running game to the likes of Green has backfired and undermined his offense's ability to establish consistency. Even the emergency of Steve Slaton hasn't been enough to offset this critical eror in judgement. His decision on first Carr and then Schaub has not paid off. And his continued support of the job that Smith is doing is bordering on the absurb. Despite this, I still feel that next year will be his make or break year. If they are this bad next year, then Kubiak will a goner.
Get rid of this clown!! I cant count how many 3rd and longs the colts converted!! Defense lost this game. High draft pick again makes me want to puke.
I know that McNair doesn't like to fire anyone during the season. I think Chris Palmer is the only Texans coach that has gotten canned in the middle of the season. There is no legitimate reason anyone can give that would convince me that Richard Smith should be employed tomorrow. That was a pathetic defense in the 2nd half. It was wrong call after wrong call. The Colts adjusted and the Texans didn't. Smith should be gone immediately.
Search "Richard Smith texans" and the second result in Google's indexes is the "TexansChick" "MUST BE FIRED" famous blog post. READ THIS, TOO: http://blogs.chron.com/gamedaytexans/2008/11/sage_accepts_blame_for_interce.html
The Texans may be one of the best teams in total offense, but middle of the pack in redzone offense...They really need to work on that Also the defense is a joke...Smith just doesn't seem to fix anything from week to week
