Fundamental Flaw With Team Building and Philosophy

My point still stands. The state of the Texans has nothing to do with having "nice guys" on the field.

 

To be fair, the Texans let go of Swearinger not because of his off the field issue but rather more related to his on the field issues - he is just not that good of a player.

His football IQ could be close to a 5 years old with all those dumb penalties and celebrations, not to mention his tackling skill is just as poor as an average junior high.

 

Andrew Luck isn't nice.

He sarcastically tells guys "nice sack" after a play

 

Two games into the preseason. Ha. It's going to be a long season.

Anyone with any wit about them knows that in order to succeed at the highest level in the NFL you need elite QB play, so if there is one fundamental flaw with the Texans it is that they have not taken enough chances to try to draft and develop someone into being an elite QB, or signing an elite QB in the rare even that they are available. For that I blame Bob McNair and Rick Smith - any head coach is going to be hesitant to take and start a rookie QB over a known commodity that is "good enough" to save their job for a while (i.e. Matt Schaub), so it's up to the owner/GM to force the issue.

Being too "nice" is silly and has nothing to do with it. If we were too nice, we wouldn't have had good to elite defenses in 3 of the last 4 years. Rarely in sports is it ever cut and dry, but in this case it is...we need a really good QB. Period.

Until then, well, we can only hope we become one of those anomalies that win with defense like the Brad Johnson Bucs or Trent Dilfer Ravens.

 

How often does Manning and Rodgers get in trouble?

Andre Johnson?

Russel Wilson?

Wilfork won how much in NE?


There's a reason knuckleheads are knuckleheads...they make bad decisions. On and off the field.

Nice guys are fine, if they love to play the game. The game is physically punishing. Guys don't love it because it's easy or cute. Watt is a total ******* on the field. He knows he can play the game that way without being a real *******. Same with Cushing, Foster, etc.

 

I'm not one of those people who think that football is a one on one game played between QB's like some do, but damn, it would be nice to go into this season being able to say that at least the starting QB is better this season than last season.

 

The fundamental flaw with the Texans is that Matt Schaub is the best QB they've ever had.

 

can Morey or for that matter Luhnow run the Texans? The fundamental flaw with team building is Rick Smith. End of story.

 

lol my god, this is sad. We didn't get Harvin because he hasn't worked anywhere. He's had issues with every single team he's been on, and every team has gotten rid of him. He also suffers from migraines that at times, has stopped him from playing games. I don't want that headache.

Moss? Seriously? The guy is old, and I give him all the credit in the world. The guy is a great receiver. But he hasn't been him self for a LONG time.

2012 - 28 rec for 434yds 5 TD as a 49er who needed WRs badly.
2011 - DNP
2010 - 28 rec for 393yds 5 TD as a Titan who needed WRs badly.
2009-2007 where his turn around years after 3 very up and down years from 04-06.

He hasn't been Moss for 6 years, and that was when he had a HOF QB chunking it to him. Before that, He didn't do anything for Oakland and Min was pushing him out after his stellar 03 season. He has a lot of baggage as well.

The Texans don't take head cases because they nearly always become unworthy of the trouble they bring. There are very few cases were the trouble was worth the reward. I rather have "nice" guys that do their job well, then a basket case that shows up when he wants or distracts the team with off-field issues.

And as far as the Texans cutting anyone of worth that wasn't a "nice" guy, None of them are contributing to teams in any positive manner.

 

This is really it. The franchise has a persistent unwillingness to address the QB position. When given the opportunities to improve it, they have passed on at least a few occasions. It's not surprising that their only successful run was when they actually traded significant picks to go out and attempt to acquire a real QB. And while he was healthy, he was "good enough" to win despite not being great. But now they are back to relying on QBs on the cheap - Fitz, Savage, Mallett, Hoyer - and it's not likely to end particularly well.

 

So, persistent unwillingness = this year and last year?

I do believe BOB knows as soon as he gets that QB, whether its via a high round draft pick or via trade... its gonna basically start a time-clock on his coaching tenure here.

Not saying he's going to get by with reclamation projects forever... but I do think he wants to build up everywhere first so that when he does get a chance to get a guy they feel is worth it... it will give that QB the best chance to succeed.

 

^Logic thought. What this particular thread needs more of. It's pretty simple to see this, yet a lot of people seem to miss it.

 

No, it goes beyond that. They had to move on from Carr in 2006. They had a chance to get Peyton Manning. Even ignoring #1 overall picks, they have had numerous opportunities to invest high-round draft picks for QBs, but generally only ever invest late round picks on guys who are almost certain not to make it That's not to say any of those opportunities would have worked out (all of 2006's QBs sucked, for example), but they don't even appear to try very hard to address it, so it's not surprising they are in the predicament they are in.

This is an example of coming up with reasons not to invest in a QB. Many of the great QBs in the league go to terrible teams with terrible personnel around them. Instead of building a team and then finding a QB, teams find a QB and then build a team around them. There's too much roster turnover at all the other positions - you spend 3 or 4 years building an elite defense and THEN get a QB who needs another few years to develop, and then your defense will be aging or get expensive. In our case, for example, they'll likely waste Arian Foster's last good years, so when they get and develop the QB, they no longer will have the elite running back. If you find the franchise QB first, you have 10-15 years to keep trying to fit the right pieces around him. And if he fails, you can move on and try again. If you build the rest of the team first, and then the QB you get sucks, you're completely starting over.

Of course, you can do it both ways. Seattle built the team and then found the QB. Indy finds the QB and then builds the team. Both are really successful. But having stability at that one position makes everything else much easier, because you probably want to pick your scheme and your WR's and the like based on your QB's strengths. If you don't know your QB, you have to tinker with all that stuff after the fact, which just delays everything further.

 

You've always advocated for just trying and trying again to find your QB of the future... When in reality, regimes rarely last beyond one failed QB.

The David Carr fiasco did impact decisions in 2006... And you can't really fault them with the results. The team was not good, needed a total rebuild at all key positions. Had they committed to that from the franchise inception, things may have turned out a bit better instead of bottoming out 4 years in.

Yes, they passed on Peyton, which in hindsight was a mistake. Still would have had to create a ton of cap space to sign him and it's unclear who their team around him would have been. Plus you have the philosophical differences of the regime at the time (focused heavy on the run game).

You still underestimate the luck involved with finding the right QB while failing to realize that selecting the wrong QB (which most teams do) basically forces another regime change and sets the franchise back. Just because TB and Ten. have young QB's now means nothing about their teams or futures... Odds are, the current coaches will never get a second chance if they're not making enough progress by year 2/3.

So, given that above premise... If you're running a team, you have a much better chance of carrying out your full vision if you either build up your team first (presuming there's no sure-fire QB prospect available... Which there hasn't been), or you reach for a QB that you're not 100% sold on, and hitch your wagon to their unlikely development.

I believe the QB bubble has already burst. A handful of teams have run through multiple young QB's and coaches and have just been spinning their wheels since 2006. The greatest of the great QB's have been around for decades. The next crop (luck and Wilson) were the result of a lot of good fortune and great situations, while the rest of the young guys all have enough question marks to make it highly unlikely they'll outlast their regimes.

 

If finding a franchise QB is as easy as people here seem to think it is, it's a wonder why every team in the league doesn't have one. Going forward, franchise QBs are going to be harder and harder to find, since most colleges (and high schools) are now running the spread-option which does nothing to prepare QBs for the NFL.

And LOL at some here acting like last year never happened and we're still coming off a 2-14 season.

 

I think we also need to re-define what a "franchise" QB is... because some of these teams think they have one, are paying them as if they are one, and really they're not any closer to winning a Super Bowl than the Texans are.

(mainly referring to Cutler, Kapernick, Dalton, A. Smith, Tannehill, Stafford, E. Manning, Ryan, Palmer, RGIII, Bortles....)

 

I agree with ya in that it's not easy finding a franchise QB, but let's take a chance and roll the dice on an high ceiling prospect. We had a lot of wasted 2nd/3rd busts that I feel we could have packaged to move up get a "potential" difference maker at the most important position in football.

I mean let's take a look at all the QBs that the Texans had on their roster...

David Carr
Tony Banks
Dave Ragone
Matt Schaub
Sage Rosenfels
TJ Yates
Matt Leinart
Matt Schaub
Case Kennum
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Ryan Mallet
Brian Hoyer.

Out of that list, only Schaub played decently well and we traded two second round picks for. Like I said, I know its hard to find an elite QB, but sitting on our hands is definitely not going to bring in one either.