The raiders are 3-2 and already have a win over the jets this year. (Maybe if Rex Ryan would have yelled more, they would have won) They have the best RB in the league so far. And I won't even mention the fact that they were playing our of their minds due to their iconic owner passing away the day before the game. I don't want to be accused of making excuses...
This hysteria is becoming comical. I know you're still living in 2009, but here's a newsflash: the 2011 Oakland Raiders are a really good football team. They have one of the best defensive lines and offensive lines in the business, have the league's best running back, and an unheralded weapon in Sebastian Janikowski who stretches the field for them by making 60-yard field goals seem routine. They are not 3-2 by accident, and the Chargers have to be very worried about losing the division to them right now - would be surprised if they didn't completely steamroll the AFC West. The only thing that has me down about this loss is the injuries to Mario and Casey. Besides that, all this panic button pushing is really kind of ridiculous.
It's not even that we lost to the Raiders, but how we lost. It's the same way the Texans have been losing games since Kubiak has been here. Has McNair not had enough? It's becoming unbearable. Kubiak is just not a good head coach. Look at how many teams have turned it around, while the Texans just trot out Kubiak again and again to no success. We aren't that young team with potential anymore. Time to get it done.
This aspect of the Raiders is being completely overlooked. The fact that our offense/special teams GAVE the Raiders the ball on our 35 yard line TWICE in a row, and only got away with giving up 6 points total was huge. The Raiders BARELY have to move the ball (and they do) in order to get points on the board, and it's becoming harder and harder for offenses to score on that defense. The fact that they had like 1 first down in the entire first half, and still had 12 points was really telling. Janikowski is SUCH a force for them, it's almost not fair. Jason Campbell literally has to get the ball to the opposing team's 40 yard line to guarantee points on that drive. If that's not a freaking luxury, I don't know what is. This loss was on the offensive line, the offense in general, and the special teams. It wasn't as shameful as people are making it out to be, but the desperation in the fan base is reaching unbridled levels.
This. The special teams gave us a blocked punt and failed to stop the Raider's fake punt. If Kubiak had the balls, he would have fired the ST coach on the spot.
Well, to be fair, he hasn't had much to work with over the past 2+ seasons. It's quite telling that the second he's gotten upgrades (Manning over Slaton, Rackers over Brown, Manning and Watt on field goals), the team has made some big time plays this year. Marciano is actually regarded as one of the better special teams coaches around the league, so I wouldn't be so quick to fire him. I bet he's getting on the guys harder than anybody for allowing that fake punt. Also, I know this sounds like sour grapes, but there was a BLATANT bkock in the back to spring that fake punt in the first place. Watch the play again, and you will CLEARLY see our guy get shoved from behind as the runner is turning the corner at the line of scrimmage. The refs in the NFL have been really inconsistent this year, at best. It's frustrating to watch.
Right. We played like complete crap out there and they only won by five points. Just like the Miami game, the Raiders are a team we should be able to beat.
I don't think it was a shocker that we lost without Mario or AJ. It's the fact that we lost Mario for the season which makes the Oakland game so freakin whack.
Spoiler Update on Matt? Matt is just beat up John. Got a chest bruise. Just really banged up. He's fine. Did work today. Hes beat up. He is day to day. Probably give him rest Wednesday like I did last week. All indications he'll be ok. Barber done for season - lisfranc. Manning got lower leg contusion and is day to day. Duane Brown got knee bruise and is day to day. He did work with the team today. How concerned are you about Matt getting beat up this early? Played some very physical football games. Yesterday we played a physical team. Our goal was to protect him. Did good job in the first half as long as we stayed on schedule. Took shots in the 2nd half. We need him on the field. Not a break in sight right now. It's a month away so we gotta be smart with him but he is banged up like a lot of guys after 6 weeks. Talk about importance of this game and what it could mean? Playing for the lead in the division, gotta be excited about that. Disappointed about the past 2 weeks. Been in 2 tough games and havent gotten it done. Come in here today, make our corrections, gotta juggle some guys around but going to Tennessee to play a huge football game. Concerns about running game and where you're going from here? We're not a bad running football team. 7th in the league but our standard is high. We didnt meet the standard the last 2 weeks. It's the group that is my concern. Everybody. We're not doing the little things that put us at the top of the league. Some of the extra things we do work wise. I'm calling on each one of them to look at themselves. We knew it would be tough yesterday but we tried to stay committed and stay on schedule and for the most part we did that. We gotta run the ball better for our football team to be successful. Our guys know that. It gotta get better with everyone. Arian pointed finger at himself. Thoughts? Hopefully you got players that feel that way. Players are smart. They know what it takes to win and be successful. Sometimes you gotta be honest with yourself. It wasnt all him. He did a lot of good things but we need him at the top of his game but he also needs a lot of help too. You want guys battlin' like that. I know we got the right guys. Andre playing this Sunday? Made a lot of improvement last week. He felt good. We'll increase his work. I have a hard time saying right now. We'll have to wait and see. What did they do to slow Owen? Showed him a lot of respect and doubled him in a lot of situations take away the things he does well. Owen played good in the football game. I gotta do everything I can to get him more involved than he was yesterday. You mentioned Matt and his chest - is his hip ok? No his hip is very sore. Its hip and his chest. He is very beat up but practiced and did what he would normally do on a Monday. Ever reach a point where you had to consider Leinart? No I didnt feel that way. If Matt was that way he would tell me. What did you think about Derrick Mason? For a guy who practiced only 2 days, he made a few plays for us. Had a few mistakes we gotta get corrected. Derrick can help us. Tough situation to be put in in the middle of the year. He is very smart and he'll feel better this week, we'll feel better about what he can do. Why Kareem and why not Jason? Kareem had not been healthy. We look at both as starters. He had a great week of practice. Kareem is physical, the Ravens were physical. We started Kareem and he played well. We gave up a big play and that wasnt even his play. We didnt play the coverage we were suppose to. Kareem played well. We were playing good D. I would like Jason to play more but Kareem played well for us too. How much more to difficult is it without Casey and chance he is back this week? James gives people a lot things to worry about. I miss him from that standpoint. There is a chance this week. He did workout before the game. Right now still day to day. Discuss the 4th and 1 decision early and was Kevin Walter open there? What do you mean if he was open? Seemed like they didnt have coverage on the near side. Was there a misplay by Matt on that or no? No, we called a run. We were unsuccessful. No excuse. We need to line up and get a yard. My guys gotta know I got confidence in them. I thought we needed that opportunity. I can sit here and say I would do it again. We need to be able to handle that as a football team. How did Brooks Reed grade out? Excited about how he played. Wasnt too big for him. He was active in the game. Played solid, can he do better? Yes. He and Connor played every snap. His future is bright and we need it to be. Dustup after the Lions-49ers game-- thoughts on that? I had a lot more on my plate. I got no comment. Thoughts on Jamison? One of the things I told the team today, it's a crying shame we arent sitting in here winning that game because Timmy is probably POG. I see a young Antonio. He got a ways to go but it is excited to see him. You'll see more of him. How do you justify getting him more time? You'd like those D-linemen coming out playing somewhere in the 40s. You dont want those D-linemen playing 60-65 plays. We would like it to be even like that. Do you feel like if you are able to make crunchtime plays a couple of game, you'll be able to get over the hump and how much harder to get over the hump when you continually dont do it? Thats part of this league. Every game is close. You dont see many blowouts in the NFL. In crunchtime the past 2 weeks, we were in position to win games and didnt get it done. Its disappointing but thats the position you want to be in. Guys have to step up. It was all three phases yesterday. When you watch the film, is it physical or mental mistakes? A little bit of both I would say. Gotta be able to transfer it from practice to the game. Ultimately though, does it come down to the players as that sign says the in the back to be accountable and make the plays? It comes down to all of us Barry. We're a team. We're all involved-- success or failure. We gotta stick together and figure out a way to do it. How much do you think Andre's absence is affecting Matt? We're getting played different. No doubt about that. But not affecting where Matt goes with the ball. Some of these situations we've been in, I hope the guys arent looking for him because he's not out there. We're in the situation we're in until he gets back and gotta work through it. Two weeks ago, we moved the ball well and didnt score enough points. Yesterday we go toe to toe with a dang good football team and we needed a new hero. Somebody needed to step up and make that play. Until Andre gets back, someone got to assume that responsibility. Trindon still a possibility or someone else? He is but problem is when you have injuries, there is a trickle down effect to ST. You have body issues. I would like Trindon to come up and return some kicks and hopefully we can find a roster spot but we got some other issues to deal with. When you go into a game of this magnitude, do you play it the same of every other game? Do the players understand the importance of winning this game? I know they understand. You prepare for every game the same. Everything is the same. You prepare for 4 Q's of football. As for importance? They're all important. We knew we had tough games early in the season and this is the next one up. http://houston.cbslocal.com/?podcas...=true&config_file=config.xml&dcid=CBS.HOUSTON
Wow, a bunch of bull**** questions and same damn answers, just different week. When is Houston media gonna ask the tough questions?
What questions would you want them to ask after yesterday's game?? The 4th and 1 that he went for....I would question the play call, but not the fact that he went for it. Schaub did take his lumps, but to be fair, so did Flacco. It was just a physical game that Baltimore came out on top with.
Its just in general man, not just today. It seems like Kubiak never gets any pressure from anybody including the media. You think Kubiak would survive in NY or LA?
yeah, this wasn't a game where there are a lot of hard hitting and tough questions to hit him with. The 4th and 1 was the only remotely questionable call and since they ended up getting the ball back on the Flacco fumble. The questionable ref calls were are a topic but coaches won't talk much about that in general.
that would be interesting to hear. It was a tough angle for him but someone in their booth should have said something.
JoshInnes610 Josh Innes #Texans HC Gary Kubiak joins us on J&R Now. Any questions for the coach? #YouFoundIt Do they screen these calls? :grin:
