This article pretty much get it right about yesterday's game. It was an ugly game with both teams looking more like the early 80's Redskins than the high powered offenses of today. Watching Aaron Rodgers tear up the Vikings shows that that isn't going to cut it against the elite teams in this league in the playoffs. http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/0...n_landing.html?blockID=845413&feedID=4519 Kubiak needs to get it together after ugly win HOUSTON — Much righteous indignation was expended over seven NFL head coaches being fired immediately after the regular season. I am saving my outrage for those who survived. It was those guys botching the start of the NFL playoffs on Saturday. Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak and Bengals coach Marvin Lewis staged a clinic of coaching ineptitude in what amounted to The AFC Junior Varsity Game. Or as league purists like to call it, the wild-card game. Houston defeated Cincinnati, 19-13, an interesting set of numbers considering the Texans dominated every facet of this game except for punting. And in fairness, the guy from Cincy had way more practice. First downs: Texans 24, Bengals 12 Total yards: Texans 420, Bengals 198 Time of possession: Texans 38:49, Bengals 21:11 This list goes on and on and on and includes Kubiak schooling Lewis in what amounted to a fight to be the tallest short person. Lewis okayed and watched as his offensive coordinator Jay Gruden inexplicably underused running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis and overused a screen play that worked exactly never. There was a misused timeout, a forgotten A.J. Green, a reliance on Jermaine Gresham and inability to adjust. And yet with under four minutes remaining, the Bengals were driving down the field for what possibly could have been the game-winning score. Why this happened was inadvertently explained by Texans linebacker Bradie James when talking their defensive strategy. "The biggest thing, well, a lot of us have been trying to talk about it — not giving up seven points. You see, when you give up seven points you don't have a chance," James said. "But when you keep a team to just kicking field goals, you keep 'em close and then you can pin your ears back." James needs to deliver this speech to Kubiak. To him or Texans owner Bob McNair or somebody, because the reverse is also true. Kubiak employs quite possibly the most conservative game plan in the NFL. If this was politics, he'd be labeled a wingnut and decried by Glenn Beck as having lost touch with mainstream values. The guy always looks to be in a state of panic about when he can get his kicker on the field. Heck, there was a moment Saturday when the Texans took a delay on fourth-and-short with their punter on the field. The idea of doing that with his offense probably never crossed his mind even though Arian Foster was lethal Saturday. It is why Texans fans boo kicker Shayne Graham every time he takes the field. It is not personal. They are sick of seeing him every single time there is a close call in the red zone. "I love our crowd but they are getting spoiled," Texans running back Arian Foster said. "They're booing, and we're OK. We're OK, man." What is frustrating is the Texans could be a good team, at very least a competitive playoff team. As much as this pains me to say, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has his side ballin'. He may be a cupcake as a head coach, but he's pretty good at coordinating. And J.J. Watt is just a freak of football nature. Kubiak's not beating the New England Patriots Sunday in Foxboro if he's not willing to gamble, open his game plan up just a bit and play to win. We already saw that game, the Texans going up to Foxboro in their matching letter jackets and talk of Bulls on Parade and clear hearts, full eyes can't lose . . . and getting pummeled. New England absolutely embarrassed Houston on Dec. 10, a 42-14 whipping that started a slide to end this season. Almost every Texans player downplayed that first meeting with the usual clichés about this being a different season, about short memories, about how this game will be closer. "I don't think it was embarrassing. It just was a game and, on any given Sunday, if you don't show up, it can happen," James said. "New England did teach us a lot. They taught us you need to show up and bring the intensity to be a champion." This perspective comes from being in his 10th season, of knowing NFL teams do not get infinite kicks at the can, of knowing NFL teams oftentimes have to do a little impossible if they want to win a Super Bowl. "I'm not worried," McNair said when asked about playing New England again, which felt like the exact wrong thing to say. He needs to worry because Tom Brady is not going to let the Texans off the mat if they keep constantly settling for field goals like the Bengals and QB Andy Dalton did. McNair needs to worry because Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has a firm grasp of how to best use his weapons, despite his critics. McNair needs to worry because Belichick is not going to Marvin Lewis this thing. Belichick coaches with a big set of lower guts. And he rarely beats himself. And if Kubiak coaches like he did Saturday, the Texans do not stand a chance. And in a couple of years or next, the pink slip may be his and there will be little outrage.
not only the conservatism has to stop, but also those lousy offensive penalties that just kill drives. history shows he has it on his ihop menu, a gameplan that opens it up with quick passes. It just seems that since kubiak received a top notch defense, certain ihop entrees have been placed on hold.
Ive said it before...I'll say it again...and guys like Donkey can continue trying to bash my opinion... But Kubiak is a pu$$y...and he plays to not lose, rather than playing to win. That works incredibly well against average to bad teams, but its a joke of a strategy against elite teams. Yesterday's game was an incredible display of head coaching ineptitude. How can you possibly dominating a game for 57 minutes...and then win because Dalton overthrows a wide open Green in the endzone? We should have never even been remotely in that situation. The Texans win despite Kubiak. I can only hope that he grows some balls within the next week, because I actually think we can hang with the Patriots if we play like men.
When you're dominating a team as much as yesterday, I have no problem with playing not to lose. Our defense was absolutely on fire. Putting the game in their hands is not the wrong decision.
I respect you opinions but if you are going to put it in the defenses hands, why not go for it on 4th and 1 on the 1 yard line? Make the Bengals go 99 yards if you fail. You then have great field position when the defense makes the stop. There were several instances where we could have been more aggressive and then let the defense clean up the mess.
But like rez said, that only works on average opponents. If you want to beat the Patriots, you have to score points. And being ultra conservative won't get you the points you need. Punting (twice) on fourth and one in your opponents territory, with a running back that is tearing it up and a defense that is dominating the game? That's the very definition of playing scared.
Problem with that strategy...we could have easily lost the game. We relied on a terrible throw by Dalton to a wide open Green in the endzone. If you're dominating the game, you shouldnt be in a situation to lose. Also, fine, lets assume it was a great gameplan yesterday... Has Kubiak ever played to win? That's the problem. He needs to change by next Sunday if we want any chance to win. He has the rest of today and 6 days to figure it out.
Except we weren't dominating them in one key category, the score. The Bengals had a great chance to win late in the game. That is a situation that you don't usually see with dominant teams. You didn't see that with the Packers versus the Vikings and the Patriots very rarely ever do that. You can get away with leaving it within one score late in the game with Andy Dalton but not with Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.
No doubt Kubiak is way too conservative at times and the team doesn't always show a killer instinct, at least on the offensive side of the ball...but I don't think this article is giving him enough credit for the win yesterday. Texans absolutely dominated the Bengals...their only shortcoming being kickoffs and an inability to move the ball outside the 20's. Schaub doesn't throw a stupid pass and Andre manages to catch that ball in the endzone, and you're looking at a 23-3 beatdown against a good defense. Those two things aren't Kubiak's fault. And I think with the nature of the game yesterday, you take all the points you can get. They won't have the luxury of playing it safe next week though, so I wanna see more 4th and short attempts...can't settle for field goals against the Pats.
But this is the problem. While the Texans statistically dominated the Bengals a few lucky plays greatly shaped the outcome of the game. Obviously luck plays a huge role in sports but good teams minimize how much luck factors in while bad teams count on it. The Texans D is great and not to take anything away from them the strategy at the end was clearly hoping that Andy Dalton would make a mistake, which he obliged. That is just not a longterm winning strategy against elite teams.
I think the strategy made sense for the situation. I think Kubiak will be more aggressive when he faces the PAtriots. It just made no sense to risk losing momentum with a 4th down stuff.
kubiak has become predictable.. his play calls on 1st and/or 2nd downs that result in negative yards are the most annoying.. for christ sake, man, change things up
If ever there was a moment for Kubiak to tear up the playbook and let er rip, its this weekend. Go for the throat Kubiak. I'd rather lose trying than watch a repeat of last time.
I have two theories, one is random and has nothing to do with the topic; the other does: Theory #1: the only issue with Foster's heart is Kubiak decided he didn't have one and benched him. I don't know why, what, when and/or where - but Arian did something, or cumulatively was doing something that finally pushed the wrong button and Kubiak hit his limit. Not a shock Foster has bounced back with his two best games of the season these past two weeks. Kubiak got through to him. Theory #2: when Kubiak said, "I don’t want them to worry about making mistakes. I want them to play with reckless abandon. I want them to cut it loose." it was a direct message to his QB. And as the game grinded on yesterday, it seemed pretty obvious Schaub had not met Kubiak's expectations and so the coach sat on it. Keep in mind, the defense gave up 6 points. Six. The *only* way Cincinnati was going to score was if the Texans handed them more points. It'll be interesting to see where Kubiak is come Sunday. I think he's going to come out firing and push Schaub to make plays, hoping the monkey is off his back.
What do you mean "this is the problem"? What does this have to do with Kubiak? His running game dominated and controlled the clock, and then Schaub nearly messed it up. And then you have people wanting Kubiak to be less conservative and let Schaub cut it loose? It makes no sense. Schaub nearly cost them the game while being asked to do the bare minimum. Somehow it's Kubiak's fault that they barely won and he didn't let Schaub take more chances? What a joke.
Somewhat of a sidenote...but I have an issue with saying "we relied on a terrible throw by Dalton to a wide open Green". I could just as easily say we relied on the offense not handing the defense points...which Schaub happened to do this game (very unusual for him, even if you're on the negative Schaub side). Point being, you can't point to a single big play that did or didn't happen. If it didn't, great. **** happens. If it did, damn... **** happens. In this case, I'd like to think that 2 of them were on the table...one went in our favor, one didn't. Yes, we still could have lost the game on that throw. But the gameplan sure would have looked a ton better if Schaub hadn't thrown a pick 6, if the team was up 13, and if Dalton then hit Green for that wide open TD..
QFT!!! That was my line of thinking as well. If you don't go for 4th and short then to me that says you don't trust your offense to make a 1st AND you don't trust your defense to stop them and get the ball back. In today's NFL (especially indoors) you only need on average to gain 3-5 1st downs to be in range. If you start on your 20, that is only 40% of the field you need to cover to be in range. Points are good especially early but if you defense is playing lights out to me that is a sign that I can go 4th and short especially inside the 5 yard line. Kubes is always shortening his swing and trying to make contact. Well if you do that you will never hit a home run. Sometimes you gotta swing for the fence...
I don't mind some conservative plays called but Kubiak/Dennison combo seems to do it at a near predictable amount, especially whenever they get a lead even if it is a small one. I was pleseantly surprised when they broke out the double reverse but way too many of their other packages were predictable. The get too reliant on Foster and Johnson and the lack of trust they have shown with the other players have become a detriment because people see how the team's offense will turn away from anyone not named Foster, Johnson or Daniels if they make mistakes or don't plays even when it is blown up by the defense.
The defense was only on fire b/c the running game kept them off the field. But I'm sure Kubiak had nothing to do with that.
