No, I am - and have been - very much aware that that is indeed your overall point: it's why I keep asking you why those 6 games* have more relevance than the significantly larger sample size of the 22 that preceded them. (* and I'm using shorthand here - Schaub wasn't terrible in all 6. He was actually terrific in the first Colt game following the first Patriot loss and then... average-ish in the playoff game against the Bengals. It was really, and truly four awful games. Out of a stretch of 28. Do you see why I'm a little dubious?) They won 15 of his 16 starts during a pretty recent stretch in which they were throttling opponents. He obviously can't play poorly, probably not average-ish, either. But I don't think he needs to go on a sustained Flacco-like run for them to win.
I think in order for us to win either he needs to go on a Flacco type run, or the rest of the team is going to have to elevate their gameplay. I do think that the addition of Ed Reed was HUGE and the if we can stay healthy and have a good draft then we can definitely be right there. I just think that based on what we've seen out of the Texans, Matt Schaub can't afford to play average and we still expect to be in the Super Bowl.
The Ravens Defense, needed to play lights out to beat the Patriots, the ravens offense nedded to play lights out to beat the Broncos, Ravens played lights out in the super bowl for the 1st half, but almost lost the game. Patriots need their defense and running game/offensive line to play lights out so they can win a super bowl, Brady has to play lights out, if the defense is getting torched. Manning played awful vs Ravens in the playoffs, and the special teams had to play lights out to compete against Baltimore, if Denver doesnt return those two kicks for a TD, Ravens would have won easily in regulation. Schaub played good against the Bears, and they won, because the defense played lights out. Schaub played lights out vs Denver, so the defense could relax a bit.
I would just like to nominate Hey Now as MVP of this thread. He has dominated and gives me hope for next season.
Check that one for me. The duo constitutes "McNair's Folly." The Texans are going nowhere until they replace both. I would not have renewed either's contract, not even once. Maybe the most obvious call in professional sports.
It's probably pointless to point this out, but the Texans never made the playoffs before those guys came into town.
I can't answer for him, but my answer is simply because the Texans have no depth. Every year every team gets decimated by injuries. But no contender gets screwed by it like us. And this has happened for a while now. Other teams lose pro bowlers and still keep things together. The Texans lose them and things crash. As for Schaub, his play took a noticeable dive late this season relative to early. Very much a guy who just crumble at first sign of pressure. Not the guy that was delivering bombs while getting pummeled in the Denver game.
I'm keeping my hopes and expectations low for this coming season. It's not superbowl or bust for me. If they get there, hooray, but I want to see Schaub actually play well in a big game and beat a team like New England before I get my hopes up again for this team to go where they haven't before.
With the NFL playoffs being single-elimination, I'd take the option that gets you to the playoffs more frequently every time. Once you get in (almost) anything can happen. I'm kind of struggling to think of a team that fits model B and actually did well. Where are these one-year wonder Super Bowl contenders?
If New England's the only major hurdle in the conference, I think I live with that. as The Drake said, because it's single elimination anything can happen.
great points. it's all about matchups. also like to add that at one point 'experts' were pointing and laughing at the offensive line of the ravens. when they played us, I even said if texans fans let out red balloons into the sky because Oher needed sandra bullock to grab him and give him a pep talk. In the playoffs, all of them played like probowlers, not allowing constant pressure that 99% gets to flacco's head. That line play was the wrong way to build a team...see casserly.
Schaub gets a lot of undue hate. His qb ratings the last five years are 92.7, 98.6, 92.0, 96.8, and 90.7. He has a career 91.9 qb rating. There are MANY worse quarterbacks in the league. The top ten in qb rating last year was Rodgers (108), Peyton (105.8), RG3 (102.4), Russell Wilson (100), Matt Ryan (99.1), Brady (98.7), Roethlisberger (97.0), Brees (96.3), Schaub (90.7), and Romo (90.5). Rivers (88.6), Flacco (87.7), Dalton (87.4), Eli (87.2), and Newton (86.2) were the next five. Schaub is not elite and never has been. But he has consistently been a good quarterback since he's been here. Anyone who says differently has an agenda and just doesn't like the guy solely due to him being slow and due to his sh^tty last month of the year last season.
Well for right now they are... Denver could also be that depending on how the regular season game goes against them.
QB rating severely underrates red zone offense, and more specifically the ability for a team to score TDs.
Schaub has consistently been a good qb since he's been here. I could go for centuries bringing up different stats and metrics to back this up. The Schaub haters will nitpick at whatever stat I use to make Schaub look as bad as possible.
Scoring TDs is the core of what makes a good offense. A TD is worth 7 points, equivalent of 2.3 FGs. I don't know how you can argue that inability to score TDs efficently is nitpicking. It would be like saying a center that can't rebound or a PG that can't pass to be "nitpicking."
*Sigh* I'm not going to argue with you. All I'm saying is that Schaub has been a good qb over the past few years. There is a big difference between good and elite. There is also a big difference between good and mediocre. People saying he is awful are taking part in extreme hyperbole. They have been 10th or better in points scored since 2009. Could they have been better over this time period? Sure. But they were still pretty good.
I'll say this. Multiple aspects of the team let us down at the end of last season and he was one of them. His passer rating was 87.5 in the playoffs compared to 90.7 during the season so there was definitely a dropoff. Also, the multiple injuries at ILB and the lack of pass rush from the outside backers were big reasons for the tailspin at the end of the season. Schaub also wasn't pushing off on the injured foot near the end of the season. I tend to think it was bugging him. His play really went downhill after that Detroit OT game (Thanksgiving Thursday) which occurred right after the Jacksonville OT game the Sunday before. He went from a 96.2 rating in November to an 82.2 rating in December. I just hope that is something that he can make sure doesn't happen again. We also can't forget James Casey dropping a ball right in his hands during the first drive against the Patriots and we ended up settling for a field goal. I'll also say this. Schaub doesn't have excuses this year. He'll be two seasons removed from the lisfranc. He has a quality line in front of him. He has quality tight ends, Foster, and a first-round receiver in Hopkins added to Andre. If he fails to show up at the end of the year in 2013-2014, then we should find our next qb in the 2014 draft. The 2014 qb draft will most likely be loaded (Bridgewater, David Fales, McCarron, Aaron Murray, Logan Thomas, Tahj Boyd, Derek Carr...lol, Braxton Miller, Johnny Manziel, Marcus Mariota, Keith Price, Brett Hundley, etc.). I also remember hearing that if we cut Schaub after year two of his contract that there won't be too bad of a cap hit/dead money.
