I do hope the team rights the ship, but I said before the season, and it's true enough. There's just something about this team mentally that doesn't get it done. I've pointed to the coaching and that's what it is, so sorry. As long as we have Kubiak and this coaching staff I don't think the Texans will shape up into an elite team. It's a weak, okay-here-we-are-at-work, oops-we-lost we'll-get-it-right mentality that seeps down from the coaches to the rest of the team. Kubiak has got to be the most predictable, conservative play-caller in the league. And the team is built around that: elite (but not yet this season) running back, mid-tier quarterback, and (supposed-to-be) great defense. It's like that egg the team laid against Minnesota last year. "Oops, well, thankfully we have another chance at Indianapolis next week to get home field advantage in the playoffs." Didn't work that way. They OOPS'd again the week after. I guess I could dog out Schaub, too. After however many seasons, we want him to be something he's not. Okay, he isn't Brady. But if he could just be what Kubiak seems to ask of him: mistake-free. That would go a long way to winning. But it ain't hapnin so far. I badly want the Texans to win, and here's hoping they'll wake up. But even Indianapolis isn't helping us. We can't win a mediocre division. The Colts are no joke.
That would imply heavy action on Seattle... not likely to happen. Line either stays the same, or goes down based on Texans history of covering at home.
Agree with your first statement. This game had an odd feel from the start - the Texans were flatter than flat at the start of that game. It's almost as if they were intimidated by the atmosphere in the stadium. Once the Ravens punched them in the mouth it's as if they went into the fetal position sucking their thumbs. Despite their losses of personnel, this was still the Ravens - the defending SuperBowl champions - so to say this should have been easy makes you sound like one of the many Cowsheep up here who always look down on whomever Dallas is playing. I bolded your points that say it all. This loss has to go on Kubiak and the coaching staff although my gut tells me that Kubiak will just aw sucks his way out of learning from this. What's scary to me is that other teams appear to have developed a book on this team on both sides of the ball. It's going to be a long season if that's turns out to be true.
I stand by that statement. This was not the same team that won the Superbowl last year. We should have got them down early, then ran the ball the rest of the game. A couple of TD's instead of FG's and that's exactly what would have happened. Their best offensive player and best special teams player didn't even play. The football gods were looking down on us and we laid an egg. No excuse for losing that game.
Check out the numbers over the last two years. This year has been wide open throughout the league in terms of the spread.
Absolutely correct, Kubiak's offense is a defensive coordinator's dream come true. Minimal preparation required for facing the Texans. I find myself calling the plays before they occur, and I am right way too many times. Imagine how easy that is for the defenders. And the execution is not good enough to overcome the predictability. Kubiak's "aw shucks" attitude permeates the team. Mental toughness is absent. Real accountability is absent. Players watch the special teams and think they are terrible but nothing happens, nothing changes, so it won't happen to me either. Uncle Bob has created a very comfortable feeling for the Texans, too comfortable.
Well said. Has Schaub thrown a pick 6 in 3 straight games so far this year? I think he has. Even though the first game wasn't entirely his fault, that guy made a great play, but that must be a record if that kind of thing is even kept.
The interception that Schaub threw in the first game was not a pick 6. The Chargers offense scored on their first play from scrimmage on a Ryan Mathews wheel route.
"I ain't got no worries." Seriously, one loss on the road and everyone I see around town is in panic mode. I actually like what I see from Matt this year. He seems like he got more mobile in terms of keeping a play alive but at the same time it looks like his line isn't giving him enough time to fully go through his reads (this is from the eye-test). The coaching needs to really step it up in my opinion, but almost everyone played like crap yesterday. I was really surprised by Cush in terms of how bad he looked out there. You didn't hear his name at all in the first half and in the 2nd half I saw him missing key tackles and being in the neutral zone for penalties. We will step it up next game and everyone will be back on Texans.
Super Bowls are not won in freaking September people. We have lots of work to do but we have the talent to compete with every single team in this league. Losing to Baltimore in Baltimore on the day Ray Lewis is inducted to the ring of honor is not the end of the world. First thing we need to get figured out is the O-line play. Special teams need to be fixed but I have given up on that pretty much. At least we have Lechler pinning teams down inside the 15 yard line.
I know guys like you. It's so frustrating to talk to guys that don't know much about football. Pick 6 was terrible. We get it. But so was the O line, special teams, etc. When are you gonna realize that it's a team game? Rodgers lost yesterday. Kaep is 1-2. Amirite?
Peoples complaints about Schaub are valid. When pressure up the middle comes, it is game over. Brady and Peyton are two notorious statues in the pocket, but they have tremendous feet that allow them to slide away from pressure. Teams like New England, and Baltimore who have great push up the middle will always be Matt Schaubs kryptonite. He is a slow footed, unathletic quarterback who has great accuracy. This team needs an athlete in the pocket who can make throws. Something I remembered about TJ Yates when he took over as a rookie. When this guy was going to be sacked, he would move forward and limit that sack to a 2 or 3 yard loss, making the next down manageable. Schaub goes fetal from point of incoming pressure, and just destroys a drive. Russel Wilson would have been perfect for this Texans team.
I understand that the offensive line has played like a high school junior varsity team for the majority of this season, but you HAVE to draw up more than 4 plays that take the receivers deeper than 10 yards. Once Johnson was injured, there was literally ZERO reason for the Baltimore safeties to play any deeper than 15 yards from the LOS. And that abortion of a playcall on 4th and 2 was the most pathetic attempt at running a screen I think I've ever seen. In general over the past 10 games or so, this offensive line has degenerated into a pile of hot garbage, and I'm not sure how they are going to fix it. The Derek Newton Experience HAS to end if we want to go anywhere this season as he is actively costing this team yards on the field (and that's WITH getting a head start on every play). You can see that the running backs are getting frustrated with no holes to run through, and I'm afraid Schaub's new-found pocket presence is going to go the way of the dodo very soon. You could already see him getting the yips in the second half anytime Suggs or Ngata got close to him.
According to some here, you either think Schaub is better than Peyton Manning or you think he's complete trash. There is NO in-between whatsoever. Just ignore them.
that's true for the 2 qbs you mentioned. when they face teams that bring it up the middle, giants/ravens they falter and throw ints. just watch them in the playoffs. that said, that game was all on schaub. if you're going to play dink and dunk you can't make that throw. the reward is not worth the risk. that also falls on the game plan and kubiak deciding we're going to play ravens football before the coin is tossed. on paper, i do get what our coach was doing.