I dunno I don't know if we bought bad groceries or Kubiak and Co. burned the groceries You get the best players. . .if not coached properly they look like garbage Rocket River
The defense is a statistical anomoly. In some ways, they are fantastic - best in the league at yards per game, only allowing 166 passing yards per game, very good in terms of penalty yards, etc. On the flipside, they are mediocre to bad in terms of efficiency. In Yards-Per-Rush, they are 17th. Opposing QBs are really efficient despite throwing for only 166 yards - a QB rating of 90, for 22nd in the league. Well below average in forcing turnovers (29th in the league with only 8 forced). Not sure how to explain how they can be so inefficient while also allowing so few yards.
The Texans are a good, not great defense overall. But also one that struggles in the Red Zone. I think the Yards/Game stat gets distorted. When we throw a pick 6 or fumble for a TD or give up a punt return for a TD, the opposing offense doesn't come out on the field. They run fewer plays and thus pick up fewer yards. Even if we turn the ball over, the opposing offense is likely working with a short field and doesn't have to run many plays to score. And indeed, if you look at the stats, Houston opponents only average 57.1 Plays/Game which is the fewest in the league. And it's not because we make a lot of stands and force a lot of punts, we're average in that regard. If you look at Yards/Play, then the Texans rank 8th, which seems more appropriate. And if you look at these last 3 games where we didn't really have turnovers (the fumble against ARI came on the first play so it pretty much had no effect on how many plays they ran), the Texans gave up 357, 314, and 332 yards which is closer to the league average. Compare that to the previous 6 games when the most anybody got was 284. St. Louis only had 216 yards but they also only ran 41 plays because we had 4 turnovers, 2 of which resulted in scores. Inefficiency seems to be a constant problem with the team. Before this year, the offense always seemed to be elite in terms of Yards/Game, but their TD/FG ratio in the red zone wasn't that good (14th last year, 23rd in 2011) and they always ranked lower than they should've in Points/Game considering how many yards they put up. This year, the defense is doing the same thing. The Texans don't give up many Yards/Game, but once an opponent gets inside the Red Zone, they score a TD 63% of the time. That ranks 27th in the league. Speaking of inefficiency, we outgain our opponents by an average of 376.2 (#10) to 280 (#1) but get outscored by an average of 27.6 (#28) to 18.9 (#27). To me, coaching has a huge role in that disparity. I don't think it's a bad defense. But they're not "the #1 defense in the NFL". They're not good in the red zone. They're 24th in turnovers/game and 22nd is sacks/game. Again, the number of opponents plays affect that, but still not good even when you account for it. Let's not pretend that they're great.
I couldn't disagree with you more. Yes we have a lot of talent on defense, but look at the missed early round draft picks: Montgomery (3rd) Harris (2nd) okoye (early 1st) Jacoby jones (3rd) Moulden (3rd) Caldwell (3rd) . I'm not gonna even mention all of the 3rd day picks that haven't worked out ...or guys that aren't playing up to their draft status. Rick smith's draft history is extremely mixed. If it weren't for the Mario Williams draft (one of the best in NFL history) or grabbing Watt and Cushing in subsequent drafts, Rick Smith would be a huge failure. Quinn is the best late pick we ever made and he's not even on the team anymore.
i didn't want to get rid of kubiak until he absolutely refused to take schaub out. i think schaub has been injured since last season.
I hate Gary Kubiak - the coach. His comments today about Schaub working so hard to get back on the field makes me want to vomit, laugh and cry all at the same time.
The poor turnovers and sacks numbers have affected this defense more so than the good yards/game have helped them. Opposing offenses don't really have to worry about a D-line guy besides Watt. He gets double teamed almost every play, leaving the rest of the guys with one-on-one matchups, and none of them can get to the QB with any semblance of regularity. Reed and Mericlus have been BAD at their primary job, which is to beat one-on-one matchups and get to the QB. The secondary has their flaws, but a lot of that gets masked by the threat of pressure up front.... but I just don't see opposing offenses fearing the Texans pass rush anymore. Wade's blitz schemes get picked up.... if not at the beginning of the game, by the end of the game (see Seattle/Indy second halves). There doesn't seem to be much adjustments once the initial blitz schemes and base packages fail to stop. The offense and defense are really mirror images of each other.
This is what I don't get. The GM needs to own contract and draft decisions just as much, if not more, than the coach owns the plays called on the field. Anytime you have muddied water like this, it's just setting the stage for trouble. In an ideal setting, Gary Kubiak has to ask final approval from Rick Smith to give Schaub an extension. If that isn't what happened, then they all need to go.
do you think the offensive personnel is bad? they had issues on the right side of the line, other than that different quarterbacking has prove how dangerous the offense can be. aj just had a techmo type day two weeks ago. the secondary is not good but swearinger is stepping up. kareem jackson is what he is, a good corner but he doesn't have playmaking skills. he was drafted too high but he has played at a late first round level
the team is two years removed from being a superbowl contender that won a playoff game with a backup qb.
Sure. And when the Saints won the Super Bowl, they were a mediocre team two years prior. Things happen that fast in this league... the fact remains that for the last 8 games of last season (playoffs included) and first 9 games of this season, this is a pretty mediocre football team across the board (offense/defense/ST's). The early 2000's Rams had a similar ascent (with much more success), with a similar fall (with more success before the ultimate failure).
They all need to go regardless. If Smith is a figure head and has to submit to Kubiak, do you really want to keep him as a GM and have him making decisions? If Smith did have say, then he needs to go. The contracts handed out by the GM and the bidding against themselves is not acceptable. Time to let Kubiak and Smith bury each other by blaming one another...... Let Wade foolishly think he will get a chance to be the HC and then abandon ship to be a DC somewhere else...... and then spend the time and money to get a good front office in place and a coach.
Mularky. Ed Reed: 5 million and change guaranteed, 3 years 5 million per year Glover Quin: 6 million and change guaranteed, 5 years 4.7 million per year
and they were in the playoffs last year, and they were world beaters till their defensive captain was taken out. imo, the schaub decision hurt them most last season, once they are from under his contract they will have more flexibility
Or teams figured them out around mid-season last year... and have kept them figured out through this season as well. This is not a good team... I'm not sure if you're thinking this year is totally a "fluke" or not (and after 9 games, nothing can be considered a "fluke" anymore), but right now there's nothing really salvageable that this team would be hard-pressed to replace other than JJ Watt and AJ80's resurgence with Case.
