[Chronicle] Texans fire playcaller Palmer

Hey guys, here's the Washington Redskins stats from 2001 when Pendry was offensive coordinator:

http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/stats.nsf/Annual/2001-was

Stephen Davis ran for 1,432 yards, but only 5 TDs.

The QB during that year....Tony Banks. So-so stats:

198/370 - 53.5% - 2386 yds, 10 TDs 10 INTs - 71.3 rating

 

Do we even know if our O-Line sucks talent wise? It is possible that the schemes and techniques they are using just suck? In other words, could different coaching fix the O-line? I can't imagine that all these guys are simply THAT bad.

 

Our offensive line was, yes, that bad the first year, as everyone knows. As a result now, Carr pretty much scrambles outside the pocket on every play, even when he gets protection (albeit might not be very often); He just doesn't know what to do with it.

 

Victor Riley is a journey man RT, and he's starting for the Texans at the most important position on the line.

 

Has he been doing his job? Who on the OL is sucking like crap?

 

Piss poor line, yup most definitely. Coaching could help alleviate what is going on, but Capers is too stubborn to adjust his philosophy to the actual talent he has on the field. Kind of like how people were complaining about JVG early on and the crappy O. But JVG changed his coaching. Capers hasn't really in 4 years.

When Parcells took over Dallas the oline sucked. You know he wanted to run it, but the rbs sucked and there wasn't any holes. So he relied on a crappy qb to win games for him, but the oline sucked at pass blocking too. So he came up with imaginative ways(rollouts, PA, spread o) to make Quincy freaking Carter succeed behind that putrid line.

Granted, Houston's line is even worse than the cowboys was, but that doesn't mean that you can't work around it to a certain extent, you just can't be as doggedly conventional as Capers is. It's like slamming your head into the wall over and over. The wall will win.

 

Believe it. Better coaching would move away from running up the middle or passing from the pocket. But being able to do those two things are typically critical to having a successful season. Without it, you've got a flag football team doing bootlegs and tricks all day. You can only pull off an end around or a reverse so many times.

Evan

 

Here's an idea........everyone wants to just jump up and blame the coaches and GM (and trust me they do deserve some of the blame) but how about if the PLAYERS actually make plays? Hmmm....what a novel concept, dropped passes, missed blitz pickups, Carr has been sacked and hammered so much I do believe he is a little shell shocked now, our D-Line gets NO pressure, our linebackers run right into the offensive blockers, D-Burnt is out there playing flag football after running his mouth the entire offseason (that no tackle at the goal line against the RB was pathetic), how about another wide receiver stepping up, how about some dump passes over the middel when the blitz is coming (cuz its wide open).....should I continue?

 

Here is an article from KC Joyner that he wrote after the Bills/Texans game.




Houston has big problemsBy KC Joyner
ESPN.com
Archive

The Houston Texans entered this season with high hopes, largely based on the improvement they expected to see in the play of their offensive line. In training camp, coaches had reportedly been working on implementing a zone blocking scheme that would presumably raise the unit's performance. Such an improvement would allow quarterback David Carr and wide receiver Andre Johnson, two of the most talented players in the league, to fulfill their All-Pro potential.

The Texans' offensive line looked good in the preseason, so it was with great anticipation that I broke down their performance against Buffalo. I knew the Texans had lost the game and only generated 120 total net yards offensively, but I figured the Bills had simply dominated them physically. However, the tape clearly showed the Texans have some work to do. I'll give you a couple of early game examples:

1. On their first drive, the Texans tried to double-team block DT Sam Adams with RG Zach Wiegert and RT Todd Wade. Adams split their block and was able to get penetration to help hold the play to 3 yards.

2. On the very next play, LT Victor Riley and LG Chester Pitts did a simply awful job on a stunt by the Bills. DT Ron Edwards rushed to the outside, while DE Aaron Schobel rushed to the inside. Pitts was blocking Edwards at first and then continued to block him as he rushed outside. Riley blocked Schobel at first and then started blocking Edwards on his outside rush. Schobel came completely free on his inside rush and got the sack.

On their second series, the Texans got zero yards on two runs and Carr was forced to scramble out of the pocket on the third-down pass. Their third series lasted all of one play, as DE Chris Kelsay wasn't properly blocked on the back side of a running play and was able to close in and force a fumble that the Bills recovered.

It was at this point that Houston's coaches seemed to reach the conclusion that it could not block Buffalo's defenders, because its entire offensive philosophy seemed to change. On their fourth drive, the Texans ran the ball five times, but two of these runs were end-around plays by Johnson, and three were scrambles by Carr. Their passing plays were even more enlightening.

Texans Play Sequence
Play Rec Result Yards Drop Route Depth
4-1 80 Inc 3, boot L Cross Deep
4-2 80 Inc 3 Slant Short
4-3 81 Comp 14 3, boot R Cross Short
4-4 85 Inc 5
4-8 32 Comp 7 3, boot R Drag Short
4-11 37 Inc 3, boot R
4-12 88 Inc 5 Post Medium


The "Play" column indicates the drive and play number (i.e. drive No. 4, play No. 1, etc.). The "Rec" column indicates the number of the receiver on the play. Result and yards are self-explanatory.

Drop refers to the the number of steps in the quarterback's drop, with the L/R being left/right designators. The route shows the type of route the receiver ran. The depth column displays the depth of the pass.

On this particular drive, the Texans had four bootleg passes and one three-step drop. Bootleg passes are great as a change of pace. They can keep a defense honest against your cutback runs or slant blocking plays, but a steady diet of bootlegs is not ideal for a passing game.

The bootleg pass cuts down a team's ability to use the entire field and stretch a defense. It also limits the available routes on the passing tree, as receivers can only run outside style or comeback routes. Only so many receivers can fit into that steadily decreasing area of the bootleg, limiting the number of receivers that can attack the defense.

This worked for the Texans on this drive, as they were able to move 75 yards for a TD, but it was a short-lived reprieve. Halftime came shortly after and the Texans went back to more of a standard offense. The second half yielded more blocking issues for them. Examples of this include:

1. Schobel got a sack on the Texans' sixth drive when he went unblocked on his pass rush. Either TE Matt Murphy or Todd Wade should have had the initial block on him, but both of them let him pass untouched, and FB Moran Norris missed a block against Schobel.

2. Norris and RB Domanick Davis both had a chance to block Kelsay on the third play of the Texans' seventh drive, but Kelsay easily got past both of them for the sack.

3. Jabari Greer got an easy sack on a delayed blitz on the fifth play of that same drive. No player on the Houston offensive line even came close to seeing him on the play.

4. On the Texans' 10th drive, RB Jonathan Wells was assigned to pick up LB Takeo Spikes on a blitz. Wells held his ground but executed a push block. Spikes easily got past him for the sack and a forced fumble.

Out of the Texans' last 22 passing plays, the Bills sacked them four times, including forcing and recovering a fumble. They also forced Carr to run five times, made him throw one pass away and intercepted him twice. Two other plays were screen passes, one was a quick hitch route and one was a bootleg pass. That means that only six times in those 22 attempts were the Texans able to stay in the pocket and throw the ball.

I mentioned in "Scientific Football 2005" that I simply couldn't understand why the Texans didn't try to upgrade their offensive line in the offseason. They added a rookie backup center in Drew Hodgdon and picked up Victor Riley from New Orleans.

According to my sack tracking charts from 2004, Riley allowed the third-most individual effort sacks in the league. Individual effort sacks is the term I use to describe a sack where a defensive player simply beats an offensive player one-on-one for a sack (as opposed to coming off a stunt or a blitz). So Riley probably wasn't much of an upgrade.

There are more than a few occasions in which an offensive line can make up for a lack of talent by playing a strongly coordinated scheme, with the 2004 San Diego Chargers being a recent example. When a unit pass blocks as poorly as the Texans did in 2004, however, you'd expect the organization to make some sort of larger-scale changes, instead of just implementing a new scheme.

It was only one game, and the Texans did face a strong defense, but Sunday's game did not inspire much hope for the rest of the season.

KC Joyner, aka The Football Scientist, has a Web site at http://thefootballscientist.com. He is a regular contributor to ESPN Insider.

 

Anyone still questioning VY's passing ability is a pure moron.

edit: question his decision making at times, but he can throw the ball.

Anyway, Palmer is far from conservative. Dude used to run the run and shoot as a college coach. this move solves nothing.

 

The players deserve blame, no doubt, but if they are that bad then why have they been brought in(buchanon) or why have they stuck around for so long(oline, bradford)?

There's no doubt in my mind that Carr's regressing has a lot to do with piss poor coaching. There's no doubt in my mind that Andre Johnson has like 30 something recieving yards because of piss poor coaching. There's no doubt in my mind that a lot of the players that look unmotivated out there would look and perform better under a new hc.

That's why they are so under fire right now, but of course the scrubby players need to be gotten rid of, and the players with talent need to play and be utilized better.

 

Great article. Very insightful. Maybe the Texans didnt pickup OL help because they were busy giving up FIVE draft picks for Babin and Buchanon, who have had almost zero impact.

 

Its a good move and a positive step in the right direction. Bob McNair wants results and Capers is on the hot seat for sure..... I doubt he makes it through the season with the kind of crap going on out there. You just cant survive in the NFL with that kind of game day approach. It just looks pathetic, unprepared, and without focus.

I hate the fans that want to put the majority of the blame on Carr's shoulders - alot of them were at the game. "Carr sucks..." this and that.... Give me a break. The guy is running for his life out there. He can't even do a 3 step drop for chrissake!! His confidence in his team is completely shot, and they barely have a pulse for that matter.

Somebody needs to light a fire in this team, because another flop in Cincy is going to be disasterous......

 

We will see if he plays quarterback in the nfl, he is so dumb there is no way he can read a defense. In college he is getting away with being dumb, no way he could ever be an nfl quarterback.

 

one down. two to go.

i think i have been hard on Carr of late. Gettin sacked 8 times in a game cannot be fun nor a great confidance builder.

 

Dumb QBs don't go into the Shoe and throw for 275 yards against one of the best defenses in the nation.

If McNeal could only throw for 110 against Clemson, he might've gone negative against the Buckeyes.

 

Oh - sorry, I didn't mean coaching of the team. I meant the line itself. Like, if they are zone blocking, maybe another type of scheme for the lineman. From what I understand, o-line is one of the most complex positions in terms of how you lineup and what you're asked to do. I'm wondering if they are just being asked to do the wrong things. For example, Denver, no matter who you put in there for about 7 or 8 years, had phenomenal run blocking because of their o-line schemes. I'm wondering if we're the opposite, or if the players on the line individually are really that bad.