That's the one thing I don't get with people calling for Rick Smith's head right now. What the heck could this guy have done to fix this? He obviously has little power at all. People don't seem to understand that this is ALL on BOB. It's very worrying that he seems to be a very poor evaluator of talent. That does not bode well at all. I am hopeful that these are just new coach growing pains and he can turn it around. I think the best case scenario at this point is that this train wreck of a season has humbled him and a GM (any GM) is allowed to overrule him on his lousy personnel decisions, so he can concentrate on the one thing we need him to concentrate on and that is the coaching.
There is something wrong with this team...and it's not all due to the lack of talent. Yes, we've totally botched the last two drafts, which will take a while to recover from, but there is some disconnect between the coaches and the players. All teams have issues...even the best teams lack talent in certain positions on the field. However, with the Texans, something big is missing with the coaching staff. They dont have the players ready to go, they dont game plan properly, their play calling is crap, etc... I just dont see what these guys are doing. Of course, the players are failing to do their jobs on the most basic of plays, but this team is so ill-prepared week in and week out. It's crazy. I had so much faith in OB after last season...I thought this team would win 9+ games this year with our schedule. What we have shown is nothing but incompetence...and I blame the coaches. Unlike bobby, I can readily admit when Im wrong...and I can say that OB has not been the coach I had hoped he could be.
So 3 months after getting hired BOB had complete control over the draft? Smith had lousy picks/drafts before BOB got here. Also, why do we have a GM who has zero control? I think McNair just has undying love for Smith and can't bring himself to fire the guy.
I agree but you have to consider that BoB is from the Belichick football tree and this is how Belichick operates up in New England. As I see it, it's worked pretty well for them to date. Bob's the most powerful guy in the Texans organization today save for the owner and I just don't see him giving up his power over personnel to a strong GM. What I do see is possibly another overhaul of the scouting dept. BoB has already cleared out a lot of the bad draft picks from the Kubiak regime so the next draft will be pivotal to his tenure as head coach.
If anything I think that BoB and his staff have grossly overestimated the ability of these players to execute their system. It's obvious to me that they do not currently have players who can do the things the coaching staff wants on the field either due to physical limitations (Cushing) or mental limitations (Mallett).
All BB disciples have failed miserably. Charlie Weiss, Josh McDaniels, Romeo Crennel, Mangini, you can add BoB to the list soon as well. BB made all of these guys look good, that's all.
He also produced dog poop with him before he got the axe. Now BoB has taken that same dog poop and smeared it on our faces. If BoB goes so does Rick and vice versa. You have to clean house of this losers mentality and that starts with the front office then coaching staff. It's obvious the Kubiak loser crew still lingers in this organization. I don't know about you guys but I'm tired of this dog poop showcase year after year Who knows it all could be Bobby McNairs doing??.
There are several issues with this team. While I believe RICK should be fired. . . mainly just to change the culture I don't this moves the needle AT ALL Why. I start with the BUSH TO WADE transistion we all KNEW the defense was HORRIBLY TALENT POOR . . .everyone KNEW IT .. NO DOUBT but one change in Coach Allow a competent coach make a few picks and the Defense looked MILES BETTER Did Rick Smith become Better over the course of that year and then went back to mediocre? Did Rick just get lucky one year. . . . I don't think so . .. I think Rick never have ISHT to do with drafting to begin with beyond making sure the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed BO'd Gets at least this year and next year. He will probably need to sacrifice Romeo though . . .at the very least This defense is bad in MANY phases 1. They cannot tackle for ISHT 2. They simply not in position alot of plays 3. They not playing as a unit The Offense is not much better The transistion from Zone Blocking to Power Blocking was suppose to take some time so It was expected. GREAT ZONE BLOCKERS are not necessarily GREAT POWER BLOCKERS So yea. . .unfortunately some linemen had to go even though they were good in the old scheme The Main failing of BO'Bis handling the QB situation in specific . . the TEAM in general Did anyone think they look PREPARED yesterday? Or against ATLANTA? beating teams you suppose to beat is the sign of a good mediocre team but being blown out by Good Teams is an indicator of a BAD TEAM! Rocket River
Rumors were that Rick didn't have control of the draft when Kubiak was here as well. But the Texans coaching staff has been getting ramrodded and the fault starts with O'Brien. I don't believe being an OC for Brady and taking over a Penn State team for a couple of years and maintaining mediocrity was enough to be a head coach in the NFL. But we'll see if he gets it together.
I'm making broader points about running any sort of an organization. Cultural overhaul doesn't happen overnight in most cases. The Astros are a good example of that and one of the few examples I can think of where new ownership/management came in and said, essentially, "nothing is sacred...i'll burn it all down if I have to in order to get this organization where it needs to be." In the Astros case, the fans were LITERALLY told it was going to get worse before it got better...but that they believed in their process. That's exactly what Hillboy was suggesting...that it's going to have to get worse and no one has the stomach for that. There are examples like that in the corporate world as well where new management has completely transformed the culture of a business by taking the approach that every option is on the table...no sacred cows.
Give me an example in the NFL where it worked without the owners or host city changing. Then I'll see your point. Baseball works because the farm system has to be rebuilt and there are more instances of trading your disposable star players for prospects. You pretty much have to collect a whole bunch of prospects counting on a few of them turning out. Nothing like the NFL.
Give you an example of an NFL team that changed cultures radically? How about the NE Patriots with BB? The culture of that organization changed ENTIRELY with that guy. How about the Cowboys once Jerry bought them? For better or for worse, the culture of that entire organization changed. Certainly no sacred cows when Tom Landry was shown the door rather ungracefully. What I'm talking about isn't industry specific. Organizations have cultures...sometimes they're changed radically...and when that happens, it usually takes time for things to work out.
No, the example you are looking for is to clean house, fire everybody, start over, and suffer a couple years or more being horrible. The patriots and cowboys didn't do that. The patriots were 10-6, 9-7, and 8-8 with Pete Carroll. They were 5-11 in Belichik's first year. He got Tom Brady in his 2nd year and the rest is history. The culture supposedly changed when O'Brien came in. Look up the press conferences and you'll see that came up more than once. They got "culture change" and the team changed...it got worse.
I wanted Rick Smith fired with Kubiak, because it wasn't a secret that Kubiak brought him in here to handle the day to day GM stuff but the head coach would have final say in all personnel matters. Rick throws Kubes under the bus in 2013 to save his own ass. The new coach comes in with the same structure but **** remains the same draft pick after draft pick are fails but no one admits who is making the decisions when it comes to players. They both need to be gone or at worst a new GM needs to come in but with the normal GM/ coach structure that he gets the players and then the coach coaches them. I don't want to see no more of this the coach gets a say when he has no experience in scouting/drafting in his life. If BOB does survive he needs to know that the new GM will have him on the short leash and next year is make or break for him or he's gone and he will have no say in the next draft/ free agency.
1. Ryan Mallett will be gone this week. 2. If the Texans lose to the Titans Romeo will be gone during the bye week with Vrabel filling in. 3. Rick Smith gets fired in the offseason and McNair will bring in a GM that's more hands on in managing the roster. Similar to Casserly, but hopefully does a better job. 4. BOB will be told that he's still going to have input into the draft and with free agents, but he'll have to take a backseat to the new GM. If he doesn't like it he can quit and take one of the college jobs that is available.
