How bout last season when Cushing was arguably the best linebacker in the NFL? Jesus he is playing a different position, they are both great players.
Yeah, that's my thinking. Everytime Bill Cowher has been brought up, the argument against has been that we don't want to switch to a 3-4 because of Mario Williams. But if we're playing people out of position now anyway (Cushing), then it doesn't seem to be a real negative to just switch it up again. But as far as the personnel, I'd argue they don't apparently have the personnel to run the 4-3 either. After all, they are a flat out terrible defense.
First off, I don't think Cower will come here but I don't see a single player personnel issue with a switch to 3-4. The Packers did it and moved their best DE (Aaron Kampman) to OLB, it did not work and Kampman moved on but their defense only improved with the switch. That said, I believe attitude and not scheme is the main reason for the Texans continued mediocre play. There is no sense of urgency to win and, it is clear urgency will not come from ownership as it does in say Dallas. Mcnair is not that sort of owner, fine, get a coach in here who will demand results and hand out repercussions when those results are not met. Cower is that type of guy and so are a handful of others throughout the league, that is what this team needs and it needs it now. Someone stated that this is not a developmental league and man, I could not have said it better myself; you have the foundation and now it is time to start demanding results each and every week, a mediocre team like the Chargers comes in and whips you in your house and the team needs to know that is not good enough. Sadly this result has been repeated too many times throughout the past three years of Kubiak's tenure. It is time for accountability among the players of this team. Yesterday was the first game I attended this season an it was funny to watch the D act like a bunch of badasses presnap and then get their asses handed to them over and over once the play started, they were clueless and tackled like little girls all game long. It was ****ing pathetic.
The defense is clearly terrible, but I kinda agree with what Steve Young said before the MNF game. It has to do with scheme and a terrible defensive strategy. They have legitimate defensive superstars in Cushing, Ryans, and Mario. I personally think a guy who has a clue what he is doing can make the current squad average (excluding secondary which I'm not sure anyone can help) The thing about a 3-4 is that if you don't have a NOSE TACKLE, it simply will not work. They don't grow on trees and transitioning to it before you have a position like that filled would be foolish imo. The only lineman they have that has played and is probably capable of playing up front is Antonio Smith. They would need to find a Nose Tackle and another 3-4 defensive end. I'm not completely opposed to the idea, but it would definitely take longer to set up and might add another year to the process. Mario and Cushing as OLBs could turn out to be amazing, we don't know. I am just worried about taking a guy like Mario, putting him in a new scheme that he has never played before and making him useless, he may not be able to play linebacker.
With only a few personnel changes they amazingly made that switch. They only drafted Raji and Matthews, I'm guessing moved a tackle over to the end and, boom, 3-4 defense. You can't ignore the ballhawking god that emerged in Woodson though that probably synergized with all of Clay's pressure. I'll have to agree with this. The DL played with aggression the first set of downs and we end up seeing Scifres punting out of their own end zone. I'm not defending F. Bush, I want him gone and his replacement not promoted from within, but these guys just fail to show up.
No kidding. When you have literally the worst defense in the NFL, how much worse could a switch to 3-4 really make it? If the Texans could (theoretically) hire a competent head coach dead set on the 3-4, failing to hire him because "We have Mario Williams!" doesn't wash with me. Mario ain't so great that he can't be traded, is he?
Exactly. I'm not saying we should look for a 3-4 coach. But if they find one that they want, that shouldn't be a disqualifying factor. This defense isn't good enough to justify needing to stick with what they are currently doing. If the coach is that good, they'll figure out the best ways to use the available personnel.
you know what really pisses me off? Dom ****ing Capers is getting praise for Green Bay's amazing Defense. We are cursed with a ****ty front office with mediocre talent evaluation, scouting skills. We just need to scorch the earth once again and hope we hire an established coach who can bring in established and accomplished staff.
This is the comment Brian Cushing's father Frank put on a Chronicle blog. It's really him. "Lance, I am Brian Cushing's father and proud of it. Do you still believe in BP, Enron, Wall Street, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and all the corporations that feed the American public like the NFL? Do you know the NFL's testing procedures? Do you know what happened at the appeal's meeting in Indy? What was his score? Do you know the agreement for further testing and the scores? Do you know that his nutrionist is the New York Jets nutrionist since college? Amazing that you take one side and hang a clean cut kid! Do you know that his score was a passing score 2 years ago and the NFL doctor didn't know that the Lab Man from Ohio State (USC 38, OS 3)dropped the passing grade from 10 to 6 (-40%). Do you know that one of the finest medical school's in US tested him and stated that they found no indication he ever used steriods and/or performance enhancing drugs? Do you know that he passed an ex-FBI lie detector test in Denver on this subject? Do you know that the NFL blew off a 4 hour presentation by the former head of Houston medical school and the top HCG doctor in US, who stated Cushing was clean? If you want the facts and the truth are home phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. We will be back in NJ from Thursday on!" http://blogs.chron.com/fantasyfootball/2010/11/post_171.html
This year he does. Cushing was the better play last year. They are totally different type of players as well. All Matthews has to do in Green Bay is rush the QB so he is always going to have big sacks numbers, low tackle numbers, and very few INTs. Cushing is asked to do more. He has to play the run, rush pass, and play in coverage. They both are very good players. I think the Texans made a mistake moving him to MLB because he hasn't had a impact in the last two games.
