Can't believe the company man is still trying to spin this. QBs: "It's the personnel! -If this were Brad Johnson, then yes. But we're looking at two QBs who have decent arms, decent athleticism, and demonstrate (between the 20s) a knack for moving the ball. If our QBs are the problem, how do we have the #4 passing attack (yardage) in the league? When the problem is making bad decisions causing ill-timed turnovers, it demonstrates a lack of preparation or maybe a mental complex. Hey, Kubiak is here because he's a QB-guru - explain to me how he can't either (a) coach these guys through the mistakes and teach things like "don't throw to Kevin Walter when two defenders are in a sexual position on either side of him" or (b) play call around it. Isn't that what he did with Carr? If you've seen a half dozen red zone INTs....why are you still greenlighting the QB to sling from inside the 5? Any individual turnover lies on the player. But when your team is nearly at the top of the league in passing yardage yet at the same time is THE very worst in the league in interceptions....that has to lie on the coach as much if not more than the QBs. Defense: "It's the personnel! Who could do any better with these guys?" -Load of crap. If that were the case, what made us this much worse this year from last? What stud(s) left us in FA? The younger draft picks should be at least slightly better year to year (Diles was, Okoye hasn't been), and Eugene Wilson was a decent addition at safety. Kubiak YR1 we allow 23 ppg. YR2 we allow 24 ppg. YR3 we are allowing 28 ppg. As I mentioned in the original post, we throw a birthday party for opposing QBs. Even teams that aren't looking to pass (Vikes, Ravens) came into the game against us knowing that they could throw deep with little to no regard for safety (Wilson excluded) help. I know Reeves and Faggins are physically (speed, size) outmatched to cover #1 receivers 1-on-1. But why are they constantly being left on an island in our defensive schemes???? Smith is liable when the personnel repeatedly demonstrate they don't know what they're doing in coverage. Smith is liable when the defensive scheme is inherently flawed. In a situation where a player misses tackles or bites fakes, that's on the player. When players constantly make bad decisions in coverage, that's on the coach. Teams take on the personality of their coach. Discipline, focus, preparedness all fall on the coaching staff's shoulders. We are sloppy with the ball, have become sloppy recently in penalties, are miserable in converting red zone opportunities and poor in preventing red zone scores, have a penchant for being outplayed in 4th quarters, and often allow big plays as a result of blown coverage. The simple question to ask is if the team is reasonably playing to its potential or is it playing beneath itself. If "someone" were to argue that this coaching staff is getting all they can out of the roster, it would be laughable. This team should be no worse than 5-4 right now. The team is lucky that they aren't 2-7. Smith was unqualified for his position when he came on and has demonstrated that he is indefensibly unfit for it. I like Kubiak a lot, and he has absolutely improved this offense, but if he can't do a better job preparing his team than this...than we can absolutely use a coaching change this spring. Evan
Two words: dink dunk Those two words were responsible for some very gaudy-looking statistical games for one David Carr. I was fooled then. I ain't buying it now. The rest of your post I agree with entirely.
hmmmm...i haven't seen the stats, but it doesn't feel like that. they seem to be able to hit receivers over the middle and down the field far better than they did during the carr era. i don't think the texans game is a dink/dunk passing game. but again, i haven't seen stats on it.
uhmmmmmm... schaub is 6th in the NFL in YPA; rosenfels, while not eligible, would be tied for 8th. come on, msn: it took me 30 seconds to look that up.....
I also disagree - Carr's last year was dink-dink-dink to get his % numbers up to 68%. I can't remember more than one pass a game going further than 12 yards (before YAC). That year we had 173 passing yards per game. This year, 264. This year we're seeing two or three 15 yard throws on several drives each game. It's been an astounding difference from the Carr era. It's true that YPA has been similar (7.7ish for both Schaub/Sage vs 6.3 for Carr), but not THAT similar. The top passers in the league right now have YPA around 8.5 and the worst are 5.5 to 6 The scale isn't as big a spectrum as you might be thinking. 8+ = A 7-8 = B 6-7 = C 5-6 = D Schaub and Sage fall into a B+ Carr was a C- in his Kubiak (best) year Evan
Clearly lazy on my part. Thanks all; I was wrong. That means I agree entirely with emjohn's point above.
close - its sage rosenfels. no one is excusing the QB play: i've maintained since 2006 that rosenfels is a career back-up for a reason; we're seeing why right now. most of us have said as much. i'll cut both kubiak and rosenfels an oh-so-slight break on the first INT yesterday. the play - as designed - DID work: daniels was wide-open in the end zone. and the NT made an unbelievable play on the ball; just insane. but, yeah... why are you calling that play? same with the safety - i was shocked he dropped rosenfels back into the end zone. frankly, a safety there is probably the lesser of two evils.... schaub threw 5 the first two weeks; 3 in the next 4.5. i would say with their starting QB, they've made adjustments and progressed, got better. rosenfels is a lost cause. no one is making this argument; most have conceded that they lack a combination of personnel AND coaching.
You've been arguing for it or awfully close to it the entire thread, actually: Maybe it wasn't your conscious intent, but you sure fooled me if you think both the coaches and personnel are to blame. And you keep harping on the talentless unit that the coaches are doing all they can with.....but how can that be the case when this is almost the same unit as last year? How did that scrub lineup play average defense last year and become such a pathetic joke this year? What changed?
i hate to sound like an athlete - but you've taken all of these quotes completely out of context. the first post, for instance, was in response to Shroopy2, who argued it was the coaches fault that our "filler" wasn't playing better... which i thought was kinda silly: they're being asked to coach filler and it's the their fault the "filler" isn't performing? it's filler!! but here's the rest of the post - notice the emphasis i've since added: later, in this same thread, i posted: the other quotes were directed at kubiak and the TEAM he inherited. never did i say, "Who could do any better with these guys?" in reference to the defense. never. ever. i KNOW they lack talent on defense. what i don't know is how much (or little) impact smith and the coaches are having on that talent. in fact, if you go back to page 1, the 13th post, i said this:
crap - sorry: hit submit too early.... they weren't "average" last year. in fact, statistically, they've actually gotten better in '08: 19th overall (24th last year); 23rd against the run (19th last year); 14th against the pass (25th last year). they are giving up 4.2 more points a game (although, actually - that may be a bit misleading: they've really only given up 26.4 this year because TEN and IND both scored defensive TDs - not sure how many, if any, defensive TDs they gave up last year). but the offense is turning the ball over at a much, much higher rate: just the QBs have turned it over 19 times in 9 games - that's 34 over a 16-game schedule. last year, they accounted for 27. as we saw yesterday, that kills a defense.
Its on the coach's Kubiak has a say so on personel. They drafted 2 players in the 3rd round a cb and a lb and 9 games into the season they aren't good enough to get on the field. The lb got his first playing time of the season yesterday and that was only because of injury. No matter how you spin it it comes back on Kubiak.
slaton was the other 3rd rounder; adibi was actually a 4th rounder and he's been hurt - but i think that's an interesting point. one of my biggest problems with casserly that drove me absolutely bat**** crazy was his (seeming) propensity for trying not to draft the best player, per se, but to look like the smartest GM in football. which is why he took so many small school and/or projects (like pitts in round 2; wand in round 3; babin in round 1, etc. - i could go on for DAYS...) kubiak's drafting has been, by and large, very good. but these past two drafts, he's used 3rd round picks on jacoby jones and atwaun molden - two high ceiling/small school guys who haven't seen much of the field and would've made casserly wet between the legs. now, jones has obviously been an asset - but he can't see the field as a receiver because he can't beat out a 4'8" gnome they took in the 7th round. molden has been decent on special teams but can't crack a line-up that features reeves and faggins as starters. if you're down as far the texans are in personnel.... it's hard to justify not getting immediate value with your third round picks - ESPECIALLY if you're gonna deal two 2s for a QB. again, jones has flashed, so i don't think they're BAD picks and the team isn't 2 3rd rounders away from being good - but add 2 eric winston-like contributors...... and this is a better team, no?
Kubiak makes some bonehead game decisions Safties lack speed and have coverage breakdowns Both starting cornerbacks lack even more speed and have poor coverage skills Defensive tackles are undersized and only one plays hard every down The Other DE is a backup at best The outside LBs are poor in coverage and average against the run The middle LB looks nicked Only one of the WR has the speed and the others are all possession receivers The center and right guard are undersized and under performing The LT is a rookie and playing like it- inconsistent The RT is improving but still gets beat several times each game The RB is a good change of pace back but there is no pile mover at the position The QBs are 2 OK backups who could win if they had a very good defense, a solid running attack and didn't turn the ball over- using a ball control offense. We still don't have the talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball to sniff the playoffs or even a winning record.
i would disagree on the WRs, winston and one of the QBs - but by and large, that's pretty spot on. they've elevated the talent overall - it's a better team. but i've looked at the 2005 roster recently - it is filled with current back-ups and a good chunk of players out of football: that was only 3 years ago! it's hard to fathom how bad that 2005 team was.
DeMeco Ryans' take (from the Houston Examiner): Several Texans players met with local media Monday to discuss 'who's to blame' for the latest in what seems like a never-ending series of debacles for this franchise. Most of the players gave the standard takes about how blame is equally shared and it's everyone's fault, etc., but one player's comments stuck out to me in particular. When asked how players deal with the heat that is pointed at defensive coordinator Richard Smith, company man DeMeco Ryans responded by saying “We don’t look at it. We look at it as players and we feel like we all have to step up and play better. We don’t play for the coaches. We play for each other when we step out there on the field and that’s what I tell the guys that it’s about. It’s about us sticking it up and sticking it out there on the line for each other. That’s what it’s about." In other words, we know our scheme sucks so we're all just circling the wagons as players until we get a new scheme in here. And by the way, that's step two on the three step program to team meltdown. The last step is when the players start playing only for themselves. Luckily it doesn't seem like we're there yet - as we were in 2005. But there's still seven weeks to go in the season. Yes I'm taking huge liberties with DeMeco's words and in the absence of context that can be dangerous. It could have been a totally innocent remark but when pressed about whether there are scheme problems, Ryans went on to say "no matter what the call is, no matter what (defensive coordinator) Richard (Smith) calls, we have to play. We have to line up and play the right technique and play with a lot of energy and play with a lot of passion and make plays happen." In other words, yeah the scheme sucks, which is confirmed by the absence of a 'we still believe in Richard Smith' comment anywhere in the interview. That's about as close to a public non-endorsement as you will get out of players coached to not speak their minds in interviews with the media. For the record, Ryans did say 'we still believe in Kubiak and the coaching staff' but he didn't mention Smith specifically. Of course these comments aren't as telling as when Jamie Sharper sealed his fate here by calling out the team's lack of leadership a few years back, but it's about as close as you can get to a Texans player publicly non-endorsing this coordinator and his system. Are those cries for help we hear coming from the locker room? http://www.examiner.com/x-778-Houst...008m11d10-Ryans--We-dont-play-for-the-coaches
Save an exceptional turn around, Smith is as good as gone. I'm not sure doing it now serves a purpose...but maybe it does. Can Ray Rhodes do anything with this bunch?
