People complaining about Schaub are misguided, there are no better alternatives out there in the near term, and he's already been commited to cap wise. Better to enhance our strengths and shore up major weaknesses. With that in mind, how do we make things easier on Watt and punish opponents for double teaming him? Upgrade at NT?
I agree...we should just fix the defensive side of the ball via the draft...and let Smith and Kubiak search for good free agent Lineman available in the market...Brandon Moore might be a good start... Also resign Quinn...and see if Antonio would restructure his contract...if not cut him
We are likely going to have to regardless, despite being well liked on the team, Cody's best days are probably behind him with all the injuries he was getting this season. Might be time to get a younger DT ready to step up and help. Barwin is also likely gone, so I'd say we are likely to draft a OLB. That being said, I think within the first 3 rounds, two defensive positions that should be upgraded should be Interior Linebacker and safety. With Safety even if we resign Quin, we need a better alternative then Keo or Demps who hasn't been the same since his injury. ILB, Cushing is the man, but we need young athletic depth at that position badly. Offensively, only one I would worry about is getting a young TE because Daniels is getting worn down and Graham in his first season of consistent usage seems dangerous injury prone especially with Schaub at QB.
Yeah. They prioritize getting a huge mauler in the middle. Collapsing the pocket from the middle and having an inside run stuffer will help Watt and the LBs. Can you imagine the D with a healthy Cushing and a brute at NT?
what sucks is that Barwin COULD HAVE BEEN that perfect complement to Watt. A real 1-2 punch/juggernaut on the front lines--IF he replicated what he did in 2011-12. I think the big mystery of the year was what the hell happened to Barwin's production. Honestly, its insane the dropoff he had and the same to a lesser extent goes to Brooks Reed. If those guys simply duplicated what they did last year, this D would be nearly unstoppable (adding of course Watt's production). I agree overall that we aren't replacing Schaub so shore up the Oline and get Watt some help. The return of Cushing will be huge. Also, I say let Yates and Keenum at least COMPETE with Schaub in the pre-season if only to light some kind of fire under him. Let those guys know the starting job could be theirs with a great preseason and see how schaub responds. can't hurt
Simple, keep these damn linebackers healthy. Cushing and brooks went down hurt us and he was not the same last few games he played. We have a huge need at safety so NT would be at the end of the line especially in Wade's system.
agree but it seems almost inevitable that some key player(s) will go down every season. I've come to anticipate the injury list of key playmakers to grow. What sucks is we seem to get hit with a lot of "end of season" injuries. I know good teams adapt, but wouldn't it be nice, just for once, oh football gods, if our entire team could just stay healthy as is? Pretty please? P.S. I recognize the irony that this year Schaub stayed healthy and pretty much failed us down the stretch. Lots of people/experts claimed that if Schaub were around the end of last year, we would've been in the superbowl. Not sure that statement is so likely anymore.
Yeah, losing the LB's exposes the NT situation. We need one or the other. Thus, having a great NT is really just a cherry on top as opposed to a real priority.
Not just losing the LBs, but the guys we started in their place offered nothing besides a warm body to put on the field. James wouldn't even be on a team now if it weren't for Wade, and Ruud couldn't even hang onto a special teams role for the league's worst defense.
This is the scary part and something i've been thinking about. Can he really get much better? Already had one hell of a season. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of his career develops. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>"I’m 23 years old. My 2nd year is not going to be my best year in the NFL; I can promise you that." @<a href="https://twitter.com/jjwatt">jjwatt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Texans">#Texans</a></p>— Nick Scurfield (@NickScurfield) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickScurfield/status/290872708969930753" data-datetime="2013-01-14T17:27:12+00:00">January 14, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
