Being fair about this, McNair was the one that extended Carr 3 years and laid it out as a interview question #1: tell me how you will help David Carr become a successful QB in this league. Kubiak got the job partly because he could claim success working with QBs after being Elway's backup. Kubiak helped prove that Carr was beyond redemption and got him shipped out for Schaub.
It matters because it will once again be an UNDERACHEIVING TEAM. I don't care what ANYONE says. . this is NOT a 5-9 team. This team has been COACHED DOWN to 5-9 Next year . . Coaching then down to 9-7 and backing into the playoffs. . .would still be signs of coaching not improving. Rocket River
Yes it is. The defense is terrible; all-time terrible: The coaching staff is overwhelmed, the scheme is non-existent and the players are below average. Their offense may not be 5-9 worthy but that defense is lucky to be 5-9. And record is irrelevant, IMO. Did the '95 Rockets underachieve? The '04 Astros? Get in and take your chances. If they make the playoffs, no one is going to be sitting on their hands in this town because they only won 8 or 9 games. The "hump", IMO, isn't 9 wins - it's the playoffs.
honestly . . . i have readjusted my whole thinking the Defensive talent is not historically bad it is historically badly coached!!!!! for too long . . . i think we have just blamed the players being out of position . . miscommunications . .etc. . . Well . . maybe it is the coaching . . .coaches have been giving the benefit of the doubt and folx wanna through the players under the bus well . . under the bus now is .. Frank Bush, Gary Kubiak and the whole staff IT IS ON THEM!!! Rocket River
But this supports RR's point. Two of the three things you listed to get them to be 5-9 bad are coaching related. He's arguing that the talent is better than 5-9 and the coaching dragged them down to 5-9. When looking backwards, that's certainly true. However, if the team goes 9-7 and backs into the playoffs due to 5 other teams losing in the last week, you *should* evaluate the team and the coaching staff differently than if the team goes 16-0 and gets the #1 seed. In the former case, you still want to keep making major changes to the team; in the latter, you probably stick with everything you're doing. Whether the head coach is one of those changes is arguable, but their record and performance beyond "we made the playoffs" definitely should affect the evaluation process. As an example, had the Jets lost last year and the Texans made the playoffs, Kubiak wouldn't be any better or worse a head coach than he is today.
Those that follow the Cowboys, what exactly did happen? They were a 10+ win team last season, then this season complete failure. At first, their defeats were close, some due to boneheaded play calling, then it all just turned into a giant snowball. I mention the cowboys because the talent is there for them. Infact, they were picked by most to represent the NFC at the Superbowl. I agree with RR, for this team the talent is there. It's the coaches job to let the defenders know where they are supposed to be positioned, to not give up the sidelines, to stay disciplined and not be caught looking in the backfield when Sanchez has 70 yards to go in less than a minute. And if the players can't learn their assignments, they should be benched.
Coaching/Talent - it's both, but the coaches are the ones picking out players for the GM to draft. I keep hearing Smith had to be talked into selecting Jackson last year. In partial defense: I do think Frank Bush has been great as a LB coach (though completely out of his depth running the defense entirely). He's helped select and develop a very impressive corps. Sadly, Kubiak hired Alex Gibbs' kid as a favor and has let him ruin an already iffy secondary. Can't fire him! Buddy system! He's bringing the chips and sandwiches to poker night this week! Cowboys: Similar to us, there's just a culture of unaccountability. Funball QB that gets worked by smart defenses. A defense that lacks discipline and focus. Wade Phillips is one of the last guys you want in charge of the nuthouse, and that's what it was. No leadership, no one keeping the team together as a unit.
Anyone else kinda tired of it already? I'm tired of Kubiak talk....talk about whether it's the coaching or the talent, because i can't imagine a universe where it's all one or the other when you have a defense THIS BAD.... I'm just over it all. I will likely watch the game this week (I will record it, anyway)...but I'm not even a little bit excited about it. Just ready for it to be over. If he brings Kubiak back again, which I've sorta come to accept, I can't imagine I'm going to feel any more excited at the start of next season than I am right now. It's just all so blah.
Same for me; I have no desire in duplicating my "Oiler" experience. I will cut this one short. Uncle Bob has taken me for a ride one time too many. If Kubiak is back, bye bye.
If Kubiak is back next season I don't think we will even have that record, many players will quit on Kubiak just like the titans's game.
Who *isn't* blaming Frank Bush (besides my dad)? Everyone agrees coaching is a mjor problem; but so, too, is lack of talent. I think they need two DTs, an OLB, at least two CBs and two S. You're talking about upgrading 8 positions on defense. The coaching is bad, sure - but the players ain't helping any and I'd argue it's easier to make Frank Bush look good than it is Eugene Wilson.
What about his stops in between Houston and Tennessee? Were the coaching staffs in KC and PHI bad also? He was on SR610 recently and he credited his success to being more mature and working a lot harder.
I think it's more likely in an 18 game schedule to do away with the 2 game floater games and add a whole other division to the schedule. For instance, in a given year the Texans couple play the entire AFC East, AFC North and NFC South.
Except then it would be 8 nfc games and 10 afc games. I don't think that's enough of a discrepancy between conferences to justify the current playoff system. 18 game season is an issue being pushed by the management, no way NFLPA goes for it. Not to mention more games puts a dent in a huge part of the game: ground attack. RBs come and go so quickly already, and with 18 game seasons the featureback will be extinct. Even with committee guys could still see 350+ touches and running production will be more scheme/line dependent. Maybe the talent of that secondary is below average, but someone is putting them in bad spots to start. 5 yard cushions on goal line, press coverage in hail mary situations. Inside technique on obvious sideline routes. Stupid decisions where nobody but superstars can recover and make a play.
i agree entirely...and yet for every time i see that happen, i see as many times where kareem (in particular but not exclusively) bite so hard on a head fake that he can't begin to recover....or some receiver runs a pretty simple route but loses coverage so easily. that mason route where he broke loose long against kareem comes to mind instantly. i don't think it's exclusive to coaching or talent...it's absolutely both. there are some things about playing DB that need to be coached...there are others that are instinctual and get sharpened with the experience of playing the position for a while (as these guys have if they're playing now at the pro level). as best i can tell, we're short on both.
This is what Uncle Bob has forced on us, we actually have to cheer for their opponents to crush them, so the owner has no choice but to fire a coach that should have been replaced before the season even began.
That's an entirely different regime. Capers drafted him to be a 3-4 rush OLB. He was no longer a fit when they brought Kubiak in. Tennessee, btw, is his 4th team since leaving Houston.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Veteran coordinators making difference on hot NFL teams If they bring Kubiak back, this right here is the key.
