I think the worst case scenario should be the David Carr/Sage Rosenfels era under Kubiak. He squeezed an 82 QBR out of Carr and an 87 QBR out of Sage (3 seasons, 19 games)....and that's WITHOUT a dominant running game, offensive line, or defense. Leinart is going to be a different player...but for all his warts, Kubiak has been stellar at putting his quarterbacks in a position to succeed. And Andre managed to catch deep bombs from Carr and Rosenfels, not just Schaub. 3 wins should happen, if not 4.
For as much as we complain about Kubiak, aren't we SO glad that he of all people is our coach at this moment?
(shudder) Collectively, they both massively failed in the two areas Leinart has to be most careful: He cannot live on the checkdown as Carr did (6.26 YPA) and he cannot turn the ball over as frequently as Rosenfels did (23 INTs in 19 games). He has to confidence to try and stretch the field and extend drives; and he cannot give the ball away. Those two are critical priorities. Do those two things successfully and they'll be just fine.
Kubiak is beholden to his system, that's his biggest potential stumbling block here. You can't ask Leinart to move out of his comfort zone, especially in these circumstances. He's going to have to show a willingness to adapt and grow with Leinart, show patience, focus on his strengths, hide his weaknesses.
I don't think it's a stumbling block. Sure, Kubes is stubbornly glued to his system, but it works, and he picks his players based on that system. I just hope this righty/lefty thing doesn't become an issue. Winston better keep Matt#2 healthy.
Was looking over his '06 season again: A few decent games in there, I guess. Just gotta hope and pray...
Anyone see that game when Leinart played for Arizona against the bears? The game when the coach went crazy and said "the bears are who we thought they were and we let em off the hook"? Leinart played really good that game and made some great throws. He has it in him.
Looking at these past stats, he did have great receivers but no running game and nowhere near as good an O-Line or D. Leinart will be fine. God how satisfying will it be when the Texans continue to win when their QB goes down and the Colts look like a DIII college team without Manning.
Um, I'm just saying those decent games give me hope that he should be okay by now. I haven't read most of this thread. Sounds like I probably stumbled into the vitriol of some type of back-and-forth argument in here. Oh well...
Just got to remember this is a west coast offense we run like at USC, not Denny Green's Arizona/Minnesota offense that was throwing the football 30 and 40 yards down the field to Fitzgerald, Boldin, Moss, Carter, etc. By all the reports I've seen on ESPN and read online, he's matured a ton, is hungry to prove himself as an NFL QB and has put in the time and effort to do so (which didn't happen in Arizona) I don't think he's going to be asked to do more than anchor a short passing game and handing the ball off. If the defense keeps it up and the offensive line continues to punish opposing front sevens..Texans should have no problem finishing at worst 5-1
If he can avoid staring at the cheerleaders and the women in the stands ("man, she's hot, gotta get her number")....i.e., if he can focus....Leinert can do just fine. Hoping for 4-2 the rest of the way. Better would be nice but have to be realistic. Worse might jeopardize the division win and the playoffs.
Kubiak went 6-10 his first year with Carr, a mediocre D, a mediocre O-Line, and a washed up Ron Dayne. He squeezed 7 wins out of Sage stepped in for Schaub under similar circumstances. I can't fathom this team doing worse than 3-3 behind Leinart.
Wow... can't beleive I didn't think of this comparison earlier (the situation, not Leinart's lack of a stache). Both teams featured strong defenses, brusing O-lines and a dominating running game. Hostetler merely needed to not lose the game for them.
That was literally the first thing I thought of after listening to Kubiak's press conference. "If Hostetler could get the Giants to the Super Bowl, then Leinart can get us there too." The situations are uncannily similar.
