Didn't mean that as a call-out....and truth is, the guys who said that were true to their word, because they gave him one more year...it didn't work..and now they're ready to flush.
I saw the reasoning to give him one more year, but I was one of the ones that hated the "they were a few bounces away from the playoffs." My response was to point to the few games where they were a few bounces away from 7-9 or 6-10.
People need to get over the whole "4-3" vs. "3-4" angle becuase there's a lot of misconceptions about what each scheme requires. First, it's kind of irrelevant a lot of the time given the number of 3+ WR sets most teams run anyway. Second, some people (I used to, and Easterbrook from TMQ, I'm looking at you) tend to think that a 3-4 automatically requires a 1980's NY Giants style 3-4 where the DE's line up in a straight front on the tackles, plow into them, and control their gaps. And that's that. That's just not reallly the case - there's many ways to run a 3-4, whether or not the DE is responsible for edge rushing (see Bruce Smith with the Bills who often lined up outside the tackle) or for plowing into the gaps and occupying blockers. Conversely you can have a 4-3 in which the DE's run into the line and control gaps. WHat a DL does on a play often depends on alignment, and shifting over and under, more so than whether or not a defense is nominally 3-4 or 4-3. Guys like Belicheck now have taken the old 3-4 concepts and melded them to fit around players like Williams rather than forcing them into the old roles. The NYT 5th down blog did a great series on NFL defenses last summer that sort of explained a lot of this. http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/guide-to-n-f-l-defenses-part-1/
I have no problem owning up to it, if I could do this year over again, I would. The team looked better last year, they finished strong, both statistically and in wins. Gary's mistakes seemed like growing pains, unfortunately this year, they proved to be "habits" and not just bumps in the road. The extension is where I have 100% regret. That was dumb. So dumb.
When McNair brings back Kubiak, his best move to head off the public firestorm would not be to hire Wade Phillips. It would be to call up Bud Adams and offer to trade Schaub for VY. While this is not a good football move, for multiple reasons, it would be a good marketing move. The VY lovers are so loud that their chorus of praise would drown out the whining of the fed-up-with-Kubiak fans. And the retailers would be thrilled with the rush to buy the new #10 Texans jerseys. Although Bud supposedly loves VY, maybe he does this deal to keep Fisher around if he is truly faced with a choose either VY or Fisher, the town is not big enough for the two of them, dilemma. And then McNair can start selling the line that we need a great QB developer like Kubiak here to get the most out of VY.
I am an admitted Kubiak fan. Before last season I was of the opinion that he could get this team to playoff contender status by this year. That said, here was me after 11 games last year:
McNair doesn't care about public opinion. If he did, he would have told his football people to draft VY. If he thinks 5 years, no playoffs, 1 winning season, is great improvement then I don't know what to say other than thank God for the Sunday Ticket and Redzone.
At the end of last year, I was advocating we look around for a Cowher type no-brainer, and barring that, retain Kubiak on a shorter leash. I was facepalming when Bob fell over himself handing out that 3-yr extension. Too much security for a guy that, in my opinion, blew a golden opportunity creampuff schedule and missed the playoffs with gaffe after gaffe and AWOL half after AWOL half. And now McNair finds himself with a 2 year contract that he doesn't want to eat. Echoes of insisting that his post-Capers coach keep and work with David Carr and his newly minted foolish 3-yr extension.
I was a Kubiak fan until the MNF loss to the titans last year. That was the moment when I realized that he just wasn't the man for the job. I wanted him gone during this past off-season. The meaningless 4-game winning streak last year did nothing to change that. Neither did the 4-2 start this year. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Problem was....I had a feeling that light was an oncoming train...
It's even worse than that. McNair actually wanted to give Gary a 4 year extension but Kubiak refused because he wanted his contract to expire at the same time the ones for his assistants did. A 4 year extension! For going 9-7, once! I guess Gary felt his job was so secure that he would be just fine without that extra year. Maybe he was right.
Wait a minute: you're listening to Gil Brandt? You need that valium more than anyone around here. And Rich Gannon? C'mon man! If you were to step back from your condescending attitude, you'd be grateful that after 9 years of football BS, fans in Houston still care enough about the Texans to get mad. They continue down this path and the day will come when folks no longer care. I wonder what will be the "smart" thing to do then? Maybe move the team to Des Moines?
Breaking news,It's official..tio McNair is delusional, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoy_en_la_revolucion/5307261548/" title="Delusional by The son of krypton, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5290/5307261548_83a9704bcc_z.jpg" width="640" height="489" alt="Delusional" /></a> As a fan, I want it to work. =( But we've seen how Kubiak just doesn't put the kids in a position to win the battle of battlefights.
My primary concern was the people calling Bob McNair a cheapskate and the worst owner in the history of pro sports anywhere ever, and a man of low repute who smells like poop. It was beginning to sound like the "Drayton McClain is a cheapskate and hates black people" BS that still crops up all the time. I'm all for firing Kubiak. I think flipping out and firing him before the last game is stupid. At this point, it is smarter to wait until after the last game. There are no benifits to giving someone a one game interm coaching job, other than appeasing the angry mob, and chasing that dragon is a loosing proposition. I find Kubiak more appealing in terms of his personality than Capers, but the sum of the parts just doesn't equal a competent head coach. And the job that Capers has done in GB makes me wonder if he might have been better if not for Casserly. But the fact that Bob McNair hasn't already kicked him to the curb doesn't make McNair an antisemitic pedophile from Dallas. Personally, I think the decision which lead most to the team's defensive problems is the whole Dunta Robinson thing. And that really sticks in my craw, because I think Robinson acted like a little girl. But smart management is management that doesn't let a contract dispute devolve into a personal feud. I expect a professional GM and coach to be smarter and wiser than me. And they weren't. But even with Robinson, it is probably another 9-7 team, so maybe the blow up was for the best. Albert Haynesworth and the 2010 Buffalo Bills would like to speak with you.
That example actually kind of makes my point though - Haynesworth wasn't effective in Tennesee because of a magical 4-3 vs 3-4 dichotomy, he was successful because he lined up as a 3-technique player, in the gap between the guard and tackle, rather than straight up over center responsible for 2 gaps. What I'm saying with 3-4 vs. 4-3 is that it's basically all semantics, it's where you line up and what your role is, not who is nominally what position. A better example is Vince Wilfork - he lines up all over the place in the Patriots ostensibly 3-4 scheme, basically going wherever the defense needs him most. Or in Mario Williams case, Bruce Smith, who almost always lined up in the 5-spot on the right side despite being a nominal 3-4 end.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Rick Smith get into a childish tiff with one of our Strength and Conditioning coaches as well? I recall the coach being let go rather abruptly, and there being a little bit of a fallout because of it. If that's the case, that's definitely something to think about moving forward. Given all the accounts of Rick Smith doing whatever he can right now to throw people under the bus to cover his own ass, this is alarming to say the least.
