Since 2006, 60 teams have finished the season with 10+ wins. Meaning 300 have not. That you *continue* to misrepresent 10-6 as some sort of disappointment screams volumes as to how biased and clouded your perspective is. Ten wins, in this league, is a accomplishment worthy of praise. Yes- even with "12-4 talent." (25, btw - that's how many teams have won 12+ since 2006. 335 have not.)
I have to say the secondary in 2010 (well maybe Anthony Weaver's contract) is the biggest mistake that I think was made under Kubiak's tenure. Sure, they've missed on some draft picks, but overall have drafted well. They just did not do a good job of projecting who would be in secondary that year. One point that should be mentioned is that the Texans starting defense is incredibly young. From 2006-2011, there are only three teams that were as young or younger than the Texans projected starting defense (~25.8) not counting the Texans defenses from 2006-2011. Kubiak inherited an old pile of crappy never weres and had to completely rebuild the defense. Age of starting defense dropped from 27.1 to 24.5 his first year.
For the record, I don't consider last year a true 10-6 year. More like a 10-3 year. The Carolina loss was clearly a case of hangover from winning the division the week before. I saw that one coming right down Kirby as I watched the celebration the night the team got back from Cinci. Inexcusable IMO, but we win that game going away if it was a division clinching game. The Indy loss was a complete fluke. If we had anything to play for, no way do we lose that game. The tennessee loss shouldn't even count. Basically a preseason game for us. As evidenced by Kubiak going for 2 again after getting a penalty the first time. LOL... If, for some reason, we didn't have a playoff spot wrapped up until the last week of the season, I think we finish 13-3.
You know what I love right now about the Houston Texans? I don't care about contracts or extensions or any of that business. I'm still riding so high on last year's fun season and the playoff games, I don't care about all this. That is probably short sighted...and I've certainly been critical of Kubiak in the past...but I love the direction this organization has moved from the big picture. I love that we're going into next season as a real contender. I love how much heart the team played with at Baltimore. My 12 year old on the way to school today randomly out of the blue says, "Dad, can you imagine how loud Reliant would have been if we'd played Baltimore at home? Flacco would have been deaf."
You know what's awesome? Even if Matt Schaub's foot falls off and a piano lands on him and he's hit by a flaming meteorite, TJ Yates is still the best QB in the AFC South.
This just reeks of excuse making. I mean I get it . . .. If Rudy had not got sick . .the Rockets would have got into the playoffs that year . .. blah blah blah Folx told me . . . BUT THEY DIDN'T AND ONLY RESULTS COUNT so That is the stance I have started taking If Yao had not got hurt. . if Tracy had not got hurt .. so on and so forth no matter what. . .at the end of the day . . .it didn;t happen Rocket River
Excuse making goes both ways. "They have 12-4 talent." "They play in a weak division." If only Results speaks, the Texans are a returning playoff team coming off a great season.
I don't totally disagree with you...I thought he should have been fired for sure after 2010. But Uncle Bob makes the calls and he made the right one by keeping the continuity in the offense and getting a legitimate defensive guru. I was even still upset when they hired Wade because I thought he would just take over for Gary the minute things went awry, but with this extension it's obvious that Mcnair wants to keep the two intact and I support that. They are both crummy at controlling two sides of the ball but allowing them to focus on one area created something special. And I think you're referring to the fall-off associated with Wade as a HC; I don't think that's been the case as a DC. Maybe we're all just a little high from last season, but we were the most complete, balanced team in the league and Super Bowl contenders. I'm not worried about overextending Kubiak because frankly a few more years is our window for Wade/Dre/Schaub, no sense in trying to make wholesale changes without riding this out.
So you would have been fine with Kubiak playing all his starters in that meaningless game against the titans? You wouldn't have blamed him at all if Arian Foster got hurt on the last play of the game and ended up missing the playoffs? Uh huh....
The NFL is the most injury-heavy sport in America. It is also the most luck-based due to low number of games. EVERY team in the NFL go through tons of injuries each year, some more than others. Every year there are contenders with injuries to their pro bowlers and overcame them. Every year a contending team has one or two games where things went the wrong way and overcame them. The fact that the Texans could not do so until last year simply meant they were pretenders. They lacked both the talent depth to deal with injuries, and lack of toughness to deal with adversity on the field. The former is a knock on our personnel department. The latter is on the coach.
And didn't Wade Phillips go all Shooter Flatch by listening to the games on a transitor radio in a hospital bed? I'm 100% fine with any and every complaint about Kubiak... but for far too many, he didn't even seem to earn begrudging respect for what he did last year, instead earning another seemingly endless string of "Yeah, but"s and Ms. Jackson, if you're nasty, "What have you done for me lately?"s. And that I do have a problem with.
I absolutely agree. But I would contend few teams - if any - get better when their above-average (I would argue top 10) starting QB gets hurt and misses significant time. That's what happened in 2007-8. He missed 10 of 32 starts and chunks of additional games. In 2009, execution killed them. I don't have any issue with people holding Kubiak accountable for that. But you mentioned luck and, well - going 0-4 on easily-convertible end-of-game plays in a single season is absolutely rooted in a big, sticky pile of bad luck, and that doesn't even include the Jets being handed two gimmes at the end of the year to snatch a playoff spot from a still-good 9-7 Texan team. So I tip my cap to him for what he did in 2006, 2007 and, for the most part, 2008. I'm disappointed they let far too many golden opportunities slip away in 2009, while I can't say anything positive about 2010 as bad front office decisions caught up to him. But then I have mad respect for what he did last year. I would argue, for those screaming, "Prove it!" (which, as I've said before, is 100% valid), that the flipside is that he really only has one year of abject failure - and it's looking more and more like the anomaly.
I am a Yates fan, and think he took WAY too much flak to end the season, but I think the Collins/Locker combo is a bit better. I'd go so far as to say I don't look forward to Locker taking the reins fulltime in Tennessee. I do think Yates in 2012 will be better than Luck in 2012...and we can always hope Luck busts out.
not defending the contract extensions (frankly i think bob should wait until the end of the season) but how many of us hated the Wade hiring? the board went berserk over it (and not in a good way). the extensions don't count against the cap and we're coming off our best season. i'm all for continuity at this point.
This is true. The results are 10-6 [4-2 in the division] As stated . . . Arian had the best season of his life and of any NFL RB . . . . people said. . well . . yea. .but . . . we need him to take 500k another season before we pay him he did .. . and we did [texans anyway] Why not make Kubiak do it again? Why the rush? Is he so mentally weak that the thought of having to 'earn'' again will kill him? Seriously . . .with this division he basically has an automatic bid to the playoffs so why the hurry. Rocket River
No salary cap for Kubiak. Kubiak is less likely to be hurt. Kubiak is great coach that we don't want to lose. Texans can't use franchise tag on him. Kubiak won't be a restricted free agent. You don't want Kubiak to be extended because you don't like him. You don't want him extended to punish him. That is your bias. It took him longer than we'd like to transform the team, but he has done it. Arian was not extended because the Texans didn't like him or that they wanted to punish him. I love this team. I've loved the offense for a while. This defense is young and good. That is my bias. Who are the bad contracts on the team? Anthony Smith or Kevin Walter? Maybe Jackson, but he's still on his rookie deal. The Texans are lean.
