I have been as big of a Carr opponent as you will find, but anybody who watched yesterday's game and blames David Carr or complains about him is being unfair. He played well and had good numbers even though they didnt even get the ball the 2nd half. He had a QB rating over 100, didn't get the happy feet and made several plays down the field. Of the 5 sacks, 3 of them were total jailbreaks where he had no shot, one of them he just tripped and fell down and got credited for a sack, and the other one he maybe could have thrown it away or avoided it, but that's only 1. It's not his fault they had ZERO running game and the defense couldn't get him the ball back in the 2nd half. I actually feel sorry for David, you think he might like having Reggie Bush behind him? I still can't believe what happened, every time I see his commercials, it makes me sick. You try to find something wrong with him, but you can't, he's got all the talent in the world, he's entertaining and he is a great kid. When you think about what we did, it's hard to fathom that we frickin passed on Reggie Bush. Passing on him was bad enough, but passing on him for a bust DE? Wow... You're supposed to hit bigtime on a #1 overall pick, and we had an absolute can't miss, best offensive talent to come along in decades, Heisman trophy winning stud, all ready to make to make Houston his home, and what do we do?? We go after a DE who is big and supposedly athletic, who has a couple decent games agianst inferior ACC opponents, who is known for lack of effort, and so far I haven't seen him make 1 play, not even close to doing anything whatsoever, the guy doesn't even use his arms, no spin moves, no swim moves, nothing. Wonder why they move him inside and move him around, because he SUCKS and can't do anything agianist NFL L and R tackles. What a mistake What a mistake>
Not an NFL QB, but most assuradly a QB. I liked those 10 assesments, but I was not comparing him overall to Payton, but rather to Payton's pocket presence. Wasn't Carr taken number 1 overall? Why is that not relevant? DD
Because he went to an expansion team... that proceeded to be the worst built expansion team in the history of expansion teams. Had he had any less talent, he would be where Tim Couch is right now... the fact that he's merely survived these 4 years is more a testament of how tough/resilient he could have been for a team that already had a foundation (aka - a functional line with nfl ready players) in place. This isn't the NBA where one guy can turn around a team/franchise/way of life overnight. Also, most teams would have taken Carr with the #1 pick that draft... especially the ones in need of a QB... the Texans fell into the trap that they mysteriously tried to avoid this year. Had any established team been at that #1 spot, Carr would have gone to them and progressed with a functional line, and likely many more weapons. But instead, an expansion team that had no business taking a QB as their first pick, took a QB... without even having an o-line to block for him, a wide receiver worth a damn, or a coaching staff that knew how to make gold out of peanuts. Even the worst teams of all time had more talent on the O-line than the Texans had the first 4 years of existence... now why is THAT not relevant?
It is completely relevant and I believe a massive reason as to why Carr is so gun shy, but not all of it is on the line. Some of it has to be on Carr himself. Some QBs inspire players around them to play better, Carr is NOT one of those players. DD
Please name these magical QB's that inspired medicore players like Chester Pitts, Seth Wand, and Jabbar Gaffney to turn into all-pros. Then, name the mediocre coaches like Chris Palmer that they made look like geniuses. Its not like the Texans had some underacheiving veterans on this team when Carr came over... they had a bunch of guys who had no business starting for any team ever!
Once again DD... I'm not saying Carr is blameless... but if you guys really feel the need to blame only Carr (as is the case in every one of your guy's posts, or every single thread that's coming up needing to defend him), the caveat of the lack of o-line, and lack of tools that help with development, has to be addressed. Blame the team... the situation... and the fact that no single player is above the team in the NFL. Just stop placing the blame mainly on one guy... its oversimplifying a problem that will never be solved by just replacing that one guy.
Nick, I have never said it is all Carr's fault, it is a team game after all. I just don't see the intangibles in Carr that inspire others to play better. DD
Intangibles normally get seen only after a player's BASE, or FUNDAMENTAL play is already taken care of. This is my true opinion... the Texans should have realized that Carr was only going to succeed on the path akin to Troy Aikman , NOT John Elway. In other words, get him into a system that's established, build an offensive line that has tons of talent, have a sound offensive mind as a coordinator (Norv Turner), and then after that's all taken care of... give him some toys to play with (Irvin, Emmitt). They expected him to be like Elway... which nobody else in this league has ever shown the ability to do...ever. He has all the tools that Aikman had... he just doesn't have the team around him (hell, with his mobility, he had a shot to accomplish more than Aikman... had he gone to the right team).
But he rarely uses his mobility, AND, he never feels the pressure coming or reads the blitz....I don't think he is all that quick of a thinker, and that is CRUCIAL in a quality QB. DD
Well those arguments did stand up when Steve Francis was playing and we didn't have any consistant shooters basically Everyone said. . it was 5 yrs. . .regardless of the reasons . . he didn't get it done Why should Carr be exempt from the same type of accessment? Rocket River
Carr had a very good game, (it is a good game anytime he throws a pass to a wide receiver downfield with fairly good timing) But he stinks. He will not play in a playoff game as a Texan. (David, Please make me eat crow )
why would you compare carr's pocket presence to walter payton's? or did you mean sean payton? right... so you didn't compare him to manning.... but then you did. here's why it's not a relevant comparison: when all is said and done, pEyton manning will likely be the greatest QB to ever play professional football. to compare carr to him is to set carr up to fail; he'll never be that good. few will. here's more: manning's had the same OC and QB coach every single day of his pro life; when he was drafted in '98, the team already had marvin harrison and marshall faulk, a borderline HoF WR and a sure-thing HoF RB, on its roster, along with their starting LT (glenn) and C (saturday); in 2001, they added their RT (diem). so this is their 6th year together. in addition: they drafted james in '99, one of the nfl's elite RBs; they drafted wayne in '01, an all-pro WR; they drafted freeney in '02, one of the nfl's best pass rushers; they drafted clark in '03, one of the nfl's best pass-catching TEs. conversely, calhoun is carr's third OC in 5 years. in 2002, when he was drafted, the texans' best RB was james allen; their best WR was corey bradford and their starting LT had two years of college experience... at guard. they've since added exactly one pro bowler to the offense (johnson) and have used 4 different opening-day LTs. so, yeah, i'm guessing if i fell ass-backwards into a competent organization with a plan in place to maximize my talents, that's i'd probably have pretty decent pocket presence, too.
Peyton manning never played with marshall faulk, and there was a reason the colts had the number one pick in the draft. I'm not a manning fan, but the colts weren't the best franchise before he got there, despite having faulk and harrison. a lot of that transformation is on peyton. manning put up numbers despite playing for jim mora, who coached under jim mora? dom capers. edit: peyton did play with marshall, but that's neither here nor there because they weren't a good team that year.
It absolutely blows my mind to hear people b****ing about "pocket presence". There is no pocket. Seriously, how on God's green earth is a man supposed to develop a "presence" in something that doesn't freaking exist? Pretty stupid whining if you ask me. DC has had precisely ZERO plays--not "four years"--to develop a "pocket presence". I'm still waiting for the Texans to have a pocket for any QB to pass from.
I'm going to disagree with you just a tad. I thought he had a few instances on Sunday where he had time in the pocket. I also thought he did very well when he did have time.
