I agree with that. What I'd say in reply is that there are strong coaches that drill players until it's second nature and go deep into details (Bill Parcells or Jeff Van Gundy to cross sports) and there are coaches that aren't demanding. Mistake prone, penalty prone, sloppy teams are almost always a product of poor, skim-the-surface coaching. Great coaches never put up with stupidity on the field. Kubiak gives Brown/Slaton the ball back each time the fumble on the goalline, and kept trotting out the likes of Nick Ferguson and Barber after they gave up big plays with idiocy at safety. Bone-headed goof ups are acceptable on this team. Wanted to take another look at the video, instead of just going off of the report. (Play in question ~ 1:26 mark) <object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VcVreC8u56M&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VcVreC8u56M&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object> Looking at how they were lined up, and without a better overhead angle, it looked a lot to me that McCain and Pollard were sharing zone coverage of the area and McCain thought he was releasing him (inside) to Pollard. Could be wrong there. Pollard seemed like he was watching for someone to come out of the backfield. You mention the individual knowing what to do after years of playing his position, but to me this looked like we had at least one if not two players out there with a misunderstanding of their responsibilities on that play. I have a tough time watching that video and believing McCain thought he had man coverage on Nicks - the way he's playing looks like he's sitting in zone. Pollard the opposite (but with his man not releasing, leaving him guarding no one). I like what you guys have to say, but I come away from this still thinking this was an example of confusion. It's a very fair point to pin blame on a player for blowing an assignment, but I look at a team that is very mistake prone and question the level of coaching. Poor coaching leads to dumb players and sloppy play (see: Phillips, Wade). Great coaching is less than an inch away from overcoaching, and great coaches don't put up with mistakes or the players that keep making them. This on the heels of Kubiak mentioning numerous missed assignments and players whispering that his coaching going into the Giants game had been lackadaisical.
the td play to nicks, there are 7 in coverage against 5 options and both nicks and bradshaw (coming out of backfield) are WIDE open. that's pathetic!
Somebody on Texans Talk looked it up. They said the worst passing defense ever was the '95 Falcons who gave up 283.8 yards per game. Surprisingly, Atlanta made the playoffs that year anyway. The Texans are currently giving up 329.6 yards per game. If the Texans give up an average of 263 passing yards or more per game for the rest of the season, they will set the record for worst pass defense ever.
As many issues as the Texans have and as much crap as we discuss here, if the Texans beat the Chiefs along with help from Denver and NE both of which are at home...we will be tied for MOST wins in the AFC and 1st place in the South. Things could be worse, far worse.
Well this makes me feel a little better about the offense at least: Sage stuck it to his old boss big time. Baby Shanahan and Sexy Rexy also had this info and tore us up early, but at least the Texans successfully adjusted later in that game. Doesn't explain Dallas though.
Sage is almost two years removed from the team, and we have a different offensive coordinator than when he was here, so either Rosenfels is some kind of master spy or Kubiak hasn't changed his offense one iota since 2008.
I guess the only thing I can come up with is since we have much of the same personnel as we did in 2008, maybe the offense HASN'T changed. I'm sure we've added some wrinkles here and there, but the overall scheme is not something that is going to change from year to year. I think the only really big addition I can think of since then is Arian Foster, and if that's the ONLY new thing you're adjusting to as a defense, that makes your job a whole heck of a lot easier. I think the bigger culprit here is Kubiak's lack of adjusting on the fly WITHIN the first half. Once we saw how the Giants were going to play us, I don't understand why we continued to just play into their hands. Why not try something else out? I don't understand why we always wait until halftime to make adjustments.
the offense really hasnt changed that much, it's just got better. They have done more with the spread and shotgun, but as far as it's i formations and 2 tights with motion, it's been pretty consistent.
Agree, scheme hasn't changed just some personal who in theory are running the same offense just better. Combine that with a fine job of scouting by the Giants and there you go. To me, Kubes panicked when he saw the Giants were one step ahead and had no answer. This has happened before and it's getting old SUPER quick, healthy Andre and JJ would have made a difference but how much is a real question.
he had to panic because before you knew it they were down 21-0. It's hard to "stick with the gameplan" at that point.
The players have not gotten worse, but the play calling certainly has. The new OC does not know how to call a passing play, its pathetic in fact.
21-0 was midway through the 2nd, what happened to the first 18 minutes or so minutes? It was painfully obivous to most of us that something was up at 14-0, shoot I had a bad feeling when they ran a screen on 3rd down against a blitz and Foster got negative yards. Chess match, and Coughlin ate Kubes lunch, took his money and bent him over just for fun.
It was a horrible gameplan to start with. NFL coaches script the first 10-15 plays. So this is what was in Kubiak's script: 1. Quick out to OD (good call, 19 yards) 2. Quick pass to AJ on sideline 3. Third straight pass (sack), punt 4. Foster off right tackle, since we're frightened to run left. (seemed obvious they would run after only passing the first series) 5. Foster up the middle (apparently we'll alternate pass- and run-only series) 6. Schaub short pass out of the shotgun, incomplete (punt) 7. Foster off left tackle for a 3 yard loss 8. Schaub short pass to OD (1st down!) 9. Schaub INT throwing deep middle to AJ 10. Schaub misses OD deep right 11. Foster up the middle for no gain 12. Shaub short pass out of the shotgun to Walter, incomplete (punt) Texans down 21-0 after that. The gameplan netted them 2 first downs and about 30 to 35 yards after 4 possessions. The Bears got ripped for forcing the pass against the Giants and getting creamed the entire time. So Kubiak scripted 8 passes in his first 12 plays? On the flipside, the run game got crushed by a truck, so fine. I don't really get why you'd try running off tackle when facing the premier DE combo in the league, but okay. This was a mess.
mess indeed. but as for the script...that script isnt called no matter what. He's said before that he can and has changed that script depending on what's happening in the game. Regardless, nothing worked. I do, however, see the idea of throwing early to loosen up the giants as a viable option and i have no issie with this team running and throwing in any situation. Despite big running days by Arian, I still dont consider the texans a running football team...and i'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
I've mentioned this before, but in 4 out of our first 5 games, our first 3 plays have been passes. The one that didn't follow that formula went pass, pass, run. I went back to last year. The last 5 games of 2009 we threw the ball at least twice to start the game. Even in the Jacksonville game when Matt got injured on the first play, Rex Grossman came in and threw 4 straight passes. I think it'd be a reasonable assumption on the part of the defense to expect a pass on the first play of the game. I can kind of understand shying away from the run game last year, but the running game has out shown the passing game this year and we still have he league's leading rusher. Kubiak still wants to establish the pass first. Even if you still consider the Texans a passing team, you can still try to establish the run first for a change and be less predictable.
