good lord..... of all the 100 things the texans need to improve, QB is #3,830. it's, far and away, the absolute very least of their problems. schaub has been flat-out terrific these past two weeks. 69%; 657 yards, 7 TDs, 1 INT. and if not for a penalty and/or fumble, back-to-back 31+-points. if kolb can tackle a RB, cool. if not, the answer is a prett emphatic no.
Seriously. I feel bad for Schaub. On the radio this morning he got attacked by a caller for not having "moxy" and not "getting in a rhythm" and "leaving points on the board" when JAX didn't. Guess what? Matt Schaub never gets to play against the Texans defense. Yet surprisingly he still puts up the numbers and makes the big plays. If not for the penalty on Walter yesterday, it's an entirely different ballgame. Schaub marched them down the field and threw the touchdown pass. What more do you want from him? He made all the plays and put his team in a position to score more than 30 points. Yet we are moaning about the quarterback? Any game you lose you will always be able to go back and point at situations where the QB held on to a ball too long or missed an open receiver. That happens. It's hard to be perfect on every play, every down, every drive, etc. But Schaub has been pretty damn close to it. He can't stop the defense from being gutted every week, he can't make Chris Brown not fumble on the goaline and he can't stop the refs from throwing a flag on Kevin Walter in the endzone.
A few things: We didn’t lose this game because of the fumble. A TD would’ve tied the game and J-ville would’ve just used 2 or 3 plays to get into FG range and kick the game-winning FG with no time on the clock. Does anyone really think our D would’ve actually stepped up with the game on the line like that??? Not me… Our D-line sucks, this is true, but our DB’s are more to blame for our inability to stop the run than our D-line. I mean, at least our D-linemen are actually getting blocked. Our DB’s don’t even NEED to be blocked because they are constantly out of position, missing tackles, quitting on plays, blowing coverages, getting faked out of their shoes (pre and post snap), missing assignments, not supporting the run, afraid to hit anyone, unable to wrap up anyone, etc. etc. etc. And that goes for Dunta too. Our little Texans poster-boy is not immune from all this criticism. He’s just as guilty of all this as everyone else. Antonio Smith is no better than Anthony Weaver. Just totally worthless. A smaller version of Travis Johnson. Who the hell is this Busing (#40) guy? Why is he even on the field? Why is he even on this team? Seems like every time I see something going wrong with the defense (you know, like every 3rd down this season…..) he’s somewhere in the picture doing something stupid. Finally, the way the Ravens, Jets, Bengals, and Chargers are playing, it looks like the only way for us to make the playoffs is going to be to win the division. The titans and Steelers aren’t done either, so I just don’t see us getting a Wildcard berth. Since the Colts will no doubt sweep us, it looks like we will be on the outside looking in YET AGAIN. Go Texans. when does Rockets training camp start?
I saw a handful of plays where Smith just stands still after getting his initial rush blocked. I know he didnt put up numbers in Arizona but Smith or Bush must have seen something in him that they liked.
I don't disagree with anything in this post, except I'd point out that your secondary shouldn't be the one to get the praise or blame for your run stopping abilities. Normally if your secondary is getting the praise or blame for your run defense your defensive line isn't very good. Our defensive tackles suck. This team STILL needs two new STARTING defensive linemen and two new STARTING players in the secondary. It's pathetic.
The defense sucks. Keep Mario and Demeco and the nice rookie, and can the rest of them. Can Frank Bush and the secondary coach, too. And the D-Line coach. Seriously--run a bunch of practice-squad rejects from other franchises out there; it can't be any worse. And it's cheaper. I'm sure there are some HS football coaches around H-town that would relish the opportunity to coach an NFL defense. This is just ridiculous sucktitude. How on earth can you be worse than Richard Smith????? Holy crap.
I went to the game yesterday and let me say that unless I see improvement it might be my last this season. The D look REALLLLYYYYY bad and the Refs didn't help the cause with the bogus off PI on Walter and the roughing the reciever penalty. The "O" was fine and minus a few bad throws Matt looked really good. Except for 2 drives in the 4th Qtr Jax could not stop us and even on the final drive they didn't we did it to ourselves. The "D" is worse then last year and while I believe we have more talent that same talent are having HORRIBLE mental breakdowns. Pass Rush was a little better then people are saying but not much and Smith did actually show up yesterday but our Secondary is awful in ever sense of the word. DRob is showing why he isn't a shut down corner along with our young guys making dumb plays constantly. Positives where the "O" and Slaton getting some type of running game going along with Jacoby Jones starting to look like a WR. The "D" as a whole is a train wreck and if J Russell comes in here and has a good game then Bush should be fired because poor guy doesn't get it. The fumble probably was a fumble but there was one view from the back endzone that kinda showed he might have been down but the problem was you couldn't see the ball. Tough loss but realistically if we tie the game did you expect our "D" to hold the Jags on the final drive of reg?
Make no mistake, I was in no way implying that our D-line looks anything like a halfway competent NFL D-line. Believe me, that's not what I was saying at ALL..... I'm just saying that RB's break through team's front 4's every Sunday in this league. And most team's LB's and DB's pick up the slack. If a RB breaks through OUR front 4...he's GONE. The only thing stopping him is accidentally running into the ref.......
i'm starting to think it's an even split: talent and scheme. look, bush is undoubtedly handcuffed; none of our DTs and 75% of our secondary would not start for most teams. hell, cody was let go by the lions. so the personnel is certainly to blame. but all summer we heard bush wasn't going to change the scheme, just the approach and... well, that's probably a mistake. this scheme doesn't seem to fit the personnel. i'm still giving them the first 8 weeks to get it right before i start calling for mass casualties - but more and more, a fresh perspective might've been the better option. the unfortunate thing is that, if this team does go 7-9, 8-8 - it's probably going to cost kubiak his job, and man: i do not want to start over offensively....
Schaub isn't the problem the o-line sux still the d-line sux still. please draft bigger better players.
who is mostly responsible for hiring Bush? I don't want to see Kubiak fired---because I want to see the Texans finally achieve a modicum of success. But if this defense causes the team to go 6-10 or 7-9, someone has to account for hiring Bush. Question: what was Bush's position last year? Linebackers coach? As the linebackers were the only part of the team that didn't completely and royally suck last year, that would seem to be the only sensible guy to promote, right? Was Bush the D-line coach? The secondary coach? I honestly don't remember. But if he was the coach of either of those spectacular failures last year, then this year's performance looks like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But if we keep Kubiak after another 8-8 season, we will just see another year of below average defensive play next season.
Ugh. I have a similar story. When we were leaving the stadium, there was a group of about 10 douches in front of us talking about the game, and all they kept saying was "It's ridiculous how after 8 years, we STILL don't have an offensive line! We keep drafting on defense, and I don't get it!! We need an O-LINE!!" I was dumbfounded as to how stupid people can be in regards to sports. Really? It's the O-Line that gave up 31 points to a Jacksonville team with 2 ROOKIES on their O-Line? It's our O-line that kept slipping off Jones-Drew like he was wearing vaseline?? It's safe to say, after the crowd started ROARING when the Texans were going for it on 4th down, that collectively as a city, we no NOTHING about sports.
Whoa! What about all of the so-called changes they made on the defensive side in the off-season? Are you now of the opinion that it was all for naught? Interesting. BTW, even if they go 8-8 again (which is what I'm expecting although 7-9 is a possibility), I still expect McNair to give Kubiak at least 1 more year to get it right because a new head coach would mean a new coaching staff and a(nother) 2-4 rebuilding period. If you think folks are POed and frustrated now, just wait until 2013.
It's his own fault because he comes in completely overvaluing what the Texans are and annointing Schaub as Jesus and letting his homerism paint his expectations way too high, all while participating in rabid arguments with those of us who know the real Texans really are who we thought they were all along. It would make me want to jump off a cliff as well if I were The Cat.
The guy who should be the defensive coordinator is Ray Rhodes but his health problems prevented him from taking the job. I think that what we are seeing with Bush is a classic example of a new DC coming in and trying to implement his defensive system and philosophy with players who don't fit his system. And in his defense, what else can Bush do given the obvious personnel issues he inherited? He was brought in to change the focus of the defense, make it more aggressive and to attack more - that was his mandate - and he's done just that. But the players have to execute this on the field and that's just not happening.
i excused the big plays against the jets; i thought, at the time, it was more a component of the defense finally wearing down. i thought they played pretty well that day, considering how bad the offense was. and i was willing to grant the tennessee game "fluke" status. - you could still argue, other than the big plays, they played decently, including a pretty great second half.... but three weeks in a row? it's no longer a fluke. there's something fundamentally wrong. as bad as the defense was last year, i don't remember them giving up big plays like this with such consistency. and personnel-wise, i don't think they've gotten worse. so that brings us back to coaching.... i hope so. but, if the team is 8-8 again, and the defense continues to play this poorly, SOMEONE is going to have to go. i've seen stretches where the defense has looked good... and that's encouraging. but yesterday was really deflating. if they lose to oakland...........
Can you name an NFL team that went into rebuilding mode because they got a new head coach? If a team gets rebuilt, it's because the personnel sucked, which means the previous coach was either in denial or going to do it anyway. Otherwise, the new coach just builds on the old coach's work. Did Miami or Atlanta or Baltimore last year go into a 2-4 year rebuilding process? The Jets this year? Did the 49ers or Lions coaching changes delay their rebuilding process?
OK, so what have I been wrong about? Schaub has a QB rating of 101.9. He's thrown for 7 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 275 yards per game, 7.7 yards per game, 65% completion percentage... dude has been flat-out brilliant. And despite the haters such as yourself pointing to injuries, he's taken hit after hit and taken every snap thus far. Can you tell me on what planet I overvalued Schaub and how in the world my expectations were too high? Schaub has completely blown me away and has been better than even I expected. Can you actually tell me, specifically, what I overvalued/was homeristic about and was wrong on, or are you just talking out your ass? Because so far, I was dead on, and you look like the ESPN-fed simpleton you've always been.
