Is Matt Schaub good enough to win a championship? Sure. Trent Dilfer did it. But Dilfer did it with one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. Newsflash: the Houston Texans aren't that team. I like Schaub. I was one of the ones saying I wanted Matt Schaub on the Texans during the Carr era. I saw him start for ATL when Vick went down and was impressed. But I have a bigger sample size to work with now. I'm not sure THIS TEAM can get over the hump with Schaub as the QB. There was a time where I absolutely thought they could and would. Now I'm really not sure. By the way...yesterday is another example of how misleading stats can be. That was the worst performance by a QB who threw for over 400 yards in NFL history. Our offense had no bite at all...to use numbers from yesterday's game to back him up is just misleading. It's also misleading to suggest Schaub alone lost the game yesterday.
Yeah; even if Baltimore absolutely demoralizes us, if we beat Tennessee the following week, we'll be just fine: 4-3 (no worse than the Titans) with a 2-0 division record and a head-to-head win against Tennessee (who'll be 0-2 in the division). And then things get progressively easier.
Just for fun, I looked this up. When Schaub throws the ball 30 times or less in a game the Texans are 12-1. When Schaub throws the ball over 30 times in a game the Texans are 16-26. (I only counted games in which Schaub played the entire time, no half games, injured, etc.)
I actually thought he played pretty well, all things considered. The Raiders' defensive effort was impressive: they took Foster out of the game (which means Schaub was operating without AJ and an effective running game) and rushed the passer relentlessly. And he still made plays (until the final :07). Had Dressen held on to an easy 3rd down conversion; had Rackers not missed his first FG under 50 yards in... however long it's been; had Vickers not dropped a sure TD........ I think we would have viewed that effort as Herculean.
I don't understand the Schaub hate for this Oakland game. I watched the entire time where Foster can't get decent yardage. When our run game sputters, yeah no kidding Schaub sucked. This team isn't built like NE or GB where Schaub can stand shotgun all game long. We don't have the receivers and Schaub isn't that kind of QB. Our offense can't function without a solid run game. To be honest, our offense actually did better than I expected given that we had basically no running game. And a lot of that was due to Schaub making some throws I didn't think he can without AJ.
yeah, it doesn't surprise me we saw it differently, ric. schaub was hardly what i would call a "playmaker" yesterday. i'm with you entirely on the rest...no need to build the strawman argument that i'm suggesting schaub lost this all on his own.
I think "this" team has a few deficiencies (Schaub included). Obviously, the vaunted O-line that was considered possibly one of the best in the league had trouble opening holes for Arian as well as protecting Schaub consistently... Oakland has a big/physical line that manhandled ours for the most part. Do I think this line is good enough as a unit? Sure... but they really don't have a stud blocker at any of the line positions... and pound-for pound, they are smallish. But that's all on Kubiak since its HIS system that makes it that way. Sometimes, their effectiveness is enhanced by our (over) use of play-action and screens.
I don't see how another QB would've performed better given our lack of running game and our receiving personnel. I honestly believe that we could've had Tom Brady back there and it wouldn't have mattered.
i don't know how to respond to this except to say, you're wrong. if you think that, all things being equal, brady isn't better than schaub, the conversation should just stop. brady never ever never had a RB as good as Foster nor a receiver as good as AJ. go look at the rb's and receivers brady won super bowls with.
He chunked the final play. Terrible decision at literally every turn and I'll absolutely join the chorus in dumping on him for that. But what *other* plays did he not make? Legitimate question - I'm curious to see what I'm apparently not seeing. What did he leave on the field? I can point to several others who didn't make plays and how costly they were - but I'm not seeing a ton of missed opportunities that I'd lay at Schaub's feet. (Besides the final play, of course.) That wasn't my point... if Rackers makes hits the 41-yarder, let's say - and the final drive ends with a game-winning FG... would you really look at a 24/50, 416, 2/1 day without AJ or an effective Foster and against a relentless pass rush and think that was the, "worst performance by a QB who threw for over 400 yards in NFL history."?
It would have mattered a lot, Tom Brady is an elite QB who is capable of elevating his teams play. Matt Schuab is a journeyman QB whose teamates can elevate his play. Schaub is a good QB, but this team could use a QB with a bit more athleticism, or brains (audible capability), the Dilfer comparison is apt. Dilfer could manage the game well, Matt could learn more about that too. DD
Oakland stacked the line with an extra defender and consistently had 8 in the box. They effectively shut Foster down and were in Schaub's face all day. That's going to be the norm until AJ gets back. Wait until you see how effective Baltimore is next week (assuming no AJ). If, when AJ's healthy, teams want to continue to play them that way, Schaub will play pitch-and-catch downfield with Johnson all day long.
I don't need to look. I know Brady had a better running game and better receivers than what the Texans had yesterday. Or perhaps you want to tell me that Wes Welker is inferior to Jacoby Jones? Or that the Patriots can't get more than 3ypc?
Just look at how Indy looks right now to see what an elite QB can do for you. I'm not part of the group that thinks we need to get rid of Schaub, but an elite QB can make a huge difference.
But that's an inherent weakness with the structure of this team... that it takes a HOF QB (performing at a HOF level) to overcome the shortcomings of a line that gets manhandled and one that relies on sometimes gimmicky play-action fakes to get recievers open. I don't like that it would take those types of efforts to win with the talent this team has. Usually, solid QB play, solid line play, and recievers who catch when open will allow this team to be fine offensively.
We had a stretch of 6 incompletions in a row in the 2nd half. This team didn't make plays at all for the entire 2nd half, aside from chuck it up pass that Dreesen ran under to give us a chance. I saw him underthrow receivers and get balls batted down at the line over and over yesterday. The defense kept us in the game...the offense went into TurtleTexan mode again, particularly in the 2nd half. They're swell at amassing yards...not so good at putting up points. Schaub is the QB of that bunch. He's not the only Jacoby was thrown at 11 times...he had 1 completion. Do you honestly lay all of that on Jacoby? I'm not a Jacoby fan either, but the QB is pretty damn responsible for that as well. It was entirely underwhelming. More numbers leading to nowhere. I've tried to stay away from these forums after games recently, because I'm just fine with them winning. But I'm not lying to myself, either. Schaub's numbers and his performance on the field were not in direct correlation. They stacked the line so we had to throw 50 times...we could not put the ball in the endzone. Schaub is part of that. He's not all of it....but he's absolutely part of it.
To be fair, I did watch David Carr. So I know what it's like to have a real QB vs one that shouldn't even play in the NFL.
you win. the raiders are just too good. no QB ever could have won a home game against the 2011 oakland raiders. not tom brady...not peyton manning. no one.
