Schaub made 2 easy throws in the Tampa blowout. He barely threw the ball in the second half. I'm hoping Vickers returns soon. He's clearly the better FB. Also, I think everyone knew we were going to run it on basically every down against Jacksonville. We should be ok.
Did anyone hear Kubiak's show last night on 610? He said they have a ritual in film study where players will tap the desk in unison if they like or support something they've seen or heard. Just a finger tap. When Kubiak mentioned Yates - there were no taps: instead, the entire team banged hard on their desks. (chills) IMO, going from Schaub to Leinart is different than going from Leinart to Yates. They knew they had to raise their game with Leinart - but there was still that... "He was a first round pick....." safety net; but with Yates, they **KNOW** they have to raise their game - there is no safety net. It could very well be the kind of thing that rallies the team. (Or cause it to implode and waste this otherwise splendid season....)
That is going to be one of the best scenes in the movie, "the kid who won a super bowl" 15 yrs from now.
Failure is missing the playoffs. Gary should get fired for that. We're in as long as no one turns into a master of panic. Success is one win. The odds will be against us, but we only need to show up for one day, in the first round (or second round whichever we get) of the playoffs. If we can not only get our feet wet in the playoffs to prep for a championship run next year, but also take one game this year and buy ourselves two games in the playoffs for invaluable experience, then that to me is the definition of success from here on out. Just getting the playoffs should be expected. From here til the end of the season, we are now preparing to win a game in the playoffs.
Personally, I don't even care about team success now. I just want to see how Yates develop. The reason is simple. For this year, even if we get to the playoffs with Yates throwing check downs but still beat Indy/Carolina, it's still one and done. So Yates must perform well for any chance at anything legit this season. For the future, if Yates can be competent, the Texans can spend their time shoring up other areas with draft picks and cap money. Otherwise, the backup QB will remain a sore spot for the team in case of Schaub hurting again. So if Yates can be even decent, say 70% Schaub, then the "team" may perform well enough to contend regardless of who's at QB.
The Texans battle fight to 10-6, miss the playoffs, Wade is hired to head coach another team, and Kubiak gets an extension. The Texans don't draft a QB next Spring, because they feel Yates can be a solid backup to Schaub.
There's no way they'll fire him. None. Not even an 8-8 finish should result in his termination, IMO. He's overcome injuries all year. The team was 5-2 in games AJ didn't finish; 2-1 in games Foster didn't finish and are thus far 2-0 in games Schaub didn't finish. Losing first- and second-string QBs could very easily be the straw that breaks the camel back and I'd have a hard time holding him accountable for 5 games with a 3rd string QB while ignoring the other 11, given the circumstances.
