Not what I heard the Texans have a total of 16 players out or on IR right now. Even if that is the case what you're saying think how many KEY position injuries we've had. Glenn Earl, Jason Simmons, Steve McKinney, Jerome Mathis. Key injuries off/on this season: Ahman Green, Jacoby Jones, and Matt Schaub. Then, AJ was gone for 7 weeks. Hard to have consistency when you have no continuity and you can't have continuity if you don't develop a rhythm on offense and defense with your team. Thus ...
ehhh... in their 7 losses, the texans have entered the 4Q trailing by an average score of 16. it's certainly a better, more entertaining, more competive team than it was even last year and it's certainly a far cry from the '05 team... but it still has a LONG way to go. and i disagree with the characterization that the team didn't compete its first three years. if they wind up with 7 wins this year, they'll have a total of 15 between '05 and '07. the won 16 in their first three years, including some real quality wins as an expansion team. uhm... a) kubiak was not part of any swc conference championships at texas a&m; b) not that it's easy, or fair, to diminish an individual player's possible contributions to a team's success, but to credit kubiak with winning "as a player with Denver" is stretching it; c) not that it's easy, or fair, to diminish a coach's possible contribution to a team's success, but you're glorifying kubiak's tenure as a coach in denver, especially given the numerous reports of how hands-on shanahan was/is with the offense. i like kubiak, more or less - but let's not pretend the team hired vince lombardi, jr. there are things he does that greatly frustrate me, and there are things about this team that i hate that i place right at his feet. i don't think anyone's calling for his scalp; and certainly not me. he took over an awful football team; it's gotten progressively better during his tenure. i expect it will continue to get better next year. but i think the team is a good 2-3 years away from being a real force; mainly because it's going to be a struggle not to finish last in their own division.
this year?... they're not going 8-8. they'll be lucky to finish with 7 wins, given the opponents (combined 31-17 record, and that's with denver posting a flaccid 5-7). 6 is most likely.
I am just saying, Ric it's important to bring someone who's been in a culture of winning and knows HOW to win! Never claimed he was Lombardi but he's a definite upgrade from crappers, I mean Capers. I'll have to research his time at A&M more carefully. For the record, I made an assumption because early 80-mid 80's (A&M) was pretty successful, so was SMU in '82 and of course, Texas in '83 and then blowing a National Championship opportunity by losing to Georgia. Had no business losing that game. it was he and Kevin Murray QB'ing during that era I seem to recall. In any case, my mistake on that claim. Oops ... Was in high school starting in 84-85, that's when I started following college football and actually remembered it!
Didn't we win 6 last year? I can't see the reason why Kubiak is going to survive the offseason. Fire him now! Get it over with.
well, capers had a pretty decent track record, too - took a second-year expansion team within 60 minutes of a super bowl and was the steelers' defensive coordinator, iirc, when they went to their conference championship in '94. but, yes - it's nice to have on your coach's resume; no doubt. i just think you were glorifying kubiak's a bit. kubiak was there, pre-sherrill - '78-'82-ish; murray was '84-'86-ish. they were never teammates. no big deal.
i can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or not. kubiak took over the worst team in football and midway through year 2, he had it in playoff contention. there's a lot of work left to be done, and i'm not entirely sold on the guy just yet, but he certainly has a knack for finding talent.
Not being sarcastic. The Texans were not the worst team in football talent wise when Kubiak took over. Their record reflected that the team stop playing for Capers (who is doing a bang up job in Maimi as we speak). The talent that Kubiak inherited when he took over was one year removed from being a bubble playoff team. I do not see any progress. I like the talent that the Texans have drafted the last two years. (Hat tip to the GM.) But the new talent has not translated into a difference to the bottom line. This has to laid at the feet of the head coach. BTW, I thought Kubiak was a good hire at the time.
he frustrates me more than he lights a fire under me. the 3Q has been a disaster nearly every single game of his tenure; i don't like the approach he's taken with the RBs or the OL; i'm still bewildered by the david carr experiment; i'm pissed kevin walter was buried last year; i'm still VERY skeptical of the schaub deal, not necessarily because of schaub, per se - but more because i just didn't think we were in position to trade away two more second round picks. do you guys realize between the 2004 and 2008 drafts, we will have added exactly one player to our roster from the second round. ONE! the one player was only demeco ryans - not like this team could use 4 more ryans-level talents.... there are things about kubiak i really like, but there's nothing in place right now - other than talent evaluation - that i would miss next year if he was gone.
what "talent" did he inherit from the previous regime? andre johnson, dunta robinson and....? off the top of my head, there were 7 players in our opening day starting line-up from the previous regime (johnson, pitts, mckinney, weary, greenwood, faggins and brown). faggins likely won't make next year's team, and brown is merely a placeholder until they can find someone better. and pitts, weary and greenwood are by no means irreplaceable. the team's best players and its nucleus moving forward (save for johnson and robinson) were ALL acquired after kubiak's hiring. he inherited THE. WORST. TEAM. IN. FOOTBALL. it's not even up for debate.
btw, it sounds in those two posts like i'm talking out of both sides of my mouth... so to clarify a bit: i'm cautiously optimistic about kubiak; he inherited an awful football team and has put together an impressive nucelus moving forward in a relatively short amount of time. at the same time, i'd like to see more development from him as a coach, but realize he's battling injuries that are beyond his control right now. so the notion of firing him this year, or even next year (barring an '05-like meltdown) is silly.
I see your points, and I think they're valid. But at the same time, you are always skeptical about this team and its players. I think right now some are expecting Kubiak win the Kentucky Derby when all he has got is a donkey in the race. You know as much as anyone that Casserly and Co. left the cuboard completely bare, let alone in cap hell, and it's going to be a 3-4 year process to restock and rehaul the roster. As for the Carr situation, imo, that is all on McNair. I truely believe he is the reason why David was re-signed. He couldn't let it go.
You forgot David Carr!!! 3/5 of the OL: Chester Pitts, McKinney, Weary. TE: Bruener. DT: Travis Johnson. LB: Greenwood, Anderson. DB: Brown.
how am i arguing with myself? i've said repeatedly in this thread that kubiak's greatest contribution has been his talent evaluation. mario williams is a big part of that...
