BWAH! My bad for assuming talk in a texans thread was about the texans As far as the rockets are concerned, yes, I agree :grin:
How about Cushing lining up in the neutral zone yesterday? A LB lined up in the neutral zone? Really??
I think the Texans are approaching (if they haven't already gotten there) Astros territory in regards to rebuilding. Bob McNair knows FULL WELL that if this team were to blow up what they've gotten so far, and start again, he's going to lose a LARGE portion of the city. We've already rebooted the franchise and sat through 2-14 without really affecting his pocket book, but this time around, with expectations so high, the team dun goofed. I'm guessing he's going to wait this season out, hope to all that is mighty that Kubiak gets this ship turned around, and pray that he can somehow sell his Texan-flavored snake oil to this city one more time.
Difference is, they've got a good collection of talent put together. We don't need a tear down like we did at the close of the Casserly era. Kubiak has helped this team underachieve to the tune of 2-3 wins last year and 2 already this year. We have about 6-8 sad sacks that have got to go and be replaced by competent starters, but we've also got about 8 spots where we are very good. That's not half bad.
Stros were an OLD team that needed an influx of youth, the Texans have the youth part just need the leadership. The Texans are the point where you surround their young guys with leadership/experience, kind of when the Stros surrounded Biggio, Bagwell, Cammy and Gonzo with Drabek and Swindell in 93. They had a chance to do that this offseason but chose to stay young, these are the results. They don't need to rebuild, they need to open up their wallets and hire a good HEAD COACH along with veterans to help out the youngsters.
Loved most of your post; disagree here. The majority of our defensive backs during the Kubiak era have been cast-offs from other organizations: Reeves, Pollard, Wilson, Ferguson - if a player is failing at his second chance, that's on the player and indicative of a guy not quite good enough to cut it. The other DBs, BTW, have mostly been lower round draft picks. If you're going to, consecutively, turn your defense over to an inexperienced coordinator, the least you could do is provide them a few worthy Aaron Glenn-type veterans. Asking Richard Smith and Frank Bush to turn that motley collection of has-beens and never-weres into a stout defense is asking a lot. That's why I keep going back to being infinitely more disappointed in Kubiak as a GM.
8 very good spots among 22 starters? It's a nice start - but you're not going to win a lot in this league with only 8 very good players. I think fans are deluding themselves if they think this team is close. Hell, two of the very good spots (Schaub and Cushing) have to be major question marks at this point, and the other big one - Foster - hasn't even posted a full 16-game season yet. Meanwhile, you have your second-best player (Ryans) on IR with a pretty serious injury.
Eh, I don't think you're giving Texan fans enough credit here. If you believe in where the team is eventually heading (like we did 2 or 3 years ago....), you're willing to put up with a few stinkers here and there. A game like yesterday would have been a lot better accepted by most reasonable Texan fans 3 years ago. Just not now.
I agree with this, and part of my previous post was frustration, but at the same time, you've gotta think that whoever DOES take this team over has a LOT of issues to address. Motivation, lack of fundamentals, just the overall sad-sack mentality that this team seems to have to overcome week in and week out.....it's a tall order for the new guy to undertake, and you've gotta wonder whether Jon Gruden, or Bill Cowher would WANT to take that burden. There are probably going to be about 6-7 coaching vacancies at the end of this year, and you have to ask where the Texans fall on that list. And, on top of that, how much would McNair be willing to spend on BRINGING in the right man for the job?? He prematurely gave Kubiak that extension, and it bit him square in the ass....is he going to be gun-shy on making big coaching changes now??
You and I both know that, but is ownership willing to accept that? It's a tall task to convince an ownership group to sit through a rebuilding process when you can keep fans somewhat satisfied if you keep going 7-9, 8-8, or if you catch some lucky breaks, maybe even 9-7.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the majority have been cast offs. But you are right that they've usually been day two guys (something I've been steamed about each year, especially in regards to the safety position) Donta (1, 2004) CC Brown (6, 2005) Kubiak era: 2006 - no DBs drafted Fred Bennett (4, 2007) Brandon Harrison (4, 2007) Antwaun Molden (3, 2008) Dumbinique Barber (6, 2008) Glover Quin (4, 2009) Brice McCain (6, 2009) Troy Nolan (7, 2009) Kareem Jackson (1, 2010) I am okay with Pollard, he's fine as a hard hitting strong safety, but in a secondary of can't cover atrociousness, you can't get away with a run specialist out there (let alone 2). Wilson was a good addition, but is aging in dog years. He's finished. Goes back to what you were getting at: Kubiak the GM can't assemble a good defense. I would couple that with: Kubiak's defensive staff are clueless as to how to get the most out of their charges. When I say 8 very good, I mean high caliber players at their position. In my opinion, if you have 5 very good players, 5 solid starters, and no more than one position of weakness on each side of the ball, you're looking at a team that can contend. The offense is there. You'll always want a better O-Line, but what we have in place is good and good enough to win. The skill positions are set and overall one of the 8 best in football. On defense, we've got 2 very good players (a third on IR), 2 solid, one tolerable, and six that are problems. I'd be at least as worried about Ryans coming back and playing at his previous level as Owen Daniels. Running backs are almost always going to be flashes in the pan. The system isn't making Foster look better than he is - he's the real deal. Yards after initial contact doesn't lie. Schaub's having an uneven year, but I wouldn't think of replacing him. Cushing is fine. Alarmists are just expecting to see a drop off. Physically, he's there. He was overanxious and rusty at first (but explosive), then got muzzled at MLB and even at OLB it's easy to run away from him with Ryans out. One LB can't do too much when everyone around him is a gaping hole.
Question mark might be a little strong - but he's been wildly inconsistent this year and unable to assimilate himself into any game in which the run takes precedence over the pass. But yeah, I probably misspoke on him in terms of being a question mark.
I blame our coach/gm for passing up on a stud like Dez Bryant. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that the kid would turn out to be beast.
Gun to my head, I'd die trying to figure out who these guys are. 2 very good players (a third on IR): Cushing, Williams and Ryans? 2 solid: Smith (or Williams and you consider Smith very good, which is fair - but my god, is he football-stupid) and uhm, I'm guessing you're including Pollard here?... One tolerable: (draws blank) I would add three young CBs that might naturally develop and/or benefit from better coaching/safeties. But, again - it takes more than 11 players on each side of the ball. So even if we agree they have 5 tolerable+ guys on defense, that means they're still, minimum, 9 short. Offensively - they're going to need to upgrade their 3 interior line positions, the 3rd WR, possibly the 2nd WR, and then see what they have at TE since Daniels, right now, is proving wholly unreliable. Yes, it's far better than it was in 2005. But a team five years into its rebuilding process shouldn't have this many holes/question marks. Oh, I feel pretty good about Foster - but so did a lot of other people about Steve Slaton after his rookie season. IMO, he's a question mark until he's done it more than once.
2 very good players (a third on IR): Cushing, Williams (Ryans) 2 solid: Smith, Quin (as a #2 CB) One tolerable: (Pollard) Practice squad: Okoye, Cody Retirement: Wilson Special Teams: Jackson And maybe I'm being harsh in regards to Diles. Maybe flip around him between Pollard and Quin to come up with a tolerable, solid, and bench-only combination.
Don't let the Hail Mary TD make anyone forget about the ridiculous "hurry up" offense he ran at the end of the 1st half. Did he forget he had 3 timeouts?
