i thought about it when i posted it, honestly. the difference is...i've seen schaub win games with his arm. that game in Washington this year, for instance. and while he throws into tight coverage a lot, he never has the lackadasical stupid mistakes that the one who shall not be named used to pull off. put more succinctly: schaub has never looked like a stunt double for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
It appears that the Texans do not match up well with some teams, like the Cowboys and the Giants. The Texans offensive line had trouble run and pass blocking against both of those two teams. A general observation. Most but not all playoff teams have great D lines and at least have O lines who will not get completely dominated by opposing D lines, even the great ones. Teams like the Ravens, the Giants, the Steelers, the Eagles, the Vikings, and maybe the Jets this year. The Texans fail on both counts. Their O line struggles against the better D lines. And their D line only occasionally dominates, usually against weaker O lines. I don't know whom to blame. Maybe a better coaching staff could coach up the line talent we have? Maybe better drafting would get better linemen on the field? Maybe both.
I think it comes down to the strength and size of the interior lines (off. and def.). Kubiak and Rick Smith have sworn by going lean and quick at these positions, and without looking it up, it seems like most really successful teams in the modern era have had a lot more strength at these positions (with the exception of the Broncos o-line in the late 90's...but Brisel/Myers/Smith are not Nalen/Schlereth/Neil). Just look at the games that we've gotten our ass handed to us the last few years- Steelers, Jets, Cowboys, Giants, Ravens...
Good read ... Battle of systems: Seahawks' zone vs. Broncos' power Posted: 09/18/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT ... "You just take a look over the last, well, since we've been running it, over the last 15 years, who's No. 1 for the last 15 years?" Shanahan said three weeks ago in an interview with The Denver Post. "It's not even close. It's not even close relative to yards, points, first downs. ... It's true that in the 14-year, Shanahan era from 1995-2008, the Broncos accumulated an NFL-best 30,993 yards, an average of 138.4 yards per game. "Zone blocking involves a lot more athletic movements," Clady said. "Everyone is running. Everyone has a zone you run to. Whoever is in your zone, you block. If there's no one in your zone, you keep running until you get the next guy. We still have that now. It's just not as much." Those who don't believe in the zone scheme point out its smaller, more athletic linemen tend to wear down as the season goes along. See the Broncos' 2-8 finish after 6-0 start in 2009. There were the Broncos blowing a three- game lead with three to play in 2008; a 2-4 finish after a 5-5 start in 2007; a 2-5 skid after a 7-2 start in 2006. And on it goes since the 1998 Broncos won the Super Bowl. In fact, the '98 Broncos were the last zone-blocking team to have won a Super Bowl. Has it been mentioned lately that the Broncos have only one playoff win since 1998? The tipping point for McDaniels may have been his team's struggles on short- yardage and goal-line situations last year. As the theory goes: Power and mass, not quickness and athleticism, move piles — and better protects the inside pocket for the quarterback in the shotgun. And so the Broncos made a conscious decision to get bigger up front. ...
Agreed. 9-7 buys him another year at least. The schedule is the 'toughest in football' [heard that enough????] I think even next year . . .if he flops with bad defense it maybe like college. . .he buys another year buy firing his defensive Coord. 9-7 last year . .. bought him this year 9-7 this year. . i think gives him at least 2 more Rocket River
Interesting . . . because it made me think about the RUN AND SHOOT with Moon at the helm . .it was viciously effective but it did have its weakness [i.e the inability to run out the clock] I think that teams can be effective with both but they simply cannot be 100% with both . [I don't understand why no one runs the run and shoot at all] Rocket River
It was more about Defensive collapses. [Having Cody Carlson run it .. . doesn't mean it failed It means Cody failed] Rocket River
Actually someone, I can't remember who, on TV brought this up during the Moss trade. Basically, with the emergence of big WRs, it made the midget R&S receivers a thing of the past. Defenses are just to big and physical so small receivers would get the crap beat out of them. For those who remember, the Eagles set the example of how to beat the R&S with their ultra-physical defense in the early 90s. The only reason it lasted so long was the awesome Oiler defense that won a ton of games at the end of its run. Which made the playoff loses so dam painful because of the defensive collapses.
See 934's response to you. Also, the R&S got off the field so quickly, the defense was having to "stop" the opposing offense for far too much of the game. The R&S simply couldn't run out the clock. It was a gimmick; it never could win anything real and tangible.
The weakness I saw was that in the playoffs was that the refs allowed rougher play with more contact with the receivers down field. This allowed the opposing defense to blitz more effectively. The way the game is called in the playoffs, the offense needs to be able play a bit of smash mouth football, which is the RnS is decidely not.
We've lost 6 of our last 11 home games. We are 1 McNabb overthrow away from being 2-3 right now. My biggest problem with Kubiak isn't necessarily his play-calling, although I do have issues with it like everyone else. It's the mindset of the team. We played like a bunch of p*****s on Sunday. At home. Then in his post game interview with that himbo Bob Allen, he says "well, we weren't prepared to play football today and that's my fault..." Does that disturb anyone else? How are you not prepared to play on Sunday? Really?? The whole team basically lubed up, bent over, and took it in the ass in front of 70,000 of their own screaming fans....and the coach just says "well shucks, we just weren't prepared today..." Just the mindset of a p***y. So ****ing annoying. As much as I hate Rex Ryan, can you imagine what he would do with this team?
Major props to you for posting this. I've been against use of the ZBS here from the start but Kubiak keeps on at it like nothing's wrong. Well, you can expect to see more of what you saw on Sunday because teams have figured this scheme out. If you think what you saw from the Giants was bad, wait until the Titans go after them. They literally ripped through Dallas' OL on Sunday.
fire frank bush and gibbs hire either mike singletary/wade phillips/the coach from UofH keep gary,its not his fault schaub is a pos trade matt asap for anyone,cassell/vy/bigben/anyone,and i mean anyone. as far as starting qb's , i rank schaub at #28 out of 31. alex smith without andre johnson > schaub without andre johnson
That's what I'm sayin. Maybe that's just how Kubiak talks to the media and he's different with the team, but it doesn't sound good. I didn't realize our home record was that mediocre. I guess our road record must be pretty decent.
I refuse to quote obvious troll, but: No real problem with Frank Bush (1) Can't make chicken salad out of.... (2) He did blitz, usually with Cushing, fairly effectively (3) I honestly don't see anything major with the scheme that's killing us, only overmatched (Jackson) or underperforming (Okoye) personnel If I were looking to replace anyone, it'd have to be the defensive lines coach (Bill Kollar, also the Assistant Head Coach, making this highly unlikely in reality). It's under his watch that Okoye continues to go through the motions and get knocked around every snap and Cody seems to be truly unaware that he's allowed to disengage from his lineman and make a play. These guys are a big problem and leave our outmatched secondary on an island with their ineffectiveness. We need a high impact DT. We need Nolan to become a serious threat at safety (possible) or bring one in. We need to trade up if necessary to draft a solid CB (maybe employ a team machine to do so last year). What's done is done, but Nate Allen (S) would have been a far better pick than Jackson, and as people have said, Cromartie could be had for a late pick. One of the critical components of a head coach's job is getting the most out of players each game. Kubiak has been a major failure in that regard, and is on the verge of squandering a playoff-caliber team two years straight. Schaub has come out of the gates surprisingly erratic with his play, but I'll take my chances with him working out of that than a better solution coming from a change at QB. Tempering that, I've said for a couple years that our WR corps makes Schaub look good more than the other way around. Not a slam - we're lucky to have a top 10 QB and a top 3 receiving group. As far as improving the play going forward.... Jackson needs to split time with McCain if he's not ready and continues to bite on every WR route break. His recovery speed is shockingly bad. Have we every seen a rushing down CB? Duane Brown should really help even out the running game. The silver lining is that he'll have fresh legs returning midseason. Hope, pray, cross fingers that Mark Andersen finally is the shot in the arm up front that Schobel, Ogunleye, and Denney couldn't be. Whenever Smith moves inside and we can take Okoye or Cody off the field, it's a treat.
One of Cushing's rushes caused a "hurry" which lead to a pick. Another hurry lead to the other pick as well. pick >> sack. The DL needs to get credit when it is due, to be fair. The DL still got outplayed by the Giants OL.
