WORST FANS EVER Judging an NFL team based on their preseason...TOTALLY SWEET!!! Last preseason..right after winning a Super Bowl, and right before winning another...the New England Patriots went 1-3 with some impressive performances...like a 31-3 drubbing by the Cincy Bengals and 31-0 loss to the Jaguars. Perspective is a good thing.
Agreed, but the Texans didn't win the Super Bowl last year, so there is some basis to be worried and not assume the Texans O-line will suddenly become dominant when the season starts.
It's one thing when you are in between Super Bowls and you go 1-3 in the preseason, it's another when you have never had a winning season, you've done nothing in the offseason to improve your offensive line, and you've replaced key veterans with simi-unproven players.
I totally agree. I'm not saying they're on the way to the Super Bowl. I don't know how they'll perform, frankly. But throwing away a 1st rounder QB who is three years in and just threw in excess of 3,500 yards with a 61% completion rate is ridiculous. And hitting the restart button generally, for a team that's improved every season in the win/loss column is equally ridiculous. But I've come to expect it from Houston fans. I used to defend Houston's fans constantly. No more. They suck.
I think Carr is gonna be an above avg QB. Gonna be tough to get to the playoffs with a sub par OL and pass rush, and the most conservative play calling since "Ground" Chuck Knoll was in charge of the Steelers. I don't think Carr is superstar material but I would love to be wrong.
I completely agree with the premise, but I don't think it's Houston fans in particular. It's the same nonsense everywhere... a quarterback's team record overrides everything else, and it's silly. 50+ man teams and organizations win and lose these games, not the men under center. I'm obviously a fan of Carr, but I really can't understand how any of you look at him and see someone who can't be great or can't be a superstar. His arm strength, accuracy, attitude and speed/scrambling ability are all truly elite and among the best 5 to 8 in the game. His decision-making has improved at a rapid pace from year to year, to where he threw one of the lowest percentages of bad passes in the league a year ago. His numbers are good for any quarterback in his third year, but for a third-year quarterback with an expansion franchise with this surrounding cast... they're fantastic! And when you combine that with the talent... I don't see what's not to like. There are a lot of areas to be pessimistic about with the Texans, but quarterback isn't one of them... not by a longshot. That said, if Riley can just somehow be an average left tackle... I think we'll open up the offense more than we ever have. This team's core of offensive talent is so strong that even an average performance this year from the line will have us competing in almost all of games. I think it's gonna be a really fun year... it's too bad some of you may miss that complaining about these irrelevant preseason games.
Drew Bennett, the Titans new 3rd string qb, has a higher pass rating than Carr. 158.3 and he's in his 4th season. Billy Volek, our 2nd string qb is 88.8. He's higher than Carr too and he's in only his 5th season. I'm just pointing out the obvious, you can do with those humbers what you want.
how about judging them (at least in part) based on their offseason and the previous- the team had major problem areas that were not addressed. You are correct, anything can (and will) happen still and obviously the season is not lost but the Texans aren't the Patriots, they're a team that overachieved its way to a mediocre record last year and don't seem to have done all that much to improve other than add some needed DL depth (aside from them "maturing" which every other team does) - you have to at least admit that much. My opinion is that they were caught flat footed when the Boselli plan blew up in his face and didn't have a plan B, and no amount of "new blocking schemes" is going to change the fact that they haven't built an OL. I remember back when the Oilers were the dregs of society back in the 80's - so they rebuilt from OL first - Mike Munchak, Dean Steinkuhler, Bruce Matthews, who were stalwarts for decades while the skill players came later. It seems like the Texans missed a step and have yet to recover 4 years later.
The premise of the first post was crazy, but I love this thread now. This year, it's very clear David Carr, Dom Capers, Charlie Casserly, etc are off their honeymoon with the fans, who are demanding results. We are now back to being a regular NFL city again. Forget the expansion stuff because those excuses don't cut it any more. The honeymoon phase was great the first year, and maybe the second. Last season I grew tired of it but was willing to give the team another offseason to add players, change schemes, etc. Now, it's all about the results. Each win is very sweet and each lose hurts more than ever because there are real expectations.
Volek's a year ahead of Carr, and he also only started half the season. That skews the numbers a lot. For example, if you picked Carr's first eight starts and ignored the rest, he'd be among the best quarterbacks in the league. Also, Sam, I disagree that they overachieved a year ago. Were there some close wins? Absolutely. But there were also some losses (Cleveland) they had no business losing. The point differential (309-339) is also a margin you'd typically expect from a 7-9 team. The talent to at least be an average team is there, and even with just some slight improvements in the offseason, it doesn't take much to get a couple of bounces to go their way, and all of a sudden they could be 9-7, etc.
It could very well be the OL again? But I sense some sarcasm in that statement anyways. As for Tony Banks being better, are you actually serious?!? The coaches don't even really trust him to throw the football, much less hit his receiver. I've never seen an NFL QB wobble the ball 60-70% of the time when passing. This preseason, they would have Ragone come in and air the ball, but Banks would throw mostly on 3rd and long situations. I'm not saying Carr is going to be like Manning or maybe even Brady, but any sports writer or professional made the same assessment, the OL and the amount of sacks Carr has taken year in and year out. When you have no time, you have to make a quick decision. That's why they call it QB pressure. Have you seen last year's BCS championship? Matt Liener sat in the pocket with no fear of being rushed or sack. His first TD pass had him jumping around like a rabbit looking for receivers. To make matters worse for OU, their receivers outran OU's CBs as if it's Jerry Rice vs. Drew Carey. Those combinations can make any above average QB look like a surefire hall of famer. Finally, who here thinks Trent Green is a Superstar? Hey, I'm sure he's drafted amongst the first 5-6 QBs in any fantasy draft right? I'm pretty sure it's not because of his talent. Maybe his front line gives him forever and a half to throw the ball? Maybe he knows Tony Gonzalez is always an advantage to throw to when all else fails? More importantly, he has the TIME to make those options. With David Carr, you get some pocket mobility and a few runs for first downs whenever the pocket collapses. But fans are fans; what can you do I just don't get fans who sees professional sports like pre-algebra. Once a second variable gets involved, it simple gets ignored. Experiments can only be made when all the other variables are the same, comparing Carr and Lienart would have you writing english alphabets all over the equation.
Well, it's nice to see that the Doom & Gloom Brigade is out twirling their batons & shaking their pom poms again. And you have the audacity to call yourselves fans?
For future refrence, if a fan criticizes his team that doesn't mean he's any less of a fan than those who stay positive all the time. NO team or player is above criticizm, and just because a fan uses that to express his worries for his team doesn't mean he's a bad fan. With that being said, I believe that Carr will preform this season, but I fully understand that people will bash, he deserved it, and until after week1, if he proves them wrong, they will stop . But thats funny huh, if Carr throws 5 TD's everyone will be in love with him, and if he throws 5 INT's then people will bash him, so does the preseason really matter in that respect anyways? Nope. It would be a mistake not to start Carr this year. If our bad play carries over, then nothing really changes from the last two weeks, moaning and complaining all around. But if it doesn't carry over, then I wil enjoy it when many of you admit you were wrong for placing so much emphasis on practice preseason games...
David Carr, Houston Texans: "The toughest for me are the guys who guess a lot. The good one I play against every year is Samari Rolle. He doesn't just play it by the book. He plays with instincts. Those are the tough guys for me. They can get beat a lot, other times they can look unstoppable. They jump routes. They sit on certain things. They can make plays on pure instincts and pure athletic ability."
He's not criticizing. He's making a judgement and proclaiming it as fact without even giving David the benefit of seeing how he's progressed over the offseason. Like was said earlier, I'll put more trust in the opinions of the countless experts who think David will shine this year than the opinion of an internet junkie who can only criticize from his couch.
Start rebuilding or improving that OL. That's where this team should of overhauled during the offseason.
Out of curiosity, who has said "Carr will shine this year"? I've heard nothing of the sort. I've heard Sean Salisbury speak good of Carr saying that he will be a good quarterback in the NFL; and I've heard others say that this is the year Carr "needs" to show something. But I have never heard anyone say that DC will shine this year.
That article says nothing about Carr shining this season. It's says based on his metrics he has all-pro potential, but nothing about him shining. Metrics are a skewed stat that do nothing to measure pocket presence, of which Carr has none. I'm sure Vick's performance metrics are in the bottom half of the league but that doesn't mean the I would prefer Carr as my QB over Vick.
