We could easily be sitting at 11-3

[go2skoos]

if the coin toss goes our way in jacksonville

if the rosencopter doesn't happen

if schaub doenst get knocked out by allen or/and we dont throw those goal line INTs in minnesota

if sage leads us to the promised land by leading the comeback with 2 mins left against the colts



i know its no use crying over spilt milk but this is just getting me more excited for next year - cut down the turnovers and we will own

[buffsoldier]

Even if we had 2 out of those 4 then we are 9-5 and right in the Wildcard hunt.

[CoogBull]

Actually, the Jacksonville game was lost because Kubiak did not call for a timeout when it was obvious that the Jags were not punting.

[buffsoldier]

Actually, the Jacksonville game was lost because Kubiak did not call for a timeout when it was obvious that the Jags were not punting.

Exactly right my friend, probably the dumbest decision of the year...by a coach anyway (Rosencopter :confused:)

[HoustonFan]

11-3??? Hmmmmm...

Lets see:

should have swept the Colts this season - YES, I TYPED SWEPT!!! +2
should have swept the Jags +1
should have beat the Vikings +1

Yeah. I concur. Take it a step further, and I have the Texans winning the division w/ a sweep. Ah well. Maybe next year. Hopefully next year!!!

[Coog]

I actually think we could have beaten the Ravens if we'd have played them during week 2, too. They started out slow with thier defense not in sync yet, and Flacco hadn't built up the confidence he has now.

[Dunta_23]

If you are taking all the "what ifs" into account...

What if AJ didnt make the incredible 4th down catch vs. Miami and we didnt convert 2 4th downs in the final drive before Schaub got in...We'd have another loss...

[TheGoaT]

Actually, the Jacksonville game was lost because Kubiak did not call for a timeout when it was obvious that the Jags were not punting.

hey maybe if you make another few dozen posts saying this someone will give a ****.

[kenneth24]

If you are taking all the "what ifs" into account...

What if AJ didnt make the incredible 4th down catch vs. Miami and we didnt convert 2 4th downs in the final drive before Schaub got in...We'd have another loss...

what if? Those aren't what if's!!! They were in our favor! LOL!:p

[CoogBull]

hey maybe if you make another few dozen posts saying this someone will give a ****.

Well it is true...no matter how little people like to hear it.

[TheGoaT]

Well it is true...no matter how little people like to hear it.

yes yes yes Gary blew the entire season with the one bad call. You can throw out all the turnovers, mental errors, penalties, a hurricane, injuries, no the whole season was lost on not calling a timeout in time.

You can ***** about it some more, but Gary wont be fired, so I guess you'll have a busy 2009 complaining about him some more.

[CoogBull]

yes yes yes Gary blew the entire season with the one bad call. You can throw out all the turnovers, mental errors, penalties, a hurricane, injuries, no the whole season was lost on not calling a timeout in time.

You can ***** about it some more, but Gary wont be fired, so I guess you'll have a busy 2009 complaining about him some more.

I know Gary will not be fired. Is your argument that Gary has no ability to minimize the errors this team makes? Is he blameless? It seems that when we win, it proves that he is a good coach. When we lose, it proves that everyone is at fault but him. Oh yeah I forgot, since Gary did not directly order Schaub and Sage to throw the ball to the other team or fumble he bears no responsibility for turnovers.

What injuries are you talking about? We have been pretty healthy this season with the exception of Matt's knee.

I still think the jury is out on whether Gary is the guy to take us to the promised land. He has to cross that stream from being a servicable coach to being a good to great coach. We know he can cut the diamond, but we still are not sure he can polish it. Great coaches are made in the playoffs.

[kenneth24]

Kubiak is a better coach now that the defense is playing better! :D

[pure_respect]

Why is the trend in the Houston sports scene for the home team to shoot themselves in the foot early in the season, and finish strong but just out of the playoffs? Or in the Rocket's case, the first round of the playoffs.

*raises his glass* Here's to seeing that trend fade away in the very near future!

[CoogBull]

Why is the trend in the Houston sports scene for the home team to shoot themselves in the foot early in the season, and finish strong but just out of the playoffs? Or in the Rocket's case, the first round of the playoffs.

*raises his glass* Here's to seeing that trend fade away in the very near future!

It is a tradition. Every year the Astros make a fantastic run in August and September. Just enough to keep it interesting.

[TheGoaT]

I know Gary will not be fired. Is your argument that Gary has no ability to minimize the errors this team makes? Is he blameless? It seems that when we win, it proves that he is a good coach. When we lose, it proves that everyone is at fault but him. Oh yeah I forgot, since Gary did not directly order Schaub and Sage to throw the ball to the other team or fumble he bears no responsibility for turnovers.

What injuries are you talking about? We have been pretty healthy this season with the exception of Matt's knee.

I still think the jury is out on whether Gary is the guy to take us to the promised land. He has to cross that stream from being a servicable coach to being a good to great coach. We know he can cut the diamond, but we still are not sure he can polish it. Great coaches are made in the playoffs.

No, Gary is certainly not blameless. Has he made mistakes, yes of course. My argument is on your ridiculous statement that the whole reason we arent going to the playoffs is boiled down to him not calling a timeout in one game. I think hes been a good coach who has put all the right pieces together for a winning team. Some individual players let him down this year and I hope if we can find a way to get those fixed this offseason we will be in the playoffs next year. So no I dont think Gary is singlehandedly to blame for this season.

Also as far as injuries, we lost our starting QB in games that cost us 4 losses, we lost what was it 3 running backs? We lost our leading tackler in Diles, we went half the season without Robinson, we've had some injuries like CC Brown, Demps, Ferguson(sp). No it hasnt been as bad as last year, but we've had some key players out at times.

[BIG ERN]

Exactly right my friend, probably the dumbest decision of the year...by a coach anyway (Rosencopter :confused:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKAKE-uq-8

[TheGoaT]

haha thats pretty good.

[CoogBull]

My argument is not summed up in the simple idea that we have would be in the playoffs without that stupid call in Jacksonville, though that would have put us closer to the brass ring. To me that is just an indication of problems that Gary has been having. He still can not manage the clock well, gets out coached very often, and still has problems evaluating and implementing talent. He is in his third year and still does not have these things down. Regardless, a simple T and he would have dramatically changed the conversation about this season. That was the moment he lost me.

I would not call Gary a "good" coach. He is mediocre at this point with signs that he can be a good or even great coach. For that to occur this team needs to take the big step. That has not happened yet. That step from a mediocre team to a playoff team is hard to make, but that is how we measure coaches. Every coach makes mistakes and poor decisions. Fisher made one the other day. But he has made a hundred great decisions that negate that one. Gary does not have a track record of great calls. He has to basically get it perfect for the next two seasons to make up for his boneheaded decisions so far.

Gary has done a lot of good for this team. There is still a lot to question. His vaunted offense is still struggling in the endzone. For me this will be the season marked by lost opportunities. When Brady went down and it was apparent that Peyton had not healed, the AFC was wide open. This could have been our year. The AFC is in a great flux this year and it could have been our year. Yet we piddled it away. We did not start the season looking like a team ready to play ball.

Sunday was a great victory for this franchise. It marks a great milestone. Still we are not going to the playoffs and were out of the picture months ago. We can finish as the hottest non-playoff team but that does not matter. We are still going home. Every year we finish strong, and it has yet to translate to a winning attitude the following season.

I understand you believe in Gary. I want to as well. I started the season as one of his strongest supporters. I do not think that he is the guy now, but I will give him a chance. I think Gary has done a good job at cutting a very rough diamond. The jury is still out on whether he can polish it into a playoff team. My point has never been that he has to be fired immediatly. Still, I think he should be asked at some point to coach for his job. The days of him getting a pass and everyone offering excuses for him should end. This is his team and he should sink or swim with them.

The problem I have is that it seems that the preconditions required for Gary to win are too great. You are right, Gary is not singlehandedly to blame. But the buck stops with him. He bears a large part of the blame because he is the coach. He should be asked to account for what he has done and will do to ensure that we do not turn the ball over as much next year. He should be asked what he plans to do to improve the redzone efficiency. If these problems persist and continue to hold us back, we will need a new coach.

[TheGoaT]

I hope you like being alone in the opinion that Gary isnt doing a good job. Because when this team finishes strong at 9-7, no one is going to share your opinion. If you want to blame one guy for the mental errors(turnovers) of players on the field thats your problem. Also your comment on him not being able to evaluate talent is god **** comical. Our team has more talent on the field this year than any year in our history. Since going 0-4 this season we've gone 7-3. Poor QB decisions is the cause of a large portion of those losses. Our backup QB played in 4 of those losses. So if you want to blame the coach because our backup QB likes to throw picks all the time, thats your problem. Its pretty clear you are the type of negative fan that needs to complain about as much as he can. Considering humans are never perfect, and theres no such thing as a perfect football team, Im sure you will find things to complain about no matter how well we do. We just beat the best team in the NFL and you are complaining about our coach right after the win. Thats pretty ridiculous.

[Texan Naija]

I would go ahead and give the Vikings that win, cheap shot or not, they play a stronger game. We had the tools to win but on that Sunday we didn't and it wasn't really any one thing.

Now the first games with Jacksonville and Indianapolis those were losses that we gave away, so I'd say right now we'd be at 9-5 tied with the Colts and battling them and the Ravens for a wild card spot. But all our other defeats, regardless of who was where or injured, are on the team. If you count the Texans' defensive collapse as something you could erase, then you can pretty much say we could be at a 15-1 season (because the Steelers arse whooping was undeniable).


That is how I see it.

[CoogBull]

I hope you like being alone in the opinion that Gary isnt doing a good job. Because when this team finishes strong at 9-7, no one is going to share your opinion. If you want to blame one guy for the mental errors(turnovers) of players on the field thats your problem. Also your comment on him not being able to evaluate talent is god **** comical. Our team has more talent on the field this year than any year in our history. Since going 0-4 this season we've gone 7-3. Poor QB decisions is the cause of a large portion of those losses. Our backup QB played in 4 of those losses. So if you want to blame the coach because our backup QB likes to throw picks all the time, thats your problem. Its pretty clear you are the type of negative fan that needs to complain about as much as he can. Considering humans are never perfect, and theres no such thing as a perfect football team, Im sure you will find things to complain about no matter how well we do. We just beat the best team in the NFL and you are complaining about our coach right after the win. Thats pretty ridiculous.

So Gary is the father of all good things, and not in the least bit responsible for any of the bad? All QB's throw picks. That is part of the game. Yet when you have two QB's doing it an inordinate number of times, should we not at least ask what the coach is doing about it? Is it the play calling? Is it the attitude he instills in the players? How much film is he watching on the opposing defense? Does he talk about strategies to avoid giving it up so much? We are seeing a little bit of that. Matt throws it away an awful lot these days. But it is too little too late. He is not 100% to blame for the INT problems, but there must be some culpability. When you look at their history's Matt and Sage have not been guys who make tons of terrible mistakes the way they have this year. We have to evaluate why that is and what about this season changed. Was it the tough defenses? My point is that prudent coaching can not totally erase these errors, but it can mitigate them.

Gary does have problems with talent evaluation. Why did we wait so long for Chris Taylor when he did not deserve it? Why did it take him so long to get Diles into the starter role? Was it because Greenwood was just tearing it up? We must also remember that he is the guy who thought he could fix David Carr.

We are going to go 9-7. Great. We can celebrate at home while inferior teams get to enjoy their playoff games. We have all this talent that is being wasted. I do not see how I am a bad fan for wanting my team to win. I do not understand why being a Texans fan requires me to be blind.

I never quibbled with the win against the Titans. It was great and I celebrated as hard as anyone. It was a great win for this franchise, and probably the biggest win in team history. In the long run though, the Titans are moving on to the playoffs. We will end our season on Dec. 28th, just like the Lions and the Bengals. This team has too much talent and heart to be going home, but we will.

You still have not answered my questions: When will we get to have high expectations? If we do not make it next year are we going to give Gary another pass and make more excuses for him? At any point will he have crap or get off the pot? He was the one talking playoffs at the start of the season so what is wrong with having high expectations this year?

You are correct, there are no perfect teams. Every team in this league is flawed. But coaches take flawed teams to the playoffs. The Titans are horribly flawed. They are going to get reamed in the playoffs by teams that can throw the ball and play defense(Sidenote: Regardless of our disagreement, I believe we can agree that watching that will be wonderful). The Pats were flawed last year. Half their defense was collecting Social Security. A good coach looks to the flaws of his team and adjusts. At some point we have to say that despite the team's flaws, Gary needs to take them to the playoffs. I think that time should be sooner rather than later.

[tgriff00]

So Gary is the father of all good things, and not in the least bit responsible for any of the bad? All QB's throw picks. That is part of the game. Yet when you have two QB's doing it an inordinate number of times, should we not at least ask what the coach is doing about it? Is it the play calling? Is it the attitude he instills in the players? How much film is he watching on the opposing defense? Does he talk about strategies to avoid giving it up so much? We are seeing a little bit of that. Matt throws it away an awful lot these days. But it is too little too late. He is not 100% to blame for the INT problems, but there must be some culpability. When you look at their history's Matt and Sage have not been guys who make tons of terrible mistakes the way they have this year. We have to evaluate why that is and what about this season changed. Was it the tough defenses? My point is that prudent coaching can not totally erase these errors, but it can mitigate them.

Gary does have problems with talent evaluation. Why did we wait so long for Chris Taylor when he did not deserve it? Why did it take him so long to get Diles into the starter role? Was it because Greenwood was just tearing it up? We must also remember that he is the guy who thought he could fix David Carr.

We are going to go 9-7. Great. We can celebrate at home while inferior teams get to enjoy their playoff games. We have all this talent that is being wasted. I do not see how I am a bad fan for wanting my team to win. I do not understand why being a Texans fan requires me to be blind.

I never quibbled with the win against the Titans. It was great and I celebrated as hard as anyone. It was a great win for this franchise, and probably the biggest win in team history. In the long run though, the Titans are moving on to the playoffs. We will end our season on Dec. 28th, just like the Lions and the Bengals. This team has too much talent and heart to be going home, but we will.

You still have not answered my questions: When will we get to have high expectations? If we do not make it next year are we going to give Gary another pass and make more excuses for him? At any point will he have crap or get off the pot? He was the one talking playoffs at the start of the season so what is wrong with having high expectations this year?

You are correct, there are no perfect teams. Every team in this league is flawed. But coaches take flawed teams to the playoffs. The Titans are horribly flawed. They are going to get reamed in the playoffs by teams that can throw the ball and play defense(Sidenote: Regardless of our disagreement, I believe we can agree that watching that will be wonderful). The Pats were flawed last year. Half their defense was collecting Social Security. A good coach looks to the flaws of his team and adjusts. At some point we have to say that despite the team's flaws, Gary needs to take them to the playoffs. I think that time should be sooner rather than later.

Does anyone even listen to what Coogbull says??

[TheGoaT]

his reading ability sure sucks, because Ive already answered like 3 of the questions he is asking yet again.

[TheGoaT]

So Gary is the father of all good things, and not in the least bit responsible for any of the bad? All QB's throw picks. That is part of the game. Yet when you have two QB's doing it an inordinate number of times, should we not at least ask what the coach is doing about it? Is it the play calling? Is it the attitude he instills in the players? How much film is he watching on the opposing defense? Does he talk about strategies to avoid giving it up so much? We are seeing a little bit of that. Matt throws it away an awful lot these days. But it is too little too late. He is not 100% to blame for the INT problems, but there must be some culpability. When you look at their history's Matt and Sage have not been guys who make tons of terrible mistakes the way they have this year. We have to evaluate why that is and what about this season changed. Was it the tough defenses? My point is that prudent coaching can not totally erase these errors, but it can mitigate them.

Gary does have problems with talent evaluation. Why did we wait so long for Chris Taylor when he did not deserve it? Why did it take him so long to get Diles into the starter role? Was it because Greenwood was just tearing it up? We must also remember that he is the guy who thought he could fix David Carr.

We are going to go 9-7. Great. We can celebrate at home while inferior teams get to enjoy their playoff games. We have all this talent that is being wasted. I do not see how I am a bad fan for wanting my team to win. I do not understand why being a Texans fan requires me to be blind.

I never quibbled with the win against the Titans. It was great and I celebrated as hard as anyone. It was a great win for this franchise, and probably the biggest win in team history. In the long run though, the Titans are moving on to the playoffs. We will end our season on Dec. 28th, just like the Lions and the Bengals. This team has too much talent and heart to be going home, but we will.

You still have not answered my questions: When will we get to have high expectations? If we do not make it next year are we going to give Gary another pass and make more excuses for him? At any point will he have crap or get off the pot? He was the one talking playoffs at the start of the season so what is wrong with having high expectations this year?

You are correct, there are no perfect teams. Every team in this league is flawed. But coaches take flawed teams to the playoffs. The Titans are horribly flawed. They are going to get reamed in the playoffs by teams that can throw the ball and play defense(Sidenote: Regardless of our disagreement, I believe we can agree that watching that will be wonderful). The Pats were flawed last year. Half their defense was collecting Social Security. A good coach looks to the flaws of his team and adjusts. At some point we have to say that despite the team's flaws, Gary needs to take them to the playoffs. I think that time should be sooner rather than later.

Its really not worth the effort anymore to try and talk some sense into you, so Im just gonna try to summarize some of it quickly.

If you actually read back on what Ive posted before Ive already covered that hes not blameless, already gave my opinion on when we can hold him to high expectations, and already gave my thoughts on you talking about what hes doing at practices that you arent at.

Sage has always had a history of turnovers, 10 ints last year, 12 this year. Matt gets hurt, we have to put Sage in. Dont see how thats Gary's fault. (once again you arent at the practices to make assumptions on that) What would you have him do, start the 3rd stringer we picked up halfway thru the season?

Keeping Chris Taylor was needed because we started the season with the first two on the depth chart with injuries. Our next guy was an unproven rookie. We needed depth and backup help until we found something better. Sounds pretty logical to me. Not sure what your talking about with Diles, hes started since week 1.

Your not a bad fan for wanting your team to win, just an ill informed one(in my opinion) for placing the blame on one man. He's made mistakes, all coaches do. The difference is he working with a young( or inexperienced) batch of players who have been making more than their fair share of personal mistakes. When they dont make so many mistakes, we win games. We are 2nd to last in the league in turnovers. When the players grow a bit and get rid of those, we are a very good football team even without changing anything else.

So you can blame gary if you want. If I was the kind of fan looking to point fingers, I'd be more inclined to point in the direction of the earlier QB play and defensive play.