Motivating Mario

[ferretman26]

http://blogs.chron.com/nfl/2007/08/how_would_you_motivate_mario_w.html


Stumbled across this article today thought it was a great question that needed an answer so what do you guys think

[Darkninja]

Just take away his Lamborghini....lol

[joedinkle]

Just take away his Lamborghini....lol

OH SNAP!

[cbnjwill]

thats easy take back that signing bonus he got.its pretty obvious just not wanting to be upstaged by vince and reggie hasnt been motivation enough take away the cash and see how he responds.

[CypressTexan]

People, it's MONEY! This is a young man in his early 20's. How would you act if you was getting $56 million dollars in 6 years with $23 million sign on bonus?

A lot of players in the NFL is playing just for the MONEY, and Mario is one of them.

By God, this man can't even brake away one tackle.

Thats just foolish! First off the guys spent most of his off season at the training facility working out. He dropped some weight and his conditioning has been improved. Has it shown, no but everyone from coachs to players have commented on his hard work. I think ND Kalu hit the nail on the head when he said the kid thinks to much and has been getting to much advice from 20 different directions. He sure needs to do allot more work on his game but a guy who played through plantar fasciitis last year and has been at the training facility does not seem to be a guys just trying to cash a paycheck. By the way you dont brake away from a blocker you might try and break away though!

[TEXANRED]

Mario has 54 milliion reasons to be motivated.

[Marcus]

All of you just wish it's just 'motivation' or the lack of it.

If it's lack of motivation, then all you have to do is 'motivate' him, and then BOOOM . . .Instant Stud DL!

You all just wish it were that simple. It's not. He's playing as hard as he can out there, he just hasn't developed the skills yet. It's going to take 2-3 years to do that. Take Jason Babin. Take Travis Johnson. It's going to take awhile.

Ya'll are guilty of your own impatience. (Me included, I might add)

[joedinkle]

Mario was pitched to the fans as having instant impact, thank you very much.

[Wolverine]

People, it's MONEY! This is a young man in his early 20's. How would you act if you was getting $56 million dollars in 6 years with $23 million sign on bonus?

A lot of players in the NFL is playing just for the MONEY, and Mario is one of them.

By God, this man can't even brake away one tackle.

This man's got it right.

[wildroot]

Mario has 54 milliion reasons to be motivated.


Where's the motivation? He's got half of it in his pocket, The rest he'll pick up over the next few years just for being on the team.

You guys are talking about him like he's a 12 year old little leaguer with 20 people telling him how to swing a bat.
He's a veteran that needs to get his head out of his *ss and start doing what he's being paid to do.

[JMLOCKETT]

I dont know when this article was posted, I believe during the offseason but basically it stated that when Mario was in college he was starting to goof off.

It went on to say that his college coach threatened his spot on the team and he went out there with a vegence

[Trutexanfan]

If it was me I would sit him and tell him to earn his spot. I Know that many people would say waste your money but hell what have the Texans been doing since the first pick. Maybe it would motivate him enough to work on more that the bull rush. His running game has improved but he is far from making the Quarterbacks Nervous and I can say that about most of the line to be honest. Open up the whole squad and say if you want to play then earn it

[ChrisFM]

there was some great ideas, and some very funny ones too. i thought the link to Make It Rain was silly, but left like "wha???"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mElEIPg9ejk

[NBT]

Food for thought to all of you neophyte football geniuses, including General John McClain; how about the 4 sacks Mario had last year with a very painful foot? Way too soon to throw the baby out with the bathwater, IMO.

[Vinny]

Food for thought to all of you neophyte football geniuses, including General John McClain; how about the 4 sacks Mario had last year with a very painful foot? Way too soon to throw the baby out with the bathwater, IMO.
yeah, sacking the immobile and still injured Culpepper and touching Leftwich when he did the splitz was impressive. Lord knows where we would be without those dominating plays. :p

[MIKE230765]

Seems to me that we should get Michael Vick, he has some unothodox methods to motivate but he could make Mario one of the best most fearless DE around.

[rush2112mn]

Somebody goes over to his house and messes up his sports car or his big truck like they did to forrest whittaker in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"

[wildroot]

Food for thought to all of you neophyte football geniuses, including General John McClain; how about the 4 sacks Mario had last year with a very painful foot? Way too soon to throw the baby out with the bathwater, IMO.


Actually from what I understand, he was getting injections in his foot for the games, so during the game was probably the one time he wasn't feeling any pain in his foot.

[wildroot]

Huh? You're considered a Vet after 1 full season? It's the pre-season and while it's not a good excuse, I'd rather have him heathly and try when it means something.. I wonder if people would rag on him if he tried to much and got an injury that ended his season before it started. If he looks like crap after the 16th game then people should call him out but until then give the man a chance..

Even if Mario does good in his 2nd year I think most fans will never give him props since he was picked over the other 2 guys..

Yeah, your considered a Vet after one full season.

[truckin texan]

All of u are way to smart for me if u really want to know how bad mario is compare him to someone like michael strahan or another long time pro...it takes time

[Erratic Assassin]

he just hasn't developed the skills yet. It's going to take 2-3 years to do that.

Why doesn't he have any skills? Shouldn't he know how to play football by now? If he doesn't know how to play then why did we draft him #1 overall? Because he LOOKS like a football player?

All he needs is 2 moves. How hard is that? Apparently learning a simple swim move is more complicated than integral calculus. Does he have a learning disability?

And when did Travis Johnson become an NFL success story? I'd guess the list of offensive coordinators who have nightmares about Travis Johnson is very short.

[Piggley]

Somebody goes over to his house and messes up his sports car or his big truck like they did to forrest whittaker in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"

Gold.

I guess Carr passed the mediocrity torch to Williams.

Why does he run past the QB? I know he isn't tryin to cut him off, because he's taking the OLman with him and running past him by 5 or 6 feet.

[redkoolaid]

You are right on. He didn't ask to be picked first.
And all these haters can just go screw themselves. They obviously don't know crap about playing DE, especially these idiots who expect him to sack the QB every play. What a bunch of retards!

we dont expect him to sack the QB every play...

We expect him to do things like you know...disrupt the offense...intimidate the opposing offense...put pressure on the qb...show flashes...the things he was drafted to do...I have yet to see him put pressure, on the QB or disrupt a play...but I have seen him slip and fall like a novice ice skater, and run 5 yards in the opposite direction of the QB..

We expect him to play like the "immediate impact" player Kubiak said he would be

We expect him to play like a number one pick

We expect him to play like he deserves his 50 million

We expect him to play like he has a chip on his shoulder, because of all the non-believers and doubters...and the ridicule hes faced from the national media

[win1soon]

I just re-watched the game from Saturday and was surprised at what I did see in Mario. The bashing by media and fans may not be that nessesary.

He was in on 27 plays that I counted. Not counting field goal attempts.

He had 11 good plays. Approx. 9 O.K. plays and 7 bad plays.

He should have had 3 sacks and 1 more possible sack or QB pressure for sure. All 4 plays he was held badly after beating he guy. He also would have made 2 good plays on a run if not held badly. I'm not talking about slight holds here either. The guy was pulling Mario from outside the shoulder pads and you could see the jersey being pulled hard. Heck, on one play the guy was falling and kept pulling Mario. Another one Mario was heading for the QB and the guy grabbed Mario's back enough to distort his number.

I am a fan of Mario's (for now), evan though I wanted that other guy from the draft. I believe I watched his game with no bias at all.

His problems I saw were, standing there punching with the lineman, over commiting to the outside, late off the snap, looking lost at times, and looking easy to block at times.

[marks01234]

^ Pretty good analysis. The good plays show that Mario has to learn how to play through holds.

Go back and look at this sack against the Giants last year. He's got the tools. He just needs a lot more experience. Let's see what he can do this week (although lets again not our entire judgement on preseason games).

[CarolinaTexan]

im not trying to be mean but i'v never seen fans react to such extremes. I thought after game 1 i saw bench schaub threads and our qb sucks, and then after game 2i see schaub is awesome QB is our strongpoint. Chill out. I enjoy watching preseason, but it means nothing at all, and the playbook is barely opened at all. Chill out with the mario hating and every other player hating cause its only preseason. Mario has played 1 and 1/2 quarters so far in the preseason, he has barely played half a game. I have a feeling if he were playing a full regular season game we would probobly see some great plays by mario. Also remember, while we all love to see sacks, there is more to the dline than sacks. According to yall, mario should have a sack every quarter he plays, so thats 4 sacks a game for 16 games. Man you have high expectations...

[win1soon]

im not trying to be mean but i'v never seen fans react to such extremes. I thought after game 1 i saw bench schaub threads and our qb sucks, and then after game 2i see schaub is awesome QB is our strongpoint. Chill out. I enjoy watching preseason, but it means nothing at all, and the playbook is barely opened at all. Chill out with the mario hating and every other player hating cause its only preseason. Mario has played 1 and 1/2 quarters so far in the preseason, he has barely played half a game. I have a feeling if he were playing a full regular season game we would probobly see some great plays by mario. Also remember, while we all love to see sacks, there is more to the dline than sacks. According to yall, mario should have a sack every quarter he plays, so thats 4 sacks a game for 16 games. Man you have high expectations...

I think he is in great shape, so when the lineman is getting tired, look out.

[Houston_Fanatic]

This is an honest question - no sarcasm intended.

When did criticism become synonymous with "hating" and being a "hater"? Is this a younger generation thing? because the term wasn't used by my generation and debating and disagreeing had no association with "hate"

[done88]

No such thing. He said he has nothing against the other guy on the field. Off the field that is ok. However on the field it is not. First the other guy is trying to taake advantage of you. At your expense he wants to make more money by making you look bad. Second when he makes you look bad you lose your job and therefore he is stopping you from supporting your family. Finaly you should hate the guy across from you. If anything bad has ever happened to you it must manifeast itself in the guy across from you. This is the only way anyone will be successful in this league. Noo external motivation can mimic that. You want Mario to realize that sit him for Babin.

[Joey]

I wish Mario could have put more pressure on Leinart the other day and at least give the LT some trouble in passing situations. Hopefully he can develop some kind of pass rush this year. The good news is I never saw him get bowled over on a run and he seems really good at run D. It's hard to believe he is anywhere close to reaching his potential so I will settle for him being a solid run stuffer for now. If he isn't getting more pressure by mid season or later in the year I will be concede this was a pretty bad pick.

[BEERnBBQ]

Mario we are disappointed in you. you've not been playing like you are capable of. stop paying attention to what everyone is telling you, pull your head out of your a** and go shove someone's head up theirs.. my motivational speech is over

[cseafous]

I think Mario should stop listening to people who've never sacked anybody and listen to his position coach. If you stop and ask enough people for directions, you'll end up back where you started. The kid is going to get his. If he records a sack every third game, he'll still wind up with 6 sacks. I think he will do a little better than that.