aj.
10-29-2007, 01:27 PM
What exactly are we supposed to be cheering for and why should we continue to watch?
We weren’t expecting a win at San Diego on Sunday. But we were expecting more than another sequel to Football Follies.
Not trying to pile on here. I’m really curious what’s going on and why we should continue to watch. This is making me lose interest and look for other things to do on Sunday, and I’ve been watching the NFL since the late 1960’s.
There’s no need to run down the litany of issues. We all know about injury to Andre Johnson and how everything seemed to go haywire after that.
We know about the offensive line, the dearth of a running game, and the necessity for nothing more than three step drops.
We know you work hard and we appreciate the effort.
But for whatever the reason, this team has achieved embarrassment status (again) and it’s getting old. And I know old.
The Texans are reeling and appear to have no answer for what ails them – or us.
In terms of what matters most, what we’re seeing now isn’t much different than what we saw in 2005.
What we’re seeing now is a team that’s ‘this close’ to a 6 game losing streak if not for Kris Brown’s leg against an equally awful Miami team.
As fans, we see a few guys playing at a high level. Few being the operative word.
But when we see shots of Matt Schaub sitting dazed on the bench trying to figure out where he’s at in the middle of the second quarter, we know it’s not good. Yeah, I know, Matt should have had his head on a swivel after the interception and that’s on him, but even though I've very concerned about Matt's health, I’m even more concerned about what’s causing this mess.
We know the Texans lack quality starters and depth at many positions, but many of us are guessing that coaching is also playing a part.
There needs to be an honest and independent review of every aspect of Football Operations from Rick Smith on down - a mid term performance review if you will. Bye week gives you a golden opportunity to do this.
Out of the review, should come a get well plan that prioritizes fixes - identifying the things you can take care of during the remaining weeks of the season. We recognize that some things can't be fixed this season. As far as the person(s) conducting the review, personal biases need to be left at the door, or better yet, the review should be conducted by someone who's trusted but not close enough to the organization professionally or personally to be biased in any way.
If there's anything we should have learned from the first era of the Texans, it's not to wait 4-5 years before contemplating major changes.
Back to Matt's health, the irony of his ailments is that the Texans are in the good half of the league in sacks allowed – allowing only 12 in eight games. Most of Matt's hits have come after the fact - a byproduct of a guy not afraid to stand up in the face of pressure. But how long will he be able to continue to stand in the face of pressure, either physically or mentally?
In terms of what remains of this season, one must first ask what has really changed since the days of our really ‘bad’ teams? It seemed that the Texans had turned the corner with the improvement to 6 wins last year and the addition of the new quarterback and running back this year, and the quick start.
Some fans thought things were really beginning to gel when the Texans started out 2-0 this season. Others like yours truly remained skeptical, and rightfully so it seems, holding on to our predictions of 8-8 for this season.
At this point, 8-8 would be cause for a parade down Kirby.
What we saw at San Diego Sunday was no different from @New England in 2006 and at home against Kansas City in 2005. Our team, coaches and players, were totally outmatched. It was an embarrassment.
And that’s too bad considering that CBS felt that this game warranted their #2 broadcast crew – instead of giving us Ian Eagle and Steve Tasker for the 20th time.
Trying to be nice, Dan Dierdorf called the Texans effort a ‘struggle for respectability’ during yet another Texans panicky offensive possession about midway through the 3rd quarter.
Dierdorf could have crushed the Texans all day long but he didn’t, and actually it was a struggle for respectability far earlier than the third quarter.
We should have known it wasn’t going to be a good day when we heard in the opening that Ahman Green wouldn’t play, leaving the running game in the hands of Ron Dayne and Adimchinobi Echemandu.
In Echemandu, it was nice to see a Texans running back run with some authority and through a hole for a change.
Green is becoming so mysterious, he might want to give Jason Simmons back his #30 and go for #71 instead.
The Texans lack of prime time visibility showed in the opening minutes when Dierdorf, talking about the relative lack of star power on the Texans, referred to Coach Kubiak as Gary Daniels.
Maybe it was because he was talking about Owen Daniels a few minutes earlier, or it’s possible that he was thinking about Gary Danielson or Jack Daniels, or maybe it was just the smoke in the air because Greg Gumbel followed up a few minutes later by referring to Phillip Rivers as David Rivers.
For whatever reason, good plays were few and far between for the Texans on this day. Dunta Robinson got major props from Dierdorf on the first drive with his nice breakup of a pass intended for Chris Chambers. It kind of went down hill from there.
The blown coverage on Antonio Gates for the Chargers first TD prompted Dierdorf to say “how could the Texans not cover that guy?” But that was only the beginning for Gates and the beginning of the end for the Texans.
Mix in Bryan Pittman’s snap over the head of Matt Turk, and Steve Sabol and the fellas over at NFL films were getting more source material by the minute.
Yeah, I’m being harsh, but the fans are tired of this. The Texans offense is operating in panic mode they have become a turnover machine. The defense is getting no pressure on opposing quarterbacks and it gives up way too many big plays.
The fans? All we want is respectability and something to cheer for. This was game 24 of the Kubiak regime and I’m not sure that this version of the Texans is any better than the one that his staff and GM Rick Smith inherited.
Patience you say?
Well, some of us have been Houston NFL fans a lot longer than the Texans have been around so - yeah, patience is our middle name. But I can sense it wearing thin, even with the hardest of the diehards…
We weren’t expecting a win at San Diego on Sunday. But we were expecting more than another sequel to Football Follies.
Not trying to pile on here. I’m really curious what’s going on and why we should continue to watch. This is making me lose interest and look for other things to do on Sunday, and I’ve been watching the NFL since the late 1960’s.
There’s no need to run down the litany of issues. We all know about injury to Andre Johnson and how everything seemed to go haywire after that.
We know about the offensive line, the dearth of a running game, and the necessity for nothing more than three step drops.
We know you work hard and we appreciate the effort.
But for whatever the reason, this team has achieved embarrassment status (again) and it’s getting old. And I know old.
The Texans are reeling and appear to have no answer for what ails them – or us.
In terms of what matters most, what we’re seeing now isn’t much different than what we saw in 2005.
What we’re seeing now is a team that’s ‘this close’ to a 6 game losing streak if not for Kris Brown’s leg against an equally awful Miami team.
As fans, we see a few guys playing at a high level. Few being the operative word.
But when we see shots of Matt Schaub sitting dazed on the bench trying to figure out where he’s at in the middle of the second quarter, we know it’s not good. Yeah, I know, Matt should have had his head on a swivel after the interception and that’s on him, but even though I've very concerned about Matt's health, I’m even more concerned about what’s causing this mess.
We know the Texans lack quality starters and depth at many positions, but many of us are guessing that coaching is also playing a part.
There needs to be an honest and independent review of every aspect of Football Operations from Rick Smith on down - a mid term performance review if you will. Bye week gives you a golden opportunity to do this.
Out of the review, should come a get well plan that prioritizes fixes - identifying the things you can take care of during the remaining weeks of the season. We recognize that some things can't be fixed this season. As far as the person(s) conducting the review, personal biases need to be left at the door, or better yet, the review should be conducted by someone who's trusted but not close enough to the organization professionally or personally to be biased in any way.
If there's anything we should have learned from the first era of the Texans, it's not to wait 4-5 years before contemplating major changes.
Back to Matt's health, the irony of his ailments is that the Texans are in the good half of the league in sacks allowed – allowing only 12 in eight games. Most of Matt's hits have come after the fact - a byproduct of a guy not afraid to stand up in the face of pressure. But how long will he be able to continue to stand in the face of pressure, either physically or mentally?
In terms of what remains of this season, one must first ask what has really changed since the days of our really ‘bad’ teams? It seemed that the Texans had turned the corner with the improvement to 6 wins last year and the addition of the new quarterback and running back this year, and the quick start.
Some fans thought things were really beginning to gel when the Texans started out 2-0 this season. Others like yours truly remained skeptical, and rightfully so it seems, holding on to our predictions of 8-8 for this season.
At this point, 8-8 would be cause for a parade down Kirby.
What we saw at San Diego Sunday was no different from @New England in 2006 and at home against Kansas City in 2005. Our team, coaches and players, were totally outmatched. It was an embarrassment.
And that’s too bad considering that CBS felt that this game warranted their #2 broadcast crew – instead of giving us Ian Eagle and Steve Tasker for the 20th time.
Trying to be nice, Dan Dierdorf called the Texans effort a ‘struggle for respectability’ during yet another Texans panicky offensive possession about midway through the 3rd quarter.
Dierdorf could have crushed the Texans all day long but he didn’t, and actually it was a struggle for respectability far earlier than the third quarter.
We should have known it wasn’t going to be a good day when we heard in the opening that Ahman Green wouldn’t play, leaving the running game in the hands of Ron Dayne and Adimchinobi Echemandu.
In Echemandu, it was nice to see a Texans running back run with some authority and through a hole for a change.
Green is becoming so mysterious, he might want to give Jason Simmons back his #30 and go for #71 instead.
The Texans lack of prime time visibility showed in the opening minutes when Dierdorf, talking about the relative lack of star power on the Texans, referred to Coach Kubiak as Gary Daniels.
Maybe it was because he was talking about Owen Daniels a few minutes earlier, or it’s possible that he was thinking about Gary Danielson or Jack Daniels, or maybe it was just the smoke in the air because Greg Gumbel followed up a few minutes later by referring to Phillip Rivers as David Rivers.
For whatever reason, good plays were few and far between for the Texans on this day. Dunta Robinson got major props from Dierdorf on the first drive with his nice breakup of a pass intended for Chris Chambers. It kind of went down hill from there.
The blown coverage on Antonio Gates for the Chargers first TD prompted Dierdorf to say “how could the Texans not cover that guy?” But that was only the beginning for Gates and the beginning of the end for the Texans.
Mix in Bryan Pittman’s snap over the head of Matt Turk, and Steve Sabol and the fellas over at NFL films were getting more source material by the minute.
Yeah, I’m being harsh, but the fans are tired of this. The Texans offense is operating in panic mode they have become a turnover machine. The defense is getting no pressure on opposing quarterbacks and it gives up way too many big plays.
The fans? All we want is respectability and something to cheer for. This was game 24 of the Kubiak regime and I’m not sure that this version of the Texans is any better than the one that his staff and GM Rick Smith inherited.
Patience you say?
Well, some of us have been Houston NFL fans a lot longer than the Texans have been around so - yeah, patience is our middle name. But I can sense it wearing thin, even with the hardest of the diehards…