EyesWideOpen
11-18-2008, 02:36 PM
It is often observed that pets reflect their owners. How about teams reflecting their owners and coaches? Sadly, our coaches seem unable to do the following:
1. Build mental toughness. The turnover problems with the Texans come down to mental toughness, primarily this year with the quarterbacks. We also see constant blown coverages on defense, people out of position, etc.
2. Execute a hurry up or two minute drill. Why is it so hard to hold on to a few timeouts and have some plays in the playbook that get you 10 yards and out of bounds? Supposedly Lil Shanny and Kubiak are offensive gurus - yet we have yet to look good during a hurry up drill.
3. Develop talent at key positions. This is absolutely the saddest aspect of watching our Texans this year - they have regressed. Too many players are not moving forward this year. Fred Bennett looked like a ballhawk last year and this year has been repeatedly benched. Amobi Okoye has been AWOL. Adibi out due to illness for half the year. Our free agent pickup of Green and Reeves looks like money ill spent. Rosenfels looks terrible this year (and who expected that?) Schaub cannot stay healthy, he reminds me of Larry Walker when he played for the Colorado Rockies (he only played about half the time). It appears now that we are going to need a quarterback next year - does anyone really believe that Schaub is going to develop into a "great" quarterback? While he has a quick release and sometimes reads the defense, he cannot throw well while rolling to the right (not enough arm strength is my guess) and is truly bad rolling to the left. We need someone with more mobility and pocket awareness.
4. Understand what the word "aggression" means. I continue to hear our coach say that we are going to be or remain "aggressive" in our play calling. Kubiak gives up on his players when the going gets tough. Witness the Baltimore game, where he was so afraid of the Ravens D that even though we had success running the ball he gave up on it. Yet the next week the Giants kicked their *** for over 200 yards rushing. Conversely, he has said we can't drop our quarterback for too many pass plays because they will get hurt. I say aggression means using your intelligence to give our players some misdirection against their defense and sticking with the run. Slaton had over 150 yards on supposedly "dead legs."
Aggression on defense means disguising your coverages and blitzing whenever possible. Your secondary looks a lot better when a bunch of passes are going out of bounds our wobbling into the hands of your defensive backs.
5. Get some size up front on both sides of the ball. We must have athleticism, but size matters too. Either play Okam or get someone in here who can occupy a few blockers and hold the point on defense while your linebackers make plays. On offense, we need greater size up front to be able to run effectively inside the opponents 20 yard line. If you don't want to take the size approach, then we need A LOT more speed like the colts have.
6. Quit coddling players and say what needs to be said. I am tired of hearing the coach say he takes responsiblity and that means nothing, he keeps making the same mistakes. Take players to task both in person and in print, and demand excellence.
1. Build mental toughness. The turnover problems with the Texans come down to mental toughness, primarily this year with the quarterbacks. We also see constant blown coverages on defense, people out of position, etc.
2. Execute a hurry up or two minute drill. Why is it so hard to hold on to a few timeouts and have some plays in the playbook that get you 10 yards and out of bounds? Supposedly Lil Shanny and Kubiak are offensive gurus - yet we have yet to look good during a hurry up drill.
3. Develop talent at key positions. This is absolutely the saddest aspect of watching our Texans this year - they have regressed. Too many players are not moving forward this year. Fred Bennett looked like a ballhawk last year and this year has been repeatedly benched. Amobi Okoye has been AWOL. Adibi out due to illness for half the year. Our free agent pickup of Green and Reeves looks like money ill spent. Rosenfels looks terrible this year (and who expected that?) Schaub cannot stay healthy, he reminds me of Larry Walker when he played for the Colorado Rockies (he only played about half the time). It appears now that we are going to need a quarterback next year - does anyone really believe that Schaub is going to develop into a "great" quarterback? While he has a quick release and sometimes reads the defense, he cannot throw well while rolling to the right (not enough arm strength is my guess) and is truly bad rolling to the left. We need someone with more mobility and pocket awareness.
4. Understand what the word "aggression" means. I continue to hear our coach say that we are going to be or remain "aggressive" in our play calling. Kubiak gives up on his players when the going gets tough. Witness the Baltimore game, where he was so afraid of the Ravens D that even though we had success running the ball he gave up on it. Yet the next week the Giants kicked their *** for over 200 yards rushing. Conversely, he has said we can't drop our quarterback for too many pass plays because they will get hurt. I say aggression means using your intelligence to give our players some misdirection against their defense and sticking with the run. Slaton had over 150 yards on supposedly "dead legs."
Aggression on defense means disguising your coverages and blitzing whenever possible. Your secondary looks a lot better when a bunch of passes are going out of bounds our wobbling into the hands of your defensive backs.
5. Get some size up front on both sides of the ball. We must have athleticism, but size matters too. Either play Okam or get someone in here who can occupy a few blockers and hold the point on defense while your linebackers make plays. On offense, we need greater size up front to be able to run effectively inside the opponents 20 yard line. If you don't want to take the size approach, then we need A LOT more speed like the colts have.
6. Quit coddling players and say what needs to be said. I am tired of hearing the coach say he takes responsiblity and that means nothing, he keeps making the same mistakes. Take players to task both in person and in print, and demand excellence.