Casey is a tight end ...not a fullback....

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by Mr teX

Clutts has a dual role...ST and fullback....doesnt mean he has to start to fulfill his dual role. Every guy on ST is a back up at some position.

How often have you even seen Clutts at FB?

[EllisUnit]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

How often have you even seen Clutts at FB?

After we pull the starters

[ArlingtonTexan]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

32 receptions in 15 games hardly seems like a passing weapon in good exchange for a lead "horse."

I think this one of the keys, it is okay to downgrade one aspect if your going to highlight the replacing player's other aspect. Essetially, Casey who is best as passing game mismatch is catching on average two and maybe 3 passes a game. while better than leach, not enough to counter the lesser blocking. If we were talking about 50-55 catches for the year then teams would be accounting for Casey. (and yes that is really only a pass or two more a game).

[rush2112mn]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

Then why did we even bother getting Clutts? As a STs player only without dual role? Thought that was a philosophy that was to be avoided.

I had forgot about clutts....probaly cause I had not seen him much on the field.

It actually surprised me that Kubiak would put Casey at fullback and sacrifice his running attack for a few passes to Casey. I never really bought into Kubiak's reason for doing it. I think Casey was a better tight end option myself.

I think if the Texans do not go far in the playoffs......Kubiak and Smith need to be called out on the Fullback issue because it is vital to the run game....you need that battering ram....not a tight end pretending to be a fullback so Kubiak could add more passing plays to the playbook and subtract some of the running attack.

This is not the only issue with the running attack ...but it is a issue that nobody is really talking about.

Thanks for the input on this topic to everyone who has responded......

[EllisUnit]

We have AJ and KW at FB a lot now. Wow we are fooling teams by doing that, Kubiaks creativness to fool a defense is soooooo "amazing"

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by Norg

leech was good but not worth all that money what was it 8 mill

u dont build your team that way paying a FB that much

I'd rather see Winston at $5mil. than Leech. I think the Texans maybe screwed the pooch letting both Winston and Briseil get away. Better money spent on Breseil than Winston, though.

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

Absolutely they made a mistake. Letting Leach go and keeping Jacoby Jones was a huge mistake and it continues to bite us in the ass over and over again. Foster behind Leach was a beast. Foster without him has been less beastly in most every way imaginable.

We need to find a legitimate replacement for Vonta Leach. Vickers wasn't it and Casey isn't it either.

every team has their regrets, but you hit it on the head - this was THE big misstep for our front office. we had a choice, and kubiak (predictably) went with the more versatile player who had shown to be a pet project, instead of the soon to be overpriced all-pro. considering their salaries werent far apart, keeping the all-pro should've been obvious. instead we lose a good player, get killed by a bad one, and are ruining casey because of it.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by Scooter

considering their salaries werent far apart, keeping the all-pro should've been obvious..

Just to be clear - four years of Casey's contract is about one half a year for Leach.

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

Just to be clear - four years of Casey's contract is about one half a year for Leach.

i meant leach and jacoby, sorry i was the one that wasnt clear

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by powda

You might recall casey had what we thought was a breakout game last year. Then he got hurt for a stretch of games followed by schaub getting hurt. When yates came in we were lead to believe the "casey part of the playbook" was not so familiar to yates and we wouldn't see him utilized. Well, a whole season later with a healthy schaub we still havent seen casey utilized. People here were excited about the match up problems casey presented for linebackers. Casey IS an h-back. He's not a full back or a tightend. Instead of using him as an h-back, kubiak has stubbornly tried to force a square peg into a round hole. If casey is not going to be used more as a pass catcher why is he here? Just go out and get a more traditional full back. I think the guy is every bit the weapon any #3 wr we have.

It's dumb we havent used him properly excluding 1 game in the 3-4 years the guy has been here.

This, more or less. I don't think we're missing Leach. If we had LBs shooting the gap stoping Foster, maybe. But most of those were DTs or we were in a one back set anyway.

But we've got so many versatile pieces on offense, yet we don't see much of it on GameDay.

The Andre to FB thing was something we've been doing off & on for the last 3 years. It was one of those formation things Gary did that made it difficult for the defense to sort out before the snap. Belichick used the same idea against us with Welker. If it "didn't work" for us, it probably had more to do with the time it took us to break the huddle, get to the line, then snap the ball. To "work" we need to get to the line & snap the ball quickly.

I watched the Denver game again. & the guy that stood out to me, was Walter. Schaub made two beautiful 50 yard passes that hit his receivers in stride for TDs; one to Andre & one to KDub. KDub had 3 catches for 73 yards. But he also showed up in the run game... like a blocking TE.

So I was thinking, KDub might be smallish, but he plays bigger as a blocker. He's actually our third TE. To me, he's more TE than WR anyway.

Schaub completed 17 passes to 8 different receivers including LeStar (1), Martin (2), & Casey (3)

But I can think of an infinite combination of routes & formations moving Walter & Casey around that should give defenses fits, including lining Walter up as a FB/Hback & Casey in the slot or split wide with someone else in the slot.

We're never going to run a play where Andre releases from the FB position at the snap. Walter on the other hand, we could run or pass from that formation.

When Graham was out of the game, Casey's roll didn't change any. He played mostly FB, some Hback & some TE like he normally does. We brought Harris in as an extra TE, but no one had to account for him as a receiver. Instead, we should have used KDub as that third TE & got Martin & LeStar more involved as our 2 & 3 receivers.

[El Tejano]

Originally Posted by Premier

letting leach was not a good move, as he was a great fullback. but its hard to argue with foster and tate combining for close to 2300 yards without him. but i agree that casey would be better utilized at TE. kubiaks inability to make adjustments kills this team. he kept casey at fullback when graham was injured. didnt we just trade for a fullback in clutts?? why not use him more and keep casey at TE..

Especially since Graham is such a vital part of our offense all of a sudden...

[beerlover]

secret is out: stop Texan ground game & dare them to beat you through the air. Until Schaub & someone else not named Andre Johnson can hurt another defense with big plays, teams will continue to load the box, FB or not. Why not use two TE sets Daniels/Graham (to block/pick up blitz to be sure Matt is clean before releasing) then line Casey/Posey or Martin in slot AJ & Lestar outside? spread defense out keeping them, well defensive.....

[eriadoc]

I honestly don't see Casey getting Foster stopped very much. He leads into the hole just fine, while Foster's getting tripped up in the backfield by the guy that the right side of the line let through.