Colossal Failure by Capers, Casserly, Palmer, Fangio, Pendry

I look at our starting lineup for our first game of 2006 and just shake my head at the ineptitude of the previous management of this team. Look at the first game's lineup from 2005 when we played the Bills, the "X" means that the player is no longer at that position for this upcoming game. 2 players on offensive are the only players that are starting at that position from a year ago, on defense there are 3. That is just a sad statement to realize and soak in. Add to that that there are so many new players and we cut veterans left and right, it makes me wonder how long it's going to take to right this ship. Kubiak is on his way, but don't expect it in one season, much less one game against a very good Eagles team.

Houston Texans - 9/11/2005

Offense
-------
WR A.Johnson
LT V.Riley X
LG C.Pitts
C S.McKinney X
RG Z.Wiegert X
RT T.Wade X
TE M.Bruener X
WR C.Bradford X
QB D.Carr
RB D.Davis X
FB M.Norris X

Defense
-------
LE G.Walker X
NT S.Payne
RE R.Smith X
LOLB J.Babin X
BLB K.Wong X
MLB M.Greenwood X
ROLB A.Peek X
LCB P.Buchanon X
RCB D.Robinson
SS C.Brown
FS M.Coleman X

[Cjeremy635]

In all fairness, a few of those on your list would be playing this year if they were not injured. I do think that Capers & Co. didn't fully utilize players at their proper position but to include some of those as "failures" is incorrect. Wong, Davis, Peek, Weigert, McKinney, Buchannon, etc. are still on this team and a few of them would be starting barring injury. They have starting qualities and I think they will be utilized better this year in a scheme that better suites our personell.

[STEEL BLUE TEXANS]

Shouldn't there be an X next to Babin and Greenwood as well?

[El Tejano]

Keep in mind for Bradford we didn't have anything much better than him, also it is important to show that Babin may have been playing out of position too. DDavis is injured not moved to another position.

Those are three that standout to me as far as why they aren't there anymore at that position.

McKinney at center was always an issue I had from the very first day I heard Capers at the expansion draft say he was going to play center.

TWade never worked out and that blame goes to Casserly.

Bruener is still playing TE.

Originally Posted by STEEL BLUE TEXANS

Shouldn't there be an X next to Babin and Greenwood as well?

You are correct, I said that in my piece, but I didn't mark it.

[Double Barrel]

yep. Yet another reason why getting rid of Capers & Co. the day after the season ended was the best thing the FO could do for this team.

And notice that over half of those former coaches have not found employment with other teams at this point.

[TexansLucky13]

Hmmm.... isn't C.C. Brown at FS this year?

[hollywood_texan]

On the defensive side of the ball, we changed from a 3-4 to 4-3.

There were going to be a lot of changes regardless on the front seven due to change of scheme

[aj.]

I blogged about this the other day.

There's only 28 guys on the roster now who were on the 53 opening week at Buffalo last year.

The unit with the least transition is DBs as 7 of the 10 are returning from last year.

The highest transition units are the offensive skill sets, i.e., WR (1 returning), TE (1 returning), QB (1 returning), and RB (1 returning).

If I remember correctly there are only 9 offensive players back from opening week last year, 16 on defense, and 3 specialists. (not including the PUP guys)

[beerlover]

does this officially mark the end of the expansion era

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by beerlover

does this officially mark the end of the expansion era

In my humble opinion: yep

[Sco-tai]

Originally Posted by SESupergenius

I look at our starting lineup for our first game of 2006 and just shake my head at the ineptitude of the previous management of this team. Look at the first game's lineup from 2005 when we played the Bills, the "X" means that the player is no longer at that position for this upcoming game. 2 players on offensive are the only players that are starting at that position from a year ago, on defense there are 3. That is just a sad statement to realize and soak in. Add to that that there are so many new players and we cut veterans left and right, it makes me wonder how long it's going to take to right this ship. Kubiak is on his way, but don't expect it in one season, much less one game against a very good Eagles team.

Houston Texans - 9/11/2005

Offense
-------
WR A.Johnson
LT V.Riley X
LG C.Pitts
C S.McKinney X
RG Z.Wiegert X
RT T.Wade X
TE M.Bruener X
WR C.Bradford X
QB D.Carr
RB D.Davis X
FB M.Norris X

Defense
-------
LE G.Walker X
NT S.Payne
RE R.Smith X
LOLB J.Babin X
BLB K.Wong X
MLB M.Greenwood X
ROLB A.Peek X
LCB P.Buchanon X
RCB D.Robinson
SS C.Brown
FS M.Coleman X

I can't say I feel this thread is fair.

Don't get me wrong...the coaches from last year SHOULD BE gone...and they are. But I mean....you're kind of comparing apples to oranges since we changed Defensive Schemes. And the offensive skill positions are affected by an upgrade via trade and injuries. And we had a great draft (with a lot of credit due to someone you're bashing on this thread). I don't really see the point.

Originally Posted by Sco-tai

I can't say I feel this thread is fair.

Don't get me wrong...the coaches from last year SHOULD BE gone...and they are. But I mean....you're kind of comparing apples to oranges since we changed Defensive Schemes. And the offensive skill positions are affected by an upgrade via trade and injuries. And we had a great draft (with a lot of credit due to someone you're bashing on this thread). I don't really see the point.

well that's the point isn't it? Upgrading because we had a bad team and we never had great drafts. That's apples to apples in my book. Switching from a 3-4 isn't that big a deal considering both Babin and Peek could play a DE in the 4-3. We just sucked at every aspect of general management for this team.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by SESupergenius

Switching from a 3-4 isn't that big a deal considering both Babin and Peek could play a DE in the 4-3.

Yup--Walker, Smith, Coleman also all have and could have played in a 4-3 so changing systems doesn't really account for all the turnover.

[hollywood_texan]

Originally Posted by SESupergenius

Switching from a 3-4 isn't that big a deal considering both Babin and Peek could play a DE in the 4-3.

I have to disagree here.

Switching to a 4-3 is a big deal from a personnel standpoint. Further Peek and Babin really don't seem to be the type of DE suited for this 4-3 as pure starters for this defense. Probably good for rotation and overall depth though, which is really important.

Originally Posted by SESupergenius

We just sucked at every aspect of general management for this team.

Yep. Totally agree here.


I think this thread is way overstated. Capers and Casserly did horrible jobs, but Kubiak has brought such different scheme on both sides of the ball that you really can't compare last year's roster to this one due to different requirements of personnel. Just look at the TE position and how it is being used this year.

I think you guys need to take a chill out...

You are right about Capers and Casserly though...

It just doesn't need to be analyzed by comparing the opening day roster of last year to this year.

[quicksilver]

Originally Posted by beerlover

does this officially mark the end of the expansion era

Yes. This is our first rebuilding era.

On another point, I'm surprised we're bashing Casserly again. My impression of how Casserly did his job was always that he asked the coaches what they wanted in a player, then went out and got the best player he could find with those skills/qualities. That's all. Perhaps I'm entirely wrong on this, and if so it isn't the first time and won't be the last.