Foundations

[Runner]

First Foundation

The foundation of a football team lies primarily with the players and the coaches. The players are the immediate actors on the field, and they are the ones that enforce their will on opponents. The coaches develop the tactics and train the players in their application, so a good coaching staff is necessarily a part of a solid foundation. The coaches should provide leadership to keep the entire team focused on the common goal; the players should provide leadership that focuses individual effort in the locker room, training, practices, and in games.

The Texans foundation was weak the first four years. The initial players were marginal NFL talent, and as they were replaced the team didn’t improve as drastically or as permanently as they should have. The players bear some responsibility for this, but I blame most of the lack of continued improvement on the other part of the foundation – the coaches.

I think the Capers regime did not perform its duties. Their “keep it close and play not to lose” philosophy was not a good game day tactic. They did not develop the talent they had available. I can only think of a couple of players whose performance improved while with the Texans. Their leadership was staid and uninspiring.

In addition, they hampered on field leadership by valuing lock step discipline in their players over aggressiveness and personality. They sent confusing messages to the players by rewarding playing time based on something other than on-field performance.

The foundation is improving. The Texans are picking up some good players and for the most part helping them improve their games. The players should continue to increase their leadership as the culture shifts with the Kubiak staff.

Kubiak provides the leadership the team has lacked from the coaching staff. He is a former player, has been a successful coach, and has a dynamic personality and infectious spirit that the players respond to. He isn’t perfect and has made his share of mistakes, but he should be able to improve his game as time goes on too.


Second Foundation

Behind the physical foundation is a second foundation – the front office staff. This staff, from the owner on down, is the brains of a successful organization. They must be able to identify and acquire good football players and guide the development of the entire team. Ideally, this second foundation makes the strategic decisions, and if they are doing their job correctly they are virtually unnoticed. They should also act as a correcting mechanism for the coaching staff.

Our previous front office had problems identifying talent, which was exacerbated by the coaches inability to develop what talent was there. The previous staff also spent a lot of money on players that didn’t pan out.

There was a deeper problem with the front office during the Casserly era though too, and that tied back to the owner. The front office had little control of the coaching staff. They could not counteract the direction the team was going because Casserly had no real authority over the coaches. If he had, he would have forced changes under Capers and possibly limited some of the damage done by the coaches, for instance the pathetic offense that resulted from the Capers/Pendry vs. Palmer political infighting. As I understand it, Casserly told Capers to remake his coaching staff before the 2005 season. Capers decided to go with what he had and put his head on the block with the rest of them. Palmer was then fired four games into the season - a move that should have been done early in the off-season.

The new front office seems to work well together, but there are some concerns. They seem to do a better job evaluating talent, but that is still being proven. They still spend capital perhaps unwisely – the Moulds bonus, the Black bonus, the cost of Schaub, etc. On the other hand, I think McNair finally corrected his most egregious mistake by letting the team move away from Carr. The new Texans have done very well in the draft, but not so well in free agency. The front office is still a work in progress.

The problem is there is a lot of power centralized in Kubiak that may belong in the front office. I don’t know if Smith has the authority to keep him on track if he starts to derail. Kubiak has done a fine job so far – among other good moves Ryans and Spencer were great finds at their positions in the draft. However, he also bears responsibility for the Moulds situation (either he shouldn’t have hired him with the big bonus or he shouldn’t have been forced to cut him). His handling of Davis’s (now Williams) questionable knee last training camp also left a bit be desired. The team was unprepared at running back to start the season last year.

Overall the front office staff has yet to define itself. The crucible of the coming season will test this free agency period and the upcoming draft, and the results will go a long way in providing that definition.


Gaia

That leaves Gaia, which goes by many names. A winning attitude, “IT”, etc. This expresses itself in a team that can will itself to victory, has some swagger, can overcome adversity, and can win the tough battles. The Texans have never proven they have these characteristics, and they may be the most important of all.

[Double Barrel]

Nice read, Runner. So much of a successful organization lies beyond the players on the field and firmly rests with a solid front office. Although in the shadows, I think talent evaluators can make a huge impact on a team. I heard a stat about the Colts that 22 of their 24 starters (incl. kicker and punter) were drafted by the team. That fact is simply amazing to me and speaks volumes about the front office of that team.

One note: Palmer was fired after two games of the 2005 season. I knew the wheels were falling off of our wagon at that point, even that early into the season. *shudders*

[Runner]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

One note: Palmer was fired after two games of the 2005 season. I knew the wheels were falling off of our wagon at that point, even that early into the season. *shudders*

Give me credit for getting close. I blotted the 2005 season out of my memory.

That is why the posts from the 2006 season that pointed out "we are better than last year" always made me roll my eyes. I hope so - that was as bad as I ever hope to see it. They weren't better than 2004.

[ensign_lee]

Fantastic post!

Although I think we need to give Rick Smith at least this season before we start evaluating him. He wasn't here for the last draft, remember?

[Malloy]

Great read, thanks!

Oh and by the way, we're back, the fans have prevailed!!

[Errant Hothy]

Runner,

I meant to say this when I first read this, nicely done!

[Runner]

Originally Posted by ensign_lee

Although I think we need to give Rick Smith at least this season before we start evaluating him. He wasn't here for the last draft, remember?

Careful, you're treading on thin ice there. Cassserly was here at the time, and he is supposed to be the worst GM ever. I still blame it about 75% coaching, 25% front office. Many of our draft picks could have been better NFL players with better coaching.

[Malloy]

Originally Posted by Runner

Careful, you're treading on thin ice there. Cassserly was here at the time, and he is supposed to be the worst GM ever. I still blame it about 75% coaching, 25% front office. Many of our draft picks could have been better NFL players with better coaching.

I agree on that one. I often think the GM is being paid way too much attention. Part of the reason, I suspect, is that the actual function of the GM involves alot of 'intangibles', the 'behind the scenes' types of action, and it is therefore hard to pinpoint what the actual influence of the GM is, as goes with the responsibility.

Whether it's 75/25 I don't know, but I'm convinced that coaching plays the larger role in turning draftees into solid NFL-players.

[eriadoc]

Nice post. I still think Casserly did a lot better identifying talent than people give him credit for, because the coaching staff couldn't improve anyone. It all depends on who gets credit for finding who, I suppose, but if you look at some of the players that were here for a while, they had talent. Maybe they didn't have top-tier talent, but as I have said before, winning teams get good production from less-than-premium talent.

Clark Haggins could have been a Texan, but Capers passed on him. McCree could have been at safety for us for the past few years, but Capers handled that all wrong. Pitts should have been put at one position and left alone. Wand should probably have been put in at LT and left to learn the position. Peek was a good talent to bring in, as a situational pass rusher. Other teams make this sort of arrangement work, but Capers and staff never could. Gaffney has shown that he can contribute as a secondary receiver on a Super Bowl-caliber team. There were several "projects" that were drafted in later rounds that were never coached up to become real players. More often than not, these players ended up on the practice squad on their way out of football. I would even say Dom Davis was a product of opportunity and desire rather than coaching. Casserly found him, but really, we never saw DD get better at anything (like pass blocking, for instance).

Where Casserly absolutely killed this organization, IMO, was his management of the business side of things. Babin was not a bad player to identify in the draft, but the way they reached for him and overpaid that much killed the team. The Buchanon deal obviously hurt. The Todd Wade deal hurt. The Greenwood deal, even though he is a contributor, was too much. Trading out of the #13 spot with New Orleans hurt us, even though that pick gave us Winston last year (I think that was the pick, right?)

At any rate, that's all behind us now and there's nowhere to go but up!

[Double Barrel]

Dear Fans,

I agree that coaching and a better QB can make all the difference.

Sincerely,

Jabbar Gaffney

[Specnatz]

Great Post. First and foremost.

The problem with casserly as the gm was not that he was bad at evaluating talent it was that he did not have the ballz to stick to his convictions. He got lead around by capers and drfated players capers said fit his system better. Which resulted in poor choices for the scheme (trying to fit a square peg into a round hole).

This all lead to the offense being ignored. I know the old saying "defense when championships", but c'mon you have to have some sort of offense and some resembelance of a NFL calibur O-Line. Which capers did not have a game plan for.