John McClain wants us to grade the Texans...

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by eriadoc

There were a few folks who pointed out that the O-line was showing problems in preseason and the first couple weeks, but Schaub was compensating. There's only so much chicken salad you can make with that chickens---.

Texans: F- (only because there isn't a lower grade). That's my grade. It's been 5-1/2 years of pathetic football. The offensive line has sucked for the entire 5-1/2 years. I'm beginning to wonder what brain child they're going to have to hire to inform them that the O-line sucks, and that affects every phase of the football team.

I was a koolaid drinking fool in the pre-season, and I honestly thought a quick-release QB could compensate for a crappy o-line.

Boy was I wrong! And to anybody that I debated, my sincere apologies for wasting your time. Our line has always sucked to some degree in 6 seasons, and it is just sad that we have to endure this garbage once again.

Originally Posted by corrosion

How bout we just grade McClain . I give him a big fat F ..... I just cant stand the guy .

I just give McClain a grade of big fat.

Originally Posted by jerek

For perspective, the Dolphins and Rams are clearly "the laughing stock" of the NFL right now. Our meltdown of late is more of an ugly footnote.

For more perspective, those teams have had winning seasons and championships in their history.

We are a joke because we've never sniffed at a winning season and have a FO that still cannot figure out the importance of an offensive line.

Every expansion team - except us, of course - has had a least one winning season in their first five years (most even made playoff appearances). The best we can hope for is "next season".

[eriadoc]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

I was a koolaid drinking fool in the pre-season, and I honestly thought a quick-release QB could compensate for a crappy o-line.

Boy was I wrong! And to anybody that I debated, my sincere apologies for wasting your time. Our line has always sucked to some degree in 6 seasons, and it is just sad that we have to endure this garbage once again.

Well, it hasn't been a case of either/or the last couple of years; it's really a question of to what degree do you see one fix helping vs. another, IMO. I've always contended that a solid O-line will make the skill position players look a lot better than the reverse. That's just my opinion, of course. There's no doubt Schaub is an upgrade over the 2005-2006 versions of David Carr, but is he that much an upgrade over the 2003-2004 version? Maybe, but I'd hate to see how Schaub looks after four years behind a bad offensive line. I do not want to see that.

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

For more perspective, those teams have had winning seasons and championships in their history.

We are a joke because we've never sniffed at a winning season and have a FO that still cannot figure out the importance of an offensive line.

Every expansion team - except us, of course - has had a least one winning season in their first five years (most even made playoff appearances). The best we can hope for is "next season".

I don't think there's any question at this point - we are the worst expansion team ever. The real question is - Can we persevere enough to become one of the all-time losers in pro football? A decade of futility will put us in the conversation with the Cards, Bengals, and pre-Manning Colts.

[Porky]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

I was a koolaid drinking fool in the pre-season, and I honestly thought a quick-release QB could compensate for a crappy o-line.

Boy was I wrong! And to anybody that I debated, my sincere apologies for wasting your time. Our line has always sucked to some degree in 6 seasons, and it is just sad that we have to endure this garbage once again.

I don't think you were wrong FWIW. Imagine Carr behind this train wreck. Schaub and Rosenfels have both made plays by keeping their eyes downfield and finding second and third options. Look at how many plays Schaub has made while on the run toward the sideline. He keeps his eyes downfield. The Texans have more long passing plays than almost any team in the league. You can't do that with a bad line unless your QB is mentally quick, and keeps his eyes downfield, not on the pass rushers. You think we would be in the top few teams at long pass plays under Carr? Carr would just run out of bounds. I don't think you were wrong at all. You need to re-think this position imho.

[Hervoyel]

Originally Posted by eriadoc

The real question is - Can we persevere enough to become one of the all-time losers in pro football? A decade of futility will put us in the conversation with the Cards, Bengals, and pre-Manning Colts.

McNair has had us fooled the whole time. He's going for the record. He's targeting the New Orleans Saints 20 year record for futility.

I am of course joking but on a serious note if we go 20 years without a winning season ala the New Orleans Saints then Bob McNair can just go ahead and haul this crap to LA right now and re-christen it the new Los Angelas Express or whatever. I ain't doing New Orleans level sufferring for anybody or anything.

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by eriadoc

I don't think there's any question at this point - we are the worst expansion team ever. The real question is - Can we persevere enough to become one of the all-time losers in pro football? A decade of futility will put us in the conversation with the Cards, Bengals, and pre-Manning Colts.

*sigh*

Kick a fellow while he's down!

Originally Posted by Porky

I don't think you were wrong FWIW. Imagine Carr behind this train wreck. Schaub and Rosenfels have both made plays by keeping their eyes downfield and finding second and third options. Look at how many plays Schaub has made while on the run toward the sideline. He keeps his eyes downfield. The Texans have more long passing plays than almost any team in the league. You can't do that with a bad line unless your QB is mentally quick, and keeps his eyes downfield, not on the pass rushers. You think we would be in the top few teams at long pass plays under Carr? Carr would just run out of bounds. I don't think you were wrong at all. You need to re-think this position imho.

While this is true, ask yourself how would Schaub look after 4-5 years of this nonsense.

I'd bet that he wouldn't look much different than Carr did after getting beat down for so long. I think Schaub starts off with better skills than DC, but a QB can only take the lack of protection for so long. I'll give DC one thing, he was a tough dude to put up with it for so long.

[jerek]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

For more perspective, those teams have had winning seasons and championships in their history.

We are a joke because we've never sniffed at a winning season and have a FO that still cannot figure out the importance of an offensive line.

Every expansion team - except us, of course - has had a least one winning season in their first five years (most even made playoff appearances). The best we can hope for is "next season".

Well said.

But, I have to think that this team still has the wherewithal to turn it around. We're 3-5, we've lost some bad games and our remaining schedule is probably going to be just as tough as our early going. But I still think we can take 5 of the last 8 if we muster up some guts and go back to the drawing board on these crappy schemes we've been running.

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by jerek

Well said.

But, I have to think that this team still has the wherewithal to turn it around. We're 3-5, we've lost some bad games and our remaining schedule is probably going to be just as tough as our early going. But I still think we can take 5 of the last 8 if we muster up some guts and go back to the drawing board on these crappy schemes we've been running.

I hope you're right, jerek.

And while I certainly admire your optimistic outlook, I'm afraid that I don't share it. I think we'll be lucky to win 3 out of the next 8 to at least match our record last year. JMO

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by disaacks3

I can't quite give the Schaub a "B", maybe a B-Minus or a C+. I kinda hoped he would stop trying to force the ball into triple-plus coverage once a game, but I'm still waiting. It looks better than under Carr, but is that really something to hang the hat on?

sure it is...despite the obvious monumental problems with the line and with injuries we are giving up very few sacks and the passing game is in the top of the league as he had one of the highest YPA to combine with one of the highest completion %'s among the starting QB's around the league. To me it's pretty obvious that the problem rests around Schaub and not within Schaub. Last year there were issues at QB and in the protection. Schaub has had two helmet to helmet collisions in two weeks so I really can't pin that on him. He has played well enough for this team to win when he hasn't been clobbered. Heck, he carried the team vs the Panthers and drove the team to a win vs the Dolphins with no time and from his own 2 yard line. We'd be 1-7 without him.

[Texanmike02]

Originally Posted by eriadoc

I don't think there's any question at this point - we are the worst expansion team ever. The real question is - Can we persevere enough to become one of the all-time losers in pro football? A decade of futility will put us in the conversation with the Cards, Bengals, and pre-Manning Colts.

I don't know that the Colts belong in that group. Didn't they go to the AFC championship in the mid 90's (I'm too tired to look it up). How about the Saints and the Patriots of the 80's.

Ok fine I looked it up.. you wanna hear bad? From 77 to 94 they had ONE playoff year, 87.

We should start a thread about all of the miserable teams in the league just to make ourselves feel better. I don't know if its possible to be as bad as the Saints were to start their career. It definitely took perserverence and divine intervention... (knock on wood).

Mike

[GrandeDavid]

Yeah, I'll do McClain's job for him. His takes are boring, he's prone to hyperbole and the Chronicle's coverage of the Texans is about as competent as Mario William's knack for getting to the quarterback.

Anyway, "F" for every aspect of the team except for Kris Brown. Just no unity on this team, no fire, I haven't even watched a game the past few weeks as I've been in Brazil, but I can smell the sh!t from way down here below the Equator. This team needs a kick in the @ss and I'm at the point where I doubt Kubiak has the resolve to administer said kick. This is a damn mess.

F to everyone for this past game.

D for the season. The sheer disaster of the past few games, teasing comeback against the Titans included, have all but erased the hype generated from the early season wins over the Chiefs and Panthers.

[Wolf]

Originally Posted by GrandeDavid

Yeah, I'll do McClain's job for him. His takes are boring, he's prone to hyperbole and the Chronicle's coverage of the Texans is about as competent as Mario William's knack for getting to the quarterback.

.

You forgot Anna (only picture I know)


I am not dissing on Anna, just saying you got to have a sidekick

[Brandon420tx]

Damnit!, everyone is stealing my Kyle Shanahan to OC to be Kubiaks assistant bit ... or did I steal that from someone else... /

It makes sense though, you don't need 2 OCs on one team. You just need 1 person to call the plays, and one person to sit in the booth and tell you what the defense is doing (if you can't see that yourself)

[Thorn]

I'll grade the Texans. They are only three fifths of an average football team.

[drewmar74]

Originally Posted by Thorn

I'll grade the Texans. They are only three fifths of an average football team.

Umm.... so a sixty percent? Clearly another F.

I give them an A for accountability and an E for effort!

*vomits on keyboard*

[Runner]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

Boy was I wrong! And to anybody that I debated, my sincere apologies for wasting your time. Our line has always sucked to some degree in 6 seasons, and it is just sad that we have to endure this garbage once again.

It was wasn't a waste of time - you gave me a handy foil against which to spew my thoughts.

[maddogmrb]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

*sigh*

While this is true, ask yourself how would Schaub look after 4-5 years of this nonsense.

I'd bet that he wouldn't look much different than Carr did after getting beat down for so long. I think Schaub starts off with better skills than DC, but a QB can only take the lack of protection for so long. I'll give DC one thing, he was a tough dude to put up with it for so long.

Exactly, let's sit Matt for awhile and let him get his senses back before we totally Carrerrize him.

[jerek]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

I hope you're right, jerek.

And while I certainly admire your optimistic outlook, I'm afraid that I don't share it. I think we'll be lucky to win 3 out of the next 8 to at least match our record last year. JMO

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we will--I'm saying it's possible.

[eriadoc]

Originally Posted by Texanmike

I don't know that the Colts belong in that group. Didn't they go to the AFC championship in the mid 90's (I'm too tired to look it up). How about the Saints and the Patriots of the 80's.

Ok fine I looked it up.. you wanna hear bad? From 77 to 94 they had ONE playoff year, 87.

We should start a thread about all of the miserable teams in the league just to make ourselves feel better. I don't know if its possible to be as bad as the Saints were to start their career. It definitely took perserverence and divine intervention... (knock on wood).

Mike

Well, the Pats actually crossed my mind, but they went to a Super Bowl in '85. They got embarrased by the Bears, but the Bears embarrased lots of teams back then.

[Rex King]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

And so I did grade the Texans. Then I posted it here too. Everyone has their own opinions but my halfway point grade for the team is as follows.
...
Chester Pitts is having maybe his worst season since 2002.

Your comments and grades are very similar (though with more meat to them) to mine that I posted:

QB - B. Schaub has to quit throwing those picks in the red zone, but he's been better than expected after just 8 starts.

RB - F. At least Echemenedu gives us some hope.

TE - B+. Clutch catches and our main red zone threats, though some of their blocking could be better.

WRs - B+. Couldn't get open against a good Chargers secondary and were off in the first half against the Titans, but otherwise really stepped up in the absence of AJ and JJ.

OL - D-. An average, because I don't think the right side of Winston and Weary has been that bad. But Pitts may be having his worst season, and Salaam is showing that while a good backup, he is going to wear down as a starter. And we clearly miss McKinney.

D-line - C-. The front four HAVE been getting pressure on the QB, though not the sacks. But where they've been stinking it up lately has been against the run. The DTs are simply getting blown off the LOS.

LBs - C-. DeMeco's made some brilliant plays, but hasn't been as consistent against the run as most of last year. The others have been pretty anonymous and have been absolutely atrocious at blitzing.

DBs - F. An A for Dunta, but otherwise... I was going to say there isn't a another DB I'd want to keep next season, but Bennett is another kid showing some promise.

ST - B-. Great guns when Mathis and JJ were healthy, and Kris Brown has been money, but Pittman's first botched snap and the uncharacteristically poor kick and punt coverage bring the grade down. Stand-ins in the return game have also been less than stellar.

Coaching - C-. Some questionable playcalling in a couple of games, downright poor clock managment in a couple, and poor preparation/game planning in the last three. I'd agree we need a change in the D coordinator. There are still personnel issues on that side of the ball, but the overall talent has gotten better - we need to see some results.

[threetoedpete]

Coaching - C-. Some questionable playcalling in a couple of games, downright poor clock managment in a couple, and poor preparation/game planning in the last three. I'd agree we need a change in the D coordinator. There are still personnel issues on that side of the ball, but the overall talent has gotten better - we need to see some results.

Clock mamgement has been horrid all season.

Ya Know we've started the last two games with the same dig play. I got five that says who ever the poor unfortunate WR that get his number called in Oakland gets lit up. What da ya think ? I mean if a knuckle dragger like me can figure it out...Ryan 's going to figgure it out.

Just wondering the body whoppin we put on Rivers if old al doesn't just trot out Jamarcus this week ? Couldn't have a safer game on the schedule.