What moves do you think will be made if any?

[ObsiWan]

One more thing on Cowher...

10:14 AM ET 01.13 | Bill Cowher insists he's staying in the studio and not returning to the sideline. Cowher says Saturday on CBS' "The NFL Today" that he has no plans to coach in the NFL, a few days after telling Newsday that he probably would come back at some point. The 55-year-old Cowher is an analyst for CBS who coached the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1992-2006. He won a Super Bowl after the 2005 season. Cowher says he plans "on being with one team, and that is this team here at CBS. I know we are going to the Super Bowl." In a published report Tuesday, he said that returning to coaching after a long layoff is motivation for him to come back, but hadn't been contacted by any teams looking for a new coach.

Link

[ralph]

Originally Posted by SheTexan

This^^^^^^^! Unfortunately, we will still have Rick Smith on board this next year, and I can assure you, he will screw something up! BET on it!!

Serious?

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Thorn

Rick Smith, Kubiak, Wade, and Schaub will all be back next year. If there are changes, it will be to someone other than those guys. Excluding our obvious stars of course. There will be some of the coaching staff leave, there always is.

Not that I like what I just said, but to think otherwise is foolish.

So what can you do? If you're Bob McNair, what are you going to do? Can you do anything?

I'm thinking, if I'm McNair, I've got my little group together this morning; Cal, Smith, Kubiak, & we're going to figure out what happened, what went wrong & what we're going to do about it.

No one is leaving that room confident that they will return next season in their same capacity.

I don't think Schaub is as bad or useless as has been said on this board. I don't think anyone in that room will say any different. So my question is if Schaub is the QB we need, what happened?

My mind is made up that the game plan did not feature our QB, the leader of the team, in a position to maximize his strengths. His strengths are reading defenses understanding what the offense is designed to do & efficiently delivering the ball to the open guy. I think that means there should have been more receivers to pressure the Patriots defense deep, middle, & both sides of the field.

I also think he's a rhythm passer & most of our offense did not look like it was designed to get him into a rhythm.

I want him to have more freedom at the line. I want to see him take advantage of LBs lined up on our slot receiver (sometimes that's Andre) or LBs lined up on Arian split wide. I want to see him check from a run to a pass & if that means that he needs to be more demonstrative than what we've seen in the past, I want him to be more demonstrative so up in my owners box I can look to my Bud Herschall Walker & say..., "That's an audible."

I also want to know what happened to letting it hang loose?

I want to know why we bottled up our QB in the second half when we saw he was the only thing working in the first half (at the end). If Gary gives me that, "We needed to control the clock & metriculate blah, blah, blah..." I want him to find someone else to call plays. As head coach, he can make sure they stick to his "system" he can make sure the team is conducting themselves like pros. He can make sure the players are being taught & that we've identified the right keys for our offense, but on game day I want someone else calling plays.

If he tells me he's not comfortable with the new guys & that KDub gave him his best shot, then KDub is cut right there. No more crutches. I want 12 WRs in camp battling for the #1 through #5 spot on this team.

The only way he keeps his play calling duties, is if he tells me Schaub was hurt, or he was protecting someone on the OL.

Then I'm going to grille Gary about the Defense.

If he can't explain to me what we worked on, what we expected, how they beat us, what we should have done differently or why they got caught with their pants down twice after they saw that crap Dec 10th.... He is gone.

I know, no one wants to fire a HC who just won 12 regular season games, the division, and a play off game, but if he can't answer those defensive questions, he's not a HC. It's the HC's job to identify what went wrong last game & make sure we've had a good process in place to fix them.

I'm going to look at Rick Smith & ask him what's our plan going forward, what are we going to target in the offseason. If he tells me we don't have money, that's his a55. He's goofed up last season & he's had 19 weeks to figure out a plan.

I'm going to ask him for a list of 5 GMs that did a better job than he did this year. I want detailed summary of what they did that was better, what he did in & why it wasn't a good idea, or why it didn't pan out.

I want a plan for what he needs to do this offseason to do better than he did last year.

Then I want a list of five head coaching prospects, I want to know how confident he is that his guy would come to Houston, what he thinks it would cost, & how long would it take that coach to get this team into the Super Bowl. I want to know who those 5 guys know & who would "probably" be asked to be on his coaching staff.

I want a list of ST coaches, I want a list of OCs, I want a list of LB coaches, & DCs

Then I'm looking at Cal

& I want to know how he let that debacle we call December happen & not be prepared to replace these guys at the drop of a hat.... if he's not. If Rick Smith already has a list of coaches, because Cal already told him he's looking at options.... if Cal already has a list of possible GMs & he's been in contact with these people, then I'll let him leave thinking he did his job. If not... that's his a55.

[HOU-TEX]

If there's anything other than ILB on our 1st round draft board I'd be surprised. Considering all the weaknesses throughout the team, ILB's got to be the weakest. I'd probably be ok throwing OLB in that group as well.

Barwin lost millions this season by not taking what ever it was we offered him. I like Barwin, but would not be upset if he chose to leave.

[b0ng]

Changes eh?

I think Marciano is gone and that will be the "big" coaching change to satisfy the fanbase. Going down the list of free agents from rotoworld this is what I see:

Rashad Butler: Gone, too injury prone
Antoine Caldwell: Gone, too injury prone
Alan Ball: re-signed, I puke
James Casey: re-signed I hope, might be expensive for a FB
Connor Barwin: Gone, some team transitioning to the 3-4 will pay him handsomely
Shaun Cody: Gone, I hope. If not signed for vet minimum
Quentin Demps: Gone I think, but may be re-signed for depth. Not a bad ST'er
Tim Dobbins: probably re-signed to be depth
Justin Forsett: Tough to call, some team may pay him to be an RB1 because they have nothing
Shayne Graham: even though he made a 55 yarder outside last night, I don't think you can honestly bring him back with how terrible he is on kickoffs
Ryan Harris: I think he gets another 1 year deal to be a backup
Bradie James: Really shouldn't be a starter but I can see Wade urging him to get another 1 year deal
Donnie Jones: re-signed for a couple of years
Brice McCain: Lisfranc injury but was pretty good playing as a nickel. I think he gets re-signed because you can't have enough decent CB's in the league these days
Jessee Nading: I don't think he's back
Glover Quin: Probable candidate to be franchised. He had some really really bad games later in the year and some really good games earlier in the year.
Barrett Ruud: I don't like him playing as ILB on this team. I think he's gone.

And I think one of Antonio Smith or Wade Smith is let go due to cap reasons.

[toronto]

Originally Posted by b0ng

Changes eh?

I think Marciano is gone and that will be the "big" coaching change to satisfy the fanbase. Going down the list of free agents from rotoworld this is what I see:

Rashad Butler: Gone, too injury prone
Antoine Caldwell: Gone, too injury prone
Alan Ball: re-signed, I puke
James Casey: re-signed I hope, might be expensive for a FB
Connor Barwin: Gone, some team transitioning to the 3-4 will pay him handsomely
Shaun Cody: Gone, I hope. If not signed for vet minimum
Quentin Demps: Gone I think, but may be re-signed for depth. Not a bad ST'er
Tim Dobbins: probably re-signed to be depth
Justin Forsett: Tough to call, some team may pay him to be an RB1 because they have nothing
Shayne Graham: even though he made a 55 yarder outside last night, I don't think you can honestly bring him back with how terrible he is on kickoffs
Ryan Harris: I think he gets another 1 year deal to be a backup
Bradie James: Really shouldn't be a starter but I can see Wade urging him to get another 1 year deal
Donnie Jones: re-signed for a couple of years
Brice McCain: Lisfranc injury but was pretty good playing as a nickel. I think he gets re-signed because you can't have enough decent CB's in the league these days
Jessee Nading: I don't think he's back
Glover Quin: Probable candidate to be franchised. He had some really really bad games later in the year and some really good games earlier in the year.
Barrett Ruud: I don't like him playing as ILB on this team. I think he's gone.

And I think one of Antonio Smith or Wade Smith is let go due to cap reasons.

One important footnote to all of that. You get back Cushing. I really feel he makes a monster difference in a game like yesterday. Those RBs that gashed the middle and evaded tackles would have had him to deal with, and to be honest, they never get that home game over the Texans if he had never been hurt.

[The Pencil Neck]

ILB is the biggest thing for me. TE is the second biggest thing for me.

I think Posey, Jean, and Martin will develop. I'm not too worried about our WRs.

We need to upgrade the NT. We need more production from the OLBs.

I'm hoping our linemen develop. I wouldn't be surprised if they use a late round flyer on a T.

I'd love for us to draft a Russell Wilson or a Colin Kaepernick and groom him as Schaub's successor for 2014.

We need to fire Joe Marciano.

[silentassassin]

Originally Posted by b0ng

Changes eh?

I think Marciano is gone and that will be the "big" coaching change to satisfy the fanbase. Going down the list of free agents from rotoworld this is what I see:

Rashad Butler: Gone, too injury prone
Antoine Caldwell: Gone, too injury prone
Alan Ball: re-signed, I puke
James Casey: re-signed I hope, might be expensive for a FB
Connor Barwin: Gone, some team transitioning to the 3-4 will pay him handsomely
Shaun Cody: Gone, I hope. If not signed for vet minimum
Quentin Demps: Gone I think, but may be re-signed for depth. Not a bad ST'er
Tim Dobbins: probably re-signed to be depth
Justin Forsett: Tough to call, some team may pay him to be an RB1 because they have nothing
Shayne Graham: even though he made a 55 yarder outside last night, I don't think you can honestly bring him back with how terrible he is on kickoffs
Ryan Harris: I think he gets another 1 year deal to be a backup
Bradie James: Really shouldn't be a starter but I can see Wade urging him to get another 1 year deal
Donnie Jones: re-signed for a couple of years
Brice McCain: Lisfranc injury but was pretty good playing as a nickel. I think he gets re-signed because you can't have enough decent CB's in the league these days
Jessee Nading: I don't think he's back
Glover Quin: Probable candidate to be franchised. He had some really really bad games later in the year and some really good games earlier in the year.
Barrett Ruud: I don't like him playing as ILB on this team. I think he's gone.

And I think one of Antonio Smith or Wade Smith is let go due to cap reasons.

A lot of this seems pretty dead-on in my opinion.

I'm not so sure on Alan Ball. I suppose it's a major possibility considering the amount DBs teams typically keep on their roster.

Good breakdown here.

That being said, it's difficult not to think our window is closing a lot faster than we initially thought.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by ralph

Serious?

Yes, she is.

She will never forgive Smith for letting DeMeco and Winston leave town.

[dream_team]

Originally Posted by The Pencil Neck

ILB is the biggest thing for me. TE is the second biggest thing for me.

I think Posey, Jean, and Martin will develop. I'm not too worried about our WRs.

We need to upgrade the NT. We need more production from the OLBs.

I'm hoping our linemen develop. I wouldn't be surprised if they use a late round flyer on a T.

I'd love for us to draft a Russell Wilson or a Colin Kaepernick and groom him as Schaub's successor for 2014.

We need to fire Joe Marciano.

I don't understand how majority of the people in here are blaming Schaub or Kubiak for our crappy finish this season... but then turnaround and say ILB is our biggest need? When was the last time we heavily invested in the offense during the off-season? Probably in 2008 when we drafted Duane Brown. If Schaub or Kubiak's offense is the reason we're losing, then why not invest in the offense during the off-season?

[dream_team]

Originally Posted by Fiddler

So what can you do? If you're Bob McNair, what are you going to do? Can you do anything?

I'm thinking, if I'm McNair, I've got my little group together this morning; Cal, Smith, Kubiak, & we're going to figure out what happened, what went wrong & what we're going to do about it.

No one is leaving that room confident that they will return next season in their same capacity.

I don't think Schaub is as bad or useless as has been said on this board. I don't think anyone in that room will say any different. So my question is if Schaub is the QB we need, what happened?

My mind is made up that the game plan did not feature our QB, the leader of the team, in a position to maximize his strengths. His strengths are reading defenses understanding what the offense is designed to do & efficiently delivering the ball to the open guy. I think that means there should have been more receivers to pressure the Patriots defense deep, middle, & both sides of the field.

I also think he's a rhythm passer & most of our offense did not look like it was designed to get him into a rhythm.

I want him to have more freedom at the line. I want to see him take advantage of LBs lined up on our slot receiver (sometimes that's Andre) or LBs lined up on Arian split wide. I want to see him check from a run to a pass & if that means that he needs to be more demonstrative than what we've seen in the past, I want him to be more demonstrative so up in my owners box I can look to my Bud Herschall Walker & say..., "That's an audible."

I also want to know what happened to letting it hang loose?

I want to know why we bottled up our QB in the second half when we saw he was the only thing working in the first half (at the end). If Gary gives me that, "We needed to control the clock & metriculate blah, blah, blah..." I want him to find someone else to call plays. As head coach, he can make sure they stick to his "system" he can make sure the team is conducting themselves like pros. He can make sure the players are being taught & that we've identified the right keys for our offense, but on game day I want someone else calling plays.

If he tells me he's not comfortable with the new guys & that KDub gave him his best shot, then KDub is cut right there. No more crutches. I want 12 WRs in camp battling for the #1 through #5 spot on this team.

The only way he keeps his play calling duties, is if he tells me Schaub was hurt, or he was protecting someone on the OL.

Then I'm going to grille Gary about the Defense.

If he can't explain to me what we worked on, what we expected, how they beat us, what we should have done differently or why they got caught with their pants down twice after they saw that crap Dec 10th.... He is gone.

I know, no one wants to fire a HC who just won 12 regular season games, the division, and a play off game, but if he can't answer those defensive questions, he's not a HC. It's the HC's job to identify what went wrong last game & make sure we've had a good process in place to fix them.

I'm going to look at Rick Smith & ask him what's our plan going forward, what are we going to target in the offseason. If he tells me we don't have money, that's his a55. He's goofed up last season & he's had 19 weeks to figure out a plan.

I'm going to ask him for a list of 5 GMs that did a better job than he did this year. I want detailed summary of what they did that was better, what he did in & why it wasn't a good idea, or why it didn't pan out.

I want a plan for what he needs to do this offseason to do better than he did last year.

Then I want a list of five head coaching prospects, I want to know how confident he is that his guy would come to Houston, what he thinks it would cost, & how long would it take that coach to get this team into the Super Bowl. I want to know who those 5 guys know & who would "probably" be asked to be on his coaching staff.

I want a list of ST coaches, I want a list of OCs, I want a list of LB coaches, & DCs

Then I'm looking at Cal

& I want to know how he let that debacle we call December happen & not be prepared to replace these guys at the drop of a hat.... if he's not. If Rick Smith already has a list of coaches, because Cal already told him he's looking at options.... if Cal already has a list of possible GMs & he's been in contact with these people, then I'll let him leave thinking he did his job. If not... that's his a55.

You are forgetting Special Teams. I don't know if there are stats to back this up, but I'd assume we're ranked in the very bottom when it comes to STs. I want some answers on why our STs were so bad, on what he plans on doing to improve for next season.

[toronto]

Originally Posted by dream_team

I don't understand how majority of the people in here are blaming Schaub or Kubiak for our crappy finish this season... but then turnaround and say ILB is our biggest need? When was the last time we heavily invested in the offense during the off-season? Probably in 2008 when we drafted Duane Brown. If Schaub or Kubiak's offense is the reason we're losing, then why not invest in the offense during the off-season?

Outside grooming a new number 1 wr to eventually succeed Johnson, the only decision is over Schaub, especially based on the venom I have seen here. I had no clue until yesterday how much many of u disliked him. I need to pay more attention.

[AJ-80]

Originally Posted by The Pencil Neck

ILB is the biggest thing for me. TE is the second biggest thing for me.

I think Posey, Jean, and Martin will develop. I'm not too worried about our WRs.

We need to upgrade the NT. We need more production from the OLBs.

I'm hoping our linemen develop. I wouldn't be surprised if they use a late round flyer on a T.

I'd love for us to draft a Russell Wilson or a Colin Kaepernick and groom him as Schaub's successor for 2014.

We need to fire Joe Marciano.

Dude, are you serious right now??? Martin sucks. Posey is inconsistent and is coming off a torn achilles. Jean is all over the place. We need another playmaker otherwise next year is going to be the same 'ol crap

[toronto]

Originally Posted by ckhouston

We will now find out what type of owner we have in this town. If the same personnel go into next season (GM, HC, DC, QB, etc), then he is just taking the money and doesn't care about winning.

Maybe I am missing something but 12-4 division champs and almost all of it without your best player on defense...doesn't seem to be a bad spot to be in heading into next season.

[dream_team]

Originally Posted by ckhouston

We will now find out what type of owner we have in this town. If the same personnel go into next season (GM, HC, DC, QB, etc), then he is just taking the money and doesn't care about winning.

If he cleans house like that, then he really doesn't care about winning and will look like a dumb-a**!

[deucetx]

Originally Posted by toronto

Maybe I am missing something but 12-4 division champs and almost all of it without your best player on defense...doesn't seem to be a bad spot to be in heading into next season.

He tends to exaggerate at times. But at the same time 12-4 and winning a division with only one other team worth a darn isn't something to hang your hat own. You don't play for regular season accolades. You play to win the trophy as Watt stated himself. And to win that trophy through the AFC you have to beat the Patriots. Do we have what it takes to beat them right now? No...we don't. And that means you do need some changes but just not these wholesale ones many are stating.

In regards to title question:

1. I expect the offense to get more flexible. This compact offense is not going to work. You have to adapt and adjust. Am I saying fling it around? No. I am saying have a really balanced offense. Patriots...that is balanced. We are not. If we're down, we're in big trouble more times than not. That means we don't have the offensive firepower in the passing game to get it done. Period. That is not balanced. Not to mention can Schaub not make any adjustments at the line? Is this by design? If so that needs to change. He should have enough experience by now to make changes.

2. Get some weapons on offense. Not slow WR's that rarely get separation without a playaction pass. This offense seems slow compared to other teams at WR and even O.D. has been a step slower lately and no longer getting the separation he use to. Plus kind of tired of him being such a horrid blocker.

3. Get a freaking RT. Newton did not progress during the season. He looked as inconsistent as he did in the preseason. There is no excuse for that. Even Jones/Brooks looked to improve at least a bit. Newton? None. Get a vet there and let Newton learn and serve as a backup.

4. Something needs to be done about the defense and not just a Cush return. Our edge rushers are invisible. Our ILB are one dimensional if even that. Our nickle backs need work to say the least but Harris still played better than McCain and that's saying something. They should probably battle it out next year but I suspect Harris will win that.

Probably need more depth at safety after Demps screwed up and lost his spot to Keo who is rather horrible in coverage.

5. Oh and please get us a real FB. Move Casey back to TE if he is retained but we need a real blocking FB. I like Casey even after that screw up last night but not at FB.

[Pantherstang84]

Originally Posted by toronto

Maybe I am missing something but 12-4 division champs and almost all of it without your best player on defense...doesn't seem to be a bad spot to be in heading into next season.

If you're not improving, you are regressing. Simple as that. If they can't see any areas to improve upon down at 1 Reliant Center then they are treading water with sharks circling around.

[silentassassin]

Originally Posted by dream_team

If he cleans house like that, then he really doesn't care about winning and will look like a dumb-a**!

I feel like some don't understand this concept. Thanks.

[welsh texan]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

Yes, she is.

She will never forgive Smith for letting DeMeco and Winston leave town.

Indeed, despite the fact that those moves are what allow us to keep hold of Foster, Cushing & Brown moving forward. Not going to rag on anyone, but the prediction at the time of those cuts was regression in terms of results.

Regular season we were stronger and we held our ground in the post-season. As far as I'm concerned those particular choices were the right choices, its the later decision to re-up Schaub too soon that is extremely questionable.

Paying DeMeco would have caused far more trouble cap-wise going forward. Hindsight might lead you to think we'd have missed Cush less, but the decision making at the time was sound. And after a decent start, I didn't hear too much about Ryans' play QBing that Philly D with all that raw talent to a losing season.

Winston the same, good at run blocking, but the pass blocking was on the decline and the only thing I've heard about the dude this season was him openning his mouth to criticise his fans, not much about his play though. Wonder why?

Can't call Rick Smith out for either of those moves, sure they were nice young boys and all but both got paid just as much as they would have if they'd been here so it isn't like either really lost out.

[b0ng]

Originally Posted by Pantherstang84

If you're not improving, you are regressing. Simple as that. If they can't see any areas to improve upon down at 1 Reliant Center then they are treading water with sharks circling around.

Okay but the improvement part is strictly based on opinion at this point since last year we won 11 games and this year we won 13. After last year a lot of posters here made the assertion that our schedule was mad easy since we were playing a 3rd place schedule and that 2012 we would really see what the team was made of since we were going to be playing against Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Matt Stafford (Since everybody thought he was the bomb and blah blah blah), Jay Cutler, Andrew Luck. Well we ended up with more wins (Same advancement in the playoffs though) with this "harder" schedule so you have to think some things did go right and this season wasn't the horrible abortion that many on here would have you believe.

So we have one poster calling for a change between the staff of the GM, HC, DC, or the QB. Starting from the top of that list, do you want to get rid of Rick Smith? Is Smith solely responsible for getting rid of Winston and Ryans, and not drafting pretty well from 2007 - 2012, for keeping guys like Andre Johnson, Duane Brown, Arian Foster and Chris Myers on the offense? Okay, so if not him then we want to get rid of Kubiak? This is a very popular sentiment of TT posters because Bill Cowher, Can't watch field goals, he's too nice, or some other things that vary from nonsense to worth contemplating. Lets say McNair doesn't do that because he's happy with a HC who got his team to 12-4 and a #3 seed with a home win in the playoffs. Okay so then I guess we can put Rick Dennison on this list as well even if he was omitted, which is certainly a possibility since he is going to interview in CHI for the HC job. I think this is the easiest change to make because hey, Gary Kubiak is really in charge here right? We're going to politely gloss over how different the offenses have looked over different coordinators (Which begs the point that Gary is probably really good at picking an OC, almost at an inverse ratio to how bad he was at picking a DC up until Phillips), and just assume that would be the most seamless change. Well then if not him then we move on to Wade Phillips, in which I figure most fans of the team that is over 50 or 60 years old would probably just give up on the Texans at that point. So finally we are left with the bald headed, goofy looking, weak armed, playaction selling QB Matt Schaub. The two ways to get rid of Schaub is going to be either Free Agency or the draft unless you believe Kubiak is ballsy enough to name TJ Yates or Case Keenum the starter at any point in 2013 for any reason other than injury. Well unfortunately for you both of these paths to replacement seem to be marred in mediocrity or uncertainty. There are probably, at any given point in the offseason, 10 - 15 NFL teams looking at new options for QB1 so you might have some guys getting released that you didn't previously think would be on the market. Michael Vick and Alex Smith are probably going to be the most prominent on most people's lists of likely QB's to be released by their current teams that could be brought in via FA (Unless you're one of those Cowboy fans that think JJ will get rid of Romo, in which case this whole concept gets turned on it's head because I would replace Schaub with Romo if the prices were similar). Vick is injury prone and a turnover machine, and Alex Smith is basically a younger Matt Schaub with legs. I think Vick is going to get starters money somewhere, and Smith might be a few mill less against the salary cap than Schaub currently is but has been demonstrably worse as well. That leaves you the draft which currently features a lot of QB's who are (right now) of similar skill and genetics. If you really need to see the list of those QB's and their specifics I recommend you go here where we have lots of guys who can pat themselves on the back like nobody's business.

Personally, I just don't see any major changes to any of the spots that have been listed in this thread that would make for significant changes. This team had a really good season that slumped near the end, and to think that McNair is going to change something that drastic after this kind of season I don't think you've been watching the Texans for very long. Whether you agree with it or not, Bob McNair is going to give Kubiak a lot of leeway with his organization while they are winning games and going to the playoffs.