Well, that's a wrap. 2012 season final thoughts

[Texan in Japan]

It's funny, we completed the best season in Texans' football history and all of us upset. In my mind, that's a good thing. We're winners and we want a Superbowl Champion, not just a play-off team.

The GB and NE games exposed our weaknesses. Today's great offenses either have a QB that makes good decisions and has a great arm or one that has wheels and can maneuver in/out of the pocket to put pressure on the defense. Schaub IMHO has only an average arm and is only adequate decision-maker. When he escaped the pass rush today, rolled right and threw the ball away I almost choked on my beer. He's conditioned himself to throw the ball away vs trying to make a play. How can you ever come back with a QB that makes poor decisions and is as immobile as a 100-yr Oak? Maybe as some suggested he's been injured and can't do what he was doing early on. I'd say we need to bring in some competition or at least give TJ a shot.

I think the rest of our offense is not that bad. Yes, adding some OL help, another WR and a big TE could make us better, but unless we do something about our QB we're doomed to a nominee for Homecoming Queen, but always the 4th runner up.

On defense, we need Cush back. Next we need another ILB and OLB (Barwin replacement). I really think a real NT could help us tremendously. Guys like Wilfolk eat of space and push the line of scrimmage--our guys can't do that and that allows OL to get to our LBs and blow holes in our run defense.

Although I know it won't happen like this, here are what I think our priorities should be in the off-season...

1 - QB (Rookie or Vet to compete against Schaub and Yates)
2 - NT (Space eater to protect LBs and dominate interior)
3 - WR (Either FA or rookie)
4 - OT (RT to compete with Newton)
5 - OLB (Barwin replacement, someone to push current guys)
6 - TE (Looking for 6-5 or larger TE to help give us Red Zone target)
7 - ILB (With Cush and Sharp coming back, we need to add a young bone crusher to develop)

Frankly, I had more fun this season than any other. The last 6 weeks have been frustrating and as a fan I still don't understand why we fell apart. It almost seems that the Patriots stripped us of our manhood in that game and we just couldn't get our heads together after that. I hope we get our mojo back in the off-season and come back ready to kick some NFL-ass.

[Texcore]

Bottom line is this fellas...

We don't have a QB or coach who can compete with potent offenses like New England or Green Bay. It is what it is...

[thunderkyss]

I like a coach who believes in his system. I like it, because coaches who believe in their system believes in teaching their system & the players they teach become better players in that system.

It's nice, that Shanahan was able to adjust his system for the dynamic QB he drafted 2nd overall, but by drafting another QB & letting RG3 run all over the place, I'm wondering if he's at all concerned about developing the franchise guy.

Because if he is, he's pretty much starting from scratch next season.

I am torn, because I believe Kubiak's emphasis on being a pro kept the dynamic players we needed on the bench. Posey, Jean, Martin, should have been on the field winning & losing games with the team, learning how to win games. Instead, when things got real, those guys were on the bench, Walter was stealing money & we lost those games anyway.

Whether you think Schaub is washed up, or the right side of the line is garbage, or that we don't have a true #2 WR, Kubiak managed to win 13 games & the division in spite of it all. That gives me hope that when we get that right side fixed, when we get those playmakers on the field, when Wade figures out the elite QBs.... then Kubiak is the guy that can get us to the Super Bowl.

I'm not satisfied with the way the season ended, but I'd be lying if I said I did not enjoy following this team & all the stuff that came with it. I can't wait to do it again next season.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by checo446

This is something that hasn't been harped on enough. Our special teams has been awful this year. Outside of Manning's returns today, our field position as a whole has been awful, and we have given up multiple long returns throughout the year due to poor coverage. On the times we have gotten decent returns, usually they are brought back because holding or block in the back penalties.

Marciano needs to go and they need to bring in a focus on improving all aspects of the special teams, including getting rid of Graham and his inaccurate leg from over 50 yards (I was actually shocked when he got that 55 yarder today).

I think GP is right on that point, 100% (not that I'm one to call for a man's job or anything) that kick off return pretty much took the wind out of our sails & gave the Colts hope. Again, we were acting like we had the lead with our easy pace offense & "prevent" defense & lost that game.

[Lucky]

Originally Posted by Rey

This about sums it up for mr except for dumping smith. He's our second best pass rusher. Would suck to get rid of him and not have any pass rush from anywhere else. Maybe re work his deal though.

Smith is on his last year, so you would have to extend him to get any cap relief. His cap hit will be $9.8 mil in 2013, and that just seems too much for what Smith provides. It would cost $2.5 mil in dead money to cut Smith, a total savings of $7.3 mil. Just think that that money could be better spent. I'm down on some of these defensive players who I think should have had better seasons playing next to a human dynamo like JJ Watt.

[SheTexan]

Final thoughts? FUN, and entertaining! We won 13 out of 18 games, not that shabby IMHO!! I'm proud of the team I've followed for 11 yrs. I remember the bad years all to well, so making it to the second level in the playoffs two years in a row is nothing to be ashamed of! I'll just keep on believing that SOMEDAY we will make it to the end!!

[gtexan02]

Here is my final thought on this season:

Before the year, everyone in the Texans organization (players, coaches, owner) said that this season was "Superbowl or Bust"

We did not make, nor did we win, the Super Bowl.

So what is bust? What does it entail? Will they live up to it?

And should they? I judge my Texans seasons by 3 main factors:
1. How often was I in a good mood on Monday (or Tuesday or Friday) morning?
2. How often did I check this messageboard in excitement (Rather than dread)
3. Am I hopeful that the next season will be even better?

2011 ended and was my best year ever as a Texan fan. We won 10 regular season (and 1 playoff!) games, I was super excited to follow Texans news, and I knew 2012 would be better.

2012 has now ended and was even better than 2011. We won 12 regular season games and a second playoff game, I'm even more of a MB addict, and I firmly believe we will be better in 2013.

Its good to be a Texans fan. I hope they didn't mean 'bust' in a literal sense. We have some major leaks to plug in our hull, but I think we can have a real shot at glory next year with most of the core in tact.

[Norg]

my final thoughts man i wish we had that #1 seed .... : (

o well maybe next year we get get #1 or #2 seed and get a bye and see what happens then ...????

[Brisco_County]

Posey's achilles rupture in the final moments of the game sums up the entire season.

Sustained progress towards a promising future collapses in front of the finish line, and leaves us with a murky and troublesome outlook.

Just as Posey's next season is a question mark, so is the Texans'.

At the conclusion of last season, there was a lot to be excited about. The team was on an upward trajectory. Right now, the team is in an unexplainable decline while our division rivals are improving.

Maybe the offensive line will be better. Maybe inside linebacker will be a position of strength again. But nothing will explain why our QB lost his marbles precisely when we needed him to be what TJ Yates couldn't be.

[midway]

This season goes down as a disappointment in my book. Kubiak and Smith mortgaged our future cap-wise because if we failed last year they woudn't have been around to deal with the consequences. We got just as far with our "real" quarterback as we got last year with our 3rd stringer, and last year we had a chance to win our divisional game, this year we got curbstomped. We also choked horribly to end the year.

[midway]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

Its good to be a Texans fan. I hope they didn't mean 'bust' in a literal sense. We have some major leaks to plug in our hull, but I think we can have a real shot at glory next year with most of the core in tact.

This isn't a leak in the hull, this team has a broken keel.

[corytx8]

Overall, It was a awesome season. There were a few let downs but hey, even the best lose some here and there so I don't feel bad. Also, there are a lot of teams who wish they were in our position.

I think we will be a better team next season, and I onboard with coach k. I want to believe that he knows what he has to do to get to the next level. Something I would like to see next see is a QB competition going into next season for the starter job not just a backup job. I believe Gary wasn't ready to have that competition this season, but I think this off season he will finally have one.

[Texecutioner]

Fun season. Ups and Downs. Decent playoff run. Improvement from last season. Now we just need to continue that improvement until next season. Find a new QB for the future at some point. Find some help at WR.

[Vinny]

First of all I enjoyed the season except for the last 6 weeks where the Texans were exposed. Clearly this team lacks speed and receiving options. The right side of the offensive line is a serious problem. You know the old saying....when you have two RT's you really don't have one. The defense can't hold up in man coverage vs elite QB's. Andy Dalton? No problem. Guys that don't miss simple throws? Not enough man cover speed. Not even close. Some of that is injury, but I'm sorry Sharpton wasn't and isn't a starting caliber player.

I've often said in the past that the league moves very fast and the Texans move curiously slowly at times (their conservative bent). What I see is a team that didn't learn jack squat about how to avoid being in a situation that puts them in a bind with a QB that doesn't play up to his contract. They didn't have to give Carr the max option and they didn't have to jump the gun with Schaub. It felt good and everyone was happy that the Texans are such nice guys and a classy organization but they didn't learn one single thing when they threw all that money away for David Carr when nobody was forcing their hand. We'll be stuck with the dinkNdunk offense for at least two more years. Hell, 18 points down early in the 4th quarter the offensive tempo couldn't be more casual. Contrast that with Seattle earlier in the day playing the Falcons. Night and day. This is a synergistic problem and it's part Kubiak and part Schaub. Schaub is yin to Kubiak's yang.

Wade's odd front, fill the gap style of play puts a heavy burden on the backside coverage and forces them to have linebackers with elite cover skills to combat the Gronk's and Hernandez's of the world. It's a great defense if you can avoid great quarterbacks in the playoffs...but Wade never does, and always loses. He has a great regular season record though....I'll give him that much.

I really enjoyed this NFL season. Unpredictable, wide open and after the Refs came back I think it was the best season I've followed in many, many years. One of the main reasons it was so good was the incredible play of the young quarterbacks all over the league. QB's are coming into the league from passing offenses and are more prepared than ever to hit the ground running so to speak. Hell, Washington took TWO quarterbacks that can play in the NFL in the last draft. There is one out there for us if we make it a priority to identify and draft one (like Seattle and 49'ers did) and groom him (Wilson sure didn't take long), instead of finding a 7th round practice squad arm like we usually do. Watching the league's young quarterbacks buying time and extending plays has me a bit jealous of other teams right now. Those guys have their career's ahead of them and will be fun to watch going forward. Here in Houston I'll watch Schaub work his magic for a couple of more seasons. It's like the David Carr years except that we have the 'must play well' thing down....until we play the big boys.

[Norg]

Originally Posted by corytx8

Overall, It was a awesome season. There were a few let downs but hey, even the best lose some here and there so I don't feel bad. Also, there are a lot of teams who wish they were in our position.

I think we will be a better team next season, and I onboard with coach k. I want to believe that he knows what he has to do to get to the next level. Something I would like to see next see is a QB competition going into next season for the starter job not just a backup job. I believe Gary wasn't ready to have that competition this season, but I think this off season he will finally have one.

if u bring in in like a ALex smith or Matt moore Schaub will still beat them somehow in the off season so whats the point

[eriadoc]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

1. How often was I in a good mood on Monday (or Tuesday or Friday) morning?

2. How often did I check this messageboard in excitement (Rather than dread)

3. Am I hopeful that the next season will be even better?

1.) In addition to the losses, I wasn't in a particularly cheerful mood after the DET game or the JAX game. I had serious reservations about things after the first IND game. I had concerns after the DEN game. So I'm not exactly sure how to answer this question, but it wasn't 13-5.

2.) I'm pretty even keel, regardless what the tone of my posts sounds like.

3.) Not really. I make no predictions on record, but record really doesn't matter beyond a certain point. There's #1 seed, not making the playoffs, and everything in between. I expect they'll make the playoffs and lose. More to the point, I expect many of the same weaknesses to rear up.

[Hurricane Fly]

Originally Posted by Texan in Japan

It's funny, we completed the best season in Texans' football history and all of us upset. In my mind, that's a good thing. We're winners and we want a Superbowl Champion, not just a play-off team.

This, x10. There's no disgrace in getting beat by a team who are now favourites to go on and win the Superbowl, and, but for a late-season slump and a few fine margins against NE, things could have been different. Of course there are areas that need improvement, but we can't lose sight of the fact that progress has been made.

Lest we forget:

Originally Posted by gtexan02

Its good to be a Texans fan...

Amen to this^ .

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by GP

Posey deserves WR2 duties, the whole game. All season. He has proven he can do it, and he moves twice as fast as Walter does. Game over.

And he probably would be the WR2 next season if hadn't of blown out his Achilles' tendon at the end of the game when it was already lost.

[keyser]

I've seen lots of times that it's better to wait some time and let the emotions settle down before doing a real analysis. But that said, here are some of my thoughts:

0) We really did do well this year. Regardless of play at the end, it was nice to have such a good season, overall. I also think it is healthy that we all see this now as a disappointement, rather than something to be satisfied with. As someone who was a longtime Cowboys fan, this is one big difference I've seen in the fanbases: Cowboys fans expect to win, and are basically never satisfied unless it's a Superbowl. While that can obviously get frustrating, I think that attitude is needed for long-term success, and I think I'm seeing it develop here.

1) Special teams was a disaster. We were consistently having worse field position than the other team through our poor punting/kickoff play. This should be obvious to everyone, and there's no excuse not to fire the ST coach.
1a) At the same time, I will say that Graham did better than I expected at the end of the year. I was all set to go to Bullock next year, but now I'm having second thoughts.

2) I think we are seeing the effect of the lack of emphasis on the offense. Look at the past 3-4 drafts---very defense-heavy (though we did a bit more on offense this past year, it was for positions like OL that take time to develop, and our top pick was still on D). Look at free agents: we have brought in people like Joseph, Manning, and Smith on D. On O? Basically nothing. The point is, regardless of how good our O is supposed to be, when you consistently neglect bringing in talent through FA and the draft over several years, it's not surprising to see it suffer. It's surprising to me that it's doing as well as it is.

3) I also think we are seeing the result of losing much of our 2006 draft class in the offseason: Williams, Ryans, and Winston. Each of those is a reasonable decision to let go, but in every case it's not as though we really upgraded with the replacement.

4) I am frustrated that I don't even know what we really have any more. The regression of Brooks Reed and Connor Barwin makes me wonder what if anything we have there. The right side of the OL is totally uncertain. I have no idea who we really have for receivers (I've not been a fan of Kevin Walter for a long time). Our depth at RB seems OK, but I doubt it lasts into next year. Do we have any corners after Joseph and KJ? What about our TEs (the level of play there seemed to drop off this year)? Normally, I can at least take comfort after a season that I see some progress and the building blocks for the future, but this time I feel we have more uncertainty and questions.

5) I did see some good points. JJ Watt was incredible. AJ showed me he still has it and I feel good about him next year, even as our #1. I think Kareem Jackson showed he can play the position we drafted him for. Some other players that I was actually worried about continuing to perform (Joseph, Foster) showed me they were OK.

6) I wondered how I should take the two OT wins: as signs of trouble, or demonstrations of perseverernce. I think the answer is clear now, which is kind of depressing. I think the NE games showed us where we really stand, overall, and our 12-4 record probably should have been closer to the 10-6 it would have been if we'd lost those OT games.

7) A couple of things I disagree with others on:
7a) First, I don't think losing Cushing was the death knell of our defense (though it certainly hurt). I think a bigger factor was the poor play by the other LBs. Plus, based on Cushing's history so far, I think we are destined for disappointment if we tie our success to Cushing - he seems to have been missing more than he's played.
7b) Second, I don't actually put as much blame here on Schaub as most people do. I'm not saying he's an elite QB, and I'm not excusing the poor plays that were his fault today and in other games, but I think he is plenty good enough to get us to a SB win. I'm totally fine with him going into the next few years. I do think that there is a mental aspect to his game that is now off, though, but it hasn't always been that way, and I don't think it's necessarily going to be there long-term. I think the people calling for Schaub replacement are underestimating the difficulty of getting an improvement (especially with our draft position). I'd put Schaub in the top third of QBs in the league, meaning at least half the teams are having difficulty making improvements at that position.

8) Finally, along the lines of point 4, I don't know what to think about Kubiak. I feel that I've seen steady progress by the team as a whole under Kubiak, and I won't deny feeling for 2/3 of this year that he could lead us to a SB. But, I also found myself questioning his playcalling (runs up the middle today?!?!), and I think the uncertainty I mention in point 4 is directly Kubiak's fault - we should know better what we have (maybe he does, and it's just less apparent to me).

[Maddict5]

Originally Posted by keyser

0) We really did do well this year. Regardless of play at the end, it was nice to have such a good season, overall. I also think it is healthy that we all see this now as a disappointement, rather than something to be satisfied with. As someone who was a longtime Cowboys fan, this is one big difference I've seen in the fanbases: Cowboys fans expect to win, and are basically never satisfied unless it's a Superbowl. While that can obviously get frustrating, I think that attitude is needed for long-term success, and I think I'm seeing it develop here.

thats working out awesome for them

not that i care about the cowboys (not from texas) but the texans have more playoff wins in the last 2 yrs than the cowboys have had in the last 15+