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A Letter To Mr. Kubiak

Texanmike02

Texanmike02

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Gary,

I've given legitimate reasons for you to stay at every turn. If Mr. Mcnair is listening to me, you still have a job come January. I'm sure its about as likely that he reads my idea as you do, but in case one happens, I need to make sure you get a memo too.

I have figured out your problem and might be able to save your head coaching career. It is really quite simple. You have to make a choice. I get it, you're a nice guy and you want to be a "good sport" and win the right way, preserving the dignity of the other team or whatever. STOP IT. You were lucky this week. You were going against an inept offense without many play makers. If you hadn't been, or if they started kicking field goals instead of going for it on EvERY 4th down.. you might have been in a dog fight.

You are either going to have to Mike Martz it and be willing to beat someone by 50 or you are going to be out of a HC position. Its obvious that your ZB scheme on offense doesn't work in short yardage situations and when they load the box with 8 or 9 you're really in trouble. So you aren't going to go on very many 10:00 min drives when you need to.

The problem is that you come out in the second half, trying to be a good sport and when you do that your offense loses its rhythm EVERY time. That leads to those false starts and miscues. you're out of rhythm every drive it seems like. Then the other team scores a time or two and you're asking the offense to get it together all of a sudden and that's not going to happen. Week after weak we get all conservative and we lose games in the 2nd half. Stop it. Your first option on the drive should be to score and score quickly. Push them off the ledge and laugh as they fall... drown the other team... make sure they know that you're not taking your foot off of their throat until they are room temperature.


We don't want you to "finish games" we want you to finish executions.

Blow em' out or get out,

Mike
 
Having to sit through today's 2nd half just took a lot of fun out of a nice win. Same goes for the Raiders and 49ers games.
 
Well, I've said it before in other threads. Kubiak isn't used to having the most talented team on the field. Think back over the last few years; if we got a large lead, it was good fortune. Then we turn around and want to "protect" our lead instead of "expand" our lead. I know Kubes is a good guy, and I know he doesn't want to blow anyone out but if that's how you're going to coach, you need to hijack Minn's line and peterson to go with it. You better be up SEVERAL scores with the ZBS. And I don't care which way he does it. If he's content (wow that's weird to say) with putting 50 on other teams, I'm good with it.. and if he just wants to get running game that can grind it out for 10 minute drives and break the backs of the opponent I'm good with that too. BUT YOU CANNOT ASK YOUR OFFENSE TO TURN IT OFF AND THEN 30 MINS LATER SAY "HEY, UMM WE'RE IN A LIL TROUBLE... FLIP THAT SWITCH AGAIN"...

Mike
 
This seems to be a hallmark that the Texans have carried throughout their history (including with Capers, although, he possibly had a better excuse for using such).........if you can manage to get a lead, "play not to lose."

A good team may be able to play not to lose (but usually don't). Not so good teams may try to play not to lose.............but still usually do.
 
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meh have the pollard INT we pretty much put it into milk the clock mode

and i have no problem with that all kubes was trying to get the W fast because thats what its all about the W move on to st louis next and get the W there period

and besides we ne3ed to see how our running game will churn out i dont know if yall know this but our season is over when we have huge leads i think we should send in our B team to see whatz up
 
Norg said:
meh have the pollard INT we pretty much put it into milk the clock mode

and i have no problem with that all kubes was trying to get the W fast because thats what its all about the W move on to st louis next and get the W there period

and besides we ne3ed to see how our running game will churn out i dont know if yall know this but our season is over when we have huge leads i think we should send in our B team to see whatz up
Click to expand...

I agree, partly. I want to see us knock someone out offensively. I want to try guys out, but if this team gets up on someone... I want to see the throat stomp in full effect. I told my brother today that I wanted to hang 50 on them. Kubiak MUST understand that in at least 2 of the next three games, he takes the MORE talented team onto the field. It's not an accident when we get up on teams. We don't have to coddle the lead. IF we could run the ball then I would want us to milk the clock, but we can't run the ball. IF you can't run the ball and you're going to rely on the slants that we rely on, then you need to keep throwing them. Once you kill that rhythm it is VERY hard to get it back.



Mike
 
which would u rather do throw 50 on someone

our grind it out on the ground no running game ok lets see if we have a running game Grind Foster out grind Moats out find out who they really are

and get better scout on your personal alla B team meaning lest time worring who to cut next season and better pepared for the draft


i would choose option B every time
 
The offense scored a measley 3 pts in the 2nd half.

You can get away with that against the Seahawks but not against teams like the Colts.

This has been proven twice this season.

I think since the Rosencopter play Kubes has gone conservative when he has a lead in the 2nd half.

Unfortunately you cant beat good teams with this philosophy.
 
Norg said:
which would u rather do throw 50 on someone

our grind it out on the ground no running game ok lets see if we have a running game Grind Foster out grind Moats out find out who they really are

and get better scout on your personal alla B team meaning lest time worring who to cut next season and better pepared for the draft


i would choose option B every time
Click to expand...

Not only that.. but if we want to beat Miami & New England, we'd have best figured out how to fix our run game. What better way to work on it, than when the other team knows you're going to run?

I also don't think we came out with a "conservative" game plan for the second half. Shaub & the guys just weren't in sync.
 
Norg said:
which would u rather do throw 50 on someone

our grind it out on the ground no running game ok lets see if we have a running game Grind Foster out grind Moats out find out who they really are

and get better scout on your personal alla B team meaning lest time worring who to cut next season and better pepared for the draft


i would choose option B every time
Click to expand...

Foster, Moats, Brown, Santa Clause and The Easter Bunny. All 5 of them have an equal shot of "grinding it out". If you can't run the ball when the other team is terrified that you will throw to 80 then you're not going to grind it out when they know its going to 22/21/37.

If this is a "learning" experience, then this team needs to LEARN to go for the jugular. This team has a serious lack of killer instinct. How about we develop that while we're thumping the Rams next weekend. You wanna see if you can "grind it out"? Look at weeks 1-14 this season. The answer is NO. Its not the RB it is the undersized linemen typical of the Zone Blocking System. When the other team KNOWS you're going to run it, and they put 8 or 9 in the box... and your linemen are undersized, you're not going to run it. I don't care if its 50 or 30, I want the offense to run OUR offense for 60 minutes. I want Schaub to see that his guys will be in the right spot in the 4th, that the rules of physics are still the same, that the field is still 120 yards long... all of that. Lets figure that our NOW.



Mike
 
thunderkyss said:
Not only that.. but if we want to beat Miami & New England, we'd have best figured out how to fix our run game. What better way to work on it, than when the other team knows you're going to run?

I also don't think we came out with a "conservative" game plan for the second half. Shaub & the guys just weren't in sync.
Click to expand...

I thought we did. I bet the scouting report on us says that if we're up, we're not going to throw the ball at ALL on the first drive in the 2nd half. We don't need trick plays, we don't need big plays.. we just need OUR offense.

Mike
 
it was 34 to 7. if our kicker could make a field goal it would of been more. it's not like he stopped calling passes either we just were not as sharp.(maybe because it was 34 to 7). guys do start taking some plays off once the game is out of reach. people used to complain because we never blew anyone out. now we don't put up 50 so there is some problem with us. rarely when a team is up by that many points do they just keep pouring it on. usually it looks a lot like it did today.
 
Texanmike said:
I thought we did. I bet the scouting report on us says that if we're up, we're not going to throw the ball at ALL on the first drive in the 2nd half. We don't need trick plays, we don't need big plays.. we just need OUR offense.

Mike
Click to expand...

Houston Texans at 12:30
1-10-HOU 33 (12:30) 8-M.Schaub pass incomplete deep middle to 83-K.Walter.

2-10-HOU 33 (12:22) 8-M.Schaub pass short left to 44-V.Leach to HST 35 for 2 yards (23-M.Trufant).

3-8-HOU 35 (11:46) (Shotgun) 8-M.Schaub pass incomplete short middle to 85-J.Dreessen.

4-8-HOU 35 (11:41) 1-M.Turk punts 49 yards to SEA 16, Center-85-J.Dreessen. 81-N.Burleson to SEA 11 for -5 yards (34-D.Barber). (The punt hangtime was 4.8 seconds)

that was our first drive in the second half.
 
utahmark said:
it was 34 to 7. if our kicker could make a field goal it would of been more. it's not like he stopped calling passes either we just were not as sharp.(maybe because it was 34 to 7). guys do start taking some plays off once the game is out of reach. people used to complain because we never blew anyone out. now we don't put up 50 so there is some problem with us. rarely when a team is up by that many points do they just keep pouring it on. usually it looks a lot like it did today.
Click to expand...

For starters, it was 24 - 7. That is a three score game.

Most teams are not as inept as we are at running the ball. CLEARLY you don't understand the point and would rather argue the small stuff. The problem is, our offense would have been as bad or WORSE if this was against I don't know the Colts. We don't go for the jugular and if you don't know that then you don't actually watch the games.

The only way you can not have a running game and maintain and put a game away with a big lead is to KEEP INCREASING THE LEAD.

Mike
 
utahmark said:
Houston Texans at 12:30
1-10-HOU 33 (12:30) 8-M.Schaub pass incomplete deep middle to 83-K.Walter.

2-10-HOU 33 (12:22) 8-M.Schaub pass short left to 44-V.Leach to HST 35 for 2 yards (23-M.Trufant).

3-8-HOU 35 (11:46) (Shotgun) 8-M.Schaub pass incomplete short middle to 85-J.Dreessen.

4-8-HOU 35 (11:41) 1-M.Turk punts 49 yards to SEA 16, Center-85-J.Dreessen. 81-N.Burleson to SEA 11 for -5 yards (34-D.Barber). (The punt hangtime was 4.8 seconds)

that was our first drive in the second half.
Click to expand...

dont bring that reality nonsense in here, we're supposed to be ranting about the win.
 
Texanmike said:
For starters, it was 24 - 7. That is a three score game.

Most teams are not as inept as we are at running the ball. CLEARLY you don't understand the point and would rather argue the small stuff. The problem is, our offense would have been as bad or WORSE if this was against I don't know the Colts. We don't go for the jugular and if you don't know that then you don't actually watch the games.

The only way you can not have a running game and maintain and put a game away with a big lead is to KEEP INCREASING THE LEAD.

Mike
Click to expand...

are you not the same guy who just said we never pass the ball to start the second half. and i just showed you where we came out with 3 straight passes. i don't think i'm the one who needs to watch the games more closely.

when you get up on a team like we did players minds don't stay in the game the same as if the game is close. coaches may call the same plays but get diff results. i just showed you how we came out throwing the ball in the second half. so i'm not sure how your saying we let up. the players may let up, not the play calling, not today. not at least untill they should of let up, because the game was over.
 
Texanmike said:
Foster, Moats, Brown, Santa Clause and The Easter Bunny. All 5 of them have an equal shot of "grinding it out". If you can't run the ball when the other team is terrified that you will throw to 80 then you're not going to grind it out when they know its going to 22/21/37.

If this is a "learning" experience, then this team needs to LEARN to go for the jugular. This team has a serious lack of killer instinct. How about we develop that while we're thumping the Rams next weekend. You wanna see if you can "grind it out"? Look at weeks 1-14 this season. The answer is NO. Its not the RB it is the undersized linemen typical of the Zone Blocking System. When the other team KNOWS you're going to run it, and they put 8 or 9 in the box... and your linemen are undersized, you're not going to run it. I don't care if its 50 or 30, I want the offense to run OUR offense for 60 minutes. I want Schaub to see that his guys will be in the right spot in the 4th, that the rules of physics are still the same, that the field is still 120 yards long... all of that. Lets figure that our NOW.



Mike
Click to expand...

Mike,

What makes you think that the light will go on in Kubiak's head next week? Given the past 4 years the "learning experience" you keep talking about just hasn't happened.

Just not going to happen.

GS
 
utahmark said:
are you not the same guy who just said we never pass the ball to start the second half. and i just showed you where we came out with 3 straight passes. i don't think i'm the one who needs to watch the games more closely.

when you get up on a team like we did players minds don't stay in the game the same as if the game is close. coaches may call the same plays but get diff results. i just showed you how we came out throwing the ball in the second half. so i'm not sure how your saying we let up. the players may let up, not the play calling, not today. not at least untill they should of let up, because the game was over.
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This has been the case in several games this season (Including both times they had a lead on the Dolts) They came out trying to score - they just didnt get it done for whatever reason (I want to say they failed to execute- But lets just blame Kubiak).
You guy's forget the other team gets paid too - they are likely embarrassed to be manhandled like that in the first half and come out playing considerably better in the second.
 
I didn't say they NEVER pass the ball, but it seems like we have several drives in the second half that are 2 runs and a pass or 3 runs and a punt. I realize that the other team gets paid too, and maybe its the layoff of the half I don't know, but our production is always minimal. This team has been a team of 2 halves EVERY game. The last several weeks have been the first half we show up and the second we sleep walk.

I will go look drive by drive (when I get home, even I can't justify taking all day to do that at work) and write what I find. I'm guessing I will find much worse in the 3rd quarter. I think last week we scored our first TD on our opening drive. I wonder how many TD's we've scored on the first drive in the second half. Something is different. I know I'm always frustrated with what seems like 2 or three drives where we go 2 or 3 runs and out, maybe I'm wrong.

Why do I think a light will go one? This is the first year we've been definitively better than the other team. A lot of the things Kubiak did made sense when you had to outCOACH the other team. Now we just need to outPLAY them. I think that Kubiak will look back and realize that its no accident that we get up on a lot of teams in the first half. We're better than a lot of teams.

Coaching a talented team is entirely different from coaching one which lacks talent, especially IN GAME. If you get a few breaks and get up with a less talented group, you try to slow the game down and limit the posessions. Fortune has smiled on you and you are trying to shorten the game and make fewer mistakes. If you are up and you are the more talented team, coaching like that gets you killed. The philosophies are just different. I'm hoping Kubiak figures that out. Maybe he doesn't. Maybe he needs to go, maybe he doesn't, I'm not sure. If Mr. Mcnair isn't going to follow my plan, his job would be dependent on his season review. I would be looking for him to say something to the effect of "I approached this season the same way I did in the past. We are more talented though, and I need to change the philosophy when we have a lead."

Maybe I'm wrong, I guess I'll learn a lot more tonight when I look at stuff.

Mike
 
This was the drive I didn't get:

# 1-10-HOU 8 (9:52) 37-A.Foster up the middle to HST 11 for 3 yards (92-B.Mebane).
# 2-7-HOU 11 (9:11) 37-A.Foster left end to HST 14 for 3 yards (90-C.Cole; 57-D.Hawthorne).
# 3-4-HOU 14 (8:27) 22-C.Brown up the middle to HST 15 for 1 yard (97-P.Kerney).
# Timeout #1 by SEA at 08:18.
# 4-3-HOU 15 (8:18) 1-M.Turk punts 52 yards to SEA 33, Center-85-J.Dreessen. 20-J.Forsett to SEA 38 for 5 yards (41-B.McCain). (The punt hangtime was 4.4 seconds)
Click to expand...

Just under ten minutes to go in the game, deep in our own territory, and they just ran the ball three times and punted. And they weren't even runs with a good chance of success (not that we have many of those). It just seemed they went way to conservative from that point forward, and that's too soon to be thinking it's time to run out the clock, unless you're the 1980s Redskins. Oh, and 3rd and 4 from your own 14 is no time for Chris Brown. WTF??
 
eriadoc said:
This was the drive I didn't get:



Just under ten minutes to go in the game, deep in our own territory, and they just ran the ball three times and punted. And they weren't even runs with a good chance of success (not that we have many of those). It just seemed they went way to conservative from that point forward, and that's too soon to be thinking it's time to run out the clock, unless you're the 1980s Redskins. Oh, and 3rd and 4 from your own 14 is no time for Chris Brown. WTF??
Click to expand...

i really don't mind 3 runs and a punt when your up by more than 20 in the 4th and your defense has only allowed 7 points through more than 3 quarters. i think thats smart football.
 
IMO, you cannot teach your team to never give up if you, as a coach, show that you can give up. In High School sports, you can do that. This is the pro's though and you have to send a message to your team that you will perform to the highest level at all times. If you had a team that could run a four minute offense by power running, that would be okay but we don't so you have to keep everyone focused on what it takes to get first downs.

Look at what Fisher did yesterday.
 
utahmark said:
i really don't mind 3 runs and a punt when your up by more than 20 in the 4th and your defense has only allowed 7 points through more than 3 quarters. i think thats smart football.
Click to expand...

With teams that don't have a history of choking away leads, it might be smart football. With this team, it would be smart football to lay the hammer down.
 
Texanmike said:
Gary,

I've given legitimate reasons for you to stay at every turn. If Mr. Mcnair is listening to me, you still have a job come January. I'm sure its about as likely that he reads my idea as you do, but in case one happens, I need to make sure you get a memo too.

I have figured out your problem and might be able to save your head coaching career. It is really quite simple. You have to make a choice. I get it, you're a nice guy and you want to be a "good sport" and win the right way, preserving the dignity of the other team or whatever. STOP IT. You were lucky this week. You were going against an inept offense without many play makers. If you hadn't been, or if they started kicking field goals instead of going for it on EvERY 4th down.. you might have been in a dog fight.

You are either going to have to Mike Martz it and be willing to beat someone by 50 or you are going to be out of a HC position. Its obvious that your ZB scheme on offense doesn't work in short yardage situations and when they load the box with 8 or 9 you're really in trouble. So you aren't going to go on very many 10:00 min drives when you need to.

The problem is that you come out in the second half, trying to be a good sport and when you do that your offense loses its rhythm EVERY time. That leads to those false starts and miscues. you're out of rhythm every drive it seems like. Then the other team scores a time or two and you're asking the offense to get it together all of a sudden and that's not going to happen. Week after weak we get all conservative and we lose games in the 2nd half. Stop it. Your first option on the drive should be to score and score quickly. Push them off the ledge and laugh as they fall... drown the other team... make sure they know that you're not taking your foot off of their throat until they are room temperature.


We don't want you to "finish games" we want you to finish executions.

Blow em' out or get out,

Mike
Click to expand...

Right on playa amen.


:chickendance::chickendance::chickendance: :voodoo:
 
eriadoc said:
With teams that don't have a history of choking away leads, it might be smart football. With this team, it would be smart football to lay the hammer down.
Click to expand...
unsmart football is chunking the ball and stopping the clock and throwing picks with such a large lead. The Texans gave the Seahawks plenty of chances to get back into the game but the Seahawks were awful and couldn't take advantage of it. If played that way against a good team, there would have been a comeback. Heck, we've seen that all too much and it's one of the reasons we are not a playoff team imo.
 
utahmark said:
i really don't mind 3 runs and a punt when your up by more than 20 in the 4th and your defense has only allowed 7 points through more than 3 quarters. i think thats smart football.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. What's not to "get"?
1. We have the lead. A big one for a change.
2. It's late in the game.
3. We're in the shadow of our own goalposts.

Why on earth would you pass the ball when an incompletion stops the clock (you may have noticed that those 1st two plays knocked 35-40 secs, each, off the clock) or an INT gives them the ball in the red zone or worse turns into a pick-six???
This series makes perfect sense to me. And if Foster had busted one - however unlikely that is - we probably wouldn't be discussing this possession.
 
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Vinny said:
unsmart football is chunking the ball and stopping the clock and throwing picks with such a large lead.
Click to expand...

Sure, but that doesn't mean you try to go two yards and a cloud of dust, either. Mix in some screens, hitch passes, or if Schaub could actually hit one without throwing behind the WR, a slant. Oh, and don't throw picks lol. Three run plays and a punt doesn't burn as much clock as a first down.
 
utahmark said:
Houston Texans at 12:30
1-10-HOU 33 (12:30) 8-M.Schaub pass incomplete deep middle to 83-K.Walter.

2-10-HOU 33 (12:22) 8-M.Schaub pass short left to 44-V.Leach to HST 35 for 2 yards (23-M.Trufant).

3-8-HOU 35 (11:46) (Shotgun) 8-M.Schaub pass incomplete short middle to 85-J.Dreessen.

4-8-HOU 35 (11:41) 1-M.Turk punts 49 yards to SEA 16, Center-85-J.Dreessen. 81-N.Burleson to SEA 11 for -5 yards (34-D.Barber). (The punt hangtime was 4.8 seconds)

that was our first drive in the second half.
Click to expand...

http://blogs.chron.com/nfl/2009/12/i_need_a_whiner_line_on_this_b.html

chron said:
Instead of praising Matt Schaub for one of the most remarkable first-half performances I've ever witnessed, many of you are ripping him for not doing more in the second even though Gary Kubiak admitted they dialed it down to go with the running game.
Click to expand...

I MUST have been mistaken.

Mike
 
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