What if...?

Just want your opinion on something:

1. If the Texans finish 9-7, would you consider this year an improvement over last year?

2. If the Texans defense settles down and plays the last 5 games as a top 10 unit, would you keep Richard Smith?

1. 9 - 7 would be an improvement over 8 - 8.

2. Not sure. But, probably.

yes to both, but I don't see it happening. I'm certain Richard Smith will be gone after this year. I would dearly love to see our defense suddenly start playing smash mouth football and beat the crap out of everyone, I just don't see it happening with RS in control.

1.) Yes it'd be an improvement

2.) NO I'm tired of watching the defense not perform for at least half of the season.

gtexan02 said:

Just want your opinion on something:

1. If the Texans finish 9-7, would you consider this year an improvement over last year?

2. If the Texans defense settles down and plays the last 5 games as a top 10 unit, would you keep Richard Smith?

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1. Depends on how each game was won. That said, I don't think there's a chance in hell they win out. The Browns game was ugly....a 'W', but ugly.

2. A resounding 'NO'. The past 2 years the defense hasn't done jackshit until the final few games of the season. IMO, this it what has kept SmithDC around. He's got to go! We need a DC that will teach "punch them in the face" type mentality. If SmithDC stays.....it will eventually cost Kubiak his job.

gtexan02 said:

Just want your opinion on something:

1. If the Texans finish 9-7, would you consider this year an improvement over last year?

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Not really , we still dont know what we have in Schaub and I dont hink 9-7 gets you in the play-offs .... Sure its an improvement as far as the record but we still are on the outside looking in at the post season while having many of the same questions next season that we did to start this one.

2. If the Texans defense settles down and plays the last 5 games as a top 10 unit, would you keep Richard Smith?

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No NO and Hell No ! I hate the scheme , its too predictable .... although it was nice to see Smith throw an inexperienced QB a monkey wrench dropping a DE into coverage while bringing the Safety on a blitz. That might work on a player like Quinn in his third start ..... But he wont be playing in late December .... at least for a few years.

An improvement - of course but not likely to happen.

Keep RS? Nope - not a chance. The defense might improve as the season progresses and get fairly good the last two or three games. This is truly not acceptable. Peaking at the end of the season is great and I don't have a problem starting out fairly good and building to super performing. Smith, on the other hand, seems to start out slower than your average turtle. We aren't going anywhere until our defense comes out playing aggressively from first quarter to last whistle.

1. The offense has improved a great deal since we ended the misery with Mittens'. Last year, the passing game showed signs; this year, it is one of the best in the league. Last year, our running game didn't exist; this year, teams actually have to prepare for it. It's not a top-shelf running game, but it's now in the middle of the pack. With our passing game, that's good enough. Now, about the defense . . .

2. I don't care how well his defense plays from here on our but Smith absolutely must go. If they indeed play lights out, that will be the third time in three years that it takes a month or two to get the defense going (if they revert to form, Smith's ouster is a no-brainer). That's unacceptable for a team that has legitimate reason to think it can contend. Heck, if these guys pick it up the next month, we may have ambitious coordinators beating down our door to take this unit to the top. Contrast with 2005-06 when we were junking our scheme entirely and basically starting over from scratch; that's why we had to settle for Smith--no other credible candidate wanted anything to do with the stinkbomb they were inheriting. Especially since conventional wisdom at the time had us using the first pick on an offensive player. Can you imagine this unit without Mario?

Who's to say Richard Smith is still calling the shots?

mexican_texan said:

Who's to say Richard Smith is still calling the shots?

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It's almost a guaranteed that we won't know if that is true unless it comes out that Smith has already accepted another job somewhere else. I don't see Kubiak saying "Yeah Smith actually wasn't play calling for us the last 5 games, it was this guy!" It'd make him look silly for even keeping Smith on the payroll at that point.

Yeah...and if Me, Joe Texan and Bill had wings we could fly...or would be enjoying a meal at Hooters.

1. Kinda. we progressed on offense, regressed on defense, and broke about even on special teams. these final 5 games wont change that. all they will show is how much the guys are still putting in to make the most out of each game.

2. i dont care if we pitch shutouts and win the superbowl, richard smith should've been gone last season at the latest. there's absolutely no reason to keep him around.

If we happen to finish 9-7 it would be a miracle an improvement considering the disastrous start. In all honesty I see 7-9 as the most we could possibly hope for and 6-10 the odds on favorite landing spot.

Richard Smith has to go no matter what. I don't think he is going to even force the issue because even if he changes everything the talent isn't there to post the kind of performances he would need to save his job. We don't fave Cleveland again this year either. They could do well the rest of the year though and he wouldn't leave as quite the dog that he is right now in the eyes of the fans.

If we finish 9-7 that means we would beat the Titans and JAX on MNF which would get me fired up and would say thats more than an improvement

Smith, ehh not as passionate as much of you are about him leaving but I do agree either way he needs to go after this season.

gtexan02 said:

Just want your opinion on something:

1. If the Texans finish 9-7, would you consider this year an improvement over last year?

2. If the Texans defense settles down and plays the last 5 games as a top 10 unit, would you keep Richard Smith?

Click to expand...

1. No, I'd consider it "weird". After watching us lose in Tennessee the way we did, losing one in overtime against Jacksonville, another one in "Rosenchopper Time" versus Indy at Reliant, the crater in the second half against Baltimore, and finally the return of Rosenchopper Time in Indianapolis I'm afraid this season will not be considered progress by me no matter how the last 5 weeks turn out. Too many turnovers, too many mistakes. When you could have easily been 11-5 (not just should have been but easily could have been) but for your own stupid mistakes then I can't celebrate 9-7 or take comfort in it.

2. Every year the Texans defense suddenly seems to "get it" once the playoffs are out of reach. There's no explaining it. I'd still fire him in a heartbeat. A defense that doesn't come alive until after the 10th game of the season is of no use to anyone.

1. Push maybe...but as other have pointed out we've lost games to self inflicted wounds. Sage in the Indy game says it all for me.

Postives: We might have a answer at LT that can get better. We found a spark in Steve Slaton. Adibi could bring life to a LB corps outside of Ryans isn't that special. Outside of Greenwood though I think we might have some interesting role players. Can't speak on Molden....at this point if he's healthy we need to see what we drafted as another small school project in the third round. I hope it's our last.

Negatives: The interior of the line NEEDS help. RG and Center should be considered with one of the top two picks. Bad QB play and with Schaub injured again whether fair or not he has durability issues and we can't really gauge what we have. When he's in, has time, and is healthy he seems to start to progress within a few games. Sage.....we should've taken Minnesota's third. We need someone opposite of Slaton now that can stay healthy. Need DL help....still.

2. No. Nothing would change my mind on that. The worst part is somehow this franchise still has not found a way to develop young players that can at least be suitable backups or starters in a pinch on the defensive side of the ball.

Hervoyel said:

2. Every year the Texans defense suddenly seems to "get it" once the playoffs are out of reach. There's no explaining it. I'd still fire him in a heartbeat. A defense that doesn't come alive until after the 10th game of the season is of no use to anyone.

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Yep, it's like the coaches think "Now we're out of it, we may as well take risks".

Well, dummies, how about taking some risks from the start of next season?

What really irks me is that we seem to play our most super-conservative defense against the very best teams, i.e. the ones that we've got no chance of beating unless we take risks.

Someone asked in another thread "What's the team's identity?".

"Risk-averse" seems to be the answer there.

gtexan02 said:

Just want your opinion on something:

1. If the Texans finish 9-7, would you consider this year an improvement over last year?

2. If the Texans defense settles down and plays the last 5 games as a top 10 unit, would you keep Richard Smith?

Click to expand...

I'll answer as simply as possible.

1. Yes. 8-8 would be an improvement over last year, considering a comparison of the schedules. ENOUGH improvement to satisfy fans? Meh.

2. Not no, but HELL NO. Too much talent to be as sh!tty as we are.

RS has to go.. The offense is light years ahead of the defense and we have been drafting defense early for a few years now.. some players might be busts but I do believe also that coaches are to get them in a position to succeed..

the offense isnt' perfect, the Offensive line needs some work but the defense ..