Why Schaub doesn't call audibles...

This is just my opinion. But in my football watching experience, I've seen two types of coaches. The one, who believes it is part of the learning process, and gives the QB the freedom to call audibles from day 1, and the other who believes the QB needs to earn the right to be able to call audibles.

I don't think either is right or wrong, but I do believe if you have good people on offense, Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, QB Coach, then you are setting your QB up for success, by not giving him the ability to audible. Less for him to think about. If you have good plays, which we do, and use a variety of formations and motion to reveal the defense, which we do, the QB has enough information to make almost any play work.

I believe the success Matt has had, (& David Carr and Sage Rosenfels to that extent) is proof of that.

The QB earns the right to call audibles, by first, making the most of the plays & the options those plays present him. Matt is doing excellent in that regard. Second, the QB has to have a conversation with the QBCoach/Offensive Coordinator on the sidelines, when looking at game-time photos. Talk about the last play, what you saw, what you thought, don't let them talk to you about what you should have seen, what you missed. & thirdly, the QB has to make timely use of timeouts. If you are in a position, where there is absolutely no way that you can be successful with the play you were given, call a timeout. This should happen rarely, but when it does, the QB has to recognize it. Talk it over with the coach, tell him what you see, what you think. I think this builds trust, and earns the ability to call audibles.

I don't know how much of this is going on. I imagine Schaub is a sharp guy, and is doing most of it. But I rarely see Matt call timeouts.

I'm watching the Seattle game, 6:31 left in the second Qtr. We are lined up in the Ace package, 2 WRs, 2 TEs, on the 50 yard line, 2nd & 6. Seattle is in nickel showing blitz, with 7 guys on the LOS.

I have no idea what the play is, but there is plenty of time on the clock, we have the lead, our guys seem to be lined up correctly, and ready to snap the ball... & GK calls a timeout.

It may just be me, but I think that should have been Matt who called that timeout.

I believe like any head coach, GK values his timeouts, and don't want to use them unless you have to. But, he's also very conservative, and doesn't want to change the play at the LOS, unless you absolutely have to. Once Matt shows he knows when to use timeouts, he'll know when to call an audible.

It's the million dollar question and something I've been asking for atleast 2 years now.

Matt Schaub is just as smart as any other QB in this league and he should be given the freedom to change plays if he sees something in the opposing defense, for Christ's sake...he's been playing in this offense since he was 19 years old (He ran the west coast offense at Virgina...at Atlanta..and now here also), he knows this offense better than anybody. The only thing it would do is help this team

I find this topic very odd. Kubiak, in response to questions about weather or not Schaub is allowed to audible, has responded with statements like:


"We feel prettiy good about being able to run our offense" and things like that. Vague non-answers.

from LZ

According to Kubiak, Schaub has limited audible capabilities.

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Nowhere has Kubiak ever said that Schaub isn't allowed to audible. I don't know where it got started that Schaub can't or isn't allowed to. (I feel like it was McLame). I can see what you're thinking with the who's calling the timeouts thing and I agree with you. But there are so many possible reasons why Kubiak could have called that timeout.

It makes quite a bit of sense to me that in this system, other than run plays, that you wouldn't have to audible. You would have to read where the best option is.

There is always a preferred matchup on every play. Usually, there are several. That's one of the reasons this offense is so impressive.

The question isn't "why doesn't Kubiak give Schaub more freedom" but "why does this offense not work as well when its stalled or slowed by audibles?" The kind of offense the Texans run isn't conducive to showing a look at the line of schrimmage, reading the coverage presented and changing according to what it sees --- its more predicated on rhythm and making the defense adjust to what the offense is doing. A 1/4 of the offense in fact is scripted before the game (15-20 plays). The next 3/4 is all stuff they've gone over the week before the game (really it was installed in OTAs/camp/preseason but its gone over again that week).

Also we need to be more specific about what kind of audibles we're talking about here. If you're asking for more audibles out of runs and into passes, thats a huge no no in this offense. Kubiak is committed to the run whether we're getting 2.9 yards a carry or 6. The offense HAS to have a run committment. Look at our play-action, teams around the league STILL bite on it even though we're so horrible at running the ball. Thats because the league knows how hard-nosed committed (no matter how stupid it is) Kubiak has this team to the run. Complain about it all you want but it gives Andre those 50-80 yard touchdown catches, all Andre needs is a safety to hesitate for a nano-second on the run and he's gone.

If we're talking about audibles like changing routes, thats also a no no in this offense. When you have a receiver as good as Andre, sometimes his assignment is to run to daylight. He reads what the corner is doing and if its press, he'll fake a slant and take em deep. If they're playing off he'll run a slant. Schaub knows this and reads the coverage as well. Option routes allow you to do essentially what an audible does but without interrupting the flow and rhythm of things. Not audibling also takes the option of changing the defensive look away from the defense.

If we're talking about audibles like changing protections, I think THIS is where the Chris Myers hate comes from. Since we don't audible, we don't change protection schemes based on the look. When this happens, Chris Myers ends up one-on-one with Kris Jenkins and gets tossed into the Bullpen at the snap of the ball.

Very nice post m5!

I agree, the only audibles should be either to change the protection scheme, and that should be done by Myers within the line, and Schaub to the backs & receivers, or to audible from a pass to a run when the defense dictates.

http://www.texanstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71328 <--- much more in-depth look at why. mk5watts goes over it some more.

Like it or lump it Peyton Manning's jazz hands audible-ing isn't going to be a part of this offense. I think Schaub's got a few audibles, only what he needs but the thing that kills me is like last year.....I think it was the 2nd Titans game but I'm not sure where they went up to the line and waited for the 2 minute warning to sound for about 15 seconds. Why not let Schaub organize a play from the line and snap it instead of pulling that whole routine and looking weak when you let the clock run down? THAT'S what kills me. The "brain" of the offense gets in the way.

Unfortunately that was the Colts game and it cost us the game possibly. Both Schaub and Kubiak took the fall for that in seperate interviews.

The real question, at least in my mind, is would the offense be any better if Schaub called audibles.

I'm not sure it would.

ObsiWan said:

The real question, at least in my mind, is would the offense be any better if Schaub called audibles.

I'm not sure it would.

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That was my thought too. I think Schaub trusts Kubiak's game plan and might shy away from audibleing even when he has the freedom to.

m5kwatts said:

The question isn't "why doesn't Kubiak give Schaub more freedom" but "why does this offense not work as well when its stalled or slowed by audibles?"

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First, we don't know if this offense would be "stalled or slowed by audibles." The Texans admittedly check out of plays infrequently. So we can't really determine what would happen if they did.

Second, I find it difficult to believe that teams like the Colts or the Pats (who do use audibles frequently) have less sophisticated offenses or do less pre-game planning than the Texans. Or don't run option routes. What I have seen is that their use of audibles puts plenty of pressure on opposing defenses to adjust to what they are doing.

Third, it seems to me that if a defense knows that an offense is unlikely to check out of a play, that defense would be much more comfortable checking into a different defense. Why not single up Andre Johnson in coverage, if the Texans rarely go to him in a given formation? And we've all seen that happen during the course of a game. Wouldn't the threat of an audible reduce the defense's options and help open up the field?

Finally, scripting plays has been shown to be very successful in the past. Bill Walsh made the concept famous, and it worked brilliantly. The Texans under Gary Kubiak, have had mixed results with scripted plays. One of the major complaints regarding this offense is its sluggishness in making adjustments. Do they have to go the full 15-20 plays, when the first half dozen or so show that the game plan's not on the right track?

The only thing that matters is results. If Kubiak isn't comfortable with audibles, so be it. As long as the team wins. I just find the justification for the Texans eschewing the use of audibles to be more cheerleaderish than fact based.

Lucky said:

First, we don't know if this offense would be "stalled or slowed by audibles." The Texans admittedly check out of plays infrequently. So we can't really determine what would happen if they did.

Second, I find it difficult to believe that teams like the Colts or the Pats (who do use audibles frequently) have less sophisticated offenses or do less pre-game planning than the Texans. Or don't run option routes. What I have seen is that their use of audibles puts plenty of pressure on opposing defenses to adjust to what they are doing.

Third, it seems to me that if a defense knows that an offense is unlikely to check out of a play, that defense would be much more comfortable checking into a different defense. Why not single up Andre Johnson in coverage, if the Texans rarely go to him in a given formation? And we've all seen that happen during the course of a game. Wouldn't the threat of an audible reduce the defense's options and help open up the field?

Finally, scripting plays has been shown to be very successful in the past. Bill Walsh made the concept famous, and it worked brilliantly. The Texans under Gary Kubiak, have had mixed results with scripted plays. One of the major complaints regarding this offense is its sluggishness in making adjustments. Do they have to go the full 15-20 plays, when the first half dozen or so show that the game plan's not on the right track?

The only thing that matters is results. If Kubiak isn't comfortable with audibles, so be it. As long as the team wins. I just find the justification for the Texans eschewing the use of audibles to be more cheerleaderish than fact based.

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Your first argument makes sense to me but number two and three have some major holes in them. Indy and New England rely completely on their QB's arms and therefore their game plan is to put the game on their shoulders and hope for them to carry them so their plan is to give them the freedom to do that.

Kubiak on the other hand wants a balanced attack so he doesn't want his qb checking out of running plays every chance he gets.

As for the third, if you put single coverage on AJ on ANY pass play Schaub will find him. It doesn't matter if they 'rarely' go to him.

V3rm0nt3r said:

Indy and New England rely completely on their QB's arms and therefore their game plan is to put the game on their shoulders and hope for them to carry them so their plan is to give them the freedom to do that.

Kubiak on the other hand wants a balanced attack so he doesn't want his qb checking out of running plays every chance he gets.

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The Pats were more balanced than the Texans in 2009. And 2008.

Schaub has earned the right to audible out of any play involving Chris Brown in Kubiak's eyes, which is why he got rid of Brown.

V3rm0nt3r said:

Kubiak on the other hand wants a balanced attack so he doesn't want his qb checking out of running plays every chance he gets.

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IMHO, I don't think it has anything to do with being balanced.

I think our plays are designed to handle certain situations. We should be able to run against an 8 man front. If the proper line calls are made, the proper blocks, and the RB makes the proper decision, we should be unstoppable.

We should be able to throw the ball in almost any situation, if the proper line calls are made, the proper blocks are made, the receivers run the proper routes, and Schaub makes the correct decision.

I think Kubiak wants Matt to trust the plays called, & the situation to call an audible should be extremely rare.. IMO, like the timeout he called which I referred to in my original post.