Problems Remain

So I think for them to have a legit shot at the playoffs they'll have to win every single game from here on out. At the very least they'll have to sweep both the Titans and Jaguars.

But who thinks that'll happen?

There are a lot of teams ahead that play a physical, defensive minded brand of football. In fact ALL of the remaining teams do, maybe save the Broncos. The kind of teams that routinely "debacled" the Texans. Are we, the fans, ready for a meltdown of colossal proportions?

In 2007 they had a 3 game losing streak in games 6,7,8 to the Titans, Jaguars and Chargers.
In 2008 they had a 4 game losing streak in games 1,2,3,4 to the Steelers, Titans, Jaguars and Colts with a 3 game losing streak in games 9, 10,11 to the Vikings, Ravens and Colts.
In 2009 they a 4 game losing streak in games 9,10,11,12 to the Colts, Titans, Jaguars and Colts again.
In 2010 they a (2 so far) game losing streak in games to the Colts and Chargers....up next are the Jaguars and Jets, a team that last we saw mopped the floor with us and a team that always seems to be in the middle of a multiple game mid season losing streak.

I look at the schedule and see 2 games where I expect a win. Eagles and Broncos. I see 6 games where I expect a loss, Titans x2, Jags x2, Ravens, Jets. 6 and 10. :vomit: The last time we went 6-10 under Kubiak? The last time the schedule included the NFC East. They started that year with 3 losses to the Eagles, Colts and Redskins. The Jets and Raiders happened to be opponents that year as well.

Trends are trends. They are well on their way to another 3 (and possibly more) game losing streak for a 5th year under Kubiak. The DT's still suck. The secondary is still awful. The OL just barely gets enough time for the QB to blink. The coach is still hiring his buddies. Mr. McNair still doesn't demand change. The fans still eat it up.....and dream of hiring coach Cowher....

So it's happening again. 8-8 at this point will be another mini-moral victory, everyone will keep their job and everything that desperately needs a change won't.

And since you've made it this far, let me continue to bore you to death with depressing Texans related opinions:

The rookies this year suck. I'm not saying they won't have some time...I'm saying they all suck.

Jackson- Suck.
Tate- Sucks that he's hurt.
Mitchell- Suck.
Sharpton- Suck.
McMannis- Suck.
Holliday- Suck.
Smith- Suck.
Dickerson- Sucks that he won't play a single down this year.

Also, the 2008 draft is laughable. Duane Brown, Molden, Adibi, Okam, D. Barber and ALEX BRINK.

:shotgun:

I've been prepared for this since McNair kept Kubes for another year. That was easy, because I prepared myself the same way after McNair kept Kubes two years ago.

I have a trend too.

I disagree with the Eagles win part. I don't think that is necessarily an automatic win. In fact, I think it will be a loss. Looking at the schedule, the Broncos are the only ones I think we will probably win - the rest? If they play like they played yesterday - I can't see a win anywhere. The Titans, Jets and possibly Baltimore are going to run all over us and then mop the field with our secondary.

I haven't felt this down about the Texans since 2-14. I stayed with them through that and I'll stay with them this year. I'm not holding out much hope unless a miracle happens or someone somewhere manages to fix all that is wrong.

Runner said:

I've been prepared for this since McNair kept Kubes for another year. That was easy, because I prepared myself the same way after McNair kept Kubes two years ago.

I have a trend too.

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This

I can't really disagree with anything you said here TimeKiller. Kubiak's kids are about to enter the half of our schedule where some seriously bad boys lurk. Tennessee's defense is going to feast on us. We will lose both games against them. We could possibly sweep the Jaguars but it won't offset the total ass-beating we have coming at the hands of the Ravens and Jets. That's four losses right there and I expect the Eagles to beat us in Philadelphia as well. I genuinely believe we'll be lucky to get out of this season 7-9 now. If we'd won the last two games as we should have we'd be looking at a relatively straightforward path to another 9-7.

to me 7-9 is a strange piece of ground to be on. One more win and you're .500 again and Bob McNair is talking about how respectable you are. One more loss and I can't imagine how you keep Kubiak and his staff around with statistics like we have on defense and the inconsistency we've shown on offense.

TimeKiller said:

The rookies this year suck. I'm not saying they won't have some time...I'm saying they all suck.

Jackson- Suck.
Tate- Sucks that he's hurt.
Mitchell- Suck.
Sharpton- Suck.
McMannis- Suck.
Holliday- Suck.
Smith- Suck.
Dickerson- Sucks that he won't play a single down this year.

Also, the 2008 draft is laughable. Duane Brown, Molden, Adibi, Okam, D. Barber and ALEX BRINK.

:shotgun:

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Good post. This part in particular really stands out to me. I keep wondering lately, how much of this team's situation is on Rick Smith? The drafts have not been productive. Free agent signings have been minimal and mostly irrelevant. I think this teams is playing right at the talent level that Smith has supplied it with, which is borderline playoff talent.

RTP2110 said:

Good post. This part in particular really stands out to me. I keep wondering lately, how much of this team's situation is on Rick Smith? The drafts have not been productive. Free agent signings have been minimal and mostly irrelevant. I think this teams is playing right at the talent level that Smith has supplied it with, which is borderline playoff talent.

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All these players are talented enough to excel with decent coaching. Players
have to be DEVELOPED. We've seen NOTHING but draft picks REGRESS. Amobi was ALL-WORLD in his first 8 games in the NFL. Haven't
seen him since.

Good coaches find out what the player is good at, and makes him do
JUST THAT, within the scheme of the offense or defense. See Belichick or
Lebeau or Capers.

RTP2110 said:

Good post. This part in particular really stands out to me. I keep wondering lately, how much of this team's situation is on Rick Smith? The drafts have not been productive. Free agent signings have been minimal and mostly irrelevant. I think this teams is playing right at the talent level that Smith has supplied it with, which is borderline playoff talent.

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The draft picks that have left people shaking their heads over the course of this teams existence just defy belief. That we could get a pair of GM's both drafting badly seems impossible but the day we took Amobi Okoye instead of either Willis or Revis I sat in a room full of stunned Texans fans and in the back of my mind thought "These guys aren't any better than Casserly was"

We'd just taken Travis Johnson over Derrick Johnson two years before. We were desperate for a corner or another LB to pair with Ryans to sideline Greenwood but we took a teenage project undersized DT who hasn't played better than a single grunt we've brought in from the street since the day he got here.

Bizarre drafting is like a Texans tradition now I guess.

DexmanC said:

All these players are talented enough to excel with decent coaching. Players
have to be DEVELOPED. We've seen NOTHING but draft picks REGRESS. Amobi was ALL-WORLD in his first 8 games in the NFL. Haven't
seen him since.

Good coaches find out what the player is good at, and makes him do
JUST THAT, within the scheme of the offense or defense. See Belichick or
Lebeau or Capers.

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What you said here is true but then so is what I just typed a moment ago. You would think (using Okoye as an example) that we have two different opinions about what's wrong with our draft picks but the reality is that we're both right.

At times we seem intent on drafting positions we want and ignoring positions that we have real needs for. Then we get those players and don't even develop them. It's just incredibly wasteful.

I keep coming back in my mind to trading Jason Babin for that safety from Seattle who's now out of football. We did that after Jason Babin had returned to his natural position and had the best camp of his career "because we were deep at that position". WTF? We've NEVER been deep at being able to get to the QB. So we get a safety who sucks, give up on a first rounder who is just now being used properly, and then cut the safety. Fast forward and we're drafting Conner Barwin and having to replace the player that Gary & Rick traded away two years before.

Morons.

RTP2110 said:

Good post. This part in particular really stands out to me. I keep wondering lately, how much of this team's situation is on Rick Smith? The drafts have not been productive. Free agent signings have been minimal and mostly irrelevant. I think this teams is playing right at the talent level that Smith has supplied it with, which is borderline playoff talent.

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Well....I got time:
(IIRC Rick Smith wasn't involved in the 2006 draft, so here we start with 2007)
2007-Grades are in. 1 Mega bust, 2 starters, a backup and 3 early exits. F.
1 Amobi Okoye- Suck
3 Jacoby Jones- Electrifyingly sucks lolz
4 Fred Bennett- Doesn't play in the NFL
5 Brandon Harrison- Doesn't play in the NFL
5 Brandon Frye- Doesn't play in the NFL
6 Kasey Studdard- Backup
7 Zac Diles- Somewhere between Pro Bowler and Suck

2008 Grades are in here as well. 1 starter, 1 backup, 3,482 injuries for a D.
1 Duane Brown- Starter, sure but getting popped for banned substances sucks
3 Antwaun Molden- Injured/Suck
4 Xavier Adibi- Injured/Couldn't keep an assignment if his career depended on it. Too bad it doesn't.
5 Frank Okam- Doesn't play in the NFL
6 D Barber- Backup
7 Alex Brink- I can't believe that I didn't get drafted, sheesh....

2009 Grades are almost in, Cushing's act doesn't make it easier to grade but this is a decent draft so...B+ with upward potential.
1 Brian Cushing- Dr Jekyll stopped his pharmaceuticals and now Mr. Hyde is gone. So...I don't know what to say. Starter?
2 Connor Barwin- Starter, likely impact player
3 Antoine Caldwell- Starter
4 Glover Quin- Best CB on the team/Starter
4 Anthony Hill- Injured/Suck
5 James Casey- Solid Backup
6 Brice McCain- Backup
7 Troy Nolan- Should be starting but Backup

2010 I know it's early for a grade but the outlook is grim anyway. Some serious turning around needs to get a move on if this is to be anything but another F.
1 Kareem Jackson- Suck.
2 Ben Tate- Sucks that he's hurt.
3 Earl Mitchell- Suck.
4 Al Sharpton- Suck.
5 Sherrick McMannis- Suck.
6 Trindon Holliday- Suck.
6 Shelley Smith- Suck.
7 Dorin Dickerson- Sucks that he won't play a single down this year.

So...ZERO superstar picks. A few really good picks and a handful of just okay picks....and far too many "Not playing in the NFL"-ers for me.

Since Rick Smith orchestrated the Matt Schaub trade through the draft, I'll give him some points for that. Also, I believe he has handled the money/contract situations fairly well. I'm not trying to pump him up here, I'm trying to present all the pros and cons that I can see. Rick Smith, like the rest of this organization from tippity top to biggity bottom has performed okay. Average. .500. Yeah.... .500, that's a good grade for Smith.

RTP2110 said:

Good post. This part in particular really stands out to me. I keep wondering lately, how much of this team's situation is on Rick Smith? The drafts have not been productive. Free agent signings have been minimal and mostly irrelevant. I think this teams is playing right at the talent level that Smith has supplied it with, which is borderline playoff talent.

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LZ's Blog said:

Rick Smith has made it known to me in the past that HE is in charge of bringing in personnel, but I've talked to people in the war room who have said that Kubiak has had final say in the past. Rick Smith didn't want two of the defensive backs who were drafted over the last few years, but Kubiak overruled him. I can't put that on Rick Smith's ticket, but Smith and Kubiak are the brain-trust behind Amobi Okoye, Antonio Smith's big contract despite not being a big time pass rusher, cutting Tramon Williams who is playing great CB in Green Bay.

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LZ thinks that Kubiak and RS are not "joined by hips", and I feel the same way as well. Remember that Smith had his contract extended to 2012 two seasons(?) before Kubiak's extension.

Yeah, we had a draft that completely contributes nothing for this year. yeah, Tate got hurt but it is nothing.

PockyAF said:

LZ thinks that Kubiak and RS are not "joined by hips", and I feel the same way as well. Remember that Smith had his contract extended to 2012 two seasons(?) before Kubiak's extension.

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I agree with you. Smith can manage to keep his job if he throws Kubiak under the bus. I could see a scenario where Gary could do Smith in the same way.

The worse this gets the harder it will be to tell who is responsible for what. Kubiak will begin putting the bad picks on Smith and vice-versa.

When it comes to talent evaluation I'm inclined to think that Kubiak is probably the short bus kid and Smith probably has a better grasp of what he's looking at. The reason I say this is who goes out and hunts down the players we bring in every year when we get our sweep of injuries? Who finds the street free agents who are worth looking at? I can't imagine that during the season Kubiak is the guy primarily responsible for that. That's gotta be Rick Smith doing that. When you get in the draft I bet Kubiak is all up in his **** about this player or that player but when Gary's trying to win enough games to keep his job and get his team off of their mid-season slump (and into their late-season character building "never say die" finish) then he doesn't have time to be digging these guys up. He might be picking which ones we offer contracts to but the man who puts the free agents in front of him is Rick Smith.

Well, whoever made the DT picks needs to start packing their bags. The Okoye pick in particular is killing us. I was screaming for Revis or some other DB and they took freaking Okoye, because he graduated from college early. Matter of fact, that was the last draft I bothered to watch.

HJam72 said:

Well, whoever made the DT picks needs to start packing their bags. The Okoye pick in particular is killing us. I was screaming for Revis or some other DB and they took freaking Okoye, because he graduated from college early. Matter of fact, that was the last draft I bothered to watch.

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Yeah, Willis, Revis, both on the board still. It was almost impossible to screw that pick up but I'll be damned if we didn't manage to anyway.

SO I hate to say I told you so....

wait...

....no actually I LOVE saying I told you so. This is a pattern. Welcome to predictable mediocrity. If Kubiak is given another year, I will bring this thread back up from it's grave and say I told you so again and again for any more seasons that Bob McNair actually believes that Kubiak is the right man or thinks that enough seats are filled to not give a ****. That's the only two possible reasons. Can you think of any other?

1. He actually thinks this is a good team.
2. He is making enough money to not care about what you think of the team.

BY THE FREAKING WAY

11 people FROM Houston, Texas can play defense just as well as these bums. I believe I'd rather see that than anything else Frank Bush or the joke of a unit that calls themselves a "defense" will provide for the rest of the year.

I know this won't be the last game I watch but this is my official "I'm in playoff mode" post. I don't care about the team struggling. My fandom is about as burned as Kareem Jackson. Time to watch real teams and real coaches playing real football. Playtime is over.

Oh yeah, FIRE KUBIAK.

Outty 5000, ya'll take it sleazy.

I just re-read some of the post draft comments. Pretty entertaining stuff from the Smithiak lovers.

I readily admit that I was wrong about stuff, by the way, so its not like I am trying to toot my own horn.

PockyAF said:

LZ thinks that Kubiak and RS are not "joined by hips", and I feel the same way as well. Remember that Smith had his contract extended to 2012 two seasons(?) before Kubiak's extension.

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I wish we had a strong GM who made his own decision and actually ran the team. I think Smith could be that guy, but they need to empower him.

kiwitexansfan said:

I wish we had a strong GM who made his own decision and actually ran the team. I think Smith could be that guy, but they need to empower him.

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As soon as the NBA trade deadline ends....which is about a week after the SB, The Rockets need to loan Daryl Morey to the Texans and let him run their offseason.

BigBull17 said:

Yeah, we had a draft that completely contributes nothing for this year. yeah, Tate got hurt but it is nothing.

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Even if Tate wasn't hurt, then it means nothing, we've not had problems at RB in the slightest. Tate can't cover, intercept or sack the QB, and I doubt he would have been a hugely effective weapon in the passing game this season.

These drafts do seem to have gone downhill in a hurry. Geniuses of the world one year, dunces the next. I'm still head scratching how they've put Jackson in this situation and left him there. I didn't watch much of his college career, but goodness me, its a HWWNBN situation out there, just with any receiver that has half a step and a route running brain instead of D men lining up for their 5th sack of the game.

rmartin65 said:

I just re-read some of the post draft comments. Pretty entertaining stuff from the Smithiak lovers.

I readily admit that I was wrong about stuff, by the way, so its not like I am trying to toot my own horn.

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I drank a few koolaids back then too but the evidence is starting to become overwhelmingly negative. Coupled with the failures and redundance of the failures on the field the outlook is getting dimmer all the time.

Kubiak's statement of "Frank Bush is doing a heckuva job" is the most glaring flaw of this organization. Glossing over of failure. If "it's on him" then why is he here? To be our punching bag?

Hervoyel said:

The draft picks that have left people shaking their heads over the course of this teams existence just defy belief. That we could get a pair of GM's both drafting badly seems impossible but the day we took Amobi Okoye instead of either Willis or Revis I sat in a room full of stunned Texans fans and in the back of my mind thought "These guys aren't any better than Casserly was"

We'd just taken Travis Johnson over Derrick Johnson two years before. We were desperate for a corner or another LB to pair with Ryans to sideline Greenwood but we took a teenage project undersized DT who hasn't played better than a single grunt we've brought in from the street since the day he got here.

Bizarre drafting is like a Texans tradition now I guess.

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Think of all the money Bob is saving by not having Revis on our team. e should be able to use that savings to land a significant free agent this off season or not.

The jets, Titans twice, Eagles, Ravens, Broncos and Jags once more.

Give me one reason to believe any of these teams can be beaten by the Texans. I dare you, I double dog dare you. Ready? Set.....GO!

TimeKiller said:

The jets, Titans twice, Eagles, Ravens, Broncos and Jags once more.

Give me one reason to believe any of these teams can be beaten by the Texans. I dare you, I double dog dare you. Ready? Set.....GO!

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Visiting teams miss their flight and forfeit?