Capers Job Security

Here's an article on PFW's website regarding Capers' job security.

Texans’ tumult could hurt Capers’ job security


A rough start to the season has put Texans head coach Dom Capers squarely on the hot seat.

The way we hear it, Capers’ job could be in danger if the Texans don’t show improvement in the final 14 games. Capers, whose contract with the club reportedly runs through the 2006 season, has led the expansion franchise to a 16-34 mark in a little more than three seasons at the helm.

After lifeless losses to the Bills and Steelers, Capers made some changes during the team’s Week Three bye. He fired offensive coordinator Chris Palmer, replacing him with OL coach Joe Pendry. Capers also benched two defensive starters, OLB Jason Babin and CB Phillip Buchanon.

How Pendry fares looks to be of particular importance to Capers’ job security. Pendry was Capers’ offensive coordinator in Carolina from 1995 to ’97 before leaving to take the Bills’ offensive coordinator position. It has been rumored that Capers fired Pendry from the Panthers’ job, but Capers claimed otherwise last week.

Pendry is charged with reworking one of the league’s weakest offenses. The Texans have scored 14 points in two games, and QB David Carr has been under siege in the pocket, taking 13 sacks. According to league sources, there were whispers some players had started to lose confidence in Palmer as the unit struggled.

Pendry has been very vocal with the offense early on, according to a source close to the club, yelling at receivers who don’t run precise routes and even benching Carr in practice for not getting rid of the ball quickly enough.

On the other side of the ball, Capers hopes the benching of Babin and Buchanon shakes the struggling defense out of its doldrums. Capers’ other goal: putting the starters on both sides of the ball on notice. Capers said Babin and Buchanon disappointed with their play in the loss to the Steelers, along with a number of other people.

For now, former ILB Shantee Orr will replace Babin at left outside linebacker, with Demarcus Faggins replacing Buchanon at the LCB position. There is a feeling among some Texans observers that Faggins could keep Buchanon on the bench for quite some time if he plays well. The team’s personnel staff is high on Faggins, who has played well in nickel situations. Buchanon played especially poorly vs. the Steelers, and a source close to the team believes Capers had little choice but to bench him.

We’re hearing that marked improvement by the Texans’ defense could help Capers’ chances of keeping his job. Capers is known for his defensive expertise after enjoying success while coaching that side of the ball in Pittsburgh, Carolina and Jacksonville. However, the Texans have struggled defensively during much of his tenure in Houston, particularly with regard to rushing the passer.

The benching of Babin and Buchanon also could increase the scrutiny on general manager Charley Casserly’s personnel moves. Casserly traded second-, third- and fourth-round picks in a deal for the Titans’ first-round pick in ’04; that pick yielded Babin, who hasn’t made much of an impact in his first two seasons. Casserly dealt second- and third-round picks in the ’05 draft for Buchanon, who had fallen out of favor in Oakland.

The road ahead doesn’t get much easier for the Texans. The team has yet to play any of its AFC South opponents, all of whom have won at least one game this season.





http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+Way+We+Hear+It/default.htm

Capers will be out of here soon. Chad Johnson is gonna go to town on our DB's. Looks like 7 points will not be enough to beat Cincy. Go Longhorns!!!!!

Babin was not Casserly's pick. That's who Capers wanted. Capers is like a matadoor with the cape and Casserly is the Bull. If Casserly doesn't watch it his friend will have a sword for him.

Ibar_Harry said:

Babin was not Casserly's pick. That's who Capers wanted. Capers is like a matadoor with the cape and Casserly is the Bull. If Casserly doesn't watch it his friend will have a sword for him.

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What about Buchanon? I know Casserly arranged the deal, but was that because he wanted him, or was it someone else?

Ibar_Harry said:

Babin was not Casserly's pick. That's who Capers wanted. Capers is like a matadoor with the cape and Casserly is the Bull. If Casserly doesn't watch it his friend will have a sword for him.

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They are all Casserly's picks as he has the final say.

ArlingtonTexan said:

They are all Casserly's picks as he has the final say.

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That 'buck stops here' crud means dada. A head coach has great influence on what the GM does, either with trades, or through the draft. Someone mentioned swords. You could have a case here where Casserly will fall on his 'sword' in order to get Capers off the hook . . . but will that solve the problem?

Marcus said:

What about Buchanon? I know Casserly arranged the deal, but was that because he wanted him, or was it someone else?

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Honestly I think that was a Caper's pick.

I heard that Capers and Fangio both had the hots for Babin, and Casserly basically asked them if this was the man they thought would be an impact pass rusher, and take this D to the next level. When Capers said yes, than Cass said we will do whatever is needed to get him. Ultimately, that is the GM's responsibility, with heavy input from the coaches. I say fire all of them, as the personell moves have left a lot to be desired.

Porky said:

I say fire all of them, as the personell moves have left a lot to be desired.

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Let's think about that for sec. When you say 'fire all of them' it of course would be McNair that would have to do that. And if he did that, then that would mean that McNair is admitting that he himself made personnel moves that left a lot to be desired.

Can't see him just blowing it up, and completely starting over, although I wish he would. Maybe that's why part of me wishes they would go 0 - 16.



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I just feel like Fangio should be gone because it seems his defenses don't have the same success as the other 3-4 defenses in the league.

I'm confidant that McNair will clean house to include getting rid of the GM if he doesn't think they can make the Texans winners. The buck "does stop" with him and he is the one who has, far and away, the largest financial investment. McNair is not like some owners who inheritaed a family business
or great wealth. He is a self-made billioniare and as long as he's fit and able, I don't think he would ever part with this franchise until its a successful competitor in the NFL. And he knows he's got to have competant people to
make that happen.

Marcus said:

That 'buck stops here' crud means dada. A head coach has great influence on what the GM does, either with trades, or through the draft. Someone mentioned swords. You could have a case here where Casserly will fall on his 'sword' in order to get Capers off the hook . . . but will that solve the problem?

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Organizations run differently. Some the GM and coach are the same person. Some the GM tells the coach here ya go and you better win. From everything that I have seen with the Texans, Capers and Casserly work together, but at the end of the day it is Casserly rear on the line for personnel acquisition decisions.

As for fall on a sword, don't think so. Not one guy in this organization has done more than a mediocore at best, so they all should be looking over thier backs and polishing up resumes. Overall, coaches seem to go faster than GMs, but if this season continues as is nobody(rightly so) is safe.

IMO, Capers and crew would/will go, but CC will stick around through 1-2 years of the new group. If by then the team isn't getting it done then CC is like PBuc.....he is toast.

:brickwall I just don't see this explosive player in Babin . We gave up alot to get a player who's not as good as Peek a third rounder .

please tell me you homers aren't blaming capers for casserly's mis-judging of talent? scapegoating becomes you.

And duffus type remarks become you.

I just don't understand what happened at the end of last season.

We throttled Jaksonville, we were winning games, we were holding other offenses.

And then the Cleveland game hit us right in the fanny.

Since that game, it's never been right. I just don't understand what changed and turned this team so poorly at the end of the season last year.

Maybe the team's confidence in Palmer just vanished completely after the Cleveland game. Maybe they were riding high on the wins, and then Palmer just blew the Cleveland game and THAT'S what broke the back of the team?

This whole thing is like a bad dream.

This team is NOT that bad, regardless of our recent games.

gpshafer_1976 said:

This team is NOT that bad, regardless of our recent games.

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I agree. I don't know what is going on, but so far this season we have taken a huge step backwards. I don't like our play calling, our countless penalties, our sloppy play, and especially our attitude. If those factors don't change drastically - Capers has to go.

I don't know about Casserly. For every negative, there's also a positive. He brought in David Carr, Andre Johnson, Gary Walker, Dunta Robinson, Aaron Glenn, Marcus Coleman, and (Tony Boselli?). He also grabbed Domanick Davis with a late draft pick. Maybe he could have done better, but I think we have enough tools to be a decent young team. The biggest failures I've seen from him are: Jabbar Gaffney, letting Sharper and Glenn go with nothing in return, and passing on Derrick Johnson. Also, I don't know who made the call, but I didn't want to come into this season with the exact same recievers. We know Gaffney sucks, we know Bradford isn't a reliable 2 - why not let Sloan Thomas show us what he's got.

From what I have been able to see most of CC high profile mistakes have come from listning to much to the coaching staffs. Fagio and Capers wanted PBuc and Capers told him Babin was worth the get (may still be, but looking a bit short). CC seems to have tried to give the coaching staff what they said they needed to win and they haven't been good choices. Made some real good ones though and I suspect those were mostly on his own or at least without the coaches pleading for a specific player. I also think he has a tendency to outsmart himself.

"I heard that Capers and Fangio both had the hots for Babin"


...a source or quote, please

ESPN's Chris Mortensen is a regular guest on a sports radio show in Miami and does a pretty nice job covering many NFL topics during his weekly hour. On his show following the Bills debacle, he was asked him directly about the implications of the 2005 Texans coming out looking like the 2002 Texans. To my surprise, Mortensen (who doesn't usually say much about the AFC South unless it includes the words "Manning" or "Leftwich") didn't miss a beat. He said, "You know, I was on the phone with Dom Capers this afternoon and asked him about that." It was the first time I'd actually heard someone in the national (non-Houston) sports media acknowledge that Capers was on the hot seat. It's a sign of awareness that some in the NFL community (like many local fans) aren't willing to give the Texans staff the "expansion" pass anymore.

He added that Capers was very much aware that the pressure was on. And Mortensen never fell back to that same old "it's the offensive line" comment that most of the national media uses as their entire opinion about the Texans.

Capers will obviously shoulder the blame (or credit) for what happens from here on out. But unless this team totally goes into the tank, I can't believe he'll be fired anytime soon. I mean, why? You know they wouldn't hire a permanent coach until the year's over.

As for Casserly, that's another story, but if the talent isn't living up to the hype, there'll be an argument that he should go out the door with Capers. It's not the worst thing. For example, the Dolphins are (so far) loving the fact that they ditched their coach and pseudo-GM in the same offseason. And even after dumping a large number of players from the Wannstedt regime in that same offseason, they're managing to field a nice team this year. Not the best, but better than the Texans even after much more turnover.

I still hope that the ship gets righted and somebody figures out how to resurrect the team that stomped on Jacksonville's throat last year.