Carr, O-Line or backs??

I stomached all 4 quarters of the game yesterday. I was watching the game at a sportsbar with the Astros on 13413 screens and the Texans on 2. My friends were laughing at me when we did some good things and I would be the only person in the bar standing and cheering. Okay.. so now to my point.

The Offensive Line played HORRIBLE. Carr played just as poorly as the O-Line IMO. The runningbacks seemed to pull a P-Buc on blitzers, allowing them free shots at Carr.

Victor Riley doesnt have the quickness to play Left Tackle. That's very obvious now. The same thing can be said about Todd Wade. Wade seems to be moving in mud and he lacks strength. He's beat by bull rushes on many plays. McKinney actually played a decent game. Weigert got beat on bull rushes and at times in pass protection he'd just be standing there not hitting anyone. Pitts seems to be the best we have in pass protection. His problem seems to be his football intelegence. WAY too many penalties for Pitts.

There were a few times where Carr had a pocket and protection, he just wouldnt get rid of the ball. I'd see him take a five step drop and then instead of throwing the ball, he'd keep it and start looking around, resulting in a sack. Watching other QB's play yesterday, I'd see 5 or 7 step drops and as soon as they get to the end of their drop back, the ball is released. Times when he did throw the ball, the passes seemed to be off target, usually behind the reciever. He's not giving his recievers chances to get any yards after the catch because they have to stop, catch the ball and then run again.

The runningbacks are pathetic in pass protection. I dont know what Dominick Davis's assignments are on the plays but when the middleline backer is blitzing I really doubt that Davis is supposed to just run past him.

I'm searching for reason's to be optomistic about my team and loosing reasons every weekend. The coaches need to figure out how to protect Carr. They need to teach Carr what his job is... THROWING THE BALL. If I was the QB coach I'd have Carr throw a ball through a tire for the first 3 practices. His accuracy on sunday was PATHETIC.

AHHHHHHH frustration is setting in.... It's going to be a long 12 weeks.

Honestly I am all for being a run dominated team at this point. This is what we do best.

My coach in college said it best to me after I made a bone head play in practice, "Stop showing me what you can't do, show me what you can do."

I think they should put Pitts back at LT, Wiegert at LG Take your pick at Center but for the sake of naming someone let McKinney keep his job for now, Riley at RG and make Wade and Wand fight it out for RT.

Forget the for now TEs they aren't blocking or catching at this point so they are a non issue but i'll get to them in a second. Put in a split back RB, FB backfield for max protection and a three wide set. The question of footwork from the tackle position wouldn't be as big an issue because the FB & RB would be there to back them up and catch blitzers. Everyone out of the backfield except Morency is a recieving threat as well (he could be too, but i haven't seen it) and that would still make them have to defend the run.

Cut Rivers all together and start rotating Bruener and Murphey in at fullback to keep Carr's last line of defense fresh. These guys should be able to run the ball up the gut in a pinch too. Someone just needs to teach them to get low and drive with their legs if they don't already know how.

We could pound on opposition from that formation and they wouldn't be able to tell if it's pass or run unless they were able to get us into obvious passing situations. It would also give Carr more of a pocket to step up into.

Maybe then defenses wouldn't kill us with a four man front and have 7 men in coverage leaving no room for our receiving corp to work. I could wrong about all this but that's my opinion. Seems to me it's at least worth a try.

McKinney was responsible for a sack. He double teamed a guard and let the man right in front of him go straight to the QB.

SESupergenius said:

McKinney was responsible for a sack. He double teamed a guard and let the man right in front of him go straight to the QB.

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That's true. So put the rookie in, he can't do any worse than what we've seen out of the Center position thus far. My only thought is at this point it might be wash whether it's mcKinny, washington, or the rookie.

William.carter said:

I think they should put Pitts back at LT, Wiegert at LG Take your pick at Center but for the sake of naming someone let McKinney keep his job for now, Riley at RG and make Wade and Wand fight it out for RT.

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What has Riley done to make him a keeper in the starting 5? He'd be just as tired after a few series at guard as he is at tackle.

Runner said:

What has Riley done to make him a keeper in the starting 5? He'd be just as tired after a few series at guard as he is at tackle.

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His crappy foot work is less of an issue at guard. That and he's mauler not really a true skill blocker. Besides, what other Guard would you put in his place that we have on the roster if we move wiegert to LG?

I say they bench Carr for two reasons:

1) Benching him will give Ragone and Banks a shot. If neither of these two can muster a win or look any better than Carr then I think that's proof enough that Carr is not the problem.
2) Benching him will keep him safe. Maybe in that time he can watch from the sidelines and look within himself to find what it takes to win.

Either way, putting Carr on the bench makes sense. Its nothing against him, its just we need to find out whether our number 1 QB is the problem or what exactly the problem is.

William.carter said:

His crappy foot work is less of an issue at guard. That and he's mauler not really a true skill blocker. Besides, what other Guard would you put in his place that we have on the roster if we move wiegert to LG?

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Well, I wouldn't move Weigert but I didn't want to get too far off my point.

I don't think Riley has done anything to justify more playing time. I would give another guard a chance in front of Riley. Riley has a serious conditioning issue and I'll take a player who can play the whole game at closer to 100% then one who gets visibly tired after a few series. I also don't assume Riley is any better than our back-up guards. He's had his chance; I'd like to see what other players have to offer.

I'm also willing to give a player like Weary, Washington, or Brown 3-4 games to get in sync and up to game speed before I write them off. I understand it is hard for a player who has had very little consistent game time to come in and be at the top of their game. If the coaches do make some changes, give the new players as much of a chance as our current starters have had.