This is a Transitional Year

I've been trying to say it for weeks, but have been ignored. This team may take a step backwards to go two steps forward. We have made some huge changes to our lineup.

On defense we have 8 guys that are either playing new positions, coming back from serious injuries, or rookies. We have reshuffled our offense some too with five guys starting new positions for us (I'm including Baxter and Bruener). With 13 new starters, we need to be patient with both units. There are going to be mistakes and growing pains with this many changes. Those of you with super high expections for us, were probably not looking at the big picture. Everything is pointing to 2005 and 2006 as big seasons for us.

My only concerns right now are:
1. DD's fumbles
2. Our lack of a pass-rush
3. Too many penalties

Other than that I like what I see. We cut down on the turnovers, reduce our penalties and get a bit more better pressure on the QB, and we might end this season strong.

I've been disappointed in our losses, but I do see us improving in many ways.
Has anyone taken the time to look at Carr's numbers? He has made huge strides from last year. His completion percentages are insane.

Babin has been disruptive on many plays. I can only imagine how good he can be when he catches up to the speed of the game.

All four of our WR's have made clutch catches and have played well to date.

I see brighter days in our future.

Thats a pretty good analogy. One that I have no problem agreeing with. I just wish they would start the improvement this Sunday instead of some hazy future time.

Capers needs to have a clipboard with all gameplan scenarios and counterplays.......not look like a waiter with his notepad taking orders or like a scout for the team!

Yes, I agree....we do need to get a pass rush going, bring those turnovers to zero if possible at the very least and have some + in that colum if possible, and last but not least.....bring those penalties down significantly!

SBTexans08 said:

Capers needs to have a clipboard with all gameplan scenarios and counterplays.......not look like a waiter with his notepad taking orders or like a scout for the team!

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Has the level of football analysis really sunk so low that Capers' method of taking notes is actually a serious concern? Guess Tom Landry looked pretty silly doing exactly the same thing.

One more thing.......get that O-line from being punked out there. Give our QB some time for Christ's sake!!

Here's my spin on that.

I look at the starting defense on September 8, 2002 and I see these names:

Walker
Payne
DeLoach
Wong
Foreman
Sharper
Glenn
Coleman
Brown

Eight of our 11 defensive starters two years ago are still our starters. Smith, Wong, and Coleman's transitions should have been seamless IMO. They are big boys - veterans who should need no excuses. Babin and Dunta get a free ride for 1/2 season. Injuries happen and I don't see that Walker and Glenn need more time to recover. I think Payne may still be less than 100% but he may never recover to what he was at the beginning of last season. We are what we are, and with the exception of Babin and Dunta, I don't see anyone really capable of raising their level of play much more, simply by playing more games.

It is supposed to be a transitional year. A transition from being a 4 or 5 win team to a 7 or 8 win team that can do a little better than 1-5 in the division.

Wiegert and Wade were signed because they are good run blockers. They aren't bad pass-blockers but it is not their strength. Wand and Pitts have potential to outplay them in a year or two. Right now, though, the right side of the line is stronger overall, particularly run blocking.

I agree with AJ 100% about our defense.

This young team stuff doesn't fly either. I keep hearing that and 5 year plan. In this day and age you can just about fill what ever need you have via free agency. I can't help that we run a 3-4 defense and have trouble finding players because it takes tweeners and huge gap filling dt's that can take on 2 ol at once. Maybe we should have left Coleman at cb and drafted Wilford to be that gap filler since they are so hard to find. Stop all the excuses for this team. We don't expect playoffs but we do expect progress. What about the expansion draft, those were veterans. The only young players we have are ones we drafted like every other nfl team. The Texans began in 2002 but with a mix of players. Two pro bowl corners. An awesome mlb in Sharper. Payne and Walker on the dl. Offensively we chose to start with a rookie qb and build around him. Rookie qbs get thrown out to start their first year all the time. The offensive line is where we should have really picked up some talent. IMHO both lines are our main problem. WR is fine when Carr gets time to throw. RB we have 2 good ones. We are young only by the year we started. We aren't working with a farm system like mlb. Every player we have is elite because he is in the nfl.

bckey said:

I agree with AJ 100% about our defense.

This young team stuff doesn't fly either. I keep hearing that and 5 year plan. In this day and age you can just about fill what ever need you have via free agency. I can't help that we run a 3-4 defense and have trouble finding players because it takes tweeners and huge gap filling dt's that can take on 2 ol at once.

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Perhaps they felt it would take 4 full years to stock a roster of ideal players and truly compete in year 5. Why is that so out of the question? This is year three and it sure does not look like we have all the players we need to compete for the Super Bowl.

I agree with you Vinny about the players. But I see upcoming holes that are going to have to be filled. The DL is the most glaring. By year 5 some of our best players will be out of their prime and some are already. Aaron Glen is still good but for how many more years? Payne, Walker, and Sharper. Every team has to deal with refilling holes in their lineup. Here is a list of all our players that will be 30 or older by our 5th year.

Banks, Tony QB 6-4 230 1973-04-05 ***
Bradford, Corey WR 6-1 197 1975-12-08
Brown, Eric SS 6-0 210 1975-03-20
Brown, Kris K 5-11 206 1976-12-23
Bruener, Mark TE 6-4 260 1972-09-16 ***
Coleman, Marcus FS 6-2 210 1974-05-24 ***
Foreman, Jay LB 6-1 240 1976-12-18
Glenn, Aaron CB 5-9 185 1972-07-16 ***
McKinney, Steve C 6-4 302 1975-10-15
Payne, Seth DT 6-4 303 1975-02-12
Sears, Corey DE 6-3 319 1973-04-15 ***
Sharper, Jamie LB 6-3 240 1974-11-23
Simmons, Jason CB 5-9 198 1976-03-30
Spears, Marcus T 6-4 320 1971-09-28 ***
Stanley, Chad P 6-3 205 1976-01-29
Wade, Todd T 6-8 315 1976-10-30
Walker, Gary DE 6-2 305 1973-02-28 ***
Washington, Todd C 6-3 310 1976-07-19
Wiegert, Zach T 6-5 309 1973-08-16 ***
Wong, Kailee LB 6-2 250 1976-05-23

*** denotes already 30 or older

You need a mix of veterans and young players. I'm just pointing out that some of these players may be past their prime by year 5. You also have to consider players that just leave and sign with another team. Players want to win and if you don't show improvement some may bolt. If you pay enough most will stay but you can't pay everyone top dollar. If this was a team 25 years ago then you could build your team via the draft because free agency was almost non existant. The draft has become a way to fill a need cheaply in todays league. The Patriots are masters at it.

Once again I will post this....the blaming needs to go elsewhere. The truth lie below why we are losing.

infantrycak said:

Has the level of football analysis really sunk so low that Capers' method of taking notes is actually a serious concern? Guess Tom Landry looked pretty silly doing exactly the same thing.

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Thank you. That NEEDED to be said. The funny thing is, the ones who are 'concerned' with his note taking don't have a clue what it is that he's writing down, or what the purpose for it is.

Thank you Texans84. Keep posting that. Eventually it will sink in.

TEXANS84 said:

Once again I will post this....the blaming needs to go elsewhere. The truth lie below why we are losing.

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The stat it doesn't show is the 2 not so good teams we played to get those stats.

We are 10th in the NFL in offense and 11th in the NFL in defense. We are doing MOST of what we need to do. The primary issues I see are the turnovers, the stupid penalties, and the lack of a pass-rush (again).

If you are looking for your QB to throw into double or triple coverage just to say we went long, watch Marc Bulger or Patrick Ramsey. If you are looking for a balanced attack that sets up the pass with the run, the Texans are your team. We don't have the type of O-line to pass block, so the idea of going pass-happy early is not going to work well. I don't have a problem with 95% of our play calling. Occasionally they will have a head scratcher (like the halfback option pass by Mack last year against Jacksonville).

I moved to Houston in the early 80s and remember going to the Astrodome on
Sunday morning and buying a ticket on the 50 yard line - and buying it cheap to. All of that sort of thing may happen again with the Texans before we get
a good enough pop on the upside of one of these cycles to get into the playoffs. If that's the case, so be it because I signed on for the long-term with these guys. Don't want it to be that way, but it just may turn out to be that way.

Perhaps they felt it would take 4 full years to stock a roster of ideal players and truly compete in year 5. Why is that so out of the question?

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The model we should hold theTexans to is the new Browns who started from zero with crapola in '99 and made the playoffs in Year 4 with a 9-7 record. They were 7-9 in their Year 3. There should be no reason not to expect a playoff contender in Year 4 from the Texans, especially with the expansion draft talent that we acquired (unlike the Browns). The "yeah but where are they are now" argument isn't relevant to the fact that they made it in 4 years, and they didn't do it by following the Carolina model. Their 9-7 in '02 wasn't a fluke since they played an NFL schedule and beat three playoff teams during the regular season.