coachdent
Waterboy
Houston's offensive coordinator Troy Calhoun took the head coaching job at Air Force. Mike Sherman also seems destined to leave for a head coaching vacancy. Both of these things will hopefully help the Texans.
The offense had a major indentity crisis this year. It was without direction or flow. It was sickingly pedestrian at times with little or no motion and formationally stagnant.
We went through "phases" during the season in what seemed like a "hey let's try this" phase. There was the empty sets against the Giants that went away. There was the ONE time Carr was in the gun and ran for TWELVE YARDS! That never came back and was never seen from since.
The pass game was frighteningly inept. Backs were not kept in to max protect, nor were tight ends. At the time during the season when sacks were causing us major problems, we were continuing to release five into routes. Those routes were mostly underneath and stationary. True West Coast is all about getting the ball into receivers' hands in space and then racking up yards after the catch. This year, our YAC was pathetic. One reason is that most of the routes that we throw to are routes where the receiver has his back upfield. He is stationary. Go through a mental note on how many times our backs caught balls at 3 & 4 yards and turned around for 5 or 6 yard gains.
The pass game was predicated on running the football and throwing off the playaction. However, this becomes a problem when you can't run the ball. Additionally, Houston ran less and less bootleg as the season went along. Instead, they ran play action passes where Carr would fake and then set up deeper.
We did not move the pocket and vary Carr's launching points. We put a guy with legs in the same place every throw. We went through another phase where all's we threw were one step drops. This was also in conjunction with the "balls being knocked down" phase. Funny how that happens huh?
We need an explosive player on the offensive side of the ball. Adrian Peterson will hopefully be that guy. The thing about the Texan West Coast that is difficult is that it is a ball control, plodding offense that requires 10,12 and 15 play drives to score. This becomes a problem when you get behind and it becomes a major problem with injuires and lack of talent. It is a tall task to score in the NFL on 10,12 and 15 play drives. That's almost 60 plays to score 28 points....it doesn't happen. The idea of ball control in the NFL will only win you so many games. You have to be explosive. If you look back to the Dom Capers' era, you will see that the Texans were constantly in close games. That will get you to close to .500, but it won't make you a playoff team. The other thing it does is forces you into 3 point games with subpar teams. Cleveland is a perfect example. You should whip that team.
The NFL is geared for the pass. Plain and simple. The rules are made for the pass game. The Texans need to get out of the dark ages and throw the football.
With Calhoun leaving and Sherman leaving, hopefully we will bring in a personality that will throw the football. I have never cared for having a coordinator in name only and then having the coach call the plays. The Eagles are moving away from Reid calling games and they have been very successful doing it. I don't like the way Kubes has managed games. I think it is difficult to be a head coach, an offensive cordinator & play caller and be a quarterback coach. You wear different hats and talk to your quarterback differently in each of those roles...
When Kubes rips into the QB for bad reads or performances as the head coach that is fine. The head coach needs results. But in other situations, that QB would go over to the phone and talk to his QB coach who would talk more about his technique and read progression. Carr doesn't have that in Kubiak. Kubes has to worry about the rest of the team. The QB coach is concerned with what the QB does next and what he as a coach can do to help make sure that he doesn't make that mistake again. A coordinator makes sure that you don't put the QB in that situation again. If the QB is having problems throwing a certain route, you don't call that route. For instance, Carr had a propensity to throw the go route to AJ, regardless of whether he was open or not or if there was double coverage or not. An OC doesn't call that route so Carr doesn't throw that ball.
Carr does not fit this system. I question the decision to extend his contract without any reason before the start of the season. Kubes made that decision and essentially handcuffed us big time. Carr becomes difficult to move, if not impossible. A new coordinator employing more spread formations and concepts within the framework of the West Coast would definitely help our offense. Frankly, there are already components of the spread in our offense that we use already, so it is not like rewriting the playbook.
Ultimately, a coordinator takes his offense and adapts it to his players and their strengths. Carr is a spread offense quarterback. He needs to be in the shotgun and learn to throw out of it. Don't give me this BS that he "can't" and that he "isn't comfotable". You make him comfortable and you make him realize that this will improve our offense and prolong his career.
I'll be sending my resume down this week!
The offense had a major indentity crisis this year. It was without direction or flow. It was sickingly pedestrian at times with little or no motion and formationally stagnant.
We went through "phases" during the season in what seemed like a "hey let's try this" phase. There was the empty sets against the Giants that went away. There was the ONE time Carr was in the gun and ran for TWELVE YARDS! That never came back and was never seen from since.
The pass game was frighteningly inept. Backs were not kept in to max protect, nor were tight ends. At the time during the season when sacks were causing us major problems, we were continuing to release five into routes. Those routes were mostly underneath and stationary. True West Coast is all about getting the ball into receivers' hands in space and then racking up yards after the catch. This year, our YAC was pathetic. One reason is that most of the routes that we throw to are routes where the receiver has his back upfield. He is stationary. Go through a mental note on how many times our backs caught balls at 3 & 4 yards and turned around for 5 or 6 yard gains.
The pass game was predicated on running the football and throwing off the playaction. However, this becomes a problem when you can't run the ball. Additionally, Houston ran less and less bootleg as the season went along. Instead, they ran play action passes where Carr would fake and then set up deeper.
We did not move the pocket and vary Carr's launching points. We put a guy with legs in the same place every throw. We went through another phase where all's we threw were one step drops. This was also in conjunction with the "balls being knocked down" phase. Funny how that happens huh?
We need an explosive player on the offensive side of the ball. Adrian Peterson will hopefully be that guy. The thing about the Texan West Coast that is difficult is that it is a ball control, plodding offense that requires 10,12 and 15 play drives to score. This becomes a problem when you get behind and it becomes a major problem with injuires and lack of talent. It is a tall task to score in the NFL on 10,12 and 15 play drives. That's almost 60 plays to score 28 points....it doesn't happen. The idea of ball control in the NFL will only win you so many games. You have to be explosive. If you look back to the Dom Capers' era, you will see that the Texans were constantly in close games. That will get you to close to .500, but it won't make you a playoff team. The other thing it does is forces you into 3 point games with subpar teams. Cleveland is a perfect example. You should whip that team.
The NFL is geared for the pass. Plain and simple. The rules are made for the pass game. The Texans need to get out of the dark ages and throw the football.
With Calhoun leaving and Sherman leaving, hopefully we will bring in a personality that will throw the football. I have never cared for having a coordinator in name only and then having the coach call the plays. The Eagles are moving away from Reid calling games and they have been very successful doing it. I don't like the way Kubes has managed games. I think it is difficult to be a head coach, an offensive cordinator & play caller and be a quarterback coach. You wear different hats and talk to your quarterback differently in each of those roles...
When Kubes rips into the QB for bad reads or performances as the head coach that is fine. The head coach needs results. But in other situations, that QB would go over to the phone and talk to his QB coach who would talk more about his technique and read progression. Carr doesn't have that in Kubiak. Kubes has to worry about the rest of the team. The QB coach is concerned with what the QB does next and what he as a coach can do to help make sure that he doesn't make that mistake again. A coordinator makes sure that you don't put the QB in that situation again. If the QB is having problems throwing a certain route, you don't call that route. For instance, Carr had a propensity to throw the go route to AJ, regardless of whether he was open or not or if there was double coverage or not. An OC doesn't call that route so Carr doesn't throw that ball.
Carr does not fit this system. I question the decision to extend his contract without any reason before the start of the season. Kubes made that decision and essentially handcuffed us big time. Carr becomes difficult to move, if not impossible. A new coordinator employing more spread formations and concepts within the framework of the West Coast would definitely help our offense. Frankly, there are already components of the spread in our offense that we use already, so it is not like rewriting the playbook.
Ultimately, a coordinator takes his offense and adapts it to his players and their strengths. Carr is a spread offense quarterback. He needs to be in the shotgun and learn to throw out of it. Don't give me this BS that he "can't" and that he "isn't comfotable". You make him comfortable and you make him realize that this will improve our offense and prolong his career.
I'll be sending my resume down this week!
