3rd and 1/2 a yard.

[281]

look, it's this simple:

if it's 3rd/4th and inches and you're in the opposing team's territory, you do a QB sneak. period. no ifs, ands, or buts about it. if your offensive line can't achieve any forward progress in that situation, you probably don't have any business winning the game anyway.

 

[Vinny]

look, it's this simple:

if it's 3rd/4th and inches and you're in the opposing team's territory, you do a QB sneak. period. no ifs, ands, or buts about it. if your offensive line can't achieve any forward progress in that situation, you probably don't have any business winning the game anyway.

Hard to sneak behind Myers...dude is just can't hold his ground in short yardage. I was joking in a previous game that I'd rather us find a good short yardage center than a short yardage back...but I'm not real sure that is much of a joke anymore.

 

[FILO_girl]

I am there, Lucky. I have come to a state of acceptance of my disdain for Kubes, Smith, et al. I love my Texans and I have an almost unreasonable and inexplicable belief that Schaub is still our QB of the future, but I'm sick of the coaches. I want proven winners now, not coordinators who are making a move up the food chain. Experiment is now over.

Back the Brinks truck up and make a play for Cowher. Promise him 40 virgins and a city named after him. Shower him with whatever he wants. How could he possibly view Cleveland as a better job given the players on each team over the Texans, if Cleveland is truly the job he's eyeing?

Why does everyone want the Spitter? I admit he is good, several coaches are good...why does everyone mention him?

 

[SouthSideTexan]

Brandon Jacobs is the definition of the type of back needed. His overtime TD was impressive. HE actually moved the pile into the endzone without having to rely on his Olinemen to push him in.

I agree with you 100%. We need a bruiser running back that we can rely on to plow over the opponent and make a first down when we need it. Hmmmmmm....maybe we can trade our first round picks to the Giants for the next couple of years for Jacobs......Ditka did it. It turned out good for the Saints......right.....huhhhhh. (Just Kidding)

 

[Hooston Texan]

I kinda agree with you. Everyone has been calling for a bruiser back all year and today in the 15th game of the season Vonta Leach gets his FIRST carry of the year! Yeah, that's utilizing your talent ..... ???

On the 2 short yardage plays, we/I always criticize Kubes for how conservative the offense gets in the red zone and so I can't be too critical of those calls. BOTTOM LINE IS THAT SCHAUB FAILED TO EXECUTE THE 4TH AND INCHES BY THROWING INTO TRIPLE COVERAGE.

Q: Why did Schaub throw into triple coverage?
A: Because the only other receiver the Texans had on the route was quadruple-covered.

Kubes was guessing run blitz, so he called a max-protect play with two receivers in the route. Idiotic and cowardly call. When you need a foot, your offense should be able to get it regardless of what the defense calls. Instead, Kubes makes a call that leaves him helpless if the opposing coordinator makes the right call. By dropping into coverage, the Raiders hit the bulls-eye. Game over.

 

[281]

Hard to sneak behind Myers...dude is just can't hold his ground in short yardage. I was joking in a previous game that I'd rather us find a good short yardage center than a short yardage back...but I'm not real sure that is much of a joke anymore.

this is very true... but i think we've actually had a pretty good conversion rate running the QB sneak in inches situations this season. i could be mistaken though.

 

[IlliniJen]

Why does everyone want the Spitter? I admit he is good, several coaches are good...why does everyone mention him?

One word: cajones. That dude brings a football attitude, plain and simple, and if there's one thing sorely and blatantly lacking on the Texans, it's a football attitude of stomping a mudhole in their opponent's ass and walking it dry. We seem like a "finesse" team without the finesse and with even less personality than what most droll finesse teams have.

A hard-nosed, smashmouth coach often has a trickle down effect on his players. They'll go out there and blow people up and play tough and lay a hit on someone who tries to hurt their quarterback. Right now I see a couple players taking pride in how they play the game, but there's not a team attitude of toughness.

I wish every freakin' Texan had Slaton's attitude and guts. He fights. He doesn't go down. That makes a statement. A tough coach can actually coach that into his players. We don't have any tough coaches. Kubiak is a guy who thinks he can just bring his brains to the table (and what a huge paper lion his brain is turning out to be) and leave the guts at home.

I could take a 8-8 team much better if they were selling out each game and opposing teams knew they were coming in to face a war against the Texans. Does anyone really fear taking a hit from anyone on our team? Feh.

 

[HOU-TEX]

Hard to sneak behind Myers...dude is just can't hold his ground in short yardage. I was joking in a previous game that I'd rather us find a good short yardage center than a short yardage back...but I'm not real sure that is much of a joke anymore.

I'm sure you were already aware of this, but Schaub ran a sneak on a 4th and 1 earlier in the game and gained 2 yards directly behind Meyers. However, I do agree with your overall assessment of him.

1-10-HOU 29 (10:17) 8-M.Schaub scrambles left end to HOU 37 for 8 yards (55-J.Alston).
2-2-HOU 37 (9:34) 20-S.Slaton up the middle to HOU 37 for no gain (28-Gi.Wilson, 98-J.Richardson).
3-2-HOU 37 (8:54) 20-S.Slaton up the middle to HOU 38 for 1 yard (28-Gi.Wilson).
4-1-HOU 38 (8:23) 8-M.Schaub up the middle to HOU 40 for 2 yards (Team).

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/playb...yPage=tab_play_by_play&season=2008&week=REG16

 

[ObsiWan]

Why does everyone want the Spitter? I admit he is good, several coaches are good...why does everyone mention him?

That's an excellent question.
Cowher inherited a damn good team that Chuck Knoll had put together. The hard-nosed, win with defense and a strong running game attitude that was/is the Steelers was installed by Knoll. All Cowher had to do is not screw it up. He's' like Gruden in my mind. He took something someone else had built and won ONE Super Bowl with them. Then couldn't repeat it. Didn't they go like 8-8 after Bettis retired? Then he quit. I'm sorry, but Cowher ain't all that in my mind.

I wonder what Cowher could have done with the cast of sorry characters Kubiak was saddled with when he took over the Texans.

 

[MannyFresh]

Matt Cassel and a east coast coach thats all business with strict discipline ala Cower, Parcells, Billajerk, Jimmy Johnson, someone like that.....they might not be liked, but they're respected head coaches. Parcells is a prime example of not well liked coach who instills a lot of discipline...don't think so? Look how the Cowboys are now with laid back Phillips who is probably gone now and we don't need a coach like Wade Phillips.

 

[AcresHomesTexan]

True, but we're talking about this specific one. Really, if we're going to start pointing fingers we should still be pointing at Richard Smith and his defense. They were atrocious still. I can't believe the talk about letting him off the hook for another year has been circulating AT ALL but hopefully this game puts everything back into perspective for all eyes.

Just don't be mad about it...because the games haven't mattered for a while now...The knee-jerk posts are funny with how out-of-control some people's emotions get without any real perspective.

I think more than the losing itself, I am tired this part of what losing does to a fan base.

 

[Vinny]

That's an excellent question.
Cowher inherited a damn good team that Chuck Knoll had put together. The hard-nosed, win with defense and a strong running game attitude that was/is the Steelers was installed by Knoll. All Cowher had to do is not screw it up. He's' like Gruden in my mind. He took something someone else had built and won ONE Super Bowl with them. Then couldn't repeat it. Didn't they go like 8-8 after Bettis retired? Then he quit. I'm sorry, but Cowher ain't all that in my mind.

I wonder what Cowher could have done with the cast of sorry characters Kubiak was saddled with when he took over the Texans.

I've had too much coffee this morning but get the name right at least. To credit Cowher's success to Chuck Noll is ridiculous...Do you think Terry Bradshaw, Mean Joe Green and Lynn Swann played all that well under Bill Cowher? your spin is humorous though.

 

[Tedc]

That's an excellent question.
Cowher inherited a damn good team that Chuck Knoll had put together. The hard-nosed, win with defense and a strong running game attitude that was/is the Steelers was installed by Knoll. All Cowher had to do is not screw it up. He's' like Gruden in my mind. He took something someone else had built and won ONE Super Bowl with them. Then couldn't repeat it. Didn't they go like 8-8 after Bettis retired? Then he quit. I'm sorry, but Cowher ain't all that in my mind.

I wonder what Cowher could have done with the cast of sorry characters Kubiak was saddled with when he took over the Texans.

Wow!!

 

[HoustonFrog]

I've had too much coffee this morning but get the name right at least. To credit Cowher's success to Chuck Noll is ridiculous...Do you think Terry Bradshaw, Mean Joe Green and Lynn Swann played all that well under Bill Cowher? your spin is humorous though.

I agree. Despite my hate for them in the 70s I respected the heck out of the Steelers under Cowher. He drafted well every year and they constantly found guys to fit the system. There was a 2 year span where they had every injury imaginable and they still filled in guys and made it to the playoffs. They were consistently good. It's ridiculous to think that he some how lucked into his position and just rode it for 15 years..lol. That's asinine

 

[Dread-Head]

Cower is a great coach and rebuilt that team when Knoll left. He's not a caretaker coach like Barry "Auto pilot" Switzer who took someone else's team to a superbowl and took credit for Neil O'Donnel for being an untalented High School Quarterback who some how slipped through the cracks and made it to the NFL to put on a black and gold uniform and hand Dallas what should have been the 5th Steeler superbowl win. Cower's one mistake was not beating Neil O'Donnell to DEATH after the ONLY Superbowl loss in Steeler history when that sorry punk threw three interceptions to the SAME GUY!

 

[Texan_Bill]

It's ridiculous to think that he some how lucked into his position an just rode it for 15 years..lol. That's asinine

I don't know about all that...

Signed,
Charley "I lucked into a job whenever Bobby Beathard went to San Diego" Casserly

 

[Double Barrel]

That's an excellent question.
Cowher inherited a damn good team that Chuck Knoll had put together. The hard-nosed, win with defense and a strong running game attitude that was/is the Steelers was installed by Knoll. All Cowher had to do is not screw it up. He's' like Gruden in my mind. He took something someone else had built and won ONE Super Bowl with them. Then couldn't repeat it. Didn't they go like 8-8 after Bettis retired? Then he quit. I'm sorry, but Cowher ain't all that in my mind.

I wonder what Cowher could have done with the cast of sorry characters Kubiak was saddled with when he took over the Texans.

Huh?

Cowher didn't win the Super Bowl until 2005. He took over the team in 1992, thirteen years before winning a championship.

Do you honestly think that there were many Knoll players left over after thirteen seasons? Please add a sarcasm disclaimer if that was your intent, because I'm not catching it if that was your point.

In his 15 seasons, Cowher has compiled a 161-99-1, including playoff games. Under his stewardship, the Steelers have won eight division titles, earned 10 playoff berths, advanced to the conference championship game six times, appeared in two Super Bowl games and won one.

Source

yeah, 161 wins ain't all that....riiiiiiiight.

 

[HOU-TEX]

Bill Cowher is an excellent coach, but I'd like to think I had something to do with it.

Signed,

Dick Lebeau

 

[Texan_Bill]

The constant about the Steelers isn't Noll or Cowher, it's the Rooney family.

 

[Brando]

I'll throw this out there.......


Before the Steelers won the last Super Bowl, Cowher was known as a coach that couldn't win the big game. It took him 13 seasons to get over that hump. The Steelers also got lucky that Vanderjagt missed the game tying FG and the QB had to make a game saving tackle. Like they say though, it's better to be lucky than good. Again the play on the field makes a coach look better. Add to the fact that the officiating in the SB against the Seahawks was clearly one sided.

At the end of the day, he is a good coach that I wouldn't mind having IF the Kubiak experiment doesn't work. It's still too early, he'll get 1 more season.

 

[HoustonFrog]

Cower is a great coach and rebuilt that team when Knoll left. He's not a caretaker coach like Barry "Auto pilot" Switzer who took someone else's team to a superbowl and took credit for Neil O'Donnel for being an untalented High School Quarterback who some how slipped through the cracks and made it to the NFL to put on a black and gold uniform and hand Dallas what should have been the 5th Steeler superbowl win. Cower's one mistake was not beating Neil O'Donnell to DEATH after the ONLY Superbowl loss in Steeler history when that sorry punk threw three interceptions to the SAME GUY!

Come on now, let's not get off topic. They weren't exactly dominating the game even with Neil and he got them there. That is a sorry excuse. There is no guarantee of any win even if he didn't throw the picks. Of course my TCU breathren Larry Brown didn't exactly deserve MVP.

 

[HoustonFrog]

I don't know about all that...

Signed,
Charley "I lucked into a job whenever Bobby Beathard went to San Diego" Casserly

Now that is a different story............................

Anyways..lets get back to the play call on 3rd down being good and the 4th down one being asinine.

 

[Texan_Bill]

Now that is a different story............................

Anyways..lets get back to the play call on 3rd down being good and the 4th down one being asinine.

Throwing on 4th doesn't bother me nearly as much as only sending 2 recievers out for that play.

 

[Joe Texan]

Though Kubes is on the Bubble He is still the coach and his homework is right in front of him. Review all of this past year and Improve. He needs a real OC and a real DC and he needs a real Time clock guy and a real Replay guy. He needs this because he needs to hand the plays over to his OC and work on doing what a coach should be doing, Winning.

 

[HoustonFrog]

Throwing on 4th doesn't bother me nearly as much as only sending 2 recievers out for that play.

It bothered me altogether after a TO. As I said earlier, I like play action when you have a play to play with. They had 2 downs to get inches. 3rd down was a perfect shot. After that just get the inches and you have 4 downs to again play around with. Wanting it all when you could reload was just a horrible move. Plus they expected a runblitz on 4th and they never came up..they played soft..so they should have changed it.

 

[Texan_Bill]

It bothered me altogether after a TO. As I said earlier, I like play action when you have a play to play with. They had 2 downs to get inches. 3rd down was a perfect shot. After that just get the inches and you have 4 downs to again play around with. Wanting it all when you could reload was just a horrible move. Plus they expected a runblitz on 4th and they never came up..they played soft..so they should have changed it.

Personally, what I wanted to happen on 4th down was to spread everyone out... Wide.... Come to the line of scrimmage and bark out signals. If they don't jump by the time the play clock is under say 6 or 7 seconds (because at that point the defense softens up a bit figuring you are just trying to draw them off), then go on a silent count with Schaub up the middle.


Okay, maybe not but I think I froze part of my brain between yesterday and today.

 

[HoustonFrog]

Personally, what I wanted to happen on 4th down was to spread everyone out... Wide.... Come to the line of scrimmage and bark out signals. If they don't jump by the time the play clock is under say 6 or 7 seconds (because at that point the defense softens up a bit figuring you are just trying to draw them off), then go on a silent count with Schaub up the middle.


Okay, maybe not but I think I froze part of my brain between yesterday and today.

That would have been good too!

 

[Texan_Bill]

That would have been good too!

So now you're advocating bramage to my dain??

 

[maddogmrb]

Q: Why did Schaub throw into triple coverage?
A: Because the only other receiver the Texans had on the route was quadruple-covered.

Kubes was guessing run blitz, so he called a max-protect play with two receivers in the route. Idiotic and cowardly call. When you need a foot, your offense should be able to get it regardless of what the defense calls. Instead, Kubes makes a call that leaves him helpless if the opposing coordinator makes the right call. By dropping into coverage, the Raiders hit the bulls-eye. Game over.

So, you're saying that we only had 2 receivers on the play and they occupied 7 defenders leaving only 4 in the vicinity of the LOS at the goal line??? Wasn't what I saw....

There is ALWAYS cat and mouse going on between the OC and the DC on EVERY play. If we had run the ball and they stacked the box and stuffed it, you would be saying the same thing. Bottom line is Matt didn't execute the play well.

 

[HoustonFrog]

So now you're advocating bramage to my dain??

The play but that might be comical short term.

 

[Hooston Texan]

So, you're saying that we only had 2 receivers on the play and they occupied 7 defenders leaving only 4 in the vicinity of the LOS at the goal line??? Wasn't what I saw....

There is ALWAYS cat and mouse going on between the OC and the DC on EVERY play. If we had run the ball and they stacked the box and stuffed it, you would be saying the same thing. Bottom line is Matt didn't execute the play well.

Watch the play again. Only two receivers in the pattern. Five guys rushed, but one of the rushers actually just went up to meet Slaton on the fake (had Slaton gone out to the pattern, he would have covered him). Slaton and the two TEs lined up on the near side (Schaub's left) stayed in to block.

That left AJ and Walter running the routes. AJ went to the corner but was blanketed. Walter dragged across the endzone and Schaub tried to thread the needle, but that was the only throw he could make. The other three eligible receivers were in pass protect.

When the Raiders didn't run-blitz, that play was dead. When you need a few inches, you don't get cute in such a way that the opposing coach (as opposed to the opposing players) can stop the play if he guesses right. The Raiders' coach guessed right.

There was plenty that Schaub did wrong yesterday, but that particular play was not a "failure to execute" (as you called it in your original post) on his part.

 

[infantrycak]

Bottom line is Matt didn't execute the play well.

OK so lay out the proper execution for the QB on that play. It's cute to say he didn't execute and easy when the play didn't work. What specifically was wrong? Should the ball have been two inches to the right? Should he have masse'd the ball in? Inquiring minds would like to know.

 

[run-david-run]

So, you're saying that we only had 2 receivers on the play and they occupied 7 defenders leaving only 4 in the vicinity of the LOS at the goal line??? Wasn't what I saw....

There is ALWAYS cat and mouse going on between the OC and the DC on EVERY play. If we had run the ball and they stacked the box and stuffed it, you would be saying the same thing. Bottom line is Matt didn't execute the play well.

Did you see the play? AJ ran something resembling a slow-motion curl route while Walter was triple covered. If ever there was a play doomed to failure, that was it.

 

[maddogmrb]

Watch the play again. Only two receivers in the pattern. Five guys rushed, but one of the rushers actually just went up to meet Slaton on the fake (had Slaton gone out to the pattern, he would have covered him). Slaton and the two TEs lined up on the near side (Schaub's left) stayed in to block.

That left AJ and Walter running the routes. AJ went to the corner but was blanketed. Walter dragged across the endzone and Schaub tried to thread the needle, but that was the only throw he could make. The other three eligible receivers were in pass protect.

When the Raiders didn't run-blitz, that play was dead. When you need a few inches, you don't get cute in such a way that the opposing coach (as opposed to the opposing players) can stop the play if he guesses right. The Raiders' coach guessed right.

There was plenty that Schaub did wrong yesterday, but that particular play was not a "failure to execute" (as you called it in your original post) on his part.

Well, I guess if that's how it really went down, I missed it. I was with 4 lovely ladies at Bayou City Wings watching the game so they might've distracted me a little on that play.

However, why throw into triple coverage? Why not scramble a little and see if something else develops. I know we've criticized our QB's in the past for holding on to the ball too long, but yesterday it seemed to me that Matt was throwing the ball away a little too quickly on some plays. Self preservation, I guess?