Hervoyel
BUENO!
And so I did grade the Texans. Then I posted it here too. Everyone has their own opinions but my halfway point grade for the team is as follows.
Quarterbacks: B
Matt Schaub has been asked to do a lot more than anyone expected him to have to do and he's been "not perfect". He turns the ball over too much and has made some questionable throws but you can't forget that he's a young QB who has only started a handful of games. He looks better than most rookies do which is something. Rosenfels has reminded everyone why he's a career backup with his own turnovers. Still the QB play is head and shoulders above what it's been in previous seasons.
We have quality NFL Quarterbacking on this team.
Runningbacks: F
The Texans don't have a running back or a running game to speak of. Ahman Green (waste of money) is a "used to be", Ron Dayne is a "never was", and Samkon Gado was a "flash in the pan". If Joe Echemandu turns out to be any sort of player at all then we'll have found our best back this year by pure stupid blind luck.
That's funny considering that the only other "quality" running back to ever play on this team was aquired in the same manner. Domanick Davis was drafted to be a special teams contributor and third down back and never expected to carry the franchise. The Texans got lucky then too.
It's happened so few times I thought it was worth mentioning.
We do not have a running back on this team that should be starting in the NFL (unless it's the guy we just picked up off the street)
Receivers/Tight Ends: B
Andre Johnson was off to a career year when he went down. Kevin Walter has proven that the coaches faith in him was deserved. Owen Daniels continues to be a solid player, and Andre Davis has been great filling in for AJ.
We have quality NFL recievers and tight ends on this team.
Offensive Line: D
From left to right Ephraim Salaam is a backup who doesn't have enough in the tank to play four quarters a week. By next year he shouldn't be able to make this team. If he can then we haven't improved enough. Chester Pitts is having maybe his worst season since 2002. Steve McKinney was holding his own but Mike Flannagan needed to retire two years ago. He no longer belongs in the NFL. Fred Weary is having a pretty good year and Eric Winston is getting the job done (although he plays the RT spot like he thinks he's still on the left side). The line can pass protect better than we thought they could last year but since they can't run block to save their lives it makes little difference.
We've got some NFL quality players now but we need more. This has got to stop once and for all.
Defensive Line: D
Mario Williams runs himself out of plays and when he doesn't Travis Johnson takes a play off to compensate. Honestly Travis isn't having that bad a year but he's still not a guy who goes all out every down. Amobi Akoye is looked pretty good but he's still a rookie and making rookie mistakes. At least he's got more motor than the other two first round slugs. The rest of the free agents like Kalu and Weaver are doing their part as the "potatos" of the line but as long as the "meat" doesn't produce it doesn't matter much.
We have an exceptionally average NFL quality defensive line.
Linebackers: C
DeMeco Ryans is having a bit of a drop-off I think but he's at least still playing at a high level. Morlon Greenwood is also having a nice season though he's not going to set the world on fire no matter what the circumstances. Only the Houston Texans would give a guy like Morlon a contract like that. The rest of the linebackers are ordinary at best.
We have one excellent linebacker. We need at least one more.
Defensive Backs: D
Dunta Robinson is the only guy starting back there that should be starting on an NFL defense. The rest of them are "quality depth" and on some of them you can drop the "quality". We need help back here in the worst way. Of course the fact that we can generate no pass rush makes it hard to truly grade them.
We need... yes, all of the above.
Coaches: F
Richard Smith has no business pretending to be a Defensive Coordinator. Position Coach is about the most he can handle. His defense is vanilla, slow, and seems to lack any kind of direction. They're on their heels much of the time and stopping nobody. Smith was the second choice when Frank Bush was not given permission to talk to the Texans but now Bush is here so why is the consolation prize still calling the shots?
Mike Shermans offense (and I can only presume this abomination came with him from Green Bay because it looks nothing like anything the Denver Broncos do) is offensive. The one thing you would expect this guy to be able to get out of our team would be a minimal running game. After all we've always been able to do a little of that. You would be wrong though because this Texans team is lousy at running the football. Sherman is so short of talent that he can't do any better or he's not getting it done. Since he's responsible for Samkon Gado and Mike Flannagan I must question whether he's capable of doing this job. I think I see a new offensive coordinator in our future. Sherman was a mistake. "His" system and the Denver system do not seem to mix well.
Kubiak needs to make some moves if his coordinators aren't getting it done. He could go down with his people like Capers did with Pendry and Fangio but I'd like to think he's smart enough to see that there's no future in that. Smith and Sherman are done. Bring in somebody who can coach a defense and promote Shanahan's kid to offensive coordinator (which really amounts to being Gary's assistant).
Quarterbacks: B
Matt Schaub has been asked to do a lot more than anyone expected him to have to do and he's been "not perfect". He turns the ball over too much and has made some questionable throws but you can't forget that he's a young QB who has only started a handful of games. He looks better than most rookies do which is something. Rosenfels has reminded everyone why he's a career backup with his own turnovers. Still the QB play is head and shoulders above what it's been in previous seasons.
We have quality NFL Quarterbacking on this team.
Runningbacks: F
The Texans don't have a running back or a running game to speak of. Ahman Green (waste of money) is a "used to be", Ron Dayne is a "never was", and Samkon Gado was a "flash in the pan". If Joe Echemandu turns out to be any sort of player at all then we'll have found our best back this year by pure stupid blind luck.
That's funny considering that the only other "quality" running back to ever play on this team was aquired in the same manner. Domanick Davis was drafted to be a special teams contributor and third down back and never expected to carry the franchise. The Texans got lucky then too.
It's happened so few times I thought it was worth mentioning.
We do not have a running back on this team that should be starting in the NFL (unless it's the guy we just picked up off the street)
Receivers/Tight Ends: B
Andre Johnson was off to a career year when he went down. Kevin Walter has proven that the coaches faith in him was deserved. Owen Daniels continues to be a solid player, and Andre Davis has been great filling in for AJ.
We have quality NFL recievers and tight ends on this team.
Offensive Line: D
From left to right Ephraim Salaam is a backup who doesn't have enough in the tank to play four quarters a week. By next year he shouldn't be able to make this team. If he can then we haven't improved enough. Chester Pitts is having maybe his worst season since 2002. Steve McKinney was holding his own but Mike Flannagan needed to retire two years ago. He no longer belongs in the NFL. Fred Weary is having a pretty good year and Eric Winston is getting the job done (although he plays the RT spot like he thinks he's still on the left side). The line can pass protect better than we thought they could last year but since they can't run block to save their lives it makes little difference.
We've got some NFL quality players now but we need more. This has got to stop once and for all.
Defensive Line: D
Mario Williams runs himself out of plays and when he doesn't Travis Johnson takes a play off to compensate. Honestly Travis isn't having that bad a year but he's still not a guy who goes all out every down. Amobi Akoye is looked pretty good but he's still a rookie and making rookie mistakes. At least he's got more motor than the other two first round slugs. The rest of the free agents like Kalu and Weaver are doing their part as the "potatos" of the line but as long as the "meat" doesn't produce it doesn't matter much.
We have an exceptionally average NFL quality defensive line.
Linebackers: C
DeMeco Ryans is having a bit of a drop-off I think but he's at least still playing at a high level. Morlon Greenwood is also having a nice season though he's not going to set the world on fire no matter what the circumstances. Only the Houston Texans would give a guy like Morlon a contract like that. The rest of the linebackers are ordinary at best.
We have one excellent linebacker. We need at least one more.
Defensive Backs: D
Dunta Robinson is the only guy starting back there that should be starting on an NFL defense. The rest of them are "quality depth" and on some of them you can drop the "quality". We need help back here in the worst way. Of course the fact that we can generate no pass rush makes it hard to truly grade them.
We need... yes, all of the above.
Coaches: F
Richard Smith has no business pretending to be a Defensive Coordinator. Position Coach is about the most he can handle. His defense is vanilla, slow, and seems to lack any kind of direction. They're on their heels much of the time and stopping nobody. Smith was the second choice when Frank Bush was not given permission to talk to the Texans but now Bush is here so why is the consolation prize still calling the shots?
Mike Shermans offense (and I can only presume this abomination came with him from Green Bay because it looks nothing like anything the Denver Broncos do) is offensive. The one thing you would expect this guy to be able to get out of our team would be a minimal running game. After all we've always been able to do a little of that. You would be wrong though because this Texans team is lousy at running the football. Sherman is so short of talent that he can't do any better or he's not getting it done. Since he's responsible for Samkon Gado and Mike Flannagan I must question whether he's capable of doing this job. I think I see a new offensive coordinator in our future. Sherman was a mistake. "His" system and the Denver system do not seem to mix well.
Kubiak needs to make some moves if his coordinators aren't getting it done. He could go down with his people like Capers did with Pendry and Fangio but I'd like to think he's smart enough to see that there's no future in that. Smith and Sherman are done. Bring in somebody who can coach a defense and promote Shanahan's kid to offensive coordinator (which really amounts to being Gary's assistant).