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State of the O-line

Honoring Earl 34 said:
I think Brooks blamed Bill's intensity for his anxieties and missing practices . That tells me Brooks would have had no shot in the old days .
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https://www.battleredblog.com/2018/5/31/17411952/brandon-brooks-didnt-like-playing-for-bill-obrien

REPORTER: Cassius Marsh come out and said it’s no fun to play for the Patriots …

BROOKS: It’s crazy that people haven’t known this. It’s been this way for like a decade. You’ve seen— Reggie Wayne did it. He retired. He went there for a training camp and retired. **** is not fun there. I was under the same regime in Houston. I almost retired. **** was miserable, every day. Every day.

BLG: Why?

BROOKS: You see this in here, man? How we’re all hanging out? The game room in there? There’s none of that, man. It’s like you just come in and be a robot.

BLG: Where’s that coming from? Is someone telling you to be like that or is it just the atmosphere?

BROOKS: It’s just the atmosphere.

BLG: It’s just accepted? It’s just how it is?

BROOKS: I’ll put it this way. I was going into my third year in Houston. O’Brien had just come in. And, you know, players who’ve made Pro Bowls, All-Pro [teams], whatever, they had their pictures on the wall and stuff. It was down the hallway as you go to lunch, you get to see how the players handle their business. When he came in, man, all those pictures were taken down. TVs in the cafeteria were off. He would never tell you what to say to the media, but he would always be like, ‘I can’t tell you what to say to the media. But some things that you might want to mention is like: I’m here to do my job. Stuff like that. You know what I mean? So eventually you get the same answers from all of the guys, you start realizing what’s going on.

BLG: Kind of sucks, right?



BROOKS: It’s just tough to go to work everyday where, obviously everybody has a different personality, but you can’t be who you are.

BLG: So it’s like they’re not even treating you like adults?

JOHNSON (jumping in): Well, I feel like they have a recipe for success that’s worked for so long, so, keep it at that. They do what they do though.

REPORTER: Does it make you appreciate more being here and seeing how this organization is run and the fun they let you have?

BROOKS: I came in [as a rookie] under [Gary] Kubiak, who was just an older version of Doug [Pederson], then I went to O’Brien, who was Belichick, and then I came back to Doug, who’s like Kubes, so for me, man, **** was great. Like, I cannot tell you how much better this is than it was down there. Like, it’s just night and day. (Asking Lane) What does [Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland] say? Happy workers make more productive workers. When you’re not having fun, man, those grinding, those hard-ass nosed days …

JOHNSON (jumping in): All the media wants to talk about is rings. Rings. I’m going to get this ring and never wear it one day. I’m going to put it away in a box. The only thing you’re going to remember from your playing days, you’re not going to remember the scores. You’re going to remember the people you played with and how you felt. And that’s the truth.

BROOKS: All the funny **** that happens on the field in the games, man.

JOHNSON: All these guys talking about ‘I’ll take the rings.’ OK. You can have your rings. You can also have f***ing 15 miserable years.

BLG: So why do you think it is like that? Why isn’t it more like here elsewhere?

BROOKS: Because it’s won them rings, so people think that’s what it is. I mean, not to even talk about the Cowboys, because obviously we’re in Philly, but when the Cowboys were winning, they didn’t have, you know, poster boys. They had some dudes who were going out there having a lot of fun. And still winning games. But you know, that was their recipe. Obviously the Patriots have theirs. It’s just the Patriots is what’s in your face. They’ve been in your face for the last, what, eight years? 10 years? When they were winning, so.
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Mr teX said:
Lol, you can literally say the bolded for every HC that has ever won..

But if we're just gonna keep it to what actually has happened Watson DID come along... just like Wade DID come along for Kubiak. Just like Brady DID come along for Belichick.
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A good coach can win with at least decent talent with good game planning. OB has never been accused of being a good game planner. What is OBs record without Watson? He’ll even with Watson we have a horrible record against other winning teams.
 
steelbtexan said:
LMAO

Did you see last yrs OL? They sucked, why would you want to go with the same unit that allowed Watson to be sacked 62 times and was consistently unable to pick up 3rd and shorts all yr long? Your plan is fine if you thought last yrs OL could become even avg and that isn't ever going to happen.

Davenport in particular.

Gotta add more talent.
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Changing the line every freaking year is not the freaking key to success Steel. Especially when this freaking offense suppose to be so high tech. In which was said, takes a few years to learn. You continue to preach the importance of keeping Watson healthy. Well if that's the case why the F would you continue to change up every freaking year like that. Skit doesn't make any darn sense whatsoever and again it's not a road to success. Continuity, chemistry, and cohesiveness is very important to a successful offensive line.
 
mussop said:
A good coach can win with at least decent talent with good game planning. OB has never been accused of being a good game planner. What is OBs record without Watson? He’ll even with Watson we have a horrible record against other winning teams.
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Lol, This post is the epitome of stupidity & its no wonder you & k-dog are in lock step. Winning with "decent" talent is all BoB has done here. If he hadn't been doing that, he would've been long gone.
 
Texansballer74 said:
Changing the line every freaking year is not the freaking key to success Steel. Especially when this freaking offense suppose to be so high tech. In which was said, takes a few years to learn. You continue to preach the importance of keeping Watson healthy. Well if that's the case why the F would you continue to change up every freaking year like that. Skit doesn't make any darn sense whatsoever and again it's not a road to success. Continuity, chemistry, and cohesiveness is very important to a successful offensive line.
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Agreed, but when players flat out aren't good enough then its time to move on. Why would you ever want to put Watson's blindside in Davenports hands. Lunacy

After seeing his feet last yr he's not going to get better to the tune of avg.
 
Mr teX said:
Lol, This post is the epitome of stupidity & its no wonder you & k-dog are in lock step. Winning with "decent" talent is all BoB has done here. If he hadn't been doing that, he would've been long gone.
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Lol, answer the question, what is OBs record against winning teams? He’s had the luxury of playing in a crappy division and last year the easiest schedule in football. He sucks at game planning. He hasn’t made an in game adjustment yet. He makes horrible talent evaluations. He’s just not good. Ranked 19th by nfl.com. About right where he should be.
 
mussop said:
Lol, answer the question, what is OBs record against winning teams? He’s had the luxury of playing in a crappy division and last year the easiest schedule in football. He sucks at game planning. He hasn’t made an in game adjustment yet. He makes horrible talent evaluations. He’s just not good. Ranked 19th by nfl.com. About right where he should be.
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Bill is a symptom of McNair and his always trying to copy what's worked for other teams . The Rams and Eagles were hammered for their latest coaching hires . Mike Lombardi said Pederson was the worst coaching hire he's ever seen .
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
I think Brooks blamed Bill's intensity for his anxieties and missing practices . That tells me Brooks would have had no shot in the old days .
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Its public knowledge that Brooks didn't quite know what was going on with him. Brooks himself said that once he did kinda gain an understanding, he didn't disclose it to anyone here in Houston b/c of the stigma of mental illness & in doing that he tried to deal with it on his own. It was only after he realized he couldn't deal with it on his own that he went out & sought therapy & thus he began to heal & unlike with the Texans, he disclosed up front to Philly before they signed him that he had an anxiety disorder & they worked with him from there. So completely different situation here in Houston where he told noone anything about his condition.
 
mussop said:
Lol, answer the question, what is OBs record against winning teams? He’s had the luxury of playing in a crappy division and last year the easiest schedule in football. He sucks at game planning. He hasn’t made an in game adjustment yet. He makes horrible talent evaluations. He’s just not good. Ranked 19th by nfl.com. About right where he should be.
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Lol, again with the stupidity & qualifiers talking about **** that really is of no consequence considering that he has won since he has been here. Noone's fault but your own that you can't recognize what a gameplan or an adjustment in football is. Get your knowledge up. Start with Madden, heard the new one just dropped lol.

& that "crappy division" argument cuts both ways.
 
Mr teX said:
Its public knowledge that Brooks didn't quite know what was going on with him. Brooks himself said that once he did kinda gain an understanding, he didn't disclose it to anyone here in Houston b/c of the stigma of mental illness & in doing that he tried to deal with it on his own. It was only after he realized he couldn't deal with it on his own that he went out & sought therapy & thus he began to heal & unlike with the Texans, he disclosed up front to Philly before they signed him that he had an anxiety disorder & they worked with him from there. So completely different situation here in Houston where he told noone anything about his condition.
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Which is why a guy like Easterby might be handy .
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
Which is why a guy like Easterby might be handy .
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Exactly. We spend too much time trying to assign blame in the Brooks scenario when we should be seeing it as a case study on how to manage these situations better in the future. There were simply too many variables to distill the situation into a blame blurb or referendum on how the Texans run their organization.
 
Roderik might be decent depth but we are desperate if we expect him to get major snaps.

Davenport supposedly played today too
 
Roderick Johnson's opportunity


Matt Kalil was given a day off and Roderick Johnson took advantage of the work. He looked really good and much better than Kalil did in the first joint practice against the Lions. There is certainly an argument to be made he could push Kalil. I'm not sure there has been a practice where Kalil wasn't up and down in a long time. Johnson was steady today. He might have made the left tackle spot a competition.



Julién Davenport filling in nicely


Davenport got some work at left tackle as well against the Lions. He also handled himself well. The tackle spot gets interesting with Kalil's spot being less sure each day. Kalil provides no versatility while Davenport has the ability to play on the right and left side. Davenport should be the team's swing tackle if Johnson pushes for playing time as the team's starter at left tackle. Obviously, in this scenario, Kalil isn't on the team. Davenport has done a great job making himself a factor.


Steady goes it for the rookie


Tytus Howard has a pass blocking drill today from the tackle spot and absolutely stoned the Lions player. I don't believe he will play tackle this year if the Texans can afford to play him elsewhere but there is definitely a future for him at tackle. His tackle pass blocking rep actually looked better than his guard blocking rep.



A few penalties in two days


I have seen a few more jumps by the offensive linemen and offside from defensive linemen in the past two days. Maybe just having an opponent in camp has been an element of that. The Texans played it pretty clean from the defensive backs standpoint though. This offensive line can't afford penalties. Even if they're better, they can't overcome those.

https://houston.sportsmap.com/11-observations-from-texans-training-camp-for-aug-15
 
Honoring Earl 34 said:
Johnson checked the 40 box and vert box . He has long arms but needed strength . The biggest knock is he’s long waisted . That makes it hard to get low .
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He's built very muCh along thE dimensions of Davenport so he has the all imporant length that is very important fo NFL LT candidates.
Drafted in 5th round of '17 and now still only 23. Read some Draft stuff about him from '17 and the thinking then was he came out of college too early but had solid upside.
Maybe we are catching him at the right time when he's had an intro to the league and is perhaps ready to be productive ?
 
Matt Kalil day off, Roderick Johnson steps in at LT

The Texans had an unusual offensive line configuration Thursday.

Although former Pro Bowl left tackle Matt Kalil was given a day off by coach Bill O'Brien, Kalil acknowledged Wednesday that he recently got his foot stepped on. Although he has been healthier at camp, Kalil needs to have his repetitions managed.

Instead of shifting over left guard and first-round draft pick Tytus Howard to first-string left tackle, he worked in behind Senio Kelemete, last year's starting left guard, and ran with the second-team offense.


"Day off for Matt and Rod did good," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "Rod did good. He jumped offsides one time. We got to fix that. He's had a good camp, strong player, great guy. He's worked hard. He's really earned those reps."

Howard has been working ahead of Kelemete, who was signed to a three-year, $12 million contract a year ago and was the primary starter at left guard.

"Tytus Howard, I thought he did some good things [Wednesday]," O'Brien said. "We wanted to take a look Senio against them. Nothing major, just typical training camp reps."

Injury report

Center Nick Martin was sidelined again with a hamstring injury. Texans are hopeful he will be back next week.


https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...(Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral
 
JB said:
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mussop said:
About time.

http://houston.cbslocal.com/2013/12/06/breaking-gary-kubiak-reportedly-fired-as-texans-head-coach/
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mussop said:
Good points made in this thread from the pink soapers

consistently see too many opportunities to do the little things winning teams do, that we don't do. Like pick up additional yardage with 8 seconds on the clock and 1 timeout. Or try to get the ball to your best player inside the 10 yard line, not have him block on a play most saw coming.

4 years is long enough for someone to turn a team into a winner. Kubiak has failed to do so and other coaches have done it quicker and with no more to work with than Kubiak has had.

Kubiak's problem is he is too loyal to players and coaches that suck. Myers should be gone. Richard Smith should have been gone after his first season. Weaver was kept around too long. Chris Brown still sucks.

Cowher says he won't talk to any teams that still have a coach.

we are 1-5 in or division this year, and we got the 1 win against a team that was starting an 0-6 run. Kubiak has built a team whose achilles heel is the teams in its own division.

Every D in the league knows Schaub can only audible to run plays....so he doesn't audible.

McNair gave Dom Capers the boot as his head coach after four playoff-less seasons, and Kubiak now deserves the exact same treatment. Despite having some of the most gifted players in the league at several positions, the Texans lack heart, killer instinct and the know-how to win. If that's not a reflection on a head coach's leadership, what pray tell is?

Why wait until the end of the season? Getting the new guy, now, can get his feet onto the ground and with the players before the season is done.
four years without one winning season is failure.

do we hope Kubiak pulls it together next season and give him another year? And, if we do give him another year and he doesn't pull it off, we'll fire him, but that would put us a year behind where we COULD HAVE BEEN had we fired him THIS year.

Miami, Atlanta, Denver, New Orleans, I could go on. Teams can switch coaches and immediately make the playoffs.

am not for firing Kubiak just to fire him. it has to be an upgrade and this is the year for hiring a top head coach.

are you really going to bring Kubiak back as a lame duck coach without a contract or God forbid, re-sign him to an extension?

All of the stupid mistakes are on those coaches as much as the players.

Is it out of the question to think a new coach, with different strengths and weaknesses, might correct some of the long running problems with this team while building on the foundation Kubiak has put in place?

The team is getting better and better each year...the bad thing is the losses are more heartbreaking because the team is getting better and better.
Kubiak has only managed to beat Capers best record by one win...in 3 years. For a guy who has brought the team so far he sure does have a crappy record.

Given the Jekyll / Hyde of this team this team has shown from one half to the next in every game this year (w/ poss. exception of Bengals) one of two things must be true. Either: A) Kubiak & Co. performed miracles keepng us tied / ahead in games we had no business being in. or.. B) We are really as talented as we looked in the "good" half and the other half was so dreadfully coached, executed, etc. that it was painful to watch.

2009 - Week 13 - 5-7
2008 - Week 13 - 5-7
2007 - Week 13 - 5-7

At the end of the season, you are what your record says you are. When it's obvious that the talent has improved, but the record stays the same...who do you blame?

If this "improved" team finishes 8-8 next year, do you give Kubiak a new contract or let him go?

But can anybody really argue that Kubiak himself has improved? Does anyone yet have any confidence in Kubiak's clock management? Does anyone yet have any confidence in his game preparation? Does anybody yet have any confidence in his ability to make in-game adjustments? Does anybody yet have any confidence that, when the game is on the line, Kubiak will make the right decisions?

The team has improved under Kubiak. The Texans have better, more talented personnel. They're no longer the abomination of a team that they were pre-Kubiak.

But Kubiak is still making the same mistakes he made in his first season. If he's not going to get any better at his job, then why should he be kept around to drag the team down?

these are the teams that haven't made the playoffs since 2002. There's always next year!

Detroit Lions
Buffalo Bills
Houston Texans

Why assume that a replacement can't be found? Is it a complete lack of confidence in Bob McNair's ability to attract a competent and proven head coach? The reasoning that Kubiak should stay because the Texans are unable to bring in a quality coach is depressing. I guess I have more optimism. Maybe that's unfounded, but you can't fire the owner.
44 Kubiak coached games and absolutely zero big wins.

inability to win an important game or have more than 5 wins before week 14 in 3 years and 48 regular season games.

they come out of the bye with the idea that Chris Brown is their best option at HB... Moats looked great at Indy and today yet he couldn't get touches even with Slaton sidelined.

In the off-season, they inexplicably don't address the safety position. So, they are content with Barber, Wilson, and Ferguson as primary backup. We had cap room and also players like Sean Jones available for almost nothing.

still haven't figured out that our current group of OLmen can't run the zone scheme every freakin' play!

Why on earth is Kyle Shanahan more qualified to call plays than Matt Schaub? Schaub's intelligent and knows what he's doing. Instead, they continue to handcuff him.

Richard Smith lasted 3 seasons! that's too long. If you're working with a guy every day for years, it shouldn't take 3 years to realize he's a moron!
Inconsistency with teams are the head coach's responsibility, plain and simple.

What I don't get is, this team can't handle pressure of expectations. If Kubiak comes back next year, do they know how much pressure they will be under? It's going to be insane. If Gary even blinks wrong the fans are going to kill him.

One thing is for certain: It would be difficult to bring in any new assistants, when they know Kubiak is in his last season. So, McNair had better hope none of his assistants decide to retire (like Alex Gibbs) or move on to other club (like baby Shanny following his dad somewhere). It would also be difficult to sign a top free agent, when the coaching situation is unstabilized.


years is a long time period in the NFL. The average NFL career is less than 4 years. Most NFL player contracts are 4 years or less. A team has to be built in less than 4 years, or the players you are building around will be gone. That's just the reality that is the NFL. Great organizations realize this and constantly reload their talent. While winning.

What good is a top 10 YPG offense if it cnt score when the game is on the line?

McDaniels will accomplish something in his first season that Kubiak has failed to in four. It's about results. It's about performance. No one has to judge Kubiak on potential, like a draft prospect. Kubiak has a 4 year track record. And that record clearly show that he has not gotten the job done.
The coach also has to play the players who give them the best opportunity to win. Not take our best player off the field in crunch time like the 1st Jags game and Cardinals game. It would also help if we stopped forcing a square peg into a round hole (I.E. everything having to do with Chris Brown this season. MAYBE our 4th best RB?)

Chris Brown doesn't give us the best chance to win, yet we gave him the ball in crucial situations that contributed to 3 of our losses. That's on the coach for not getting the ball to a better player (like maybe that Andre Johnson guy?)

Lets not forget that we didn't sign Pollard until week 3 when our safety play was some of the worst in NFL history...
You know, it's the same thing EVERY year. We pick up rather meaningless wins in meaningless December games. I don't care that we won this game by 27 points. It doesn't really matter. I'm watching to see if the problems that we have been suffering from all season are getting worked out. And they aren't.

I watch other football teams, that can actually run the ball when they need to. Teams that have balance in their offense. We don't have that. Sure we can beat a 5-7 Seattle team that is injury riddled, and really just bad in almost every facet of the game. But when it comes to beating our division opponents, or just games that we need to win PERIOD, we fail using the same formula almost every time.

But there’s no doubt that Texans offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan will join his father Mike, probably in Washington when he returns to coaching next year. Kyle is a very bright coach who will be his father’s offensive coordinator.

Couldn't agree more, in fact, I feel what we saw today was just a continuation of the same old BS. The offense failed to play 4 quarters of football. If our competition had continued to play, we'd have probably seen the typical fold by our team at the end of the game.

Who the hell let's the foot off the gas in the second half like that seriously.. put them away keep your foot on the gas and keep going. Another playing not to lose half by Gary Kubiak, signed by Gary Kubiak..

The Texans are 7-25 against teams with winning records in the Kubiak era.
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Pretty much the same judgement standard on both. Liked them at first but lack of improvement as game managers, poor development of players and poor personnel decisions after more than adequate time it was time to move on.
 
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