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Scout's Eye
Kubiak's offense brings out the best in Carr, Johnson
By Nolan Nawrocki
Oct. 23, 2006
Texans QB
David Carr
When Gary Kubiak took over as head coach in Houston, he went out and found two receivers (Eric Moulds and Kevin Walter) and a tight end (Jeb Putzier) who fit the mold his West Coast offense desired. But he did not need a No. 1 receiver - Andre Johnson was tailor-made for his offense. In the West Coast system, there is a premium on big, physical receivers who can create after the catch, and there are few in the league bigger, more physical or stronger after the catch than Johnson.
Nor did Kubiak need a quarterback - David Carr had the athleticism and mobility to roll out, bootleg and throw on the run. He had everything Kubiak desired. Vince Young, Houston’s native son, was available in last year’s draft, and Kubiak could have chosen to start from scratch. But he knew what he had and saw no reason to set the franchise back further.
Not all league evaluators were convinced he had what he thought he had in Carr. After four years, Carr should have been more than a 58-percent passer who had thrown more interceptions (53) than touchdowns (48), or so it was rationalized. However, even in the NFL, the playing field is not level when making evaluations. No evaluation is ever made in a vacuum, and the very best can evaluate what players can do as it relates to their system.
In the Texans’ former offense, Carr was taught to drop back in the pocket and make his reads regardless of how much pressure was bearing down on him. There were few designed plays to allow Carr to use his athleticism to escape the pressure and continue looking downfield, and because the offense often employed max protection, Carr was left with few options. With pressure constantly in his face, he was a sitting duck, going down 208 times through four years, not to include the countless times he was hurried and hit.
Under Kubiak, the line has not changed much, but Carr is completing more than 70 percent of his passes, tops among the league through seven weeks. And Johnson is on track to have a career year, receiving numberous nominations from league evaluators for midseason All-Pro honors.
The biggest difference under center is that Carr now has more options, and if he does not find a receiver uncovering in a few seconds, he is coached to move, buy time with his feet, continue looking downfield or get upfield and run - anything to create a positive play. The progress Carr has made is very encouraging, and given that Kubiak helped mold John Elway, Steve Young, Brian Griese and Jake Plummer into Pro Bowl performers, Carr’s future could not look brighter.
Ask any coach and they will tell you they cannot win without good talent, but without good coaching, talent will take you nowhere. Even more importantly, as the re-energized, emerging young stars are beginning to prove - for a coach to be effective, he needs to be able to evaluate. It sounds elementary, but it is often what separates the men from the boys at any level of coaching.
Kubiak, who has developed a reputation for spending an inordinate amount of time grinding in the film room and has been highly commended by the NFL coaching fraternity for his evaluation ability, clearly deserves high marks based on early returns.
