8 Texans voted to Pro Bowl

[Nconroe]

6 on offense and 2 on defense, pretty good recognition

Andre Johnson, Arian Foster , and 3rd QB Matt Schaub

On OL Duane Brown and two backups Chris Myers and Wade Smith.

On defense JJ Watt and Jonathan Joseph are srarters.

I think all deserving considering Texans record.

Big congratulations to all.

[Arky]

Nice, heard about it on the radio.....

From the Texan's website (http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/JJ-Watt-among-8-Texans-players-selected-to-Pro-Bowl/0611b11b-e153-4ea8-913d-381cd2e16593):

Texans linebacker Bryan Braman (special teams), fullback James Casey, tight end Owen Daniels, safety Danieal Manning and defensive end Antonio Smith were named alternates for the AFC Pro Bowl squad.

[Keith]

Nice bit of recognition. I'm little surprised JJo is a starter. He had a better year in 2011 since injury has slowed him significantly this year. I suppose he is being judged here based on a healthy version of himself.

On a side note, feel bad for Cushing. He's in his prime and playing on a top defense, yet injury has erased his 2012 season. Watching clips from last year's defense (which, at least since Cushing's injury, has been better than the 2012 defense), and I can't help but feel a little depressed knowing the team won't have him for the playoff run.

Back to the Pro Bowl... happy for Antonio as an alternate. He has been quietly having a nice season, overshadowed because of how uniquely special J.J. Watt has been. Which makes me wonder if this the Antonio we always had or if he is really just getting the full benefit of having Watt next to him. I'm sure there is plenty of both, but when it comes to Antonio's contract figure, makes me wonder what a suitable (and cheaper) replacement might do next to Watt.

[Nconroe]

Looks like Owen Daniels is 9th Texan headed to pro-bowl. He is replacing injure Pat Gronkowski. Congrat's to Owen.

[chuck]

So far Schaub has sailed the ball over the heads of wide open receivers, underthrown a receiver for a pick, panicked and thrown the ball away for no reason and managed to get himself sacked despite zero pass rush. All this in three series.

I can't wait to see what he does in the second half.

[chuck]

What a fing idiot. He can't even avoid dicking things up in a glorified scrimmage. And then Wilson comes in and immediately shows Texans fans why our team has no hope of ever doing anything. What a joke that Schaub is on the same field as these other guys. It's an embarrassment.

[chuck]

Good. I don't get nearly enough special teams dickwittery during the regular season. This is great.

[popanot]

Good. I don't get nearly enough special teams dickwittery during the regular season. This is great.Don't worry, chuck, NFL history indicates a ST coach doesn't fully hit his stride until year 12 in the league so we should be seeing drastic improvement in that area in 2013. :rolleyes:

Besides, according to the Texans website, Marciano is "one of the top coaches in his field" and you know everything on the Interwebs is true!

http://www.houstontexans.com/team/coaches/joe-marciano/97fdf7de-d525-4ff2-a601-912be778708a

If Marciano is "one of the top ST coaches", I guess that means our GM sucks at finding good backup/ST players.

[Arky]

I think we were shown who can be the Texans #2 wide receiver ...... JJ Watt!

[chuck]

I think we were shown who can be the Texans #2 wide receiver ...... JJ Watt!

Funny thing is you know if he played for Belichik he would have been used at TE in a goal line situation already. I'm all for it. And before anyone jumps in and accuses me of inconsistency I will happily explain. Yes, I strongly condemned that half-witted, poorly conceived halfback "pass" attempt by Chris Brown that netted the team an interception. On a Kubiak resume littered with incredibly stupid decisions that one is particularly outstanding.

On the other hand using huge linemen as receiver-eligible in goal line situations is pure Parcells. And in my mind Bill Parcells was basically the perfect NFL coach.

[Arky]

Funny thing is you know if he played for Belichik he would have been used at TE in a goal line situation already. I'm all for it. And before anyone jumps in and accuses me of inconsistency I will happily explain. Yes, I strongly condemned that half-witted, poorly conceived halfback "pass" attempt by Chris Brown that netted the team an interception. On a Kubiak resume littered with incredibly stupid decisions that one is particularly outstanding.

On the other hand using huge linemen as receiver-eligible in goal line situations is pure Parcells. And in my mind Bill Parcells was basically the perfect NFL coach.

I think Kubes took such harsh criticism for that Chris Brown play that he's a bit reticent to ever use trickeration again.... When was the last time the Texans ran a gadget play out of the norm? It's been a long time....

I'm just wondering what happened to Matt Schaub..... somewhere along the way, the switch got flipped and he turned into end-of-his-career Drew Bledsoe....

[chuck]

I'm just wondering what happened to Matt Schaub..... somewhere along the way, the switch got flipped and he turned into end-of-his-career Drew Bledsoe....

This is a gravely serious problem. Having so much money sunk into a quarterback that is not elite, not even average, and looking more and more like a liability on the field is a very difficult issue to work around even for teams with competent and courageous leadership.

[Nconroe]

Overall, not that I saw all of it, but hilights like

JJ Watt being a tight end,
JPP getting an interception,
Peyton Mannings old center coming, Jeff Saturday, on for snap,
some guys playing hard,
Wilson throwing for three TD, although from a short field,

overall looked like an entertaining, fun game that players wanted to keep around.

[Nconroe]

This is a gravely serious problem. Having so much money sunk into a quarterback that is not elite, not even average, and looking more and more like a liability on the field is a very difficult issue to work around even for teams with competent and courageous leadership.

Last six or so games, something does seem different. Hope earlier Schaub returns, and TJ Yates has improved. Anyways, as of now we do have 4 QB in upcoming off-season camp.

here is some historical perspective, maybe it will help:
http://blog.chron.com/texanschick/2013/01/joe-flacco-matt-schaub-playoff-football/

[popanot]

From the article nconroe references above::
"The Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens both scored 28 points against the New England Patriots in the playoffs. Baltimore only allowed 13 points. The Texans allowed many more. The narrative says Joe Flacco is clutch, and Matt Schaub is many bad names."

Steph brings up some great points, and yes, the D played a huge role in losing that game. However, when comparing Schaub/Pats vs. Flacco/Pats, Steph fails to mention the 'boob-play' factor. Yes, the 28 points are the same, but Schaub made so many poor plays it killed any hopes of realistically keeping pace with the Pats and pulling out a W. The only thing missing from his two games against the Pats was an ass-sack by one of his own OL.

[chuck]

From the article nconroe references above::
"The Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens both scored 28 points against the New England Patriots in the playoffs. Baltimore only allowed 13 points. The Texans allowed many more. The narrative says Joe Flacco is clutch, and Matt Schaub is many bad names."

Steph brings up some great points, and yes, the D played a huge role in losing that game. However, when comparing Schaub/Pats vs. Flacco/Pats, Steph fails to mention the 'boob-play' factor. Yes, the 28 points are the same, but Schaub made so many poor plays it killed any hopes of realistically keeping pace with the Pats and pulling out a W. The only thing missing from his two games against the Pats was an ass-sack by one of his own OL.

I thought the article was like everything else she's ever produced, just profoundly stupid.

If you watch the games then you know that for some reason Schaub was terrible basically the second half of the season and into the playoffs. There's no reason to hide from that, there's no reason to sugar-coat it, there's no reason to make idiotic comparisons to other players that have no meaning at all. Schaub sucked. That's it. Even Kubiak saw it. That's the only possible reason why he turtled up the offense and quit doing the things that were working earlier in the year. Maybe Schaub got hurt and we never knew about it. Who knows.

It's idiotic to pretend like Schaub was anything other that terrible through that final stretch. The only question is can he regain the form that we all saw in past years. If so the team can legitimately compete for a Super Bowl. If not we are in for another half-decade of misery.

[Warren]

Funny thing is you know if he played for Belichik he would have been used at TE in a goal line situation already. I'm all for it. And before anyone jumps in and accuses me of inconsistency I will happily explain. Yes, I strongly condemned that half-witted, poorly conceived halfback "pass" attempt by Chris Brown that netted the team an interception. On a Kubiak resume littered with incredibly stupid decisions that one is particularly outstanding.

On the other hand using huge linemen as receiver-eligible in goal line situations is pure Parcells. And in my mind Bill Parcells was basically the perfect NFL coach.
JJ as a goal-line TE makes a lot of sense. He played the position early in his college career, he’s 40-45 lbs. heavier than Daniels, Graham, and Casey, he’s a couple inches taller than each of those guys plus (I believe) has longer arms and a better vertical for going after jump balls, and he’s a much better athlete with better hands than any OL they could put there. So even if they never threw it to him he should be a better blocker than the regular TEs and would have to be more respected by the D as a receiving threat than an extra OL. I’m sure the reason they’d give for not doing it is because they want to keep him as fresh as possible for defense, but how much would a handful of extra snaps (at most) per game wear him down? You know he’d be up for it.

The stats do not tell the whole story of Schaub vs. the Patriots.

[Joshua]

[QUOTE=Warren;33801] I’m sure the reason they’d give for not doing it is because they want to keep him as fresh as possible for defense, but how much would a handful of extra snaps (at most) per game wear him down? .[/QUOT

That's the optimistic explanation. I'm more inclined to believe they never even considered it because Kubiak and Co. don't think like that. I suspect it has never occurred to him to play a DE on offense. Now, clearly, my view is the pessimist view.

[HPF Bob]

I don't think it has occurred to the Texans either. They would be more inclined to have a fullback on the roster they could sneak out into the flat which was Shanahan's favorite goal-line trick play.

[cadams]

i have really lost faith in the team at this point. i think they have the talent to compete, and even got to the super bowl if everythign breaks right, but i agree with the assesments of the coaching staff. they have their way to do things, and that is the way things will be done. stick with the script, win or lose

[chuck]

I don't think it has occurred to the Texans either. They would be more inclined to have a fullback on the roster they could sneak out into the flat which was Shanahan's favorite goal-line trick play.

Line the mofo up at fullback then, Gary, damn.