I simply disagree with this attitude. Kubiak is a good OC. It just so happens he is also the HC. He would only be like the cockroach who falls into things and messes them up (on the defensive side). So it makes perfect sense for Kubiak to just rubber stamp Wade's selections on defense.

Unfortunately that's not what happened with the new DB coach.

Wade was coaching the E-W Shrine second tier guys that week, but it still could have waited till Wade got back so it would at least appear he had a hand in the hiring. This way it is just more of Kubiak hiring his cronies. Not a good way to start off the new defense.

So you think Wade had no input because he was at the Shrine Game? What his cell phone does not work? He can't get a text? Please that is conjecture on your part which I think is with zero merit.

Like I said, the Head Coach hires staff. Any other method leaves the HC impotent with his team. I am sure Wade had plenty of input though. And the pre-existing Shrine game duties don't mean you wait a week to hire the guy. Like PK said, you try a little of that fancy tellecommunication with Wade and then you make your hire.

This seems to be done as it should be Wade recommended, Kubiak reviewed and concurred, GM took action.

Wade had input and the hire was actually announced on the 14th of Jan, a few days before Wade left for the Shrine Game which was on the 22nd.

and from the Chron - the SF DC Manusky who coached for Wade( would that mean he is from the Phillips coaching tree) recommended Vance Joseph to Wade is how this came about- I heard all this as it was happening.

He does seem slightly inexperienced in he was only at one pro team, but he also had some coaching at College level before that.

I'm sure that Manusky told Wade that he was available and the rest was just details. It's not what you know, but who you know. They have a common language and that was good enough. Personally, I would have preferred a guy with some statistical backing that he knows how to get results. But like I said, it's not what you know...

Cris Dishman was the guy I wanted all along....but perhaps Manusky wanted to keep him for himself in San Diego.

I'm with RP on this. And I think the DB coach was a sucky hiring. I don't care who did it, and who did, or did not get to approve it. :(

seems a little early to be so tough on the guy. I wish him lots of success.

Hey, I just want this team to get to the next level. I really don't care who does what. Exelence equals good communications. That's what we have to have.

if this were any other team hirign him i would agree, but given the track record (and how many times someone has said your exact quote in the past with this administration only to end up with disaster) of this team any hire that isn't a blockbuseter will be viewed with skepticism from me until they prove otherwise.

Phillips' track record revamping defenses gives Texans hope
 

Interesting article on NFL.com site:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d...es-texans-hope

Couple of snipets that bring on the usual Spring time optimism (usually to be crushed at a later date.....)

"Whenever (the lockout ends), and I hope it's soon, we've got a real player-friendly system," Phillips said during the lunch hour in Houston. "That's what we pride ourselves on, and we can teach it quickly. It'll be about not making mental mistakes and teaching them techniques on how to do things, not so much what to do. We haven't always had an offseason, we've had to put it in during training camp before, so I think it's something they can learn fast. It's all technique after you learn what to do."

"It's a different language, a different way of doing things, but some have done it before, and it's all football. But if we are doing a good job with the teaching process, they'll learn it quick."

"That's what coaching is. It's not what you play, it's how you play it. ... And they have talent here. They made mistakes, and we have to cut down on those. But they played hard overall, and that's the first thing you want: Effort. We have talent. We just (have to) get people in the right place, doing the right things."


After reading all this guys quotes, you can't help but be somewhat hopeful that we will see atleast an AVERAGE D next year. RIGHT?

Please?
Pretty Please?

"I've come against these problems before," Phillips said. "I've come in where we had 3-4 personnel too, but there are a lot of different 3-4 styles. There's the (Bill) Parcells old-time 3-4 they had in Dallas, and there were a lot of differences. It's new each time. It's different each time. I don't know that this is much different than Dallas or San Diego was. It's different players, and part of that is me learning what they can and can't do.

"But when we were in Buffalo, we were playing 3-4 and all our linebackers got hurt. And so we played a 4-3 against Miami, and beat them, and then we went back to the 3-4 when we got healthy. It's the players you have and how you play. It's not 3-4 or 4-3."
**
Sounds like ole Wade feels he can play any hand he's dealt.

Sounds to me like he's bluffing.

If you have this much hatred for this team, why do you spend this much time on them? I would assume you are a grown man, so I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but, if you don't like'em, don't follow them. Pretty easy. 31 other teams you can follow.

I for one am on board. May work, may not, but either way they should be entertaining again. Just renewed our tickets, again, been there since day 1, and don't plan on going away any time soon.

I'm still wavering. I haven't renewed and haven't decided if I will.

I admire your style of fandom, I really do. I'm not being disingenuous or snide or anything like that; it must be great to be able to embrace something wholly and without regard for its obvious flaws.

Wade Phillips inherited a terrible defense with a shocking lack of talent. What the hell is he supposed to say? Is he supposed to admit the truth? Hell no, he's supposed to say Hey, we can make anything work. That's a bluff. I mean, obviously.

Look, I never wavered in my own fandom through the 2005 season. I went to all the games and renewed my tickets without a second thought. I can handle losing. I'm a lifelong fan of Houston sports so that much should be painfully obvious. What I can't handle is being misled or lied to. Drayton McLane idiotically asks his players what they have done to be a champion. What he's done to be a champion is fire the best GM in the history of Houston sports and refuse to pay draft picks. The Astros are now in the MLB wilderness and comparable to the likes of Pittsburgh and Kansas City. I have no idea how long they'll stay where they are, but I'm pretty sure Ed Wade is not the person to lead them out. Anyway, as I was saying, I don't appreciate an owner pretending to want to win while in reality he obviously doesn't care. So I don't patronize the Astros financially. I watch all the games, sure, and I'll go to a game if I'm invited. But in terms of buying tickets, no thank you.

It's not as clear to me that McNair doesn't care about winning but I'm getting there. His retaining Kubiak is problematic. He knew that a lockout was a certainty and as I long imagined he didn't want to pay two head coaches to do nothing for a year. It's impossible for me to know whether he would have retained Kubiak if there hadn't been a lockout. I suspect he would have, but I'll never know.

My Texans fandom has matured over the decade. Like you I was once willing to overlook or minimize obvious deficiencies, obvious examples of organizational ineptitude. I find I can't do that anymore. It's a natural process I guess. But I am certain that the team cannot and will not win with Kubiak as the head coach, and I suspect that Rick Smith is equally inept although it's unclear who holds the final say in personnel matters. Smith insists he does but I don't believe it.

And last year was the first year that I didn't particularly enjoy going to the games. I like sitting in my seat and watching the game, sure, but everything else has sort of lost its luster for me. I guess my sobering up about the team has allowed me to see what was visible all along. Standing in an ugly parking lot in front of an ugly stadium at 11 am in unbearable heat dodging cigarette smoke wafting over from drunk, tattooed, chicken fried rednecks blasting Kid Rock or some goat roaping nonsense is just not as fun as it once was. Maybe I'm just getting old. Hell, I'm ten years older than I was when I started in on this idiocy.

Anyway, it looks like my 50 minutes is up. I'll see you next week.

Texans really disappointed me last season but darn it I still love my f@ck!ng team. Don't really know what to expect this year but I'm 100% sure I'll be rooting for them every step of the way. I'm pretty sure I'll be raging if we get plagued by incompetence once again but I'm hoping we finally turn it around.

You know, I think the only major mistake McNair has made was not canning Kubiak after he missed a golden opportunity to go to the playoffs in 2009. He really should have taken the Texans to the playoffs in 2009 with that pud schedule, but blew some close ones and didn't have the Texans ready in the season opener vs the Jets. And maybe McNair really wanted to get rid of him this year, but with the lockout and all I can appreciate the uncertainty teams would be facing with in 2011, which maybe seemed almost like a throw away season ?
He didn't wait too long on getting rid of Capers did he ? Dom had that 7-9 season, then he won the first Draft pick next year and McNair promptly let him go IIRC ? Was there a problem there ?
I sincerely believe McNair really, really wants to win and get into the playoffs. More than we do. I might be mistaken, but FWIW that's my opinion ?

In 2009, just like in every year, the Texans could not win out in their division. If Kubes could have at least broke even in division he would have been over the hump. But that was then and this is now, and I am back at the trough, dreaming that this is the year we go to the playoffs.

With Mclain and Alexander it has always been how much can I extract from the fans of Houston, while putting the very least product on the field/court. I still think McNair is trying to put a good team on the field.

Just remember in 2009 we had a really easy schedule, while this year we've got another tough one like last year.
But remember when the defense got a slow start in '09, then played better as the season progressed ? The early difficulty was attibuted to adjusting
to Frank Bushs version of the 4-3 IIRC, but we had a whole preseason to get ready. This year we're going to have a major defensive conversion (4-3 to 3-4), with much less and possibly very little or no preseason to prepare. In other words, just keep dreaming about the playoffs in 2011.