Official Texans vs. Seahawks Game Thread, 9/29/2013

[barrett]

Originally Posted by chuck

Nothing will change until Kubiak's gone and I don't see Bob firing that idiot as long as the Texans keep raking in money.

If that is true Kubiak needs to go. I've seen nothing that would convince me we would hold onto Schaub no matter what. We have had no problem replacing guys. Especially since I think Rick Smith would be the ultimate decision maker on that.

Either way we lost last week giving up 236 yards and lost this week giving up 270 (with an extra two OT possessions). When you can play that kind of defense against what are supposed to be good offenses and superbowl contenders, you should not be losing. The number one responsibility for your offense in that situation is to hold onto the ball and Tate and Schaub blew it. We could have kneeled down the 4th quarter and won. Ridiculous.

[chuck]

The team should be 4-0 and they should not have played a close game.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by chuck

The team should be 4-0 and they should not have played a close game.

Are they that much more talented than the rest of the NFL that they should be the only untested team in the league and should blow out Baltimore and Seattle? With Matt Schaub at QB? Really? And what stands in the way of that?

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by barrett

If that is true Kubiak needs to go. I've seen nothing that would convince me we would hold onto Schaub no matter what. We have had no problem replacing guys. Especially since I think Rick Smith would be the ultimate decision maker on that.

Either way we lost last week giving up 236 yards and lost this week giving up 270 (with an extra two OT possessions). When you can play that kind of defense against what are supposed to be good offenses and superbowl contenders, you should not be losing. The number one responsibility for your offense in that situation is to hold onto the ball and Tate and Schaub blew it. We could have kneeled down the 4th quarter and won. Ridiculous.

Complete speculation but i don't think Schaub is treated like the rest of them. Because Kubiak is the supposed QB guru, i think this is the one position Smith defers almost exclusively to Kubiak. I base this on his 2 contracts and his complete lack of competition during his tenure here. Nobody else has had the luxuries Schaub has. I attribute this to Kubiak, but again, that's a guess.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Joshua

Complete speculation but i don't think Schaub is treated like the rest of them. Because Kubiak is the supposed QB guru, i think this is the one position Smith defers almost exclusively to Kubiak. I base this on his 2 contracts and his complete lack of competition during his tenure here. Nobody else has had the luxuries Schaub has. I attribute this to Kubiak, but again, that's a guess.

That could be. I would guess that if it is true then Kubiak is reaching a point where he needs to stop protecting or go down with the ship.

But I am not convinced that is how it is. Nobody ever brings in competition for their QB. You either replace your QB or you don't. You bring in competition and you setup a lame duck TB situation where you are cutting your QB's legs off. If Kubiak is protecting him I would guess it is just about his QB rep, since nobody creates 'competition' at QB on purpose. As for the 2 contracts, one was the initial one, and that was a good one. We wanted a guy to get us to the playoffs and replace David Carr. We obviously didn't want to bottom out and go high draft pick. Schaub was a good QB for a team looking to grow, he just didn't grow with the rest of the team. He is what he is. We got great mileage out of him for the talent and what it cost us. The 2nd contract was the bad one. We were clearly not sold on him and didn't extend him early and then got cold feet the day before the season and locked him up last year. A mistake, but Schaub's absence in the 2011 playoffs left the slight possibility hanging in the air we could do it with him. Strangely Schaub's injury got him a free pass and a lot of money that he never sees if he is healthy and spitting the bit in 2011.

[chuck]

No one brings in competition for their quarterback? How the hell did Wilson and Kaepernick come to be starters?

[barrett]

Originally Posted by chuck

No one brings in competition for their quarterback? How the hell did Wilson and Kaepernick come to be starters?

Who did they replace?

Seattle drafted one guy and signed another. They got two guys to compete and once one had the job they got rid of the other. They did not bring in competition for the established guy.

In SF Smith was never Harbaugh's guy. He inherited him, tried to replace him and struck out (manning), and then replaced him. And again, as soon as they made the switch they got Smith out of town because nobody actually wants competition at QB.

When a guy is an established starter you replace him or you don't (or you go Greg Schiano and half replace him and ruin his ability to play QB for your team because the whole team knows you don't want him). And we should have replaced ours. Not replacing him cost us a season (the last of AJ being AJ?), and might cost a whole bunch of people there job.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by barrett

Who did they replace?

Seattle drafted one guy and signed another. They got two guys to compete and once one had the job they got rid of the other. They did not bring in competition for the established guy.

In SF Smith was never Harbaugh's guy. He inherited him, tried to replace him and struck out (manning), and then replaced him. And again, as soon as they made the switch they got Smith out of town because nobody actually wants competition at QB.

When a guy is an established starter you replace him or you don't (or you go Greg Schiano and half replace him and ruin his ability to play QB for your team because the whole team knows you don't want him).

You're right that Smith was Harbaugh's guy but you're greatly underselling how that went down. Smith was coming off a 13-3 season and an appearance in the NFC championship game and was the highest rated passer in the NFL when he got hurt. You're a good poster who prides himself on being reasonable and relying on the facts (a good natured dig after your minor scuffle here last week), so let's deal with what actually happened. Benching Smith at that time was huge.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Joshua

You're right that Smith was Harbaugh's guy but you're greatly underselling how that went down. Smith was coming off a 13-3 season and an appearance in the NFC championship game and was the highest rated passer in the NFL when he got hurt. You're a good poster who prides himself on being reasonable and relying on the facts (a good natured dig after your minor scuffle here last week), so let's deal with what actually happened. Benching Smith at that time was huge.

It was. Sorry I undersold it as it wasn't my intention. I wasn't talking about the situation being small. When Harbaugh did that it was shocking, took huge balls, a bigger ego, and was potentially smart or maybe (still to this point) really stupid.

My point wasn't about the decision, it was about the fact that Harbaugh was clearly NEVER sold on Smith. They won that first year with running game and defense. Then they tried to replace him and couldn't. Then Harbaugh bold face lied and said they didn't. Then Smith actually played really well and Harbaugh still replaced him. And then got rid of him. It was clear in retrospect (no matter how shocking it was at the time) that Harbaugh never wanted Smith. When he drafted Kaepernick, Smith was terrible and had never played a down for Harbaugh.

It was definitely not a case of Smith being Harbaugh's QB and then Harbaugh went out and spent a 2nd round pick on a guy who could challenge him for the job. That doesn't happen in the NFL. You keep your QB until you don't believe in him and then you replace him and get rid of him as quick as possible. Kubiak/Smith should have reached this point with Schaub. But I sincerely hope another average year from Schaub gets him replaced, not brought back with competition.

[popanot]

Problem is the season isn't at a critical stage yet and Schaub does just well enough to where it's almost impossible to take him out. However, there is no doubt Schaub's skills have declined considerably. He is no threat to run (obviously), no threat to hit the deep ball, rarely leads his receivers to where they can get YAC, and, who doesn't cringe every time he throws a sideline pattern now? He has no zip on his passes at all. Top that off with his mind-numbing bonehead play(s) of the game and this is what you get. Nothing will change until the season is lost or Schaub gets hurt.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by popanot

Problem is the season isn't at a critical stage yet and Schaub does just well enough to where it's almost impossible to take him out. However, there is no doubt Schaub's skills have declined considerably. He is no threat to run (obviously), no threat to hit the deep ball, rarely leads his receivers to where they can get YAC, and, who doesn't cringe every time he throws a sideline pattern now? He has no zip on his passes at all. Top that off with his mind-numbing bonehead play(s) of the game and this is what you get. Nothing will change until the season is lost or Schaub gets hurt.

So sad and so true. I actually hoped at the start of the last 2 seasons for us to tank so we would see changes at HC/QB somewhere else that matters.