Official Texans vs. Raiders Game Thread, 11/17/2013

[Arky]

Originally Posted by Keith

This assessment is so sad and mostly true. The team won't be exposed soon. They've been exposed.

Brooks Reed and Mercilus make me wonder what Connor Barwin's been up to lately. How disappointing is that?

Someone mentioned hubris. Perfect.

Bullock for a 5th rounder.

And I want to like Keenum. I really do. But he is a career backup. Can a new coach return this team to the playoffs next year? Absolutely. Even with Keenum. But Smith needs to go with Kubiak.

Career backup? I think that's a little harsh after 3.5 games.... Right now, I see him as somewhere between starter and backup.... sort of a Doug Flutie type that can start for long stretches or come off the bench in a pinch. The thing about Case Keenum is his upside.... don't you think Drew Brees struggled in his early days? The way I see it, he's at least going to be a Flutie-type, best case scenario is he ends up a Drew Brees-type.....

Statistically, he's better than most QB's in the league already. Have you seen his vertical stats? In just 3.5 games, has thrown:

Passes of 20+ = 16
Passes of 40+ = 5

Compared to some others (who have been playing most of the year):

Matt Schaub (6.5 games)
Passes of 20+ = 20
Passes of 40+ = 1

Christian Ponder
Passes of 20+ = 20
Passes of 40+ = 2

RGIII
Passes of 20+ = 28
Passes of 40+ = 4

Tom Brady
Passes of 20+ = 27
Passes of 40+ = 5

Pro-rate Keenum's vertical stats over a 10 game span and he's right up there (or better than) with P Manning, Drew Brees, Mathew Stafford, i.e, the best in the league. He's thrown 8 TD's with 1 INT in his 3.5 games. Prorate that over a 16 game schedule and you get 37 TD's and 5 INT's (really good). Schaub's best year (2009), he threw 29 TD's with 15 INT's. So, in conclusion, he's not doing bad for essentially a rookie.....

I've always been a fan of the vertical game so I'm a bit biased but I think he can be a serviceable starter - in Arky's World, I'd love for him to finish out the year (with no interruptions) and perhaps be the de facto starter next year at least during what appears to be changes coming about and a shakeup in the organization...

For the record, I could care less about U of H and only saw parts of a handful of Keenum's TV games in his college days. No less than June Jones has mentioned his incredible accuracy and that's the way I saw it in the preseason - I saw a nice short and intermediate game. He was throwing perfectly-led flair passes and hitting receivers on slants over the middle. So, I'm a little confused about what has happened to this aspect of his game lately..... perhaps he's getting coached up....