Time to look at changes?

[painekiller]

OK we are seeing the bad side of Kubiak right now. He is stubborn and he panics/gambles.

Reasons I was not in favor of the hiring of Kubiak started with his lack of play calling experience, I still do not think he is very good at it and he gambles to much. Week one's game seemed to turn on the missed 4th down on the opening drive. This week he tried to send the message that we are a good red zone team and all he did was leave points on the field.

Another thing about Kubiak is he is stuck with a system. He is living on a scheme that worked for him over 10 years ago. Small quick OL work very well for a team that has a homefield advantage of high elevation, Denver and Atlanta are the 2 highest elevation teams. But when you want to power block you need a lot more beef.

In our division we have 2 team that have huge DTs that are quick and athletic, small guys get bulled over by them. I prefer the type OL that the Eagles and Ravens have. Huge maulers, they do not have to be super athletes but they have to be big.

While I am on pass protection and big maulers, the WCO was designed around the short pass = the run. The pass set up the pass, Bill Walsh's words. The Shanahan/Kubiak version of the WCO have decided to force the run to set up the pass.

I am not sure Kubiak can go outside his comfort zone and tinker with the offense and design an offense that highlights his guys strengths and exploits the opponents weaknesses.

His defensive philosophy, or lack of one. Having grown up watching Buddy Ryan and Jerry Glanville blitz on every play, I tend to like pressure and more pressure. I have always loathed the bend don't break guys. And I look at our defense and I cannot figure out what the heck we are.

All that said, Kubiak has shown me he was the right hire for the HC position. He has done an excellent job in changing the atmosphere at Reliant. So he needs more time, and one more draft. And the players need to play.

I hope we see some changes with the Defensive coaches next off season, and the last of the Casserly drafted players.

[Arky]

The OL - I'm going to give these guys more time before passing judgement. They have slightly different assignments from last year with Gibbs running the show and 60% of the them are new faces (Brown, Brisiel and Myers). It may be several more games before they get it together and start clicking... Assuming Brown will grow as a player, will Brisiel and Myers turn out to be solid players or will one or the other need to be eventually upgraded?

Schaub - Can't deny he's been kinda shaky. However, he's not been that far off.... if AJ catches those passes he dropped, they both look a whole lot better. I'm OK with sticking with Schaub for now...

The Defense - Not counting the injury to TJ, there's really only two new faces this year: Diles and Reeves - so as a whole, they really should be further along. Pittsburgh made them look silly but they (the defense) looked much better in the 2nd half of the Titans game. Jacksonville is hurting on the OL and currently rated 24th in offense after 3 games so I think this upcoming game will tell us more about the defense.

Kubiak - he confirmed what I suspected in one of the latest pressers: that he went for the TD's (instead of FG's) on 4th down in the red zone because he had no idea he'd be back in the red zone so much. Hindsight for fans on these decisions is wonderful, so I'm not going to fault him for this.... I'm hoping he learned something from this and understands his personnel and team a bit better.... I will say there is a time to gamble and a time to be conservative and while I hope he doesn't lose the gamble, I'd rather not see him become Jeff Fisher conservative...

We are 0-2 and lost two games to two teams we were supposed to lose to. I know, I know - "but it's the way we lost". We are supposed to lose to the Jags, too, so there is a good chance we start 0-3. I'm not real worried about it because as a fan, there's just not much I can do about it. Whenever we win a few games, I think you'll hear a different tune on these messageboards/blogs... People will get off the ledge and climb back in the window...

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by Arky

I'd rather not see him become Jeff Fisher conservative...

if you recognize that here then

(the defense) looked much better in the 2nd half of the Titans game.

recognize it here too. the defense looked better because the titans sat down on their lead. this defense is a mess and every time i see it i know more and more it's richard smith's doing. dropping the only pass rusher we have worth a damn because it makes the defense "predictable" if they don't. what the hell is predictable about this defense? that you can throw and run on it at will? the only people confused by it seem to be the guys trying to run it. whenever a play is made it seems to be in spite of the rest of the defense, not because of it.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by KJ3

if you recognize that here then

recognize it here too. the defense looked better because the titans sat down on their lead. this defense is a mess and every time i see it i know more and more it's richard smith's doing. dropping the only pass rusher we have worth a damn because it makes the defense "predictable" if they don't. what the hell is predictable about this defense? that you can throw and run on it at will? the only people confused by it seem to be the guys trying to run it. whenever a play is made it seems to be in spite of the rest of the defense, not because of it.

We have two young defensive linemen that are very capable of penetrating on every play, instead they appear to be coached to hold the point of attack and shed. This is not what got Okoy into the 1st round. Shooting gaps and disrupting the backfield is what got him here. Now have him play to his strength.


And I agree the Titans sat on their lead, but it worked.

[NBT]

Well, I'm finally back on after 8 days without power.

I agree that the Tacks sat on it(no pun intended!), because Jeff Fisher has Kubiak's number, not only on offense, but defense too. I also agree that Kubiak is pig headed stubborn about not benching Schaub and playing Sage. Granted that Schaub started out the season with two (should have been 3), of the toughest defenses in the NFL. Schaub may yet turn out to be a decent starting QB, but he is starting to lose his confidence, ala another QB we used to have.

On defense there is no excuse for being outplayed badly in Pgh., and in Tackville (at least in the first half), but the comeback in the second half wasn't so much Richard Smith's wonderful coaching (ha!), as it was for DeMeco taking a leadership position and verbally kicking some butt.

I am extremely dissapointed with Kubiak to this point.

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by painekiller

We have two young defensive linemen that are very capable of penetrating on every play, instead they appear to be coached to hold the point of attack and shed. This is not what got Okoy into the 1st round. Shooting gaps and disrupting the backfield is what got him here. Now have him play to his strength.


And I agree the Titans sat on their lead, but it worked.

to go along with what you said, coverage isn't what got mario picked #1 overall. the next time mario is in coverage it needs to be because the texans were up by a couple with :05 on the clock and the D drops 9 for a max endzone protect against a hail mary-in which case they should sub a couple WR in for dline guys anyway ala randy moss.

of course it worked. they have, and thoroughly believe in, a defense that comes to play every game i've seen them in. 7 now? 7 straight losses?

[papabear]

Originally Posted by painekiller

Reasons I was not in favor of the hiring of Kubiak started with his lack of play calling experience...

I pretty much agree with everything you said, but Kubiak called the plays in Denver for 7 years. Maybe you want more experience than that, but it's not like it was new to him.

http://www.examiner.com/x-258-Denver...ling-explained

[coloradodude]

Originally Posted by painekiller

We have two young defensive linemen that are very capable of penetrating on every play, instead they appear to be coached to hold the point of attack and shed. This is not what got Okoy into the 1st round. Shooting gaps and disrupting the backfield is what got him here. Now have him play to his strength.


And I agree the Titans sat on their lead, but it worked.

The coaches might have seen that they needed to force the RB's to the outside so the LB's could have a better advantage. I don't know this I'm just saying the coaches might have game planned for a reason.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by KJ3

if you recognize that here then

the defense looked better because the titans sat down on their lead.

I think this is getting blown way out of proportion. The Titans always want to play a ball control style offense, so it's not like they were doing things that differently than they would have otherwise. The score was 21-12 until midway through the third quarter, and then was 24-12 basically throughout. Certainly that's a nice lead, but not one where you can just afford to crawl into a hole and try to run out the clock. We had several chances to score, and I'm sure Fisher was a lot less comfortable with the lead than many Texans fans seem to think.

[Arky]

Originally Posted by painekiller

And I agree the Titans sat on their lead, but it worked.

Whatever. Did they not want more points? Were they happy with their 9-12 point lead?

In the second half, they passed less and went to the run. We stopped the run. We contained Lendale White and Chris Johnson pretty good in the run. They had a lot of 3 and outs. The word coming from the Texans postgame was "the defense gave them a chance to win" in the second half - the offense just couldn't get it done.... If y'all want to call it "Tennesse sat on the lead" - fine..... I think the defense had something to do with it, though....

[Arky]

Originally Posted by papabear

I think this is getting blown way out of proportion. The Titans always want to play a ball control style offense, so it's not like they were doing things that differently than they would have otherwise. The score was 21-12 until midway through the third quarter, and then was 24-12 basically throughout. Certainly that's a nice lead, but not one where you can just afford to crawl into a hole and try to run out the clock. We had several chances to score, and I'm sure Fisher was a lot less comfortable with the lead than many Texans fans seem to think.

Exactly. Jeff Fisher would've loved to run it down our throats whilest racking up points - just like Pittsburgh did in the 2nd half.

Maybe we're just slow starters..... By the time Indy comes to town, maybe we might be ready to play some football...

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by papabear

I think this is getting blown way out of proportion. The Titans always want to play a ball control style offense, so it's not like they were doing things that differently than they would have otherwise. The score was 21-12 until midway through the third quarter, and then was 24-12 basically throughout. Certainly that's a nice lead, but not one where you can just afford to crawl into a hole and try to run out the clock. We had several chances to score, and I'm sure Fisher was a lot less comfortable with the lead than many Texans fans seem to think.

i don't think that's out of proportion at all. it seems all fisher needs is a TD lead to turn the game over to his defense. and he does.
they didn't crawl into a hole either. they just played out the 2nd half of ball-control.

[mussop]

Originally Posted by Arky

Whatever. Did they not want more points? Were they happy with their 9-12 point lead?

In the second half, they passed less and went to the run. We stopped the run. We contained Lendale White and Chris Johnson pretty good in the run. They had a lot of 3 and outs. The word coming from the Texans postgame was "the defense gave them a chance to win" in the second half - the offense just couldn't get it done.... If y'all want to call it "Tennesse sat on the lead" - fine..... I think the defense had something to do with it, though....

Check out the play-by-play.

On the Titans' first series of the third quarter, they went run, pass, pass, run, run, pass, run, pass. That's eight plays and four passes. That's not backing off.

On the Titans' second series of the third quarter, they went pass, run, pass, pass and kicked a field goal. That's not backing off.

On their third series of the third quarter, they started at their 9 and went run, run, run and punt.

On their fourth series of the third quarter, they went run, run, pass, pass, punt.

Anyway, that should clear up those of you who claim the Titans backed off in the third quarter.

[painekiller]

Heard Eric Winston on the radio this afternoon and he made some really good points that we need to pay attention to. Prior to our game with them the Titans had averaged holding their opponent to around 60 yds/game. The Texans where able to gain 146 yds against a one of the best run defenses in the league.

We found a back who runs hard every play, and can score from any point on the field.

The OL realizes that they are close to getting the ZBS down, and when they do, they will be able to run on anyone.

Now Eric was not offering the stats as excuses, but he was saying the other teams they have been playing are really top tier type teams at least on defense . And yes the players understand the urgency of the next two games.

IMO if you take away a few play calls from Kubiak, blown assignments and dropped passes, this team almost won a road game against a team that has it's number.

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by mussop

Anyway, that should clear up those of you who claim the Titans backed off in the third quarter.

how many yards did they get compared to the first half? how many of those passes were dumpoffs or screens? i'm just curious.

[cadams]

I am pretty sure that Slayton was over 100 yards in the first half, of course 51 of those were on one play.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by cadams

I am pretty sure that Slayton was over 100 yards in the first half, of course 51 of those were on one play.

True, but the run offense is designed for the big play. If the OL is doing it's job then we should have more than a couple plays a game of over 20 yds. All the 1 yard plays will get tiresome but then a huge hole is there and with a back like Slaton, the other team pays.

[mussop]

Originally Posted by KJ3

how many yards did they get compared to the first half? how many of those passes were dumpoffs or screens? i'm just curious.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/playby...&override=true

This should help. It has a recap, box score, play-by-play and drive chart. Its pretty cool.

[NBT]

Originally Posted by Arky

Exactly. Jeff Fisher would've loved to run it down our throats whilest racking up points - just like Pittsburgh did in the 2nd half.

Maybe we're just slow starters..... By the time Indy comes to town, maybe we might be ready to play some football...

I would dearly like to agree with you Arky, but at this point I am from missouri! We think we have fixed something from one season to the next, then the same old tired things crop up again!

[Arky]

Originally Posted by NBT

I would dearly like to agree with you Arky, but at this point I am from missouri! We think we have fixed something from one season to the next, then the same old tired things crop up again!

Care to elaborate?