Phillips Takes Medical Leave, Wants A HC Job
 

Per the Chron and elsewhere, Wade Phillips is taking a medical leave immediately but will return before the regular season is over. Reggie Herring will call the defense in his absence. He'll have a press conference after practice today.

In another story, Phillips says he loves coaching the Texans but he thinks their success is reason for him to get another head coaching gig. If he's available. my bet is San Diego, where he has previously coached and where Norv Turner is expected to be fired after the season. The Chargers have a history of hiring head coaches with previous head coaching experience and they have the talent to make a quick turnaround.

My goodness! I hope he's OK, but can't we just have some peace and enjoy this great season we're having?

Its a kidney issue.
Should be back in 10-14 days.

Man this really sucks. I hope nothing else befalls us. Enough is enough.

I am completely selfish here. I hope Wade's efforts at landing a HC position does not bear fruit and he just stays with the Texans, with a hefty raise, perhaps.

Kubs & Phillips make a helluva team. One that will get us to the SB if we can keep it in place.

We can overcome the loss of Andre, Mario, Schaub, Leinart, etc but this is something else. Even Kubiak himself said that the defense is the catalyst and it all starts with Wade. To make matters worse this happens on a week when we face one of the most explosive offenses in the league. His absence will have a negative impact on their psyche .. put one in the L column

I don't think it hurts our psyche at all. I think if anything the defensive guys play with more passion in a win one for the gipper setting.

But while the psyche should be fine, I think it is fair to worry about the actual Xs and Os. Herring may know Wade's defense as well as Wade does (it is not complicated), but calling the defense on Sunday is totally different than coaching it during the week.

We are not currently constructed to play in a shootout, we face a very unique defensive challenge this week, and we are without the head of our defense. It is definitely concerning, but chalking it up as a loss is crazy. It is still a 10-3 team at home against a 4-9 team. These teams have been learning to win and lose all season. Our guys think they are supposed to win at this point. We will not likely be shaken by a rough turn of events. Carolina on the other hand has blown leads all season long and found a way to consistently lose.

And I would have to think that his current health concerns will greatly damage his chances of landing a head gig next year. Teams were not lining up for 65 year old head coaches already, and the idea that they could lose their head coach at any point in the season will scare many away.

Before he signs anywhere else, he will probably have to pass an insurance physical and he'll also need to be totally transparent about whatever health issues he has but I don't think it will keep him from getting an HC job if he is given a clean bill of health. I'd probably worry about his weight problem if I were an owner.

From the Chronic:
http://blog.chron.com/ultimatetexans...after-surgery/

The Texans released a statement on defensive coordinator Wade Phillips this afternoon.

It said:

Wade Phillips has completed the surgery on his kidney and gallbladder. He is in stable condition. In order to respect his privacy, the family has requested there be no further information given at this time.”

Phillips will miss the Carolina and Indianapolis games. He’s expected to return for the Tennessee game on Jan. 1 if he progresses as the doctors have told him.

That he's gone for such a short time isn't such a bad thing. I think it may help the defense from getting complacent against (1) a Panthers team with a dynamic QB and (2) a Colts team that they could easily overlook to the Titans game.

And it isn't like the Texans will miss Wade's overall strategizing pre-game. I'm sure Herring knows exactly what Wade is thinking for these next two games.

So no need to sound the alarm here.

I'm not worried about the game or games that he's going to miss because of this weirdly secretive surgical procedure. What does annoy me is his publicly angling for a head coaching job while he is employed by the Texans as a coordinator. I don't mind that he wants to be a head coach. In fact, I'd be disappointed if he didn't. But to be talking to the media about wanting to be a head coach again in the middle of a season is only a step removed from the bullshit Jim Fassel pulled as OC for the Ravens.

Just STFU about your own future and tell the gathering crowd that you're thinking only about the Panthers or your gall bladder or your adorable Pomeranian or whatever. Don't go mouthing off about wanting to be a head coach again. Don't cause any more distractions for a team that has had more than its share this year.

We know Herring has the X&Os expertise on the 1-gap version of Wades 3-4 alignment schemes, and Sundays game will provide an opportunity for Texans top brass to determine if Herring can successfully call defensive signals during a game ? After all they are gonna need to fill a soon to be vacated DC position.

he was responding to a question he was asked on that specific subject. i don't think that is "angling" for a new job. it is just him honestly answering a question asked of him. he isn't going to be leaving in the middle of the season. teams can't interview him during the regular season, and unless the texans have a bye week they can't interview him until after the texans post season is over. this is not like college, and it isn't going to be a distraction so chill out.

I get what you're saying, but since when do coaches honestly answer questions (particularly ones they shouldn't)? I don't think this is a big deal either way, but he should have blown off the question and given the standard "I'm not thinking about that right now, I'm just concentrating on next week's game" answer.

And considering that virtually every coach knows to give this type of pat answer, I think him going against the grain could be viewed as him trying to get the word out that he wants a head coaching job. Whether that's "angling," I don't know. Again, not that big a deal either way, but was a softball question I would have liked to have seen him answer better.

Exactly. The correct answer is, 'I haven't thought about next year at all; I'm worried about next week.'

It wouldn't bother me at all if he went straight from the press conference to his office and got his agent on the phone and demanded that he line him up for one of the many head coaching vacancies that are appearing. Like I said, I expect him to want a HC job. I know I would if I were in his spot.

But all in all I would much rather be bickering over subtleties regarding the inevitability of our coordinators taking head coaching jobs than arguing over how many of them should be fired like we've done every other December around here.

1) What concerns me about Phillips' absence is whether the right adjustments will be made on defense after they see the Panthers' plans to attack them. Maybe they switch assignments or coverages. Will Herring know what to tweak?

2) I agree that Wade should have given a stock coaching answer instead of the truth but Wade and Bum are both genuinely honest people inclined to say what they think rather than hide behind coachspeak. Wade is in his 60s and his window on being considered for another job is closing quickly. Perhaps some GMs might assume he's too old to be considered for a new HC job (after all, most want to find a coach who will fill the job for the next decade or more) unless he says he wants consideration.

I don't think he's as much in danger of leaving as we might think. What I worry about is having him get promoted in Houston the next time Kubiak makes a dunderhead decision.

Wade said he had installed the gameplan for Carolina before he left. All Reggie Herring has to do is know when to call the blitzes in the game.

That is exactly what I was going to say.

I hate being right but I knew this would happen. Wade is our catalyst. We had a chance in the 4th to make it a game despite TJ Yates' ineptitude but our #1 ranked defense didn't have the usual fire.

That loss wasn't about psyche or defense. Bad execution on the offensive side of the ball all day did us in. 14 of the points came off of turnovers. And our offense put no pressure on a team that has made a habit of crumbling all season. Wade wouldn't fix Arian fumbling, Yates throwing ints or all the drive killing penalties.