I cant say I am sad to see Smith go. While his pre-snap vanilla def scheme was a good idea it just didnt work. And for some reason it was so complex that it made schemes like the Steelers and Ravens have seem like elementry classes, because every time the def was made "less complex" they always played better.
I cant say that Hoke suprises me much either, while he may be highly touted his results have been poor. I will give him a nudge for having no great talent on the roster though.
Franklin isnt a big suprise either, while I understand that he is suppsed to be a good line coach the line played way better after Bush showed up.
I wouldnt be at all suprised if Bush was named DC very soon, as he was Kubiaks guy from the start. I think Smith was just given a bit of rope becasue he was already in place and the organization prodes itself on image, immediatly firing a DC who hadnt been given much of a shot when he wasnt told he was the interm DC is not somethig the Texans Org. would do. It is entirely possible that Smith and Kubiak have been drating for a different def closer to what they expected Bush, or the next coordinator to run, rather the def that Smith was trying to run.
I also wouldnt bee suprised if there was no secondary coach hired unless they are an assitant to Rhodes.
As for Marciano, I cannot quote anything, but my understanding is that he is one of the best ST coaches in the out there also. This year was was bad for ST coverage and return wise. Pittman, while supposedly being one of the better LS out there was bad, supposedly because of his drug tests. JJ has had serious issues not only carring the ball tight but, some missed catches and bad mental mistakes. Brown has been off and the last 4-5 games almost all his kicks seemed very short, his miss real close, and passing on a 51 yarder make me think that he may be having either mental or physical issues.
If you look at alot of the depth on our team they are very young with a sprinlling of experience, but less ST players than we have had in the past. I think that some of the ST problems came from wanting better depth while passing on some of the ST abilities where as in the past it seemed the other way around, ST abilities would sway the decision over some of the position ability.
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