Should Rick Smith keep his job?

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by NBT

You blow too hot and cold. With your way this franchise would always be in turmoil. You have to have some semblance of continuity or you start another 5 year rebulding job. This town deserves better. I don't know if the Smithiak duo is the problem, or the answer, I just know you've got to have the faith that things will get better or you don't. Frankly I don't know if I've got 5 more years of rebuilding left. So I just pray with a better DC, this team will get over the hump and get to the playoffs and beyond next year.

I don't think we are 5 years of rebuilding bad like we were when Casserly and Capers left. Right now we have talent but that talent is under achieving, and that usually points to coaching, especially Head Coaching. It is the job of the HC to motivate the team, and this group of guys does not have the fire they need to win.

Bring in a guy to tweak this team now.

[Keith]

Wanna take a trip down memory lane? Funny to think ItB has been around long enough to help us with some perspective.

Thread from June 2008 when Bob McNair extended Rick Smith's contract early: http://www.inthebullseye.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68

Caused me to write an article to question it even though 2008 was still some pretty optimistic times for the Texans.

The most successful move during Smith's tenure (trading for Matt Schaub) is one that may be more largely credited to Kubiak than Smith.

From that article:

I'll give Smith some credit, as he has done three things rather well.
1. He was hired after Charley Casserly was shown the door. Not a tough act to follow, is it? I think the first two years of another Charley Casserly would look terrific after the first one.

2. Smith has worked the Bronco network, getting hired by the team employing Gary Kubiak, hiring a Denver scout to head up the Texans scouting department and perpetuating what has been a fairly successful system in the NFL the past decade. Kudos for Smith, but really, the praise here belongs more to Kubiak.

3. Smith has McNair for a boss, the same forgiving man who kept David Carr around one year (and $13 million) too long, and who has allowed his team to spend big, misguided money much earlier than needed, like with the contract extension given to Domanick Davis more than a year before his rookie deal expired.

Ecch. If Kubiak goes, Smith should go with him.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by painekiller

I don't think we are 5 years of rebuilding bad like we were when Casserly and Capers left. Right now we have talent but that talent is under achieving, and that usually points to coaching, especially Head Coaching. It is the job of the HC to motivate the team, and this group of guys does not have the fire they need to win.

Bring in a guy to tweak this team now.

It's sad, McNair needs to blow up this front office and coaching staff. Give them the boot. All of them. Clean house.

Go hire Parchells to run this team.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by painekiller

It's sad, McNair needs to blow up this front office and coaching staff. Give them the boot. All of them. Clean house.

Go hire Parchells to run this team.

Chiefs were 4-12 last year, they picked #5 overall in Aprils Draft, but yesterday they had their 10th win of this season, won their AFC West division, and are in the playoffs next month.

[Joshua]

NTB, I'm curious why you think if will take five years to be successful if you fire everybody. I'm not trying to pick on you but it seems like this is something you just made up and isn't actually based on anything. Looking around the league I see nothing that supports this conclusion. Just off the top of my head, I can think of a number of pretty terrible teams that turned it around in a season or two by hiring the right guy (Bucs, Rams, Jets, Chiefs, Saints, Falcons, etc.). And I can't think of any team in the last decade that finally had success after "rebuilding" for 5-plus years.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

Chiefs were 4-12 last year, they picked #5 overall in Aprils Draft, but yesterday they had their 10th win of this season, won their AFC West division, and are in the playoffs next month.

Yes, but this isn't your father's AFC West. It's a pretty dysfunctional division right now. Even though the Colts have taken a step back this year, the AFC South seems a much tougher division to win than the AFC West has been lately.

Of course, you could cite the Bengals who were crap in 2008, won their division in 2009 and are back to crap again in 2010.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Of course, you could cite the Bengals who were crap in 2008, won their division in 2009 and are back to crap again in 2010.

I think LZ talked about this a while back, but the truly amazing thing is how the Texans have been able to be consistently terrible for so long. The Bengals are a good example of how even crappily-ran programs will put together one good year every now and again due to luck, injuries (theirs or their opponents), schedule, etc. Because the NFL has so much parity, virtually every team puts it together every once and a while, even if they promptly fall back to mediocrity the next year. It's actually very difficult to suck every year for basically a decade. It's a testament to Kubiak (and Capers before him) to trot out such a terrible product year after year.

[Big Texas]

I have said it once, and I will continue to say it "this teams biggest problem is coaching". And no I am not talking about gameplanning, playcalling, or anything of that nature.

We have been in a position year after year to get quality draft picks. It is not as though they did not go after need...KJackson, Glover Quinn, Brice McCain (CB), Earl Mitchell (DT)...two areas of major concern. Cushing (OLB)...another area of need...and lets not talk about all the draft picks spent of Dlineman.

Then you want to talk about FA signings...Antonio Smith (DE)...area of need They picked up Bernard Pollard (S)...another area of need at the time...And granted it was late in the season they signed Jason Allen (CB) area of need.

The problem is that once they gather these peices they have no idea what to do with them. They have no scheme or identity...whatever you wanna call it. They just pick up random players.

The difference between us and other major contenders, they pick up players perfect for their scheme.

I have one question....What does K.Jax, G.Quin, J. Allen, Brice McCain,have in common? Are they physical players who are willing to press the receivers to make time for the sack? Are they cover corners? Or are they excellent zone defenders? Or (my favorite) are they just a bunch of random players selected with no direction?

My point is without direction, these players are relying on raw talent alone, and as we have found they do not possess enough to get the job done. Put our secondary on the Patriots, I bet they still win games and come up with way more turnovers than we have so far....

With the right DB, Dline, and LB Coaches these same players could be, at the very least, average. THEY NEED TO BE COACHED UP!!!

And by the way "bend but don't break" is the philosophy of the nerd who gets beat up every day after school.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by Big Texas

I have said it once, and I will continue to say it "this teams biggest problem is coaching". And no I am not talking about gameplanning, playcalling, or anything of that nature.

We have been in a position year after year to get quality draft picks. It is not as though they did not go after need...KJackson, Glover Quinn, Brice McCain (CB), Earl Mitchell (DT)...two areas of major concern. Cushing (OLB)...another area of need...and lets not talk about all the draft picks spent of Dlineman.

Then you want to talk about FA signings...Antonio Smith (DE)...area of need They picked up Bernard Pollard (S)...another area of need at the time...And granted it was late in the season they signed Jason Allen (CB) area of need.

The problem is that once they gather these peices they have no idea what to do with them. They have no scheme or identity...whatever you wanna call it. They just pick up random players.

The difference between us and other major contenders, they pick up players perfect for their scheme.

I have one question....What does K.Jax, G.Quin, J. Allen, Brice McCain,have in common? Are they physical players who are willing to press the receivers to make time for the sack? Are they cover corners? Or are they excellent zone defenders? Or (my favorite) are they just a bunch of random players selected with no direction?

My point is without direction, these players are relying on raw talent alone, and as we have found they do not possess enough to get the job done. Put our secondary on the Patriots, I bet they still win games and come up with way more turnovers than we have so far....

With the right DB, Dline, and LB Coaches these same players could be, at the very least, average. THEY NEED TO BE COACHED UP!!!

And by the way "bend but don't break" is the philosophy of the nerd who gets beat up every day after school.

This kind of relates to something I've been thinking about a lot lately. As much as it pains me to say it, if you asked me to put pen to paper and list out all of the qualities I hate in a football team, this current Texan team would hit just about every bullet point. The traits I absolutely hate in a football team, that this team unfortunately has in spades, are:

1. Like you said, no identity or idea what they are trying to achieve. They appear to be grasping at straws and just throwing stuff up against the wall in the hopes it works.

2. Soft. I've seen very few teams who are as soft from top to bottom as this one. While clearly this is in the eye of the beholder, IMO, this team can clearly be intimidated. Most notably, Schaub clearly doesn't handle hits well and always lets it show. I absolutely hate how he always lets the other team know they are getting to him. I can't count the number of times I've seen him roll around on the turf, grimacing. Defenses feed off of this sort of thing. Even if it hurt, put a mask on and at least act like it didn't bother you. This also starts at the top. Kubiak's refusal to watch kicks has always bothered me as well. While I know it is a minor thing, it sets a tone and that tone is "soft" and "scared."

3. Unprepared. Never seem to be ready to start the game. Never play 4 quarters. Are almst always pantsed by trick plays. When Del Rio is regularly fooling you, you are not well prepared.

4. Unintelligent play from the coaches down to the players. Bonehead calls, bonehead execution. Terrible clock management, replay challenges. Just insert every time you were screaming at the TV with "WTF were you thinking!?" Seems to happen at least a couple of times per game. All in all, just a confederacy of dunces.

5. Garbage time stats being thrown around as proof that we're getting better. This has been a Texan staple for forever (I write this while hearing the "First Down!" chant they play at the stadium running through my head. It's unbelievable to me that we actually have a cheer for making a first down.).

In all, if you asked me to put together all the traits I would least like to see in my team, my list would look something like that and the Texans are crushing every single one of them. It was only recently that I realized this team has come to embody everything I hate-a soft, unprepared, stupid team that's best quality is its ability to pad stats. I would be hard pressed to create a team I would less like to root for, but apparently this is my fate. Thought I would share. Misery/company and all that.