Ahman Green vs. Rick Smith

[popanot]

Originally Posted by NBT

Kubiak has proven the offense can be good.

I don't have time to look up the stats, but as I recall, the offense was pretty much a stinking pile of dung last year in the first quarter (first half in quite a few of their games) when defensive ineptitude shouldn't be much of a factor. Of course, Foster was awesome anytime/anywhere, but the rest of the offense had a subpar year, IMO. I'm not disagreeing with your point overall, because the D was obviously awful and the primary reason this team tanked last year. I just don't think offensive performance is a good justfication for keeping Kubiak around. I think there are a lot of other coaches who could keep this team in the Offensive Top 10 with the talent they have on that side of the ball.

Originally Posted by NBT

So, if you don't like Rick Smith, that is your right, but I just fail to see why this team can't make the playoffs this year.

Don't like Kubiak much now either. I hope they do make the playoffs, but I can certainly see where they could miss out. That is, if I use their history as an indicator.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by popanot

Don't like Kubiak much now either. I hope they do make the playoffs, but I can certainly see where they could miss out. That is, if I use their history as an indicator.

I'm getting that way myself, not there completely yet, but if this team is not an elite team by midseason, he should be gone at the end of the year.

My choice would be to keep Dennison running the offense, and let Wade run the defense, but then what coach would want to come in with that set up? Maybe a Gruden? or Cowher?

[Nconroe]

Yeah , the first quarter offense was a real problem last year. Hope the players and coaches can figure that out for this upcoming year. I'm sure they are studying that a lot this off-season. They did seem to fix the run game and red zone offense last year.

I thought other than secondary last year, and maybe a few players shouldn't of tried as Ahman Green, the player evaluation had been pretty good overall past five years, compared to much of the league.

[dadmg]

Originally Posted by popanot

Of course, Foster was awesome anytime/anywhere, but the rest of the offense had a subpar year, IMO.

Even with the lingering injuries to Angry Dre and the slow recovery of Owen Daniels, the passing offense had very little, if any drop-off. Here's the Texans offense the last four years in several ranking systems.

Football Outsiders DVOA
2010 26.1% (2nd) Passing: 34.4% (4th) Rushing: 22.3% (3rd)
2009 13.2% (11th) Passing: 38.2% (8th) Rushing: -11.2% (31st)
2008 11.0% (14th) Passing: 28.2% (11th) Rushing: 4.7% (16th)
2007 2.0% (21st) Passing: 15.0% (14th) Rushing: -1.2% (16th)

Points
2010 390 (9th)
2009 388 (10th)
2008 366 (17th)
2007 379 (12th)

YPA
2010 7.6 (5th)
2009 8.1 (6th)
2008 8.1 (2nd)
2007 7.4 (7th)

YPC
2010 4.8 (3rd)
2009 3.5 (31st)
2008 4.3 (13th)
2007 3.8 (24th)

Most teams would kill for their offense to have an "off-year" like we had last year. The problem is that when teams got to face our pass defense they looked just as good

[popanot]

Originally Posted by dadmg

Even with the lingering injuries to Angry Dre and the slow recovery of Owen Daniels, the passing offense had very little, if any drop-off. Here's the Texans offense the last four years in several ranking systems.

Football Outsiders DVOA
2010 26.1% (2nd) Passing: 34.4% (4th) Rushing: 22.3% (3rd)
Most teams would kill for their offense to have an "off-year" like we had last year. The problem is that when teams got to face our pass defense they looked just as good

My main contention is the offense sucked in the opening QTRs of games and most of those overall stats came when they were playing catch up. Statistically they were at the top, but I'm not so sure that tells the whole story as to the effectiveness of the offense - especially in the early stages of the game. IMO, throughout the year, they were subpar early in the games when it was close (obviously) and the crappy defensive play wasn't so much a factor. I looked around briefly and I can't seem to find a breakdown, but I wish I could find the NFL 2010 qtr-by-qtr scoring stats. I'd be interested to see where the Texans ranked in the 1rst and 2nd quarters.

[NBT]

OK, so the offense was a slow starter in the first quarter. Is that any reason to be so against Kubiak? I have my difference with Kubiak too, especially wasting so many draft choices on defensive guys that ultimately didn't pan out. But the 4th quarter is when the defense must hunker down and protect a lead, or keep a score close. You don't lose games in the first quarter, or even the first half. You lose games in the 4th quarter. Kubiak's choices for defenders lost those games, and I have already said that he should not have been making the decision on defensive playerst. But given that Phillips can, and has turned around defneses in his tours with other teams, gives me reason to believe that he can do the same thing here. If Phillips can hold in the 4th quarter, we will have won 4 or 5 games more than we did last year. 10-6 looks very doable to me this year. You can hoorah me off the board if I am wrong, but expect no mercy if I am right.

[Joshua]

Popanot,

Had a little time to kill so I went and pulled some numbers because my recollection is about the same as yours. Here's what I found by looking at the game summaries at http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/schedule...houston-texans


Week 1 (Indy) - Texans scored 6 in 1st and 7 in 2nd.

Week 2 (Wash) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 7 in 2nd.

Week 3 (Dallas) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 3 in 2nd.

Week 4 (Oak) - Texans scored 14 in 1st and 0 in 2nd.

Week 5 (NYG) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 3 in 2nd.

Week 6 (KC) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 7 in 2nd.

Week 7 (Indy) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 3 in 2nd.

Week 8 (SD) - Texans scored 10 in 1st and 10 in 2nd.

Week 9 (Jack) - Texans scored 3 in 1st and 0 in 2nd.

Week 10 (NYJ) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 7 in 2nd.

Week 11 (Tenn.) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 14 in 2nd.

Week 12 (Philly) - Texans scored 3 in 1st and 7 in 2nd.

Week 13 (Balt.) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 7 in 2nd.

Week 14 (Tenn.) - Texans scored 0 in 1st and 3 in 2nd.

Week 15 (Denv.) - Texans scored 7 in 1st and 10 in 2nd.

Week 16 (Jack.) - Texans scored 10 in 1st and 10 in 2nd.

That's 53 points scored in the 1st quarter all season, which works out to 3.31 points per 1st. And there were a whopping 9 games where they didn't score a single point in the 1st.

The second quarter was quite a bit better, with them scoring 98 points, which works out to 6.125 points per 2nd.

What was really surprising is that the defense pitched a 1st quarter shutout in 5 games this year (Indy, Dallas, Tenn., Denv. and Jack) and held the opposing team to 7 or less in 8 other games. That's 13 games where the defense gave up 7 or less in the 1st. Didn't expect to see that.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by Joshua

Week 8 (SD) - Texans scored 10 in 1st and 10 in 2nd.

And this is a game the Texans lost. I still have trouble with that.

A couple of days ago I had another Texans related dream. It was the first game of the upcoming year, and on the first play from scrimmage Kareem Jackson got burned on a 70 or 80 yard touchdown pass. He was nowhere close to the receiver, who streaked across the goal line with no one within twenty yards of him. Where were the safeties? you ask. I don't know. Same as in real life I guess.

And then the typically placid home town crowd rewarded the team with a healthy shower of debris Mexican soccer fan style.

[popanot]

Originally Posted by Joshua

Popanot,

Had a little time to kill so I went and pulled some numbers because my recollection is about the same as yours.

......

That's 53 points scored in the 1st quarter all season, which works out to 3.31 points per 1st. And there were a whopping 9 games where they didn't score a single point in the 1st.

The second quarter was quite a bit better, with them scoring 98 points, which works out to 6.125 points per 2nd.

What was really surprising is that the defense pitched a 1st quarter shutout in 5 games this year (Indy, Dallas, Tenn., Denv. and Jack) and held the opposing team to 7 or less in 8 other games. That's 13 games where the defense gave up 7 or less in the 1st. Didn't expect to see that.

Thanks, Joshua. Anyone who watched the games or saw 2-minute weekly clips of the Texans last year could see who was at fault and that they need to greatly improve the defensive side of the ball, but anyone who says this offense couldn't use a good, solid #2 or an upgrade here or there is being penny-wise and pound-foolish, IMO. Sure, AJ and Daniels are really the #1 and #2 options, but can they rely on their health over a full season now? Couldn't they use another threat out there? JJ's inconsistent and Walters scares no one. Can Dickerson be that #2? Can a young OL beome a stud? I don't know, but again, IMO, they should not neglect those issues.