Wow - Now Who Saw THAT Coming?
If nothing changes, and I mean immediately, then Texans' fans should boycott the game Sunday against Indy. Five times this season, the Texans have not even resembled a competitive team, the latest being today. The team as a whole showed fight and desire, looking determined to bounce back from last week's devastating loss to the Vinces. The whole team, that is, except for the most important player on the team - the starting QB, who looked scared, defeated, inept and emotionless.
The defense played pretty well, considering the Patriots' field position all day long. Chad Stanley should get be cut immediately. He's been terrible not just for a few games, but for months. It makes no sense whatsoever that he is still on the roster. Hold open tryouts. Hell, hold open tryouts for season ticket holders. Toro could lineup to kick and experience similar results.
As much as I like Kubes, he deserves some blame as well, and not just for betraying the 52 non-starting QBs on his gameday roster by refusing to bench Carr for his incomprehensibly bad performance. The Texans continue to be whistled for penalties that cause announcers around the league to reach cluelessly for their rule books. Junior high co-ed teams do not make these plays - lining up wrong, too many players on the field, etc.
Finally, there's David Carr. There's nothing to say. His protection was bad at points, something that all NFL QBs expereience at different points throughout their games, but Carr's turnovers were flat out inexcusable and had absoutely nothing to do with bad pass protection. Rich Gannon, for the second time this season, did a masterful job of describing what Carr was not doing - not leading his receivers, not anticipating receivers breaking open, not stepping up into the pocket, not sniffing out the rush or failing to get a pass clear of the defensive line. You name it, Carr didn't do it. Why was Carr not benched? The only rational excuse that I can come up with is that Kubes was attempting to send Bob McNair a message. No matter how nice, now matter how "tough", Carr must go. Bradlee Van Pelt could have been signed during the second quarter and bet his signing bonus on the Pats; he could not possibly have been worse than Carr. With a merely average NFL QB today, the Texans would have been in this game thanks to Ron Dayne and the Texans' defense. With Carr at the helm, they were murdered for sixty consecutive minutes.
What about next week against Indy? To me, the only legitimate option is to essentially open the QB job up for one week of practice. Four days of practice - the best QB in practice this week plays on Sunday. Odds are that the stands will be about 40% full, at best, but to send Carr back on on Christmas Eve as if nothing has changed would be an insult to the paying customer. Come out Monday morning and tell the community that you are giving them a reason to show up. Tell your defense that you are respecting their effort by playing the best QB on the roster, regardless of seniority or contract status, because you want their outstanding efforts to be rewarded with a chance to actually be in a football game. There is no other option.
- Yao Ming is the most dominant player in the NBA right now. Kobe is the most electric, LeBron the most talented, but no player in the NBA is having an impact on every game in which he plays like The Great Wall. In the best of scenarios, T-Mac's back flare-up has allowed Bonzi a chance to get into JVG's good graces and into the normal rotation, which will certainly benefit the Rockets through the remainder of the season.
- QB for next season? How about Jeff Garcia? He'll be a free agent, and I'd hand him a two-year contract and the starting QB job in a heartbeat.
The defense played pretty well, considering the Patriots' field position all day long. Chad Stanley should get be cut immediately. He's been terrible not just for a few games, but for months. It makes no sense whatsoever that he is still on the roster. Hold open tryouts. Hell, hold open tryouts for season ticket holders. Toro could lineup to kick and experience similar results.
As much as I like Kubes, he deserves some blame as well, and not just for betraying the 52 non-starting QBs on his gameday roster by refusing to bench Carr for his incomprehensibly bad performance. The Texans continue to be whistled for penalties that cause announcers around the league to reach cluelessly for their rule books. Junior high co-ed teams do not make these plays - lining up wrong, too many players on the field, etc.
Finally, there's David Carr. There's nothing to say. His protection was bad at points, something that all NFL QBs expereience at different points throughout their games, but Carr's turnovers were flat out inexcusable and had absoutely nothing to do with bad pass protection. Rich Gannon, for the second time this season, did a masterful job of describing what Carr was not doing - not leading his receivers, not anticipating receivers breaking open, not stepping up into the pocket, not sniffing out the rush or failing to get a pass clear of the defensive line. You name it, Carr didn't do it. Why was Carr not benched? The only rational excuse that I can come up with is that Kubes was attempting to send Bob McNair a message. No matter how nice, now matter how "tough", Carr must go. Bradlee Van Pelt could have been signed during the second quarter and bet his signing bonus on the Pats; he could not possibly have been worse than Carr. With a merely average NFL QB today, the Texans would have been in this game thanks to Ron Dayne and the Texans' defense. With Carr at the helm, they were murdered for sixty consecutive minutes.
What about next week against Indy? To me, the only legitimate option is to essentially open the QB job up for one week of practice. Four days of practice - the best QB in practice this week plays on Sunday. Odds are that the stands will be about 40% full, at best, but to send Carr back on on Christmas Eve as if nothing has changed would be an insult to the paying customer. Come out Monday morning and tell the community that you are giving them a reason to show up. Tell your defense that you are respecting their effort by playing the best QB on the roster, regardless of seniority or contract status, because you want their outstanding efforts to be rewarded with a chance to actually be in a football game. There is no other option.
- Yao Ming is the most dominant player in the NBA right now. Kobe is the most electric, LeBron the most talented, but no player in the NBA is having an impact on every game in which he plays like The Great Wall. In the best of scenarios, T-Mac's back flare-up has allowed Bonzi a chance to get into JVG's good graces and into the normal rotation, which will certainly benefit the Rockets through the remainder of the season.
- QB for next season? How about Jeff Garcia? He'll be a free agent, and I'd hand him a two-year contract and the starting QB job in a heartbeat.
posted by Scott | 8:28 PM
3 Comments:
I've been a fan and supporter of David Carr from day one. The game against the Patriots sealed the deal for me--he's through. He's lost all of his football instincts. He can't feel the pass rush, he can't avoid the pass rush (despite being quite mobile), he doesn't anticipate anything other than getting sacked, etc. In Houston, Carr is done. He might pop up somewhere else and lead a team to the playoffs. In fact, I hope he does.
So where do we go from here? I know that a lot of people think Brady Quinn would be a good pick. I'm not so sure if I want to start all over again with a rookie QB. What about Damon Huard? At this point, that's my top candidate. Maybe Sage can step up and be the guy? Either way, we also need a RB to make the offense at least respectable.
And on defense, we need a DT or two, an OLB to send Orr to the bench/special teams, another CB, and a FS. Whew, that's a lot of roster spots.
Oh, and let's not forget our porous line. We need a dominant LT so bad it hurts. The Texans will be bad next year too. Hey, I'm loyal though...even if it hurts.
Welcome to reality, Lee. I know it's been a painful journey, but we're happy to have you on board. I agree with you that this year's QB draft is going to be rather weak. Unless there's a late round sleeper, I advocate bringing in a Garcia/Huard type and pairing him with Sage for another year or two.
LT - I like Charles Spencer, but I think Joe Thomas would be an outstanding addition to the line. If he's there when the Texans draft in the first round, you cannot pass him up. Going into 2007 with a future line of Spencer/Thomas at tackles and Pitts/Winston at guards would be pretty nice, right?
I like the Texans linebacking corps, to be honest. It would be nice to have a more dominant end rusher from the WLB or SLB, if one can be obtained, but Greenwood and Ryans have been very solid this season.
The D-line needs another big stud or two, at least. Lionel Dalton, Travis Johnson, Thomas Johnson and Anthony Maddox are not really NFL-caliber players, and they've gotten a ton of reps this season, which is a really bad thing for Texans fans.
Sign Nate Clements and/or Michael Lewis to bolster the secondary, and then take the best player available at every available opportunity in the draft. I am looking forward to blogging the Battle Red's draft prospects in the coming weeks. It sure beats blogging their games.
If Scott patted himself on the back any harder for hating Carr, he'd break an arm. Speaking of possible replacements for Bakersfield's Finest, check out this snippet from Peter King's MMQB on SI.com:
"I think if I'm Chris Simms, and I'm a free-agent come Jan. 1, and I'm surveying the field for my 2007 options, I'm doing a lot of research on Houston. Gary Kubiak's not going to stand for play like he's getting out of Carr right now, even if they did exercise the clause in his contract last off-season that paid him a $9-million bonus. Carr can't do anything right right now."
Damn right. No way we pass on TWO legendary Horn QB in a row! We'll get this ship righted yet!
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