I Love What I Have Seen From the Texans on the Bye Week!

I confess that I am a renowned optimist.  At 0-4 in 2008, I predicted the Texans would win 8-9 games by the season’s end.  Last season, at 5-5, I predicted a 10 win season.  I just wrote an article arguing that this team may win 12 games if the offensive stars stay healthy.  Perhaps I’m a little crazy.  Though, if you notice, the predictions for ’08 and ’09 weren’t far from reality, though I was heckled for them at the time.  Also in my defense, I am not blindly optimistic.  In 2005, I realized in the second quarter of the first home game of the season (Pittsburgh) that the team was an absolute disaster and that the team had quit on the staff and the talent was nowhere near what I thought it was in 2004.  Why am I building a case for myself? Well, because I’m ready for another prediction that will smell of rose-colored glasses and wide-eyed homerism… Are you ready? Well, it isn’t a prediction so much as an assertion.  The coaching staff finally got it! By that, I mean they have a handle on the team and the season in a way that was lacking before.  The attitude and moves made the past few days indicate a level of clarity that will be noticable on the field and lead to a highly successful season and probably also impact the next few seasons positively. 

What decisions, you may ask?:

1. Cushing moving to MLB- This move indicates out of the box thinking… something I’ve doubted this staff could do.  Other reasonable and less disruptive options were available.  For instance, they could have elected to simply plug and play Bentley or Sharpton at MLB.  Or, they could have slid Diles to MLB and plugged in Adibi or Sharpton at WLB.  Any of those options to replace Demeco at MLB would serve as reasonable damage-control.  However, damage-control is not what they decided on.  Instead, the staff got together and looked at all the defensive issues and how the position related to those issues.  We have been awful in Cover2 zone.  Both Diles and Demeco really struggle to make the deep drop required by the MLB in the Cover2 and neither have the instincts in coverage to be playmakers downfield.  Well, Cushing runs a 4.6 fourty instead of Demeco’s or Diles’ 4.9 fourty.  And, Cushing certainly has instincts! (sorry about the rap music.  It’s the best highlight video available) This is a guy we want in the middle of the field at the snap as much as possible.  What the staff has done is said that they are going to make their defensive playmakers the literal and figurative center of the defense.  It is a move to get better and not a move to plug a leak.  And, this is a new attitude for this coaching staff.

2. Waiving Frank Okam and the promotion of Malcolm Sheppard-  Good riddance! He was actually playing better than I expected.  But, when your a defense that isn’t making plays, it is ludicrous to hold on to a 3rd year run stuffing prospect that is totally unreliable and has zero playmaking abilities in lieu of a rookie with a great motor and a ton of talent and playmaking ability.  An already horizontally challenged DT group just got even leaner.  However, we also replaced a non-playmaker with a playmaker.  That is a net gain!

3. Tim Jamison signed to practice squad- I argued a few weeks ago that I think the defensive end situation would’ve been stronger if we had simply kept Jamison instead of chasing our tails with guys like Denney and Ogunleye.  Well, Ogunley and Mark Anderson are still here but they recognized their error and brought back Tim Jamison.  Barring Mark Anderson returning to rookie form, expect to see Tim Jamison in the DL rotation by week 10 and making some heavy contributions.  He is a very good pass rusher, in my opinion.

4. The general attitude towards the defensive problems and how to combat them-  Instead of yawning on about needing to improve, etc… there has been a realization that the Texans offense  and the special teams will need to play better and carry the team.  It isn’t the words so much as the tone and attitude.  Kubiak doesn’t sound defeated, but he sounds committed to winning now.  The Cushing move to the middle fits with this perspective.  With Cushing at MLB, there will likely be some errors in defensive calls and alignment in the short term (more than if Bentley was in the middle) but it will also create more plays from the defense.   It is an aggressive mentality.  If Cushing causes a blown assignment and an 80 yard TD then the offensive will just go back out there and return the favor.  Then, perhaps, next series Cushing will make a huge play and create a turnover or knock down a pass on third down.  Though this sounds unspectacular, this is very different thinking from this team.  While I don’t expect (nor want) Rick Dennison to start calling games like Mike Martz, I think we will notice greater energy and focus from the offense to score each time it has the ball.  Again, that may sound silly on its face.  However, often an offense’s primary goal, depending on situation, may be only to get a first down and eat some clock, or it could be simply to take care of the ball and change the field position.  Sometimes, the offense is up seven points with 2:30 left in the second and the focus is on getting a field goal.  With this team, that will be the case much less than it has been.  So, I am very much looking forward to that.

5. Freedom/trust instilled in Matt Schaub- Last Monday, during the Kubiak hour on SR610, Kubiak answered a question regarding Schaub’s ability to call audibles.  As many of you know, in their system, the QB doesn’t really call traditional audibles although there is a system in place to get out of the wrong playcall.  However, what he said after that was very interesting! Kubiak said that “Matt goes at it on his own most of the time in the two minute drill.”  It was clear to me that Coach Kubiak allows Schaub to call plays in the hurry-up offense.  Now that is interesting and very encouraging.  It also sounded as though this is the first season he has been given that freedom.

6. Defensive Players reaction coming out of the bye- I like the accountability that I am reading from the players.  It also seems clear that they recognize what the problems on defense have been.  Clearly, the staff has been able to accurately identify the problems and also successfully communicate them to the players.  Hopefully, this will lead to some immediate corrections.  From www.houstontexans.com, this is what Bernard Pollard said after practice today:

(on if they’ve made it clear they are sticking with the defensive backs) “Obviously, they’re not making any moves with any safeties or corners. You guys see that. We see that. I think that shows us how much they trust in us. It’s not about the talent. It’s really not. It’s about us making mistakes. We make the stupidest mistakes in the craziest times in the game. You look at the Dallas game, we were in the game all the way to the end of third/fourth quarter and we make mistakes. With us, when it rains, it pours. That’s what happens with us in our secondary. It starts with me. I’m supposed to be a captain on this team. I’m supposed to be a leader in that secondary and I’m doing everything that I can. Honestly, I take the blame. The coaches get on me and you’ve got to take the criticism. You’ve got to play with tough skin and I am. I’m so excited about what’s to come. We have ten games remaining. We’re going to take every game one game at a time. We understand where we’re at and we understand where we can go. We know where we want to go. So that’s what we’re going to do. We have to push the envelope. We have to push this thing.”

(on his own individual play thus far) “Not good enough. It’s really not good enough. I have to step up and make plays. I really do. I have to make plays but I’m not going to press it, because pressing it, the last six weeks, that’s what happens when you press it. We have too many guys pressing and you’ve got more than one guy or even when you have one guy pressing—it’s just about one guy messing up in the secondary and it’s always a touchdown. I have to play better. I really do. We all have to play better. Like I said, our offense is number four overall— number one in certain categories. We have to be able to be a backbone. We have to be the backbone of this team. It’s been said so many times, our offense is the Texans. I’m so tired of hearing that. I really am. I’m honestly tired of hearing that. It’s time for us to actually step up and actually do something about it. We have the talent.”

Well, what do you think? Am I nuts? or am I on to something.  Tell us what you think about the prospects of the Texans coming out of the bye… And, let us know why.

Related Posts:

• Kube’s Speak: post KC edition; Defense Missing In Action.
• Shift In Free Agency Philosophy Will Likely Cost Texans 3 of 5 Starting Offensive Linemen
• BIZARRE, But Not Really