SB Nation - Chris Brown

Post-Game Breakdown: Texans Pants Seahawks

Tim — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:36:27 -0000

Didn't know your Houston Texans had it in 'em. Predictable complaints about "taking the foot off the gas" in the second half aside, that was as one-sided a game as I've seen the Texans play since Week One. This experience was far more enjoyable, however, seeing as how this one unfolded with the Texans kicking the arse instead of being on the receiving end. If it wasn't the most dominating performance by the Texans in franchise history, it's at least in the discussion.

The burn, of course, is that the win puts the Texans at 6-7 and is therefore almost surely irrelevant in terms of postseason impact. Watching my team fire on all cylinders like that inevitably causes me to wonder, "Where has that been all season?" I don't have the answer to that question, and Gary Kubiak doesn't either. The inclination may well be to cite the opponent as the primary reason for the outcome, but Seattle had the same record the Texans did going into Sunday's game (though you'd never have known that in watching the game). I guess what I'm saying is that I have no idea why the Texans play the way they do when they do. That's probably the most infuriating thing about this team--the fact that you can never really feel good or bad about what they'll do on a given Sunday. Compared to the dog days of the Capers/Casserly Era, when you knew the Texans were being led to slaughter every week, that's a pretty profound improvement. On to the specifics:

1. If 10 out of the first 15 scripted plays each game had Andre Johnson as the first option, how many points would the Texans average a game? I'm going with 64, because...

2. Surely Kris Brown would miss 6 PATs. I don't know what has happened to the kicker we once dubbed "Mr. Automatic" (stop cackling, Pittsburgh fans). It's frightening. If the Texans were truly in the wild card mix, there would be kickers auditioning this week. If Smithiak doesn't bring in a kicker or two to compete with K. Brown in training camp, they're certifiable.

3. Matt Schaub has progressed to a point as the Texans' quarterback that I'm honestly surprised when he misses a WR. Well, the one interception each game notwithstanding, anyway. The Schaub is very, very good in this offense, and how he'd handle another scheme and/or head coach should be a sizable part of the decision-making process when it comes to Kubiak's future here.

4. Now that Steve Slaton's done for the season, the collective bargaining agreement mandates that another Houston RB start fumbling immediately. Ryan Moats is a company man.

5. Arian Foster: The New Wali Lundy? Foster's a bit bigger, yes. Still, it's going to take a handful of solid games before I jump on the bandwagon. The good news for Foster is that he should be given plenty of opportunities over the last three weeks to make a statement. Kubes knows what he has in Chris Brown and Moats, and neither is consistenly productive enough to warrant taking carries away from the unknown quantity when it's going to take several other teams completely falling apart for a realistic playoff scenario to materialize. Play the kid.

6. Zero sacks of Schaub by the Seahawks. That's particularly noteworthy in light of Schaub's physical condition. Kudos to the offensive line in that respect.

7. The Houston defense played its best game of the season. Seattle convered one out of fourteen (14!) third downs and only one out of five fourth downs. Wow.

8. DeMeco Ryans was all over the field. We take him for granted. Smithiak had better not.

9. Glover Quin is the best cornerback on the roster. He's a rookie, so that's exciting. He's also not stealing from Bob McNair, unlike a certain franchised corner, so that's solid too. I'm rather interested to see if the Texans try to transition Quin to free safety this offseason. I think he's got the chops for it, but the situation at corner is dire enough that I'm not sure you have the luxury of moving him right now.

10. Rumor has it that Mike Kerns got "Pollard Forever!" tattooed in his bikini zone immediately after the game. I'm impressed with what Bernard Pollard has brought to the table, too; I just think it's a bit early to start erecting shrines to the guy. As much as it appears he likes being here, Smithiak shouldn't be breaking the bank for the guy come March.

11. Mario Williams has not looked like Mario Williams all season, yet he's still likely to finish with double-digit sacks. When your bad years are that productive, you're doing something right.

12. If Brian Cushing isn't Defensive Rookie of the Year, there should be an investigation. I told you he'd be ~~terrible~~ awesome.

13. Fake Game Balls: Offense--Andre Johnson; Defense--DeMeco Ryans; Special Teams--Andre Davis.

Up to St. Louis for another winnable game against a team the Texans should handle with relative ease. Which probably means it'll be a nail-biter. Houston Texans Football: Flip That Coin!

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The Thief Of The 2009 Season: The Running Game

Jake — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:24:42 -0000

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The 2009 season for the Houston Texans has been wildly inconsistent and disappointing. For the third straight year, they find themselves looking at a 6-7 record and possibly a third consecutive .500 season. Although the numbers in the W and L columns are the same, the way they got there is different.

Back in the offseason, many Texans fans speculated that even a slightly improved defense, combined with the impressive offense, would catapult this team directly into the playoffs. Since the record is the same, the casual observer would assume that the defense failed to make this minor improvement, but they'd be wrong. Frank Bush's defensive squad is currently ranked 13th in total defense thus far after finishing 22nd last year.

So what gives? Matt Schaub is having a career year and doing his best to shake to "injury prone" description commonly associated with him. Andre Johnson is again leading the league in receiving yards and has equaled his touchdown total from last year. There's only one possibility left--the run game.

Last year Steve Slaton was seriously considered for the title of Offensive Rookie of the Year. 1,659 all-purpose yards made General Manager Rick Smith look like a genius for drafting Slaton in the third round despite widespread belief that he was too small to be an every-down back. This week Slaton was placed on the injured reserve with 437 rushing yards and 3.3 yards per attempt, a full yard and a half down from his average of 2008.

Slaton's sophomore slump was mostly mental prior to his season-ending neck injury. Slaton didn't show the conviction to hit holes when they appeared and also lost 7 fumbles in just 11 games. To put it all on Slaton would be unfair though. As of last week, Slaton had 40 more receiving yards than last year, averaging 15 more yards through the air per game than he did last season. The increased involvement of Slaton in the passing game was an attempt to get Slaton out in space, a strategy made necessary because of a lack of holes to run through.

Alex Gibbs is widely considered one of the best positional coaches in all of the NFL. Wherever he has coached offensive lines throughout his career, the rushing attacks have been good to dominant, including the Texans last year. The entire Texans offensive line starting all 16 games last year was a phenomenon that was new to even him, however, and that continuity allowed those players to gel and produce fantastic results down the stretch.

The line has not been so lucky with injuries this year. Left guard Chester Pitts was placed on the injured reserve after Week 2, and right guard Mike Brisiel followed after Week 5. The team wasn't exactly dominating the line of scrimmage in those initial games of the season, but two of the four 100 yard rushing games came during that period. By way of comparison, the Texans rushed for 100 yards in all but five games in 2008.

Chester Pitts will be an unrestricted free agent following this year. As long as it is determined that he is healthy, he needs to be re-signed at all costs. His and Brisiel's absence has highlighted how substandard Chris Myers is at the center position. Myers continually loses at the point of attack while run blocking. If you want to see for yourself, watch him block throughout the Seattle game to see opposing defensive tackles push him aside. Then watch rookie Antoine Caldwell in the one play after Myers is hurt push his man five yards down the field.

That brings me to my next point. Why isn't Caldwell getting a shot at center? Myers not only loses regularly while run blocking, but he continues to have issues with larger defensive tackles while in pass protection. Myers is a great story, going from a practice squad to starting every game last year, but without good to great guards to help him, he is simply too small to be effective.

Another factor that has adversely affected the Texans in general this year, especially in the run game, is a lack of depth. Once Slaton started his mental problems, Gary Kubiak had Chris Brown, Arian Foster and Ryan Moats to rely on, which is woefully inadequate. Furthermore, Kasey Studdard and Chris White might not be terrible guards but when both are thrust into the lineup at the same time next to an inferior center, bad things will happen. All the same, an acquisition of a more quality interior lineman for next year couldn't hurt.

One last aspect that cannot be overlooked is the absence of Owen Daniels. Obviously Matt Schaub misses him as a target, but a tight end that can run routes and catch as well as run block is an enormous benefit for the run game. Daniels has deceiving blocking ability but his prolific talent as a receiver keeps a linebacker or a safety from attacking the line of scrimmage automatically. Both offensive tackles Duane Brown and Eric Winston have played well this year, but if OD clears out a linebacker, that frees one of them to get to the next level in order to block downfield.

Keep in mind how inconsistent this team has been this year. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde halves, the fourth quarter collapses...they can all be partially attributed to the lack of running success. The Texans have been successful converting 3rd or 4th and 2 yards or less 64% of the time running to the right, and a terrible 44% running up the middle. No matter how successful you are with the pass, if you continually live by the sword, you will eventually die by the sword. Take for example Matt Schaub's 13 interceptions. That sounds a little high until you take into account that equals one INT for every 36.4 attempts. That's still a little high, but when opposing defenses know that you have to pass to move the ball whether you have a lead or not, it stacks the deck against you.

Gary Kubiak has come under intense scrutiny because of game situations that have cost the Texans several games near the end. This season, Kubiak finally got a better defense, only to lose his running game. Last year's average of 115 yards per game would be the fourth best rushing output for this year's team. I'm trying to avoid the apologist angle, but if the running game was even close to last year's, I don't think that we would be discussing the jeopardy of Kubiak's future in Houston. Even yesterday's offensive outpouring included only 85 yards on the ground. In my opinion, Bob McNair should worry more about the replacement of a few offensive linemen and running backs, rather than a head coach.

Three And Out: Useless Predictions For Sunday's Game

Tim — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:22:51 -0000

I did a decent job last week, except for that whole correctly-predicting-which-team-would-win thing. I can now reveal to you that I actually did foresee the infamous Chris Brown halfback pass; sadly, I thought it was the product of a whiskey-induced haze and dismissed the power of my gift. Thus, I failed you yet again, BRB. It starts with me.

On to this week's surefire happenings:

1. I can't shake this eerie feeling that Matt Schaub's going to get knocked out of the game again via another piledriver to the turf on his non-throwing shoulder. That'll mean Rex Grossman, which will in turn mean turnovers and misplaced throws in bunches, which in turn will mean me getting my stomach pumped.

2. Dunta Robinson gets his first pick of the year. Unfortunately, he also gets flagged for pass interference on the same play, negating said interception.

3. Ryan Moats gets more carries than Chris Brown, finishes with an average of more than 4.2 yards per carry, and scores a TD. Even better, the number of passing attempts by Texans' running backs on Sunday reverts to zero.

PUT YOUR NAME ON IT: I probably should feel pretty good about this matchup. I don't. I'll call a Texans win, but if Prediction No. 1 actually comes to pass, that's out of the question. If Matt Schaub plays the entire game: Seahawks 20, Texans 24. If he doesn't: Seahawks 21, Texans 14.

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The Worst Ten Tennessee Titans Draft Picks of the Decade

Jimmy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:15:08 -0000

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With the decade coming to an end in a few weeks, we here at MCM decided it would be a good time to do a top 10 list or two- because who doesn't love a top 10 list?

Today we have the worst 10 draft picks of the decade. Here is how this list was compiled- August, gramsey, hal and I all came up with our own list. They sent their lists to me, actually shared it with me via google docs (which are awesome), and I averaged the four lists together to come up with what I am posting here. After the jump I have added a link that lists all of the picks the Titans made in the decade.

One note on this list; if you need further evidence that the Titans are terrible at picking receivers, here it is- they drafted 15 receivers in the decade. 15! What makes it even worse is that only three of them are still on the active roster. (and gramsey notes that only two of the other 12 are still in the league)

So without further adieu I present the worst 10 draft picks of the decade as voted on by the esteemed panel:

1. Chris Henry, RB, Arizona (2007, Round 2, pick #50 overall)

The Chris Henry pick is pretty much the only one on the list that just never made sense. The Titans fell in love with hal's boy because of the numbers he put up at the combine. They apparently failed to check and see if he was actually any good in college. He was widely known as Cockroach because he ran to darkness. That isn't a good thing, in case you didn't know.

2. Andre Woolfolk, CB, Oklahoma (2003, Round 1, pick #28 overall)

If there were to be another guy on the list that never made sense it would be Woolfolk. Here is an interesting tidbit about Woolfolk that I did not know- all three of his career INTs were thrown by David Carr. If you ever wondered how bad Carr was..

3. Adam Pacman Jones, CB, West Virginia (2005, Round 1, pick #6 overall)

As Danno said yesterday, it has been far too long since we talked about Ol' Pacman. The pick of Adam made football sense but not common sense. He was a dynamic returner and a good cornerback when he played his assignment instead of what he wanted to do, which was about 32% of the time (get it?), but he there isn't really an adjective that adequately describes what he was off the field.

4. Paul Williams, WR, Fresno State (2007, Round 3, pick #80 overall)

P-Dub couldn't decide in college if he was a corner or a receiver. Maybe he should have picked corner.

5. Tyrone Calico, WR, MTSU (2003, Round 2, pick #60 overall)

August loves Calico. Calico had a lot of raw talent, but he had trouble staying healthy. He also had some trouble catching the football which is a problem for a receiver. Too bad for him that he didn't get drafted by another team because he would have gotten a lot of money from the Titans in free agency eventually.

6. Ben Troupe, TE, Florida (2004, Round 2, pick #40 overall)

Troupe had more NFL success than any of the other guys on this list. The problem was he could never put it all together. He had loads of potential but was hampered by injuries, the inability to learn the offense (allegedly), and the inability to catch the football at times.

7. Courtney Roby, WR, Indiana (2005, Round 3, pick #68 overall)

Roby was really good in the preseason pretty much every year.

8. Tank Williams, S, Stanford (2002 Round 2, pick #45 overall)

And now Danno hate us. Tank started his career playing pretty well but suffered an ugly ACL injury and was never the same.

T-9. Byron Frisch, DE, BYU (2000, Round 3, pick #93 overall)

This is a name that none of us even remembered. He actually never played a game with the Titans and was cut after the 2000 season. He ended his career with 5 sacks after playing one season with the Cowboys and one with the Giants.

T-9.Shad Meier, TE, Kansas State (2001, Round 3, pick #90 overall)

Shad Meier had my favorite stat line ever in a game at San Diego in 2004- 9 catches for 31 yards. That's 3.4 yards per catch. He finished his career with 42 catches. I need more than that from a third round pick.

Others receiving votes: Chris Brown (2003, round 3, #93), Brandon Jones (2005, round 3, #96) and Donnie Nickey (2003, round 5, #154).

$1,000,000 MCM bucks to the first person to identify who put Nickey on the list.

Click here to see the complete list of draft picks.

And there you have it. We would love to hear your comments on our list, or even your own list in the comments.

An Open Letter to Aaron Curry

John Morgan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:50:34 -0000

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

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Dear Aaron Curry,

You've fallen under the media's wheel. There are a mix of reasons: You were the fourth overall pick selected by a since resigned general manager, you play at an unfashionable position, you're kind of sloppy, you talk a lot of shit, you're proud, others in your class are outclassing you, you've been repeatedly fined by the league, and, most of all, because you are the latest face of the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Seahawks suck.

I don't know what to make of you. I didn't want Seattle to select a linebacker with the fourth overall pick. It made sense for Seattle to select you at four, the next six picks were expensive gambles red-flagged for health or behavior or inexperience. It still didn't sit right. Maybe it fell like a cheat.

Seattle had its elite linebackers in 2008. Their impact earned Seattle the pick they selected you with. Anyone who watches tape can see that a linebacker does not have the integral impact on every play that a wide receiver, quarterback or an offensive or defensive lineman does.

And yet, I know what I hate and I don't hate you. You're awesome. Like what the words means. Awesome. You're a hitter and I know that must mean something. Lawyer Milloy saved Seattle's season by browning Michael Crabtree's underpants. You run blitzed Steven Jackson and flanked him so hard he flew into the air. The frame, speed and coordination you possess almost defies positional classification. You weigh less but are broader, longer and more powerful than Darryl Tapp. Tapp. Seattle's best defensive end. You're faster than Forsett. If Seattle switched schemes and freed you to blitz between the tackles, you could be a punishing force at rush linebacker. You are quite simply the most special talent Seattle has drafted since Seattle drafted Hutch, and I want you to achieve Greatness in the Blue.

So: This weekend you face Brian Cushing. Cushing is adored. Cushing was selected after you. He makes noodles to your megabucks. No, you will never actually face Cushing on the football field, but his specter will be all over you like Russell on hustle.

Kick his ass. I am running a full Aaron Curry breakdown next week and I want to write about you ho slappin Chris Brown and wearing Matt Schaub like a meat suit.

Show us everything you have.

Field Gulls

BREAKING NEWS: Steve Slaton Done For Season

Tim — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:41:53 -0000

According to Adam Schefter's Twitter feed:

Another loss for Houston: Texans RB Steve Slaton will be placed on injured reserve -- out for the year.

If I wasn't already dead inside, I'd cry. Get ready for another month of Chris Brown, coupled with the continued irrational refusal to give Ryan Moats the lion's share of the work. Oh, wait...here come the tears after all.

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Playing The Expectations Game

bigfatdrunk — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:04:24 -0000

Over the years, I've had the pleasure of working for some of the most grossly inept and incompetent managers in known history. A couple of them would make the Pointy Haired Boss absolutely brilliant by comparison. Recent games have reminded me of a conversation I had with one of those rocket scienticians.

At the time, I was managing asset portfolios for wealthy investors. My portfolios were absolutely skyrocketing, but my boss' were doing horribly. Worst of all, he had most of the assets under his control, and he refused to change his strategy, relinquish control, or just do anything different. As a result, we were bleeding clients and money.

I had the audacity to lay out a concrete plan for him to follow in order to keep clients, but he erupted into one of his typical histrionic displays. I gave notice about an hour later.

When he tried to convince me to stay, he claimed he had done a poor job setting my expectations about his portfolios' performance. His argument was asinine. It wasn't *his* fault the portfolios were doing so poorly; it was the market's fault, and I had to stay and convince clients of this "fact." I was stunned by the lack of logic and the earnestness in which he avoided culpability. Needless to say, I left, and the company is out of business today.

By now you are probably asking yourself: What is your point? Great question! I'm so glad you asked.

I believe we, and by "we" I mean we as fans and the team, have failed the expectations game. Allow me to explain what I mean.

After back-to-back years of 8-8 ball, it's fair to have greater expectations and believe we'll be better year-in/year-out as fans. The reality is this isn't so easy to accomplish. Every fan base has this expectation (except for the Lions, of course) that their team is good enough to compete. So we get excited and hopeful. Gary Kubiak should also have these expectations, especially from a younger team.

Where we have failed is recognizing that our talent is still simply not there. Talent acquisition is, sadly, a prolonged process. The team Kubiak and Rick Smith inherited was almost completely devoid of NFL-quality talent. Not only do I believe we need time to build and diversify our talent base, I'm not convinced we are adequately addressing our weaknesses.

Now, this isn't to say we aren't trying, but it is clear we have serious holes throughout our starting 22 and depth problems everywhere except for TE and WLB (which needs a real quality starter).

Here's an example: Our offensive line has become a true weakness thanks in part to injuries, but also due to the lack of talent here. Duane Brown and Eric Winston have been decent but beatable. Our G and C play has been absolutely atrocious this year, even before injuries took down Chester Pitts and Mike Brisiel.

In other words, if we aren't winning the most basic, in-the-trenches battles, how can we possibly expect to win games?

Then, of course, are our expectations of FAIL. The team, at least. I had hoped the Miami game last year moved us beyond this. Or even the first BE-SF game this year. Especially in the second game against the Colts, you could see our body language change in the fourth quarter. We played down to our expectations, and it was depressing. If the Colts were in this position, there's no way they'd be hanging their heads in the same situation.

Obviously, part of the problem is Kubiak. I don't believe the team is under-prepared as much as poorly managed, both from a personnel and in-game perspective. But the lack of quality personnel is still the primary issue. However, Kubiak has got to do a better job in getting this team to play a full 60 minute game. The closest we've come to this was against the Bengals and somewhat versus the Bills. This is not acceptable.

Do I believe we need to fire Kubiak? I don't know. The offense especially is built around Kubiak's offensive style. The simple fact he believes Chris Brown is a legitimate goal-line back is an indictment of his ability to build a roster. Kubiak needs a more firm hand, and a better grip, of building his roster to meet his needs. At the same time, he has improved his in-game skills from last year (did somebody finally buy him Madden?).

Here's what I would like to see from a purely coaching standpoint:

Replace Bill Kollar (defensive line coach), Frank Bush, or both. I'm not sure who thought either of these guys would be a solution, but they clearly are not. When a Bills fan is taunting you about Kollar, you damn well know something is wrong.
Joe Marciano, special teams coach, should clearly go away. Not only do we make copious amounts of penalties, but he's managed to turn Andre Davis into a tip-toer on returns.
And we give Kubiak one. More. Year. That's it. No mas.

Again, I simply do not think we have the talent, on a personnel basis, to compete today. When you throw in the tremendous number of injuries to key elements of the team (Chester Pitts, Mike Brisiel, Owen Daniels, Antwaun Molden, Steve Slaton, Glover Quin, Eugene Wilson), we are going to be in trouble. Injuries are exacerbated by our obvious lack of depth, a problem that cannot be fixed in just one, two, or even three years. This is about expectations, and thoughts that we were a 12-4 team were optimistic and obviously misplaced. With a few breaks, was this possible? Chris Brown says "yes." We are, however probably better than 5-7 as well.

At this point, I don't see firing Kubiak as the answer. We need to let our current crop of rookies age just one more year, and another year of drafting will be helpful. This team was a massive sack of shit when Smithiak took over, and we have seen improvement. We all hoped the consolidation phase was over, but it was not. I think they deserve one more year to prove themselves incapable.

BRB's Comcastic Red Zone Review: Texans v. Jaguars

Tim — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:24:59 -0000

Brought to you by Comcast's Red Zone Channel, a quick look at how your Houston Texans fared in the red zone last Sunday in the latest punch to the gut (courtesy of the Jaguars):

Trips to Red Zone: 4
Scores in Red Zone: 3 (TD by Chris Brown, FG by Kris Brown, TD by Andre Johnson)
Red Zone Efficiency: 75%

Anyone care to guess what the halfback pass efficiency rate was?

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Comcast Presents: Dr.FSBA or How I learned to stop worrying and learned to love the Jaguars red zone struggles

Jonathan Loesche — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:40:13 -0000

This post is brought to you by Comcast and the new NFL Red Zone channel. Catch every touchdown from every game, only on NFL Red Zone.

(Quick Note: You may remember the Dr.FSBA segments I've done before, and I decided this was a good time to revive it. Was too lazy to change it with with screen name change.)

I've was sitting here and just shaking my head as I heard Brian Sexton say Maurice Jones-Drew was stuffed at the one yard line. If there has been one constant for the Jaguars this season, it's that you can never count on them to actually score once they get inside the 20 yard line.

But you know what, it's all going to be ok. Statistically, the Jaguars have no where to go but up at this point in the red zone efficiency department. I was struggling to find a good metaphor for this situation until I think I came across one that sums up the Jaguars ability to not score in the red zone.

It's like a fun game of Russian roulette every time the Jaguars end up in the red zone, but using rules that would make The Deer Hunter seem weak.

In your standard game of Russian roulette, as seen on TV, 1 out of 6 bullets are loaded into a revolver and spun. Assuming after each try the chamber is respun, each participant has a 16.67% chance of "winning".

On the other hand, your Jaguars want to live life on the brink. They have have had 12 red zone possessions result in no points in 39 total trips, or 31% of the time. Moral of the story, if you ever need to bet on surviving a game of Russian Roulette or the Jaguars not scoring in the red zone, just make sure the revolver isn't fixed.

On a positive note, the Jaguars for once didn't have the most face palm worthy moment in the red zone this week. That of course goes to the Houston Texans decision to throw a half back pass on a First and Goal from the 4. Our comrades at Battle Red Blog know all too well what this feels like.

If the Jaguars do end up making the playoffs, I think BCC needs to send Chris Brown a thank you letter for his efforts. His fumble at the one in Week 3 and the pass play are the two reasons the Jaguars are 7-5 and the Texans are 5-7, and not the other way around.

Post-Game Breakdown: Texans Lose To Jaguars...Again

Tim — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:05:04 -0000

Four losses in a row. To Indianapolis. To Tennessee. To Indianapolis. And yesterday afternoon, to Jacksonville. From a 5-3 start and talk of playoff contention to a 5-7 record and virtual elimination from relevance. Your Houston Texans finish their 2009 campaign with a 1-5 record in the AFC South. That's failure.

On to the details of the latest crime against the Texans fan base:

1. The single good thing to come out of yesterday's disaster was Matt Schaub refusing to let a little thing like a dislocated shoulder keep him out of the game. Had Brett Favre been the guy who was driven into the ground, we'd be treated to a full week of praise for Favre about his grit, toughness, commitment to his teammates, excellence, and leadership. Since it's Schaub, it won't merit much talk outside of Houston and/or fantasy owners. Thus, allow me to pick up the slack on this one.

After Schaub went down on the first play from scrimmage, I never thought for a second he'd be back and was resigning myself to the remainder of the 2009 season playing out with Rex Grossman under center, followed by a stint in rehab for me come January. But then...with about seven minutes left in the first half, there was Schaub, warming up on the sideline. I couldn't believe it. From the second he went down, judging from the way he went down and then the way he was holding his arm as he left the field, I thought Schaub separated his shoulder. Remember--Schaub missed the last few weeks of the 2007 season with an identical injury. Not this time. Schaub re-entered the game and very nearly brought the Texans back. It showed a resolve we hadn't ever seen from him, and it should put to rest any questions about his resilience. If Schaub can play, he will play. People can criticize him, but not for being soft. The guy's a gamer.

2. Good thing that Schaub's a gamer, too, because Rex Grossman looked awful. I don't even want to talk about it anymore.

3. Once again, Ryan Moats shows a burst that we haven't seen from a running back all year long. And once again, I'm sure he'll be banished to the bottom of the depth chart for reasons that elude me. Can anyone explain why Moats doesn't get more carries? Anyone?

4. Of all the things that puzzled/enraged me about yesterday's game, the most puzzling/infuriating was Chris Brown being in the game on the very next series after he tried to shot-put the ball in Joel Dreessen's general direction. How is it that Kubes can bench Steve Slaton and/or Ryan Moats for turning the ball over but not apply the same zero tolerance policy on C. Brown?

5. I appreciate those of you who think the halfback pass was a good call at the time. I vehemently disagree, and I think it's just the latest example of Kyle Shanahan and/or Gary Kubiak trying to get cute. Just as I had no clue why the Texans called a pass on third down at the IND 15 with slightly more than a minute to go in the first half last week, I'll never understand why the Texans would ask Chris Brown to make that play at that point in the game. It was a truly awful decision, trumped only by even more awful execution.

6. Although he coughed one ball up that turned into an interception, I continue to be impressed by David Anderson. Seems like he very quietly is good for a big third down conversion every week.

7. The absence of Owen Daniels makes Andre Johnson's consistency that much more unfathomable.

8. I never had anything against Chris White. Until yesterday. His false start, late in the third quarter, as the Texans prepared to go for it on 4th and 2 from the JAC 9, was as back-breaking a penalty as I've seen in some time.

9. I mentioned this a few weeks back in the PGB, and I'll reiterate it now: Is anyone else amazed at how no one has taken Alex Gibbs to task this season for the performance of the offensive line? They haven't been able to run block all year, and false starts seem to occur at an alarming rate, especially during this four-game swoon.

10. Why does Frank Bush EVER put the Texans into a zone? It never works. Ever. It's the schematic equivalent of raising a white flag.

11. Judging from the way Gus Johnson was lavishing praise on Dunta Robinson, I'm firmly of the belief that (1) Gus is on Dunta's payroll and/or (2) Gus hasn't watched the Texans play at all this year. The latter possibility is particularly troubling, considering that Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker have called several Texans games this year.

12. Theory: There is not a single member of the Texans secondary who would start for a playoff team except perhaps Bernard Pollard. Agree or disagree?

13. There aren't a whole lot more depressing things as a fan than to watch your defense get gashed via the run when everyone watching knows exactly what's coming, who's getting the ball, and a stop is absolutely crucial to avoid losing the game. It's demoralizing to watch. I can't even imagine what it has to be like for DeMeco Ryans & Co. The odd part is that the Texans did a fine job keeping Maurice Jones-Drew in check all the way up until that last drive. When they absolutely needed it the most, they couldn't do it.

14. Even though the Texans managed to sack David Garrard on four (4) occasions, I never really felt like they got to him. Just like last time, Garrard made the plays when he needed to, regardless of what the numbers say.

15. The Jaguars did everything they possibly could to give this game to the Texans, and the Texans refused to do anything about it. This was the sloppiest game I've seen two teams play in a good long while.

16. The calls for Kubiak's head are getting louder and louder. Not coincidentally, each loss and absurd playcall makes defending him harder and harder. JMay wrote a great FanPost on the topic, and I'll be writing a longer piece myself in the coming days on the subject. For now, I'll leave you with this thought...if you can't get a proven Super Bowl winning coach, are you content with replacing Kubes with someone who has no head coaching experience?

The Seahawks are next on the schedule. Here's hoping that Reliant doesn't look like Jacksonville Municipal Stadium on Sunday.

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