The schedule is to be released at 6pm, but I'm gonna start this party off with the leaked schedule, which is very intriguing.

Jump over grandma on your way to the Thanksgiving table to see the (potential) goodies.

Continue reading this post »

I just read Walter Football's newest mock. He has us taking Alshon Jeffery with a caveat about his physical condition at the combine.

Its the next few picks, and the people left on the board when we make this selection, that got me curious.

If the following people are available to you at this pick, who do you take?

Assumptions: we re-signed our OL and Foster is on the team. We didn't make any other signings in FA.

This guy did a great job laying out the Texans' cap situation heading into this offseason.

Here are the highlights:

• We paid Dan Orlovsky a ton of cap money this season to beat us, and we'll do it again (cap wise, not beat us [hopefully]) to the tune of $2.2M in dead money.
• Speaking of dead money, Tim will be glad to hear Amobi will cost us $3.6M in cap space, and he still isn't old enough to drink.
• He doesn't think the cap, which apparently will be released soon since the season ended yesterday, will increase.
• We get money to sign our rookies outside of the cap, but our pool is based on where we draft, and may not be enough to cover signing all of them (he estimates $4.5M for the whole class).
• That leaves us with a bottom line of $25.6M of cap space, without releasing anyone.

Continue reading this post »

Just watched it live on the mothership. Here's what I got:

• TJ was a full participant in practice with no limitations.
• Joseph has an ankle that limited him, only did positional drills, then they pulled him
• Jason Allen has back spasms and couldn't play if it was today, but is day-to-day
• Briesel practiced and hopefully can contribute in a rotation sharing time with Caldwell
• Kubiak keeps his Super Bowl Rings in the bank
• AJ feels stronger, and was a full participant in practice
• No word on KJax's neck, so the problem must be non-injury related

Well that sucked. Hard.

Luckily we still have the home playoff game in our back pocket, but that game sure reminded me of seasons past. Moreso than any game this year.

Anyhow, before the season, 62 of us picked how each game would turn out, and since before the season the Colts looked a lot more fearsome, many (58%) thought we'd lose that game. Well, we did. But going into the game, I bet the results would be much different. If we go to the Super Bowl, we'll have to figure out how to do something we've never done: win a football game in Indianapolis.

Matt Phillips was the leader going into that game, and would have nearly locked it up if we could have kept our former backup QB from going 80 yards with 1:52 and no timeouts against our top ranked defense.

With that loss, Matt moved into a tie with six other pickers who boldly predicted that our division champs would lose to the lowly Colts on Thursday night football. And since all seven of them have us beating the living meth out of the BE-SFs on Sunday, the final results are in. Well, just about. Only four pickers picked us to lose this last game, and one of them, Mikus318, is one game out. So if we win, the winners of the BRB Pickem are:

BigNate7

Gamaliel

bk

Barry

Kirk Murrell

OurTime

Matt Phillips

and if we fall rest our starters, they get lucky, and the refs help out the visitors in crucial moments, add Mikus318 to the list of big winners.

Now how to figure out a tie-breaker? The most shocking decision turned out to be the last Indy game, but 6/7 of the winners called it correctly.

So let me know how to break the tie and award the champion with free tickets to my playoff party. Its gonna be a blow out.

I know everyone has missed this weekly update lately. I can tell by the constant phone calls, emails, and tweets asking, nay begging to get an update. Well the wait is finally over. I had a problem with the programming that reared its ugly head after the Texans decided to take a week off. But after hours of overtime, several heads rolled, new programmers in place, we finally are back up and running.

Before the season began, 62 of us picked how each Texans game would turn out. The average picker had us at a 12-4 mark by season's end. I thought that, while we were certainly capable of a record such as that, that it was a tad optimistic, having rooted for this team for 9 previous years. I suspect if the same site was up prior to the 2010 season, the results would have been similar, and we all know how that turned out.

But, I'm glad to say, I was wrong. I had us at 10-6, and I have missed on four games so far, putting me down the list with the likes of BFD, Bennscrap, RIP, et al.

When picking the Falcons game, only 16 people picked the good guys correctly before the season. One of them is Matt Phillips, the leader of the Pickem challenge with a fantastic 11-1 record. His only blemish was week 5 when he didn't foresee the demise of Al Davis the night before the game.

Conversely, this week 95% of the people have the good guys going into Cincy and taking care of bidness. If we trip up, Cj7Scuba would move back into a tie for first with Matt, as Matt has us winning out.

Here's the link to the site.

How about we clinch the division this weekend, so we can rest our starters, somehow, hopefully keeping the Jets and Colts out of the playoffs?

Well tomorrow is the best day of the week.  Tuesday.

What time will MDC post the 2DH?  Will he keep us in suspense all day like last week?  Will he post it in 89 minutes in true Holiday Season squeeze every second out of the day fashion?

While we wait, use this thread to postulate on all things 2DH.  

I have only one request.  Stop feeding the trolls.  I would like us to respond to all BE-SF trollers with a simple "41-7" and send them on their merry way.  We don't have time for them, we have QBs to invite to tryouts.  

By far the biggest question mark for the outcome of the Texans 2011 season is the play of the new starting QB Matt Leinart. 

via dl.dropbox.com

Using QBR, explained here, vote below on how you think Matt Leinart will do in this weekend's matchup v. the Jags.

For a reference, 50 is average, so they say, and Matt Schaub's QBR for the season is 66.7, placing him 7th in the league.

Against the Jags, Matt Schaub posted a QBR of 81.0, his fourth highest of the season.  His low was 27.1 against the Raiders, and his high was 95.6 vs. BE-SF High.

For more context, Blaine Gabbert is last in the NFL with a season QBR of 22.4, battlin' it out against Curtis Painter's 26.4.  Need a reference on the high side?  Aaron Rodgers is tearin' up the NFL with a QBR of 87.2.

So, call yourself Gallup, cuz you're about to take a poll!

I can get used to this winning thing.  Hopefully we all get used to it for the rest of the season.

Before the season, 62 of us picked how each Texans game would turn out.  To this point, 13 people have missed but one game, with 22 on their heels with a 7-2 record.

Twenty pickers took the Bucs this weekend, five of which are among the 13 leaders.  Hopefully they are all wrong, and we take our 7-3 record into the bye!

Go Texans!

Here's the pickem site to check up on the results:

http://www.lewisfive.com/brb-pickem

Another good win against the opponents the NFL schedulers put in our division.  We can't help that these other teams aren't quite up to our standards.  We just need to go 6-0 and maybe when the Jags move to LA they'll re-align the divisions and we'll get some competition.

** New Site Location ** 

http://lewisfive.com/brb-pickem

** New Site Location **

Before the season, 62 of us selected how each of the Texans games would turn out.  13 of those 62 have only missed one game.  A whole mess of people are only one game out of the lead, but everyone who matters has us beating up on the Browns, so there's no drama here this week.

Next week and week 13 will separate the men from the boys as far as this challenge goes.  Those two games have the most people picking against the Texans, so its about to heat up!

Well that was satisfying.  Curbstomp the traitors to take sole possession of first place.

Oh, and that team that always dominates our division, they suck.  I don't feel one bit sorry for that organization that destroyed us for the first 9 years of our existence.   It all evens out in the end I guess.

Next up, the Jags.  Historically, the team we have the best chance of beating in the division.  

Before the season, 62 of us picked how each Texans game would turn out.   We have a fourteen (14) way tie for first place, with those pickers all missing on only one prediction so far.

This week 57 / 62 picked us taking down the Jags.   Kirk Murrell is the only one with a 6-1 record who has us losing.  He has us rattling off 6 wins after this, so optimism abounds no matter how you look at it.

Of the 14 leaders, Matt Phillips has us winning out (13-3).  That's the most optimistic.  There are two guys who give us 3 losses, leaving us at 10-6, which was my original prediction as well.  

Big game Sunday.  I hope 57 of y'all are right.  (I had us losing, but I'm feeling a bit better about this game now.)

EDIT!: The site has moved to this link, and is currently down for maintenance.  The link above has been updated.   It should start working before anyone here tries it, so I'm not really worried. 

Back to mediocrity.  I sense a theme.  Hopefully, we have hit bottom this season and are about to blow this mother up.

So before the season, 62 of us picked the results of each of the Texans games.  Only four had us losing to the BE-SFs this weekend.   One of those four is named "Texans Suck" and has us winning the "Suck for Luck" sweepstakes with an 0-16 record.

Since Cj7Scuba was wrong for the first time this year, there are now 14 people tied for first place with a 5-1 record.  All have us winning, and all with a 4-2 record also have us winning, so there's not much drama for the site this weekend. 

So since nobody cares about their pickem results, we can all focus our energy on influencing the outcome of the game by ROOTING FOR THE TEXANS this weekend.  Its the best weekend of the year.  We have got to win this game!

And then there was one.

Before the season, 62 of us made our predictions for each of the Texans games.  After our loss to da Raiders, there is but one perfect picker remaining.  Cj7Scuba boldly picked us to lose at home to the Raiders.  Luckily for us, he has us winning the next four weeks.  I'm going to vegas!

Only 39% of the pickers have us beating the Ravens this week.   13 of the 19 people who are only one game back of Cj7Scuba have us losing, so we stand a chance of bringing more contenders into the mix for the title of ultimate BRB picker!

Here's the link to the site, now sorted by how good you are!

http://tripnick.homeip.net/brb-pickem/

Sorry for the name being similar to the pickem league.  I know its confusing.

62 of us picked each game over at this site, all before the season started.

After our victory this afternoon, 18 of the 62 are 4-0 in their picks.  Among the perfect pickers, we have Tyler, Taco Joe, Roy, OurTime, Nolan Payne, Matt Phillips, Kirk Murrell, Jon-Copp, Gamaliel, Cj7Scuba, cgardner, bk, BigNate7, BigDaddy46, Barry, someone named "12-4" and two people who didn't bother to leave their name.

Only one (1) of the eighteen still undefeated has us losing to da Raiders next week.  That picker is Cj7Scuba.  So after next week, we'll be down to 17, or down to one.

Good luck, and go Texans!

After two weeks where 97% of the people were right, the next two weeks will separate the men from the boys.

When picking this weeks matchup at the Saints before the season started, only 34% thought we would win.   Most of the 34% also picked us to go either 13-3 and 14-2 for the season.  

The results page is located here and has been updated to highlight correct picks and will soon show your record.

We had 62 people make their predictions on the brb-pickem site, and all but two correctly picked your Houston Texans to beat the Colts, ManningFull or ManningLess.

Only BleachBum and TexansSuck (who also picked us to lose to the Phins, and the next 14 games as well) are 0-1.  Everyone else wins!

Again this week only two people have us losing to the Phins, the aforementioned TexansSuck (I may start to question his loyalty) and nsn, who has us finishing at 7-9.  Incidentally, nsn is the only other picker who has us finish with a losing record.

Go Texans!

Since we now have a punter, and know what our roster looks like, we can now legitimately guess how this, our 10th season, will turn out.

I like compiling data, so I set up a site to track how each of us think we'll fare in each game this season.

So head on over to http://tripnick.homeip.net/brb-pickem/ and fill out how you think each game will go.

Then you can check back at http://tripnick.homeip.net/brb-pickem/results.php to see how many people agree / disagree with you.

A couple notes...  the email function doesn't work, and its a slow server with frequent crashes, so I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed on this one.

Thanks!

Well the draft is complete, and optimism abounds.  Here at BRB we offer the opportunity to follow along with the Texans front office in a couple of ways.  I like to think of it as a way to show them how badly they screwed up on draft day.  We aren't second guessing them afterwards the easy way, we are drafting when they were on the clock just like them.

That live draft occurred at:

http://www.lewisfive.com/draft/

This occurred in large part thanks to fuzion who entered the picks in my stead.

Now the second tier of second-guessing begins.  The shadow draft.

The 2011 Big Time Shadow Draft is now open at the above link.  Come one, come all and make your selections for who the Texans would most benefit from if you were king.

The rules for the shadow draft come from Rivers.  For each Texans pick, you are able to make a pick using the players that were chosen from that Texans pick until the next Texans pick.  For example, the Texans picked at 11 and 42.  For your pick at 11, you will chose from those players chosen from 11 to 41.  And so on, all the way to Mr. Irrelevant.  For this pick, theoretically, you would have all the undrafted players at your disposal.  The software genius' weren't able to make this happen, however, so you have exactly 1 (one) player to pick with this selection.  Mr. Irrelevant himself.  So we'll just have to trust you that you picked the next Arian Foster.

And Fuzion, I was able to fix all of your placeholders.  I had to add some players to the database to make it happen.  Now everyone stand and clap for the enterer of the picks, Fuzion.  He gets a virtual beer from me.

Its that time of year again.  Time for the fanbase to demand that Smithiak take a space eating nose tackle or, durga-forbid, a safety, only to see our wishes pushed aside like Chris Myers against a 3-4 defense.

If you think you could do better than Smithiak, here is your chance.   We have a website for Texans fans to follow the live draft and step into the GM's shoes in real time, and make the pick you think the Texans should have made.

The link below will take you to the second annual Big-Time Live Draft for Texans fans.  After registering, you can set up your big board of players that you will draft.   If you are unable to participate in the live draft, the site will make your selections for you if you have set up your auto-draft queue.

If you are able to participate in real time, you will earn the right to bitch if you pick seven studs and the Texans whiff (again).

Here's the link:

http://www.lewisfive.com/draft/

It works like this:  you'll be on the clock when the Texans are.  You'll be able to pick from all undrafted players.  If you don't submit your pick by the time the Texans and/or subsequent teams pick, you can select the Texans choice (only up until their next pick), but the other teams' players will not be available to pick.  If you don't make a pick by the time the Texans are on the clock again, your pick will be for the current round, and you will forfeit the previous pick.

After the live draft, there will be a shadow draft on the same site.  I'll have the info on that when the live draft is complete.

The draft order is now complete, and the site is ready for your pre-draft queue of players.

Let me know if you find any problems.

Enjoy!

Its that time of year again.  Time for the fanbase to demand that Smithiak take a space eating nose tackle or, durga-forbid, a safety, only to see our wishes pushed aside like Chris Myers against a 3-4 defense.

If you think you could do better than Smithiak, here is your chance.   We have a website for Texans fans to follow the live draft and step into the GM's shoes in real time, and make the pick you think the Texans should have made.

The link below will take you to the second annual Big-Time Live Draft for Texans fans.  After registering, you can set up your big board of players that you will draft.   If you are unable to participate in the live draft, the site will make your selections for you if you have set up your auto-draft queue.

If you are able to participate in real time, you will earn the right to bitch if you pick seven studs and the Texans whiff (again).

Here's the link:

http://www.lewisfive.com/draft/

It works like this:  you'll be on the clock when the Texans are.  You'll be able to pick from all undrafted players.  If you don't submit your pick by the time the Texans and/or subsequent teams pick, you can select the Texans choice (only up until their next pick), but the other teams' players will not be available to pick.  If you don't make a pick by the time the Texans are on the clock again, your pick will be for the current round, and you will forfeit the previous pick.

After the live draft, there will be a shadow draft on the same site.  I'll have the info on that when the live draft is complete.

*** EDIT ***

The draft order is now complete, and the site is ready for your pre-draft queue of players.

Let me know if you find any problems.

Enjoy!

During the 2010 NFL Draft we had a website where BRBers could track the live draft and act as the Texans GM in real time, making their selection from the remaining available players at each Texans pick.  The "Live Draft Results" are these picks.  Some usernames may not match up with BRB names, as there was a separate login on the other site.

About a week after the draft, the site was open again to make each Texans pick again, only this time you had the benefit of seeing who went undrafted, slipped to later rounds, etc.  The "Shadow Draft Results" are listed below.

I thought it would be interesting to see how everyone did based solely on their rookie season.  I thought about totalling fantasy points, but that kinda screws the guys that took offensive lineman.   So for now I'll just throw the results up on here, and take suggestions for grading.

Who had the best draft?

I should be able to have the same two drafts available for this year.  Look for a post with registration info about a week prior to the draft.

Continue reading this post »

I started this with the goal of looking at the first 15 plays of each game to make an objective comparison of how we fared with and without Kubiak's scripted plays.

The three little ones running around kept me from getting past game one, but I did notice our 15th offensive play of the Ravens game ended the first quarter.  So I limited my research to points per quarter, using the first as a rough estimation of plays "inside the script."

Here are the average pointss per quarter for your 2010 Houston Texans:

1st:      2.77

2nd:    5.77

3rd:     6.77

4th:     8.77

Weird that they all end in .77...  I also averaged the quarters removing the highest and lowest totals, a la olympic judging style, to see if the statistical outliers affected one quarter more than any other.

Here are the results removing the highest and lowest point total from each quarter:

1st:     2.00

2nd:   5.55

3rd:    6.73

4th:    8.45

So the first quarter seems to be pushed higher (three times as much of a drop) by the outlier (Raiders) than any other quarter.   This tells me we are statistically closer to these numbers being accurate in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters than the first. 

After this indepth   quick analysis, it appears the "in-script" plays result in significantly fewer points than when we are finished with the script.

I think the argument I've heard Kubiak make before regarding this is that it gives the playcallers insight into how the defense is gonna play them, and it benefits the rest of the game, even if these plays fail.   At this point, I'd say we should not be giving up a quarter of our offensive attack, since the "in-script" plays are definitively resulting in fewer points.

The defense sucks, and something needs to be done on that side of the ball.  But that can't be fixed overnight.

I think we could run a two-minute offense from the jump for the last three games and see if we can put up 40-50 a few times and not give the defense a chance to lose it.

Discuss.

Just for posterity, here is a copy of the results.  Right click, and "save file" if you want to keep it.

The site is still up for a while, but draft picks can't be entered.

Thanks for the support, and if you have any ideas for other contests, let me know.  I'll do my best to make it happen.

I need fifteen words, so did y'all see where Kubiak was quoted as saying the great Zac Diles was on the verge of becoming a pro-bowl caliber WLB?  I guess "pro-bowl caliber" really was watered down when VY made his second this past season.

Thanks for all the interest in the Big Time Draft.  The live draft was interesting, and we had a good turnout.

I want to thank TexansDC, Fuzion, and Jordann for their help entering picks.

As promised, there is now a second draft up on the site.  The Shadow Draft format is similar to Rivers' idea which originated this project.  For each Texans pick, you will select a player that was available to them at the time, but only until their next pick.

I also scored the results of the live draft, and the "winners" are listed there.  You are welcome to mock my scoring system.  IANAE.

Here's the link, enjoy!

www.amrinedesign.com/phil/brb-draft/shadow.php

After much work by my elite staff of programmers working day and night, the Big Time Draft Site is ready for prime time.  Well, at least its functional.

After registering, this site will enable you to follow the real draft, and act as Texans GM and pick any player available to play for your Houston Texans.  We can all see how good our 2010 season could have been had we followed your sage advice, and we can all see how idiotic yours truly was for picking Tim Tebow at #20.

If you are unable to participate in real time, the site will keep a queue for you and automatically choose your next highest player when the Texans make their selection.

There will also be a shadow draft similar to what Rivers did (whose idea spawned this undertaking) that will take place after the real draft is over, but that code is still in the R&D department currently.

If you'd like to sign up, head on over to:

www.amrinedesign.com/phil/brb-draft/

I just updated the draft order, so that should be current.  Let me know if you see any errors or bugs via this or the online email form on the FAQ.  Also let me know if anyone wants to help input real draft picks during the real draft.  I'll probably need help on Saturday, as they will come fast, and I have three kids.

Thanks, hope you enjoy it.

Promoted to front page.  Read and sign up now! - bfd

Did you disagree with taking Cushing last year? 

Were you yelling at the TV when Casserly was interviewed the night before drafting Mario because you wanted the Texans to take VY?

This year you'll have the chance to show how much smarter you are than Smithiak.

Rivers' shadow draft post inspired me to create a site where we can all try our hand at this drafting thing we're all experts at.

I plan on running two drafts.

In the first one, you will be on the clock whenever the Texans are.  Any players taken prior to the Texans pick, and any players taken by other teams before you submit your choice will not be available for you to pick.  If you have not selected a player from the previous round when the Texans pick comes around again, you will lose the pick from the last round, and the next player selected will count for the current round.

The second one will be similar to Rivers' shadow draft.  This one will take place after the actual draft is completed.  You will draft a player at each of the Texans picks, but the only players available will be players chosen between Texans picks. For example, If we draft at 20 and 52, your first round selection for the Texans could be any player actually selected from 20 to 51.  I'll probably leave this up for a week after the draft is completed.

Trades will not be allowed in either draft, unless you contact the actual GM of both teams and get approval.

You can participate in either, both, or neither of these drafts.  I will post everyone's picks on here for posterity, then we can check back and see how we did.  Kinda like a delayed gratification fantasy draft.

I got the backbone of the site together today, and I'll be working on the draft page in the coming weeks.  I don't do this for a living, so it may not  look very professional.  If you are dissatisfied with the site, I'd be happy to refund you your money.  I'm open to suggestions for rules, requests for the site, etc.  The real time draft may be tough for me to moderate, so I may be looking for volunteers to enter actual picks.  

I'll post the link here when the site is ready to go.

Gary Kubiak scripts the first 15 plays of the game.  Assuming the punts and extra points are not scripted, we had 29 plays in the first half against the Vikes, our starters v. their starters.

The Script generated plays gaining yards of:

1+4+0+0+7+9+0+2+7+3+6+0+0+6+0 for a total of 45 yards including a pick.

Plays after the script (14):

9+7+0+5+11+7+5+1+15+7+4+20+16+1 for a total of 108 including a touchdown and all of our points.

I like the script in the pre-season.  I think the agenda needs to be completed, and all of the boxes checked.  Take emotion out of the coaching side of play calling during the pre-season in favor of getting the team ready for the season.  The game doesn't count.

But when the season starts, looking at the results before and after the scripted plays, I think we're digging ourselves a hole by blindly following the script instead of calling plays based on what's happening on the field.  This is only a one pre-season game sample, and I don't get paid enough to run a larger sample base, but I got the impression last night that the play calls were smarter on the drives after the script was completed.

Going into the draft, Rick Smith positioned us well to draft for talent, not for need.  He said as much both before and after the draft, and I believe thats just how he drafted.  The back to back TE's say it all.

What they (Casey and Hill) also do is send a message to OD.  Quin, McCain, and Nolan also send a message to DRob.  The message is: This is a team.  No one player can hold us hostage.  DRob is attempting that now, and I believe the situation is handled.  If he doesn't show up, we're covered. I would not respond to DRob at all now.

OD has not, and hopefully will not, take the road that DRob is taking now.  But this pick gives the team leverage to try to take care of OD and pay him accordingly without being forced into a losing contract.

I've heard you draft for next year's needs, and thats one of the reasons the back to back TE's is tenable.

The two big things that stick out to me now are: TJ and RB2. 

TJ is still starting, with no hope in sight.  I guess Okam is hope.  But, most likely, TJ is starting DT on day one.  At least now he's a two down guy.

We need a cap casualty for our Slaton backup, or one of our UFA's to prove everyone wrong.  Its not impossible, but I would like our chances more if the FO liked a guy this weekend and took him, vice signing the leftovers.  We don't know if they are happy or extremely disappointed with their RB situation right now.  I think we're in trouble, personally.  I think we need a quality backup to spell Stevie.

We are in a position to win 9 or 10 games this year.  I think our defense is solidified, and I think Bush is gonna bring some pressure, which will help our backfield and get us some turnovers.  But RB scares me if Slaton stubs a toe.

Well, not really.  But that's what I get from this interview.

For me, what stood out were his extreme lack of anything good to say about TJ.  He says he "tries hard."  But the rest is just excuses for his lack of production.

Big Frank gets some love, and could have Kollar's eye for TJ's replacement, hopefully.  Sounds like Smith will replace TJ on passing downs, which begs the early draft DE.

This is a perfect situation for us to take Ayers or Johnson at 15.  He won't have to play on running downs, and he should draw few linemen with Smith coming up the middle and Mario drawing the double team on the right.

I just hope Kollar has some stunts workin', or something other than four dudes running straight ahead hoping for a sack.

Here's an argument in favor of it.

I tend to agree, Kubiak is good for the Texans. He did a lot for this team both after the 0-4 start and at the 3-7 mark.  The problem most people have is how/why did we get to the 0-4 point to begin with.  Ike was a big deal, and I don't think it can be overstated.  And as to the 3-7 mark, its a 3-3 record removing the 0-4 start.

Looking toward a less eventful 2009 and beyond, I think he'll do a lot with a little on offense, which is good. 

The defensive side of the ball troubles me.  His mentor didn't focus on defense, and apparently he's following right in the footsteps of Papa Shan.  I understand he's involved in the offense, and that's where he's focused, but can we get a decent DC and a couple key players on that side of the ball and turn this defense around?

Just like the suggestion I saw in the game-day threads about just onside kicking  every kickoff, since we're gonna let them run down the field at will anyway.  How about we blitz on every down, and move Frenchy to free safety?  This way he can at least LOOK in the right place (the ball), so we're half way to a decent player (if he just uses his arms we'd be all set).