They finished 3rd in the NFL it total offense, but the major problem we all know was turnovers. They were -10 on the season, which put them 29th in the league. All of the top 5 teams in the league in takeaway/giveaway made the playoffs, none of the bottom 8 made the playoffs. Not a coincidence.
- Kyle Shanahan calling plays is a fantastic sign for 2009. I feel it's fair to say that Kubiak was trying to do too much on gameday. There is too much else going on during a football game that was obviously not going well from a game management standpoint while Kubiak was trying to call plays and run the tean at the same time. Timeouts, challenges, communication with coaches and players have all been problems during Kubiak's 48 games. Maybe allowing the offensive coordinator to actually be the man in charge of play calling is the first step towards Kubiak finally making the next step as a head coach.
- Firing Richard Smith as defensive coordinator was very easy to see coming and at the end of the day a fairly easy to decision to make. I reference a post from November regarding the Texans defense from the last season before Smith and the three since. Kubiak put it very well today when he said...
"We were more consistent the second half of the season. My decision is strictly based on, I go over the three-year period, and I look at how we progressed. I do not feel good about the progress we’ve made on that side of the ball. And I think for us to take the next step we have to make a big-time improvement there. So, it’s something that’s taken place over a long period of time."Very simple, they made no significant progress in three years. The Texans still have one of the league's worst defenses more or less across the board.
Here are the defensive rankings for Smith's 3 years and the year before he took over in 2005.
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | |
| Tot(Rk) | Tot(Rk) | Tot(Rk) | Tot(Rk) | |
| Scoring | 24.6(27) | 24(T-22) | 22.9(T-25) | 26.9(32) |
| Yards | 336.6(22) | 344.2(24) | 337.5(24) | 364 (31) |
| Rushing Yds | 122.6(23) | 114.1(19) | 122.3(20) | 143.9(32) |
| Takeaways | 22 (T-20) | 25 (T-22) | 22 (T-29) | 16(32) |
| Sacks | 25 (27) | 31 (T-21) | 28 (T-27) | 37 (T-14 |
| Red Zone | 76.9(29) | 53.3(19) | 51(15) | 60 (30) |
| Goal-to-Go | 85(29) | 74.1(25) | 68.2(18) | 64.5 (10) |
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The Rockets were brutal last night against the Wizards, but nearly came back and won the game. But now they have losses to each of the two worst teams in the Eastern conference and a loss to Memphis among their 12 defeats. Last night, they also had a full roster.
Finally - as expected - Dikembe Mutombo signed a contract with the Rockets for the remainder of the season. He will be very good for the lockerroom as things hopefully start getting better when it comes to bringing effort every night.
----------------- WEX
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