DGDB&D: a Texans blog.

Your Texans’ current practice squad:

Kevis Coley (LB)

Darnell Jenkins (WR)

Gabe Long (DT)

Jesse Nading (DE)

Derrick Roberson (CB and still better than Petey)

Mark Simmons (WR)

Adam Stenavich (T)

Darius Walker (RB)

Soooo…..notice anything, you know, missing?  Where are Shane Boyd and/or Alex Brink?

Unless there’s some piece of knowledge out there I don’t have, as in, for example, Brandon Frye is a particularly nimble and strong-armed guy, we are only carrying two QBs on our entire roster: Teh Schaub and Rosy Rosenfels.

Let’s set expectations: It’s not reasonable to expect Schaub and Rosy to be healthy all season.  I’m not saying they’re injury prone, but I am saying that quarterbacks get hurt (and having a rookie LT exacerbates the problem).  Hopefully, they aren’t injured at the same time like last year, and Rosy *was* able to stay healthy.

Still, having only two QBs on the roster scares me.  Practice squad members can be shifted at will, but the limit is the eight we have now.  I imagine Smithiak is still seeing what’s out there and available, but I definitely don’t think we’re done with roster moves yet…this week, I mean.

And do we sign the newly released Tatum Bell?

Edit: Because you know you want to.

If there’s one thing on which we can rely on Pancakes (except for cleaning his plate with his tongue), it’s his ability to be the Texans’ stenographer.  In his latest dictation, Pancakes is told that:

Even though (Duane) Brown played left tackle for only one season and offensive tackle for just three seasons at Virginia Tech, he’s going to get a baptismal by fire. In other words, assistant head coach Alex Gibbs and offensive line coach John Benton are going to put him in and let him learn on the run.

*gulp*

I’m not sure how much of this was strategized (heh) by the coaching staff in the off-season because it seems more like happy/life-threatening coincidence than anything else.  However, if the coaches do expect Brown to start right off the bat, then that explains why we kept Rosie Rosenfels, signed Quinn Gray, and drafted Alex Brink.  It could also explain why we’ve been trying to lure Commander Cody Carlson out of retirement {scours Internet for proof of rumor.  Can’t find it.}  Awww, fuck it, you read it here first!

I’m not saying Brown can’t handle LT…in two or three years, that is.  There simply aren’t many college tackles whose names don’t rhyme with Darcus NcPeel who can start and play at a high level in the NFL their rookie season.  That Brown has only been an OL for three years and a LT for one just magnifies the dysfunction of this decision.

Of course, the sense of urgency is driven by the fact that we’ll only get a year or two out of Alex Fucking Gibbs (h/t Steph).  I can’t blame the man for wanting to get his pet into the starting lineup ASAFP, but I’m not looking forward to Brown matching up with Kyle “Baby Eating-Sister Fucker” Vanden Bosch, Dwight “Kitten Crusher” Freeney, and Derrick “Peaches” Harvey twice a year.  Just scary, actually.

Brown is a project, and while I am normally for “trial by fire,” I think that we are taking our QB’s health a little too lightly with this decision.

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Echoing Matt, thanks to everybody who stops by to visit.  Life’s been extremely stressful lately, which is why I haven’t been too talkative, but I sincerely appreciate y’all.

——–

Finally, is there a better hard reporter covering the Texans these days than SOLIS?  His work simply embarrasses those who should be doing this kind of reporting for a living (aka, the entire staff of the Comicle).  Well done, man.

A couple of links this morning for your chuckling pleasure.

Evidently, Sage Rosenfels wants to be a starter. No, ya think? When I was a little kid growing up, playing football on the street in the middle of the summer in 105 degree weather, I used to dream about the day I’d be on the bench backing up a great quarterback as he won the Super Bowl. I would hold a clipboard like nobody’s business.

I know Steph calls these the “warm and fuzzy” articles with a side of leg hug, but I again feel like my brain has been assaulted by a Ukrainian egg blower through my nose. Yes, he wants to be a starter. Sadly, I think he has a better chance of that as a ViQueen rather than as a Texan. But before this year, Rosie had only 150 passing attempts, and this year he turns 30. Now, he’s definitely better than a certain division rival’s QB, but I still don’t think Rosie is of starting quality due to less-than-average arm strength and his tendency to throw poorly timed picks. Regardless, 2007 will be his career year, and you sell high. In other words, take the third rounder for him and be happy.

Cuz if the ViQues think that Gus Frerotte is the answer, they deserve to suck.

In an article that actually has some marginal meat on a rag’s marginal bones, Megan Manfull has some notes from Thursday’s workout. Now, if there’s an area where the Comicle has us dirty effing bloggers beat, it’s because I can’t take off work, drive to Houston, and watch practice. So well done, Megan.

I get two nuggets from this post. First, Barbaro Spencer lives! I would’ve liked to know an approximate weight, or how he looked physically in general. Or if he was walking around with a bucket of Popeye’s. The May OTAs will be huge for him, and here’s hoping he’s in shape.

Megan also reports that Dunta Robinson is running (in the comments section), calling it “quite a feat.” Because there is a widespread “misinformation” regarding knee and leg injuries, allow me to med-head for a moment. Even though Dunta’s injury was devastating, we are about five months post surgery. Getting to the point of straight-line running is actually fairly easy. The tough part is retraining your body, and gaining the confidence, to make cuts. That a player is running may also give a false confidence that the hard part of rehab is done, which, again, just isn’t true. I’m speaking from personal experience on this issue, so no sourcing. So while this is good news, it would be extremely troubling if he wasn’t running yet.

I still think we need to hedge our bets and look to CB in the draft…just in case.

h/t to Eric for links this morning. For the record, as busy as things are these days, he’s saving my sorry ass. So a public thanks to you, Eric.

h/t to Eric for the link, but it looks like the Vikes might be jonesing to get Sage.

I’m going to be tied up the rest of the morning, so discuss amongst yourselves. You can probably guess that this excites me greatly.

4/1/2008 Addition: This morning, StarTribune.com is reporting that Smithiak isn’t interested in trading Sage at all. Personally, I think it’s posturing, as the reporter mentions.

If we do make a trade, leg hugs all around. Oh, and is it me, or are some of the commenters on the StarTrib site lame? People still post “First!”? Really?

Bear with me as this little ride might be a bit bumpy (translation: I’m a senile old coot, just happy to have my apple mush at the end of the day).

So, we know that our heroic Texans are willing to trade Rosie Rosenfels, and we know that we’re really, oh just super interested in re-signing Craig Nall to be Teh Schaub’s backup. We know that a certain team up north is willing to cough up a third round pick for Rosenfels. And we know (jeez, repetitive much?) there are reports the Texans are trying to trade back and flip 1st round picks with the Steelers and pick up a 3rd round pick for the effort (follow the link all the way down just above the comments).

What else do we know? Well, it looks like CB Fabian Washington is on the block. I think it’s fair to say that he has underperformed his expectations. While at Cornhusker U., I thought he would be a star at the next level. However, injuries and inconsistencies - and the occasional wife beating - have insured that his stay in Oakland Los Angeles Oakland Whatever will be short. Better yet, his contract is good for two more years, and it’s about as cheap as can be imagined for a player of his caliber.

With DeAngelo Hall on the cusp of entering Raider-land - a trade almost sure to not end well - the Raiders will have a complete log-jam at CB. But, because the Raiders will have to spend their 2nd and 6th round picks on that special head-case, they’ll be terribly short of picks come draft day. You don’t exactly have to be Travis Johnson to see where I am going with this.

Washington will be cheap to acquire due to the aforementioned injuries, inconsistencies, and his off-field transgressions. Plus, Washington isn’t the perfect player by any means: he’s weak in run support, for example. The Raiders aren’t exactly well-known for doing anything well these days, and with Washington only 25 this season, he has plenty of time to turn things around. Oh, and did I mention that he ran a 4.28 40?

This has “match made in heaven” written all over it. Trade the lowest 3rd round pick (probably the Steelers pick if that deal goes through) for Fabian Washington. Then, give me one part Fabian Washington and one part Ray Rhodes, and we might have a Chris McAllister caliber player at CB. Now, bugger off cuz Matlock is on, and I need to adjust the rabbit ears.

PS: Am I the only person who just really doesn’t like The Mountain Goats? I’m intrigued by “The Big Sleep,” so I got that one with my emusic subscription. Also got Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars, Flogging Molly, and Tinariwen tonight. IOW, my usual genre-cluster-fuck of monthly downloads. Weeeeee!!!!

Edit: Corey Smith re-upped with the Lions, so he’s out. I see this as: 1. another straw we go DE in the 1st round (though not a big, back-breaking straw), and 2. why we brought Chaun Thompson aboard to play the speed rusher role off the end. Yeah, he’s a LB, and he’ll compete for the SAM position with LVJ Bentley and Zach Diles, but Chaun does have the size (close enough) and speed to play that role if necessary. Total speculation, though.

Consider the following:You awake tomorrow morning to find that Matt Schaub has ceased to exist.¹ He has not died, mind you. Rather, his entire existence from June 25, 1981 through March 2, 2008 has been completely erased from both recorded history and our collective conscience. He has never existed and the name “Matt Schaub” does not conjure up the words “NFL quarterback” any more readily than do the names “Seamus McNamara” or “David Carr.”

As part of this exercise, assume that the 2008 season played out exactly the same in terms of final record, but with Sage Rosenfels at the helm the entire time. His season stats (based on extrapolating his 9 games² over a full slate) were along the lines of 274 completions, 2994 yards, 27 TD, 21 INT, 11 sacks, and 7 fumbles.³

For the purposes of filling out a roster, assume that our backup QB for the entire 2008 season was the incomparable Bradlee Van Pelt. All other roster spots remain exactly as they were during the season, including injuries and free agent signings. And, for the sake of continuity, assume that we do have a second round pick.

NOW…with all of that considered, answer the following:

1. Do you think the Texans have a realistic playoff shot with Rosenfels at the helm for sixteen games in 2008?
2. Are you evaluating this year’s draft with the idea of taking a Brian Brohm, Andre Woodson, or the like if one should fall to you in the first or second?
3. Does it bother you that your starting QB is turning 30 in four days?

I suppose my point here is unsubtle. In short form, it is this: If you remove the “can Schaub survive a full season” question from the equation, the idea of Sage Rosenfels QBing this team suddenly becomes much less appealing. As a backup, people (by which I mean both fans of this team and fans of other teams) think he is a valuable asset. And, to an extent, they are right. I mean, we could be saddled with Bradlee Van Pelt as our backup for real. Or worse.

However—as I have been preaching since god knows when—it makes no sense to me to turn down actual value for a person that under the best case scenario will not even see the field. If Minnesota wants to offer you a third-pick for Rosenfels, turning down that offer is the equivalent of saying “no, no thanks…we have no need for extra draft picks.” If the Patriots didn’t want to trade Matt Cassell under that line of reasoning, at least it would make sense on some level; they
could argue (albeit not convincingly) that they have no holes that need to be addressed via draft. But, for this team—a team with holes in most of the secondary, at DE2 and NT, at RB, and (arguably) at SLB and a couple places on the O-line—I cannot fathom holding onto a BACKUP QB when you could conceivably address a STARTING hole elsewhere by trading him.

I do realize that removing the “Schaub variable” from the equation is a bit of sophistry. After all, that is something that we do have to weigh when considering the 2008 season and beyond. But, here’s the deal, if it turns out that Schaub really is the white Jerome Mathis⁴, you are going to be hard-pressed to find anyone who truly believes that Rosenfels is the long-term answer at QB. So, by not trading him, you are saying that you want to hold on to a guy who you would not like as your starter for an extended stretch because you are afraid the QB you mortgaged the near future for is fragile. Worse, you are saying that you don’t want to trade the guy you hope doesn’t start despite the fact that trading him would allow you to address actual needs in the draft and basically recoup part of what you spent on the QB that you hope does start. (That is, trading him for a third-round pick more or less means that you traded Sage Rosenfels, two seconds and moved down two draft slots in the first for Matt Schaub and a 2008 third, assuming you buy the
idea that Sage was expendable when the deal for Schaub was made, which I don’t think is much of a stretch.)

Looking back over what I’ve just written, I realize that it is hardly novel. This is, with a few minor changes, the same argument I’ve been making since somewhere around week 12 or 13. My only new point here, I suppose, is that I absolutely reject and denounce the idea that you have to decide whether to keep Rosenfels based on what you think Schaub’s health status is likely to be in 2008. If we can all agree that we would not be happy with Rosenfels right now had Schaub never
existed, then it is curious (at best) to want to hold on to him now.

I also refuse to buy the idea that you need two QBs in this league. The Giants did not succeed due to the presence of Jared Lorenzen. The Patriots did not win 18 straight because they had a strong backup. The Colts don’t worry whether Jim Sorgi is really the insurance they need if Manning goes down. The Saints backup is…um…I actually can’t remember off-hand. Etc. Basically, I don’t know where the idea that you have to have two quality QBs in the modern NFL even stems from.⁵ What you “have” to have is a team that does not have a glaring hole and instead has a roster populated with guys who are above average at worst. Having depth at QB but no talent at two or three starting positions is near worthless.

It’s not often you can markedly improve your team without trading a starter or a draft pick. Let’s not ignore such an opportunity right now.

¹ Obviously, an exercise that requires you to imagine how you would respond to the non-existence of something that currently exists is inherently flawed. Ignore this.
² I realize he didn’t start 9 games, but one of his very best games (the home loss against TN) was a non-start, so these things should even out enough to make this whole thing worthwhile.
³ I suppose I could just combine his and the no-longer-existent Schaub’s numbers for the full season, but the extrapolation seems more fair. We are all about fair in our posts here at DGDB&D. Unless we are talking about Petey Faggins and/or Travis Johnson. Screw those guys.
⁴ In terms of fragility, not in terms of dog rearing and domestic relationships.
⁵ Now, a person could argue that you need a serviceable backup if you have such a horrid O-line that you are likely to get your starter hurt. In such a situation, though, when the options are hold on your serviceable backup or trade him for a draft pick that could be used to bolster the line and then sign a different serviceable backup (Brian Griese?), taking the former route doesn’t improve the team at all while the latter does. And that should be the goal.

According to Rick Smith:

[T]he team won’t hesitate to start [Sage] Rosenfels if he outplays [Matt] Schaub this season.

“That to me always plays itself out on the football field,” Smith said. “I don’t think you can let finances, ego, I don’t think you can let anything stand in the way of playing the best football player because that is going to win you football games on Sunday.”

I suppose, on its face, that statement is far more enlightened than what you get out of most general managers. Lord knows, you’d never hear something like that out of Dallas, even if Jesus Christ himself was the second-string QB. (Not that Jesus would ever deign to play for the ladies up north. Maybe I should have used “Troy Aikman’s assbaby” as my hypothetical QB. Whatever.)

ANYWAY…like I said, that is a pretty enlightened statement for a GM to make. Do I buy it? Depends. If you are asking whether I believe that Sage would get to play if Schaub flopped, of course. If, however, you are asking whether I think Schaub and Sage enter this season on equal footing with the starting QB job up for grabs, my answer is “hell to da naw, dawg.” Which I think means “no.”

Without rehashing all the same Schaub v. Sage arguments, can we all just agree that pretending like the QB you mortgaged the farm for this time last year is going to be given every chance in the world to succeed is asinine? Better yet, can we agree that if Sage and Schaub turn in identical pre-season performances that Schaub is the guy you go with? Finally, can we assume that I am just doing a paragraph of nothing but rhetorical questions so it looks like I have posted more?

I know it’s been dead-ish around here. Apologies.

All should improve starting tomorrow. I think. Probably.

Until then, here are five topics to discuss:

• Has anyone ever done more in a shorter time to submarine his own trade value than Sage did at the end of the season?
• Andre Johnson–god, or mere demigod?
• If Ahman Green died in a forest, would anyone notice?
• Given that Andre Davis is a special teams ninja as well as a solid receiver, do you think Jacoby Jones admires Apostrohpe or secretly wishes him dead?
• Who weighs more: Ron Dayne or Rosie O’Donnell?

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce your non-losing Houston Texans.  There were a lot of statements made in this game, both good and bad. At the end of the day, however, the fact that we won our eighth game overshadows every single thing I am about to write.

• Dear Texans Fans, You’re welcome. Love, Andre Davis. Seriously…that was amazing. Hell, it was Hester-esque. Between what he offered as a WR when Andre Johnson was out, how well he played on punt coverage (highly underrated), and his contributions as a kick returner, we would be ridiculously stupid not to sign him to a multi-year deal. As an added bonus, signing him means we don’t even have to consider re-signing Jerome Mathis, which is good if only because Mathis might hurt himself signing the contract.
• Dear Matt, How’s that for “not good?” Love, Darius Walker. I apologize for doubting you. No, you might not have the fastest top-end in town and, no, you might not be able to get the corner against a fast defense, but you have fantastic vision and you don’t dance around behind the line. Like I said over in the Game Thread, it seems like Walker hits his top speed–whatever that may be–instantly. So, what he might lack as an open field runner, he more than makes up for between the tackles. Fact: If you take away his 41 yard run, Walker still averaged 5 yards per carry; if you include that run, he averaged 8.6. Nice.
• Dear Petey Faggins, I don’t think your pre-game pointers helped. Love, Von Hutchins. Wow…as surprisingly good as Walker was, that’s how shockingly bad Hutchins looked. It got to the point early on that I half expected Garrard to come to the line, find Hutchins, and start laughing before the snap. Even Tina Turner wasn’t abused like that.
• Dear Von Hutchins, Thanks for the opportunity! Love, Dexter Wynn. Much like how Kubiak pulled Faggins out of the Atlanta game to try and stop the bleeding, Wynn replaced Hutchins for the most part after the second TD that Hutchins coughed up. Dexter looked surprisingly solid, especially when you consider the size he was giving up to the Jacksonville WRs. He wasn’t perfect and you sure wouldn’t want to go into the season with him as your CB2, but he might have gotten a leg up on Hutchins in the “which one will we re-sign” battle (both are unrestricted free agents).
• Dear Sage Rosenfels, About that whole trading-for-you thing…nevermind. Love, NFL GMs with QB Problems. Short of sporting bouffant hair and wearing white gloves, I don’t know that it would be possible for a player to damage his trade value more than Sage has the last two weeks. While he wasn’t atrocious or anything to day, he wasn’t anywhere approaching “good.” Even the TD pass to Daniels was on a poor throw and required a great grab by the big TE. Of course, he later felt the need to hit an opposing DB between the numbers for his weekly INT. He’s still a good backup, but any talk (by me) of getting a third-round or better pick for him or any talk (by others) about a QB controversy needs to be put on hold. Let’s all take a deep breath and move on.
• Dear NFL QBs, Be afraid in 2008. Very afraid. Love, Mario Williams. No, our resident sackmaster didn’t get the one he needed to pass Patrick Kearney, but Jacksonville was clearly concerned with him from the first snap. This was some of the most blatant holding of Mario we’ve seen this year, but the refs seem to have already put him in the category of elite pass rushers that can be held with near-impunity. I don’t think it’s a stretch to expect at least 18 sacks out of Mario next season. Reggie who?
• Dear Richard Smith, How did you manage to make Quinn Gray look like Peyton Manning? Love, Texans Fans. Here’s a thought–and I think we’ve been over this before–but when your secondary is getting worked like Jenna Jameson’s labia and you are letting a backup QB throw for four TDs, maybe you shouldn’t completely abandon the blitz. Because, maybe I am crazy, but it seems like you would have seen over the past month how much better this entire defensive unit is when you are blitzing and you would have used that knowledge against the Jags so they didn’t pick you apart with their gigantic WRs against your patchwork defensive backfield. Just sayin’.
• Dear Rick Smith, Please get rid of Richard Smith before he forces me to climb a clock tower and start shooting student nurses. Love, Matt.
• Dear Rick Smith, I think I deserve more than $1.3MM next season. Love, Ron Dayne. The Trayne ended this game with 88 yards (4.2/carry) and 2 more TDs, giving him a team-high 773 yards (career high) and 6 rushing TDs. He also added career highs in receptions (17) and receiving yards (112). If we can get him back for any combination of bonus and salary under $2MM/year, I think we have to.

Other tidbits

• When he wasn’t busy misidentifying Texans or mispronouncing names, Dick Enberg mentioned that the forty-two points scored today was a new franchise record. This breaks the old record of 34, set against Carolina in week 3. Ladies and gentlemen, we have an offense.
• If I told you before the season started that Darius Walker would have more rushing yards than Ahman Green and that the two of them combined would have fewer than Ron Dayne, what would you have guessed our record to be?
• Chad Stanley, 2006: 41.6 yards per punt, 36.7 net. Matt Turk, 2007: 41.7 yards per punt, 37.9 net. Yet, despite their similarities, there were only a couple games where Turk worried me, as opposed to sixteen where I was concerned by Stanley. Weird.
• We won despite being outgained by 91 yards and having 3:34 less in time of possession. God bless Andre Davis.
• 8-8. Never has symmetry looked so nice.

I’m guessing we all sort of assumed as much but, in case you had any doubts, Kubes said yesterday that Sage Rosenfels will start Sunday’s finale.

I’m going to start Sage. Sage will be our starter going into the game. It will be a game-time decision on Matt on whether he’ll be our backup or the third. Over the course of the next couple of days, we’ll see.

Possible Translation: Sage’s trade value took a hit last week, so I am going to run him back out there, hope they play their second-team defense, and give him a chance to bring that stock back up. Also, I’d be a fool if I let Matt Schaub back out there before his shoulder was 100%. Since I already managed to get Andre Johnson hurt this year, I think I’ll pass on taking another stupid risk. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go remind everyone that Mario was the correct pick.

In all seriousness, though (or at least as much seriousness I can muster), this is the right move. As much as we would like to win this game, it would almost be a pyhrric victory if Matt did further damage to the separated shoulder (or suffered another concussion). Besides, right now, at this exact moment in time, I can’t honestly look any of you in the virtual eye and say that starting Matt gives us any sort of increased likelihood of winning.

Which is NOT to say that I don’t still think Schaub is the guy, both in terms of short-term competition with Sage and long-term health of the franchise.

Unless I am missing something, we have four answers to the question of “What about Sage?” 1. We can hold on to him, content in knowing that we have “The Best Backup in Football” should Schuab get injured. 2. We can take advantage of his reputation as “The Best Backup in Football” and use it to net ourselves players or draft picks to fill more pressing needs. 3. We can make him the starter based on what he’s done this year as compared to Schaub. 4. We can hold on to him and let him and Schaub battle it out next summer because we believe both of them are capable of being an NFL starting QB.

Numbers 1 and 2 both have their merits, but we’ll deal with them in a moment. To my way of thinking, #3 is asinine unless you really, REALLY believe that we messed up by trading for Schaub, which is a pretty hard position to defend and is generally shared only by the same sort of people that believe Tony Hollings was a smart pick. Number 4, though…that’s what this discussion is really about, isn’t it? Because there are intelligent people who honestly believe that Sage is capable of being the starter and that whichever one of the two QBs who wins the battle can be the future of this organization. To those people, I have to say that I respectfully disagree. (To the people in the #3 camp, I disagree, but there is no respect involved.)

I’ve said it before, but there absolutely had to be a reason that Matt Schaub was the most sought backup QB in the league before last offseason. True, he did not have much of a body of work to support that lofty position, but NFL heads had to have seen something they liked in him to drive his pricetag up as high as it went. And in his first two games of this season, when the team was reasonably healthy and there was a semblance of a running game, many fans (myself included) were thrilled about how great the Matt Schaub era was going to be. So, yeah, there have been flashes of starting-caliber ability from Matt. Additionally, red zone INTs notwithstanding, there is no substantial body of evidence that suggests Matt isn’t capable of being a starting QB.

On the other hand, for all Sage has done this year, can we really overlook the fact that in four years of mini-camps and training camps (not to mention the 13 games had played in) he couldn’t beat out such Dolphin luminaries as Jay Fielder, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, AJ Feeley, and Gus Frerotte? Don’t you think that, if Rosenfels had shown even a glimmer of the ability to be a starter, that he would not have been the one constant on the roster as the Dolphins brought in all those other guys in an effort to find a real QB?

Is this dispositive? Of course not. There is nothing that says future performance has to be directly correlated with past performance. Besides, in theory, it is perfectly believable that a guy languished in an organization so bereft of common sense that he never really had a chance to prove his ability. But, while that sounds nice in theory, can someone point me to one guy–just one–who did next to nothing for four years on a winning team (the Dolphins were over .500 three of Sage’s four years) only to be reborn as a bona fide starter somewhere else? I honestly can’t think of one. The closest I can come up with off the top of my head is Rich Gannon in his four years with Kansas City, but that’s a crappy comparison because (a) Rich had already been in the league seven years when he got to KC, (b) he played much more during his time in KC than Sage did in Miami, and (c) anyone with any sense was screaming for Rich to remain the starter over Elvis Grbac. Still, I suppose Gannon is an example of a very late bloomer, so at least that part holds.

On the contrary, you can think of a number of guys who were thought to be better than they’d shown with their previous teams, only to also suck upon arrival at their new NFL addresses, even if they initially showed promise with the second team. David Carr had some Carolina fans calling for Jake’s head based on some training camp games. How’d that work out? People actually believed that Joey Harrington could be the guy in Atlanta based on…umm…I actually don’t know. Brian Griese has gotten multiple shots like this, always based on a couple good games he had in the preseason or in the previous season. So, do you really have enough faith that Sage is the exception to this pattern that you would let the future of the Texans ride on that belief?

Look, I’m not trying to suggest that Sage hasn’t had a good year, or that his year wasn’t objectively better than Schaub’s. Clearly, it was. I would suggest, however, that we are comparing apples and oranges when we put them side-by-side: one is a guy who came in with a ton of promise, lived up to it for his first two games, then saw his #1 weapon–one of the best three or four WRs in football–go down and his running game go kaput; the other guy is one that has a five year history of not being the best QB on a roster full of crappy QBs, led a nice near-comeback that caused people to ignore his turnovers in that game, then was at the helm when Andre Johnson was back at full strength and the defense began playing much better. Which, I guess, is my long-winded way of saying that Sage’s success this year can just as easily be chalked up to right place, right time as to anything inherent in him. There’s nothing wrong with that–a lot of guys get their initial breaks that way (Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, etc.). But how many of those guys previously lost playing time to Ray effin’ Lucas?

Trying again to make a long story short–if you had to bet your life on one of these two QBs being successful in Houston five years from now, would you take the guy who came into town with enough promise to warrant two second-round picks or the guy who came into town after four years of being the backup to guys who should never have been anything more than backups?

“But,” some of you are probably saying, “why not just keep both of them so we have a solid backup?” Thank you for segueing me into Numbers 1 and 2 from the earlier list. In a perfect world, where every Mario Williams is backed up by an Earl Cochran and every free agent WR can produce like Andre Davis, it would be a fantastic luxury to have a backup of Sage’s quality. Hell, it would be ideal. But, as we all know, this Texans roster is far from complete. Our highest paid player, Anthony Weaver, has been invisible or worse for much of the season. We don’t have a real first- and second-down running back. Strongside linebacker, nose tackle, center, right and left guard, free safety, all continue to be question marks as well. To make matters worse–at least when it comes to filling some of those holes–we don’t have a second-round draft pick this year.

Even if you don’t buy the idea that Sage’s past gives us any sort window into his abilities, the mere fact that we have so many spaces to fill should suggest that, if someone is willing to give us any kind of a package that includes the words “third-round draft pick” we owe it to ourselves to make that deal. We would be letting someone else take the chance that Sage 2008 will be more like Sage 2004 than 2007 and we would be addressing actual, pressing needs.

I have to believe that Smithiak realize this need to get something for Sage and that this is what is driving all the talk about Sage being a quality NFL QB. I mean, otherwise, by telling the fans over and over that Rosenfels is a starting-quality QB and will “push” Matt to be better, they would be creating an instant QB controversy as soon as Matt had one down game. I might have bought that the previous regime was that short-sighted, but I tend to think this group understands these things and would not set Matt or Sage up to fail. Besides, given that Kubiak is by all accounts a huge Matt Schaub fan and has been since the kid arrived, any scenario that doesn’t revolve around getting the best team possible on the field around Matt Schaub would be incongruous with what they’ve been telling us.

Wow…I really didn’t mean to write that much when I started this post. Sorry about that. And I realize that a lot of this is rehashing some old points, so I don’t know that much of it is comment-inducing. Such is life.

****************************************************************************

In other, non-related bits:

• You know how I use the Texans’ logo at the top-left of every post? Well, after seeing that the NFL “asked” HPF to remove team logos and whatnot (and factoring in that there have to be at least a few people out there who are unhappy with their respective portrayals herein), I’m beginning to think that I should get rid of that. Now, this place is pretty graphic-free as it is, so I kind of like having a little something up there for visual interest and to make it easier to see where new posts start if I am scrolling down the page. I think it’s pretty well-known that I am awful at photoshops (right, BFD?), so if any of you can come up with some sort of graphic roughly that same size that “embodies” this blog in some way, I’ll, like, give you my undying love. And a free DGDB&D t-shirt, if you want one. To the extent this is a contest, it ends as soon as I pick one.
• Two different people have asked me if I am rooting for the Titans this weekend since I hate Peyton Manning with such a passion.  No, I am not.  I am rooting for Albert Haynesworth to kill Manning and then get kicked out of the game for violating Peyton’s corpse, but I want Sorgi to lead the Colts to the win.  My reasoning?  Seeing Vince choke away a playoff birth would make Mario’s breakout season extra sweet.  (Also, if we can’t make the playoffs, I don’t want those turds to make it, either.  I am selfish like that.)
• Douchebag Tom the douchey banned commenter is still a douchebag. Which is not really news, but still seemed worth mentioning.

In the spirit of the holiday season, let us start with the good things from yesterday’s game. This will be a short list.

• Mario Williams. Super Mario continued to show that he should not only be on the Pro Bowl roster, but should be a starter, putting up a sack in his sixth straight game and keeping pace as the AFC leader. It’s a bit premature, but I am going to come out and say it now–next year, anything less than 18 sacks will disappoint me. (He did get fooled on the Dallas Clark end around, but, Christ, who didn’t?)
• Earl Cochran. I have no idea how he does it, but Earl gets to the ball more or less unblocked more often than not. Hell, he made a tackle on the RB eight yards downfield at one point. He’s fast, aggressive, and has fluid hips that allow him to turn in space. If we don’t keep him around, it’s a mistake.
• Fred Bennett. I love The Fred. The back-to-back passes to Wayne (second one for a TD) notwithstanding, Fred played his ass off all day. 11 tackles, a forced fumble, two great breaks on balls to break up passes…the fact that he languished on the bench while Petey was out there stinking up the joint is still irritating. The good news, though, is that a Bennett/Dunta Robinson combo would mean we finally had two real CBs.
• DeMeco Ryans. Injured knee nothing. It pretty much doesn’t matter which direction the play goes or where Ryans is lined up pre-snap–if the ball leaves the QBs hand, there is roughly a 74.4% chance that DeMeco will be in on the play that brings the ball carrier down. Amazing. The announcers–who, by the way, sucked–mentioned that over the last two seasons, Ryans has more tackles than ANYONE in football. He’s good like that.
• Andre Johnson. Same as it ever was, AJ is just a monster. He’d have been even better Sunday had Sage not eyeball humped him as he ran his routes (more on that later).
• Andre Davis. The man is a special teams ninja.
• Matt Turk. Never a good sign when his 4 punts for a 44.5 yard average are a highlight.

Now for the bad. These are the little lumps of coal in the stocking of my life.

• The secondary other than Fred Bennett. Will Demps seems to knock the crap out of people on every hit, yet, strangely, he doesn’t really knock people flat on their asses most of the time. I can’t figure it out. Case in point, Kenton Keith took Demps’ hit head on, paused briefly, and then moved forward for additional yards. I like Will and I’m glad he’s been so good for us, but this could be a problem. Even more of a problem is the fact that C.C. Brown only hits people with any sort of authority when they are extended or not looking. When the opposing player could see him coming, Brown was as harmless as a fart on a windy day Sunday. Even more irritating, though, was the way he played his position (or, more accurately, didn’t play his position). He was nowhere to be seen on Joe Addai’s TD run (Charlie Anderson also whiffed on this one, but Brown was noticeably absent behind him), he got juked out of his shorts by Clark in the open field, he nearly airballed when he went to shove Clark out of bounds later, he was late to pick up Wayne in the two-deep coverage after Bennett released him, and he vacated his position on Clark’s second TD catch. But Brown was an All-Pro compared to Von Hutchins, who was used and abused by Wayne until Kubiak adjusted and put Bennett on Reggie. He was absolutely roasted on the 42-yard bomb to Wayne near the end of the first quarter (Why was Demps up at linebacker depth before the snap on that play if he wasn’t blitzing and where was Brown? Or did someone think it was a good idea to see if Hutchins could run with Wayne?). AND Hutchins was so late closing on WRs that caught the ball in front of him that they were twice tackled by a linebacker who had to first turn and then chase them down. Oh, and then there was Jamar Fletcher…
• Sage Rosenfels. I sincerely hope that this game will hush the “Sage is Baby Jesus” talk. Even if you don’t want to say he failed as a starter, the fact is that he has never impressed someone to the point that he was “the guy” other than when he was replacing an injured starter. Sunday, he showed us why. There were at least five balls thrown behind receivers, two of which were picked. He stared down his receivers from the snap and threw directly where he was looking almost every time. He forced throws to Andre Johnson when Walter and/or Daniels were wide open. This guy is a solid backup, but if someone wants to give us value for him, holding on to him is borderline retarded, because he is never going to be anything more than a solid backup.
• Darius Walker. I almost put him in the “good” list because he did look strong early and he ran the ball between the tackles well in the beginning stages of the second half. I put him here, however, because it became incredibly apparent that he is nowhere near fast enough to get the ball to the outside and create something out of nothing. The Colts adjusted to his early runs by keeping the LBs home and letting Walker decide whether to run into them or to take it outside where he was hauled down with minimal effort. Of course, seeing this, Kubiak decided it would be a good idea to pitch the ball to him eight yards behind the line and see what he could do (the answer: nothing). I like the idea of him as a third-down back, but that’s about it.
• Travis Johnson. This gets its own post.
• Kris Brown. You miss your only FG, you go on this list by default. Not a horrible game by the Husker, but he didn’t seem upset at all that he pushed that 49-yarder wide.
• Vonta Leach. Question: What good is a fullback who misses on his lead blocking assignments? Answer: No good at all, regardless of whether the coach and QB try to force passes to him. Leach played like butt. Now, part of this might have been due to Walker’s lack of speed; blocking for someone slower than you are probably takes a different approach. Still…man…never a good day when the FB stands out.

Other notes from the contest:

• Regardless of what the now-banned-commenter “Tom,” thinks, the problem Sunday was not the blitz getting burned. Only one of the TDs came against a blitz, and that was a weird phenomenon where we sent too many blitzers and the lanes got clogged up before we could get there. Otherwise, the problem was the Manning was picking apart our zone and then Reggie Wayne would abuse whomever was on him in man coverage. And that we couldn’t get to Manning whether we sent 4, 5, or 6 rushers. And that we couldn’t move the ball because Sage imploded after the second possession. AND because 3/4 of our secondary was playing like crap.
• Kubiak’s playcalling left a lot to be desired. Outside runs with Walker, sending Kevin Walter on a 6 yard route when you need 8, not going for it on fourth when we should have, using Andre Johnson on a hitch screen from our own 25, etc. Uninspiring at best.
• Owen Daniels continues to run hot and cold. He’ll make some great catches over the middle and get you all excited, only to irritate you when he alligator arms one in the face of a linebacker or fails to catch easy balls.
• Tony Dungy may be the nicest guy in the NFL or in the whole world. He might be a great father, husband, coach, and author. But he looks like a whiny ninny when he stands there and yells “no, no, no!” at the refs after they called one of the most obvious horse-collar tackles you’ll ever see.
• So much for the nine wins. At least we have one more crack at .500. I never thought I’d be so happy to be playing a team with absolutely nothing to play for. (Though you could argue that the Colts didn’t have much to play for, either…)

It wasn’t that long ago that Comcast cable decided to slip on the old sandpaper condom and bend me over by moving the NFL Network from basic cable to the “Sports Entertainment Package” and charging extra if I wanted to watch it. I have to say…that was the best extortion I’ve ever been victim to. In all honesty, following last night’s impressive win, I would have paid five times as much for the NFL Network. [Author's Note: If anyone at Comcast reads this and bumps the price up, I'll fucking blow your shit up. For real.]

Anyway, what you witnessed last night–from the pitch-perfect opening drive to the Mario Williams show–was the most complete and most dominant game your Houston Texans have ever played. Ohmygoditsbulletedlisttime!!!!

• Like you don’t know where I am going to start. Mario Williams–excuse me, SUPER Mario Williams–is a bad motherfucker. He’s like Shaft, but with a better 40 time. Who’s the defensive end/ that just sacked Cutler again?/ MARIO!/I can dig it. Seriously, though…wow. As one of roughly nine people in the world who liked the Mario pick from day one, watching last night’s game gave me a weird sense of satisfaction. 13 sacks on the season, our single-season and career sack leader (besting immortals Jeff Posey and Kailee Wong, respectively), and, by all accounts, a great guy and an emerging lockerroom leader? Fuck Reggie Bush.
• How great was that first drive to watch? The line held up well, Darius Walker ran just enough to make the play-action make sense, and Andre Johnson had his way with the Denver DBs. Seeing how much Andre’s mere presence changes this team, there are a whole lot of “what ifs” about this season that revolve around him not missing eight games. After all, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say his presence would have been worth at least one more win, possibly two. Atlanta? Tennessee? Indy? How much different is this year if he’d stayed healthy Kubiak hadn’t allowed him to get hurt?
• Morlon Greenwood continues to be the most underrated player on this defense. 12 tackles, solid in both pass and run defense, and a couple big hits. I don’t know about you, but I will take that out of my Will every single Sunday. Or Thursday.
• Two dropped INTs aside, this patchwork secondary continues to play miles above their heads. That play Jamar Fletcher made in the endzone was as good a recovery as you’ll see. Fred continues to develop nicely. Smoove Will might have butter fingers, but he is hitting people like they are standing between him and sweet virgin ass. Girl ass, even. Getting Petey out of there and getting the defense to blitz (more on that in a second) has made all the difference in the world for this unit. When (if?) Dunta comes back healthy, he and Bennett should be a better one-two punch than we’ve ever had. Or, if we really want to give me a raging boner, we could sign Nnamdi Asomugha and let Dunta play free safety, where he could hit people and go after the ball without worrying that the surgically repaired leg was going to hamper him in one-on-one coverage. Just sayin’.
• If you are Rick Smith, don’t you HAVE to sign Andre’ Davis to a multi-year deal with some guaranteed money and just tell Jerome Mathis not to let the door hit him on the way out (lest it break his fragile spine)? Davis was fantastic in the receiving game when Johnson was out and he’s become a kick return ninja of late. Why not ink him?
• Mario Williams. Just wanted to mention him again.
• ND Kalu…nice to see you again!
• Whether or not you are on the Sell Sage bandwagon, you have to admit that he did nothing at all to hurt his value last night. He even offered the slowest bootleg TD run in history and capped it off with a Special Olympics bronze-winning dive.
• I have no idea how he did it, but Ephraim Salaam managed to make Elvis Dumervil a non-factor last night. If you’d given me 100-1 odds that Salaam would pull that off, I still wouldn’t have touched it. That was beyond surprising.
• Early in the second quarter, a friend of mine in NY turned on the game and, almost immediately, sent me a text saying “was that a Texans blitz?!” You bet your ass it was. Over the last two weeks, this defense has worked straight linebacker blitzes (especially using Charlie Anderson off the edge) and zone blitzes with Anthony Weaver and/or Anthony Maddox dropping into coverage to fill the holes. Now, I ain’t sayin’ that the powers-that-be read my little truck stop/strip joint on the information superhighway, but I am pretty sure I’ve seen this before. Now…how is it that it took them 13 weeks to figure this out?
• As with any game, win or lose, there were some things that still need to be fixed. First, Jacoby Jones–seriously, what the fuck? How can he be Dante Hall in the preseason and Dante Hicks in the regular season? Second, can someone PLEASE explain to me why Vonta Leach is getting so many looks in the passing game? General rule: Your run blocking FB getting a one-yard TD run? Acceptable. Your run blocking FB getting a 23-yard pass thrown his way on a skinny post route? No gracias, amigo.
• It feels weird to be this far into a recap without having mentioned DeMeco Ryans. Playing on a bum wheel, he notched six tackles and was a half-step short of getting a sack. Meaning he is better with a bad ankle than a lot of linebackers are at 100% health.
• Finally, kudos to Darius Walker and Ron Dayne on a very productive night running the ball. 24 carries for 143 yards and a TD is something we’ll take from the running game every single week. I am right at the point where I feel like we should keep the Dayne Trayne around next year as our RB2. Preferably behind Michael Turner or Felix Jones.

So, that’s that. 7-7 with two potentially brutal games upcoming. It could be better. It could be a lot worse. Fuck it…bring on the Colts.

[Author's Note: I wrote all but a few sentences of this yesterday afternoon, well before the game. Thankfully, there was nothing last night that would change anything in here, so here ya go.]

The discussion on the potential market value for Sage Rosenfels in the comments to this post was top-notch. That kind of rational back-and-forth (not to mention coherent thought, proper sentence structure, lack of all caps, etc.) is exactly what makes this blog worth doing and what makes me constantly claim that the average blog reader (at least among Texans fans) is far superior to the average commenter on the Chron. /kissing ass

As far as Rosenfels goes, I have a couple more thoughts on the matter.

First, as was pointed out by a couple people, the fact that he is the best backup in the league and/or that he is incredibly valuable as a backup is exactly why the team should test the market for him. Look at it this way: if it happened that Matt Cassell or Jim Sorgi turned out to be every bit as good as the QB in front of him, can you think of a single reason why the Pats and Colts wouldn’t ship them? Yeah, it’s great to be able to say “if Brady (or Manning or Matt Schaub) goes down, we won’t miss a beat,” but it would be even better to say “we got two seconds, two thirds, and a fourth for Cassell.”

Having the great backup is good in theory, but holding on to one when he is sought by other teams doesn’t really make sense. After all, in the last 20 years, only one team has won a Super Bowl with a backup QB (the Giants, with Hostettler in 1991). Which is to say that, if your starter goes down for the season, your season is more or less shot regardless of your backup. If he is only out for a week or two, then, yes, a good backup can be handy, but again do you need the best backup QB in the league for a one week stint? Shouldn’t anyone who knew your offense be serviceable for a week or two if pressed into duty? I’m not saying to ship Sage out and just pick up the Joe Harringtons and Byron Leftwiches of the world, but there should be someone out there that Kubiak could mold into a solid backup QB.

Second, we have enough holes that, right now, draft picks are worth more than QB depth. If Sage netted us a second and fifth, we could fill those holes far more quickly than if we just draft with the spots we have and bring in castoffs and other teams’ smegma.

Finally, there is that old chestnut that, if you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterback. If Sage really is good enough that he could start for teams like Atlanta, Miami, etc., how long before the “controversy” starts up? This might seem like an odd reason to shop your backup, but it makes sense on some level. If Sage really can start elsewhere, let him go start elsewhere. Don’t keep him here where every interception or fumble by Schaub has him looking over his shoulder. I mean, you saw how quickly Panthers fans were clamoring for David Carr, despite being only a few years removed from a Super Bowl appearance under Delhomme. Many Falcons fans (for good reason) were screaming for Schaub as Vick struggled to develop. The Rich Gannon-Elvis Grbac thing didn’t go away until Kansas City shipped Gannon–no matter who was starting, half the fan base wanted the other guy. Why would we even risk putting ourselves through that if we could, instead, avoid it AND gain from getting rid of him?

I am NOT saying that we should give him away for nothing, or that we should break our necks to trade him, but we certainly should see what he is worth to other teams. More importantly, if a good deal comes along, we need to be willing to pounce on it without wondering “what if Matt gets hurt?” I guarantee you that the Pats and Colts haven’t built their respective squads around a backup-QB contingency plan, and things have worked out pretty well for them.

EPILOGUE

It has not really been mentioned–at least not by me–that Sage has been tried (and failed) as a starter before, when he was in Miami. This is true and it could potentially temper his value in the trade market. If so, then by all means hold on to him.