[ESPN] Time for Matt Schaub to take it up a notch

Your thread will not be taken kindly to by others.

"Oh cool, another Schaub sucks thread. Great analysis and insight!"
"Schaub sucks? Please, tell me more!"

 

^ This.

When he's mentally psyched out, he doesn't step up. See Patriots game last year. He was confident enough against the Bengals... cause, really, they're the Bengals. But he knew he was overmatched against the Patriots. His lesser games during the regular season came at the Jets (on national tv... hmmm), against GB (again, national tv, against a good team so he was nervous), at the Bears (again, national tv, good team), and then all 3 of the losses out the 4 games to end the season. Pressure games.

This is potentially changeable, though increasingly unlikely. I guess the best you can say was last year was the first time in his career where he'd been in a lot of truly pressure filled games, so his first taste of it. Still, you'd rather he performed better.

Alternatively, the rest of the team becomes so much better than Matt rightfully is just more confident. Or he improves to the point where he is at worst a neutral and the defense, running game are so dominant it carries the team through.

Factoid number 2 is that the higher ups need to be considering Schaub replacement by now in any case. Whether for lack of stepping up, injury potential, age, whatever.

 

His career arc is eerily similar to Matt Hasselbeck's. We all have bitter tests in our mouths now looking back at Hasselbeck, but he did take his team to a Superbowl. That's about as much as I think we can expect of Schaub, to take us to one. But the biggest difference is that Schaub's storyline has not yet been finished. If we can get there, who knows what can happen.

 

*tastes. autocorrect...

 

...because him stepping up is going to keep the defense from getting beat by the same play again and again and again.

 

What about Matt Ryan or Matt Stafford? How far have they taken their team?

 

IMO, the Texans need to be better at 2 of the following 3 areas when playing against top competition. Maybe only 1 of 3 if that improvement is significant.

1. QB
2. O-Line Blocking
3. Rush the passer

So while I don't think it's necessary for Schaub to be better, I do think that would mean another part of this team needs to improve, perhaps significantly. Perhaps that's the pass rush, and Cushing/Mercilius can help make our D one of the NFL best. Perhaps the OLine can revert back to 2011 level where it was probably the best in the NFL. Either way, we have to improve somewhere.

But it's clear that improvement at the QB would be the simpliest. Since it's just one person. While the other units require improvement as a group.

 

Am I the only one that thinks national TV games really make no difference to players? Like Nellie said on First Take, the lights are bright everywhere. I think Schaub had bad games just because he had bad games, not because he was worrying about Jon Gruden critiquing his game in front of a larger then usual TV audience.

 

Playing at noon usually vs. playing at night I think would affect a player, especially when they in the afternoon for most of the season. I can understand that argument more so than the stage being bigger because of a national TV audience.

 

You can think it, but the stats proved otherwise for Schaub.

 

I think it is good odds that our pass rush and o-line will be improved this year if healthy. Cush, Reed, and Sharpton are nice to have back, and Barwin was a big fat negative in this regard. I am expecting great things out of Mercilus. Our line gained a year of experience without age decline.

 

It definitely matters to players. They always talk about playing on the big stage and that they are the only game on and everyone is watching.

 

The question is how far have the Texans taken Matt Schaub?? Not the other way around. I was big schaub supporter even when he was questioned, but this past season all hope for him was lost. I cant defend the guy anymore.

Hopefully the addition of hopkins makes him look better.

There are 2 difference from last years team and the first texans playoff team and that is why we got knocked out in the second round

1) defense last year was not as strong as the prior year
2) running game was arguably worse last year than the year before

fix those two things and Schaub SHOULD be able to get us past the second round.

Notice that the two things that need fixing have nothing to do directly with Schaub. So any "stepping up" that schaub does will be a bonus.

 

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How far have the Falcons taken Ryan? The same Falcons that supposedly have the most balanced offense in the league. What about Stafford with that insane D-Line and the best WR in the league?

If the Aaron Rodgers didn't have arguably the best game by a WR in a while, I'd get why we blame Schaub. If the Patriots scored only 20 points and the Texans still lost, I'd get everybody's complaining. It's time for the whole team to take it up a notch, not just Schaub.

 

Hey guys, what are your thoughts about this Trayvon Martin case?

 

Probably the most infuriating play I've ever witnessed.

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I don't know what you are looking at, but I just saw Duane Brown lock up that DE

 

The Texans won't go further than Schaub takes them, and he absolutely needs to understand that he's running out of time.