Raiders Defeated the Texans on Oct. 9; Does That Tell You About Their Potential?

Who can forget Week 5 and the game on Oct. 9, 2011? It will go down in history.

As you look back don't you find it remarkable that on the most emotionally-loaded weekend of Raiders history, the team was able to outscore the Houston Texans, and cemented the victory in the last few seconds of the fourth quarter. Michael Huff's catch was outstanding on Oct. 9, 2011.

For that reason and for the other implications that come out of that remarkable week, I have decided to do a limited comparison of Gary Kubiak and Hue Jackson, two head coaches who confronted each other in Week 5.

I am in Houston, Texas today and the town is exploding with excitement since the Texans have finally made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. I got a little curious and started researching and comparing Kubiak and Jackson.

First, I learned that Kubiak is a former quarterback, drafted by the Denver Broncos in the eighth round in the 1983 NFL draft. During Kubiak's career, he is credited with 14 TDs. He actually played ball from 22 years old to 30 years old.

It has taken Kubiak six years to get to a championship game. This suggests that we ought to be patient with Jackson and give him time to develop the Oakland Raiders.

We all know that the Raiders have been challenged during the past seven years. Six more years of developmental work under Jackson would be too long for most fans. However, one year with Jackson as head coach is just not enough time to see the team transformed to a winning team.

As I recall, the owners of the Houston Texans were looking at Kubiak very closely and some commentators thought he was going to be fired. It turned out the defensive coordinator was released and Wade Phillips was hired.

The events in the journey of the Oakland Raiders could be similar to or better than those of the Texans if an excellent defensive coordinator is put in place immediately.

Things seemed to improve for the Texans after a change in the defensive coordinator position was made.

Does that sound familiar? It has been announced that the Oakland Raiders defensive coordinator has been released. So, do you believe the Raiders will improved and go to the playoffs in 2012, just as it took one year to correct a part of the Houston Texans problem in 2010?

A significant series of events helped move the Texans to the playoff game on Jan 7. By the way, the Texans defeated the Bengals and Houston, Texas and the surrounding area is exploring with excitement.

Stores, like Academy, are selling out of gear for the Texans. It demonstrates how a winning team can give an injection into the economy of the contiguous area.

I also observed that the depth chart for the quarterback position was very strong for the Texans. Is the depth chart strong enough for the Oakland Raiders?

The Raiders lost their starting quarterback and quickly gained Carson Palmer to fill in the gap. Is the depth chart deep enough because what scenario will we observe if something were to happen to Palmer?

One thing we do know is that Kubiak selected a strong team of quarterbacks and even though there were about three changes in that position, the team managed to get seven consecutive wins. The team was strong, not just the quarterback strong.

Time will tell.

The Oakland Raiders Defeated the Houston Texans on Oct. 9

One observation that can be made is that even though Phillips improved the defense of the Texans, the Texans did not defeat the Raiders in the Week 5 game, during that historical weekend in Raiders history.

What could possibly have made the difference since the data shows that the Raiders defense went down and was ailing, yet they were able to do their job in Week 5. Another observation is that on that weekend, the Raiders overproduced in the offensive to make up for deficiencies in the defense. That is one way to look at it.

Jackson has an impressive list of accomplishments in college and NFL coaching. He does not have NFL playing experience. Most of us conjecture that you do not have to have experience at playing the game in order to coach the game.

A piece of research on those NFL coaches who played the game before they started their NFL coaching careers might be helpful to gain more insight in this area. This could be a future article.

There is also some concern about the release of a Hall of Famer who was directly under the authority of the somewhat random decision-making of Chuck Bresnahan.

The question may be: Would Rod Woodson have done better if Bresnahan were better?

This is simply a short list of observations that are food for thought after a roller-coaster 2011 season, benchmarked by the events of Oct. 8-9, 2011.