Houston Texans: Biggest Needs For The 2011 Season
It's clear that the Houston Texans aren't a championship team as currently assembled.
The regime in charge is generally reluctant to make too many offseason moves, but change is needed. Improving the defense will be the chief concern, but the needs don't stop there.
Let's take a look at just what those needs are.
New Head Coach
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Gary Kubiak isn't a terrible coach. Nor is he the only problem for the Texans. However, the entire Texans organization is mired in a culture of losing, and that ultimately falls on the shoulders of the head coach.
Too many players look too comfortable, as if their bad performances have no consequences. The organization needs a coach not afraid to rattle some cages, but also one who has the respect of the players so that the firing seems genuine.
Bill Cowher recently listed the Texans as one of the teams he would consider returning to coach. He may be just what the doctor ordered.
Help In The Defensive Secondary
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The secondary has long been a weakness for the Texans. The problem has never been more apparent than it was in the 2010 season. The Texans boasted the ultimate formula for failure. Their veterans had tough seasons, which put their younger players in a position to do more than they were ready to do. Glover Quin and Kareem Jackson couldn't cover anyone, which accentuated the fact that the Texans didn't have a single cover safety.
Texans faithful will likely want the team to go after free agent cornerback Champ Bailey. He would be a definite upgrade, but he is aging and the team probably won't want to pay what he is looking for. Redskins cornerback Carlos Rogers is a more likely target. He is a cover corner who has gone under the radar and may come cheaper.
Defensive Tackle
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When I say a defensive tackle, I don't mean a Warren Sapp tackle. The Texans have pass rushers at other positions. I'm talking about a Haloti Ngata-type tackle that can eat up multiple blockers and stop the run. A tackle like that makes everything else on defense go.
Namely, it will make Mario Williams and the other pass rushers better. Teams won't be able to constantly double team and chip Mario if they have to deal with a big load on the inside. There isn't much in the way of free agent defensive tackles, so the draft might be the way to go.
The best game-changing tackle on the board is Oregon State's Stephen Paea. Weighing in at 310 pounds, Paea can plug gaps and even chip in with some pass rush, as he totaled seven sacks for the Beavers in the 2010 season.
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Depth at Linebacker
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Going into the 2010 season, the Texans probably felt pretty comfortable with their situation at linebacker. Brian Cushing had just been named the Defensive Rookie of the Year, DeMeco Ryans had just come off another season of more than 100 tackles, and they had several solid role players in guys like Zac Diles, Xavier Adibi, Kevin Bentley, and linebacker/defensive end hybrid Connor Barwin.
Every single one of those guys missed some time for one reason or another. The most alarming was Cushing, who was largely ineffective after coming back from his four-game suspension. More than anything else, the Texans just need this group to get healthy.
With health a concern, they need to put a backup plan in place. Lamarr Woodley, Kirk Morrison and Shawne Merriman are all going to be high-priced free agents. For more of a bargain move, Seattle's David Hawthorne, who racked up 117 tackles a season ago with Lofa Tatupu on the sidelines, will be available. UCLA's Akeem Ayers and Oklahoma's Travis Lewis may also be available when the Texans draft near the middle of the first round.
Defensive End
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The Texans have a ton of money already wrapped up in defensive ends, but you have to address it if it's a team need. Mario Williams continues to play well, but teams are figuring out more and more how to play him. That, coupled with the fact that Mario has little help on the other side, make Mario's job very difficult.
Again, a better secondary and a space-eating tackle help the pass rush as well, but it can't hurt to add more talent. Aaron Schobel flirted with signing with the Texans before spurning them. It might be a possibility the Texans look to revisit.
A Project Quarterback to Back Up Matt Schaub
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This sounds minor, and it really is, but I feel like the Texans would be smart to start looking for a backup they can groom behind Matt Schaub.
Making this move would serve two purposes. For one, it will provide an insurance policy behind Matt Schaub. Schaub is both the present and the near future at quarterback for the Texans, but he has a way of getting nicked up every season. There's always a sprained ankle here or a sore shoulder there.
The other purpose is to give the backup quarterback position some direction for the Texans. The backup quarterback position is up in the air every offseason. Dan Orlovsky has been here the past two years, but there was doubt in both cases that he would be here. Matt Leinart might be the most talented third-stringer in the league, but you have to think that he'll be looking to move to a place where he might have a chance to compete for a starting job.
If the Texans find that guy and he develops into more than a backup, he will give the Texans a nice trading chip for a team needing a starting quarterback. The draft is obviously the best place to find this piece. Some late-round options might be Wisconsin's Scott Tolzien, Nevada's Colin Kaepernick, or more local options like Texas A&M's Jerrod Johnson, TCU's Andy Dalton or Houston's Case Keenum.
A Defensive Scheme To Match The Defensive Talent
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This is where we start to move away from things that can be changed by personnel turnover and into things that are more about philosophy.
This change will largely be dependent on who the defensive coordinator is next season. Whether the Texans decide to stick with Frank Bush or if they bring in someone new, the defense needs to be set up based on the talent that is in place. Texans fans complain about a lack of a pass rush and bad coverage in the secondary just about equally. The problem is that those two things tend to go hand-in-hand.
To get more of a pass rush, defensive coordinator Frank Bush uses blitzes and stunts as much as just about any coordinator in the league. This put the Texans secondary on an island with receivers way too often.
When you have a secondary that has safeties that can't cover like Eugene Wilson and Bernard Pollard and young cornerbacks like Glover Quin and Kareem Jackson, you can't afford to leave them alone.
A New Outlook On The Draft
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The Texans, led by head coach Gary Kubiak and general manager Rick Smith, are big believers in drafting the best player available regardless of team need and position. This is particularly true in the middle and late rounds.
This works well when you have gaping holes all over the field. If you are knocking on the door, as Kubiak and Smith would have you believe, you have to address specific needs when you have the chance.
This philosophy is largely why the Texans took two tight ends in last year's draft despite having solid players already there in multi-purpose player James Casey, the solid Joel Dreessen and Pro Bowler Owen Daniels. Including Dorin Dickerson, who was later moved to wide receiver, the Texans have six tight ends on their active roster.
A Complete Change In Culture
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I think I speak for all Texans fans when I say that we thought the culture of losing was gone when former head coach Dom Capers and former general manager Charley Casserly left town. Things got better under Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith, but now complacency seems to have set in.
At the risk of sounding like a cliche machine, the Texans are mired in mediocrity and they can't for the life of them get over the hump. Seemingly every good win is followed by an embarrassing loss. There are no long winning streaks, nor any long losing streaks.
They are the picture of mediocrity in every way. If a coaching change is made, it makes it easier to change the culture. If the current coaching staff is still in place, you wonder if the culture will ever change.
A Spark. From Somewhere, Anywhere
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This is obviously the most cryptic and broad thing the Texans franchise needs, but it defines everything this team needs so well.
There is no buzz around the team. Outside of the city of Houston, and maybe the state of Texas, the Texans are largely an afterthought. Nine seasons in to their existence, they still haven't shed the expansion franchise image. They are still the little engine that could (or couldn't).
The fans are becoming apathetic. The phone calls into local radio first went from disappointed to angry. Now fans that are calling in have resigned themselves to the fate of cheering for a losing football team. Some fans have dealt with this since the days of the Houston Oilers. This fan base deserves better.
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