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Let's chat about Mike Vrabel...


ET80

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So...is he in over his head as a coordinator, or...a victim of significant losses to the unit (Watt, Mercilius, Bouye, Wilfork, Demps)?

Defense is an issue for the first time in nearly half a decade. What gives?

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1 hour ago, EliteTexan80 said:

So...is he in over his head as a coordinator, or...a victim of significant losses to the unit (Watt, Mercilius, Bouye, Wilfork, Demps)?

Defense is an issue for the first time in nearly half a decade. What gives?

Honestly it's so tough to say. The unit was playing poorly before the injuries mounted. The secondary has always been an issue, but this year they are exceptionally bad. I have to think Vrabel is just not getting it done, but did we really think a first time DC was going to come in and coach a top 5 unit? Maybe we over valued his ability as a first year DC

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48 minutes ago, amazingandre said:

Honestly it's so tough to say. The unit was playing poorly before the injuries mounted. The secondary has always been an issue, but this year they are exceptionally bad. I have to think Vrabel is just not getting it done, but did we really think a first time DC was going to come in and coach a top 5 unit? Maybe we over valued his ability as a first year DC

 

39 minutes ago, Pastor Dillon said:

The D has been average with a bunch of undrafted Street Free Agents filling major roles. I am good with Vrabel as DC, but we need more talent over there. Rick Smith killed him this off season, set him up to fail. 

I can support both of these.  But if Vrabel is truly a RAC-NE disciple, IIRC their defenses were always bend, but don't break.  You give up plays / yards, but you get those key TO's when it counts / hold opposing teams to FGs.

We are giving up yards and TDs.... not a good combo.  Moreover, our offense is giving opposing teams short fields to work with.

That being said, I think the D is a quicker fix than our offense (health + add a solid CB and a starting caliber high / free safety).

Honestly, IMDO our pass rush last year (just between Clowney & Merciless) with clogged running lanes (Reader / Wilfork) made our secondary look better.  Bouye probably helped a great deal as well. ;)

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I think Vrabel is a good coach and should continue to get better with calling a defense as he gets more experience (this is the first time he has ever done it). That being said the defense is so undisciplined and we have seen the same mistake made on multiple occasions. I think these are small correctable mistakes but we have just seen them over and over from different guys. I don't think it is a lack of talent its just guys being undisciplined, trying to do too much, and miscommunications... Now I think the real question is would we have these same problems on D right now if Crennel was still DC and calling the defense?.... I think no. Crennel always found a way to make it work. I think Vrabel will get better with experience but right now the defense is not good. 

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I don't know what the answer is, but I'm not gonna be overly upset about a first time coordinator having a down year losing all he did. There's also only so much a coordinator can do, I don't know that I've seen too many issues that I'd put specifically on scheme. Maybe the way they played the end of the Seattle and New England games but even that I'm not sure of. BOB likely still has some say in whether to go prevent or not. RAC is also still there so it isn't like the voice from last year isn't there to help make decisions.

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I think he deserves a pass, but should be on a shorter leash next year. The beginning of the year, before all the injuries, was a disaster and they really let the offense down when they were scoring all those points. And the fact that they lost to the Seahawks and the Pats in the same fashion and he didn't learn from his mistakes was very disheartening. Now, though, he has the defense playing pretty well all things considered and the offense is constantly letting the defense down. 

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21 hours ago, Pastor Dillon said:

The D has been average with a bunch of undrafted Street Free Agents filling major roles. I am good with Vrabel as DC, but we need more talent over there. Rick Smith killed him this off season, set him up to fail. 

I agree with this.  Letting Bouye go plus injuries to Watt, Mercilus, Kevin Johnson really screwed him. I think the lack of a pass rush with Mercilus and Watt hurt makes our pass defense vulnerable. Clowney is literally the only guy who can generate a pass rusher unless McKinney is blitzing. He deserve a pass this season.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not being able to see many games, I can't fully judge the team. But, I agree with what others have said. It's more so on the players not getting the job done along side key injuries. Losing Bouye was the biggest blow to this defense too. I'm still highly bummed about that. It was just not a year at all for this team.

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1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

What's your thoughts about John Butler?  He seemed like a DC candidate coming into the season, but the Texans D has struggled badly.  Is that a byproduct of the injury or is his coaching seem to be masked by the strong pass rush.

I’d fire everyone at this point. 

I might get hated on for this but Pagano as DC interests me. The guy was a terrible head coach but his success with defenses and their pass defense specifically is really good. 

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1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

What's your thoughts about John Butler?  He seemed like a DC candidate coming into the season, but the Texans D has struggled badly.  Is that a byproduct of the injury or is his coaching seem to be masked by the strong pass rush.

Butler like everyone on the staff is terrible.  Vrabel isnt terrible par se but the others for sure are.  Vrabel has gets a pass this season given that it's his first year as DC and most of his guys have been hurt.  I never was a fan of the staff O'Brien brought in. 

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40 minutes ago, Texansfan713 said:

Butler like everyone on the staff is terrible.  Vrabel isnt terrible par se but the others for sure are.  Vrabel has gets a pass this season given that it's his first year as DC and most of his guys have been hurt.  I never was a fan of the staff O'Brien brought in. 

Honest question, what has Vrabel ever done to warrant the kind of love he gets? It isn’t like he coached our linebackers to crazy success. They played to their talent and nothing more. I think he’s over rated

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6 hours ago, amazingandre said:

Honest question, what has Vrabel ever done to warrant the kind of love he gets? It isn’t like he coached our linebackers to crazy success. They played to their talent and nothing more. I think he’s over rated

I'm leaning towards this. Easy to look good as an LB coach when you're coaching a unit with three first round picks (including a #1 overall) and a highly rated 2nd round pick.

Vrabel having success coaching a unit with Mercilius, Clowney, Cushing and McKinney is very much like OB getting praise as a QB coach working with Tom Brady. Sure, there could be something there, but how easy is it to manage THAT much talent? 

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8 hours ago, amazingandre said:

I might get hated on for this but Pagano as DC interests me

I'm not in love with this name, but don't hate it either. I'd actually take a look at Rex Ryan - for all of the crap he dealt with in NY and Buffalo, he always cranked out hyper-aggressive defenses that played over its talent level. His issue in the league was always around the offense, so keep him away from that side of the ball. 

Only issue would be the deja-vu of when his daddy was in Houston and basically orchestrated the beginning of the end for the Houston Oilers.

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