Tuesday, October 29, 2013

In Defense Of Matt Schaub

By Zachary Morgan | HoustonBias.com

Follow us on Twitter at @HoustonBias and @TexansBias



     Unlike most, I am a Matt Schaub apologist. The purpose of this article is not to make the case that Matt Schaub should start, but rather justify and give insight on why he has struggled as he has. I am a man of common sense. Opinions based on the eye test will fail you with an astounding frequency when paired up with the test of logic and reason derived from numbers. The numbers tell me, as well as the eye test, that Matt Schaub, for roughly four to five years, was a fringe elite level quarterback. That's the beauty in numbers sometimes, they take the irrational human element out of opinions. Will, drive, heart, the inability to scramble, lack of the clutch gene, and whatever common knock most place against him; Matt Schaub owns the 11th highest passer rating in NFL history, has the 2nd highest completion percentage of any QB drafted since 2003, he has led the National Football League in passing yards (the same league that boasts Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, etc..), owns a pro bowl MVP, holds the same INT% as Peyton Manning, owns a better INT% than Drew Brees, Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, and Matt Stafford, posted 90 touchdowns to 45 interceptions from 2009-2012, and has been the starting QB of a team that has been top 5 in total yardage 3 of the last 5 years. Matt Schaub has been at the helm as the Texans have reached relevance and it's first taste of postseason football (on that note, those of you whom cheered Schaub's injury? Please retire your Texans gear, and never again return to Reliant Stadium. In fact, get out of Houston, your ignorance and disrespect does not represent us), and has proven that he's a damn fine NFL starting QB and has the numbers back it up. Period. Up until the 2013 season, an irrationally negative opinion on Matt Schaub was emotionally driven with little to no plausible basis other than gut feeling and biased opinion. Now does the above rant proclaiming Matt Schaub's superiority still hold water? I say yes, but you can make a case that no, it does not after Schaub's showing this 2013 campaign. Regardless, I say all that to say this, it's unfathomable to me how an entire fan-base and football community can so quickly turn on Schaub, and drink the national media kool-aid harping and dogging on #8, and #8 only. Does anyone else not find it strange and disconcerting that a man with Matt Schaub's pedigree is suddenly throwing more touchdowns to the other team four consecutive contests? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here! Close to no one is asking questions, and everyone is taking Matt's struggles at face value. I would venture to say that the brilliant bunch that burned the Schaub jersey after the loss to Seattle never once pondered themselves, "I wonder if Matt's struggles have anything to do with the offensive scheme, it's changes, and it's predictability? I wonder if nearly abandoning stretch routes, and running short intermediate slants, curls, and stops exclusively is making it easier on opposing defenses to read our offense and jump routes?" What a novel concept! Does everyone really think that the pick six streak is nothing more than mere coincidence or awful play on Schaub's part? In order to jump a route to the degree that is required to cleanly take a football the other way, the route has to be read like a child's picture book. Now I am a Case Keenum homer to the Nth degree, and I can't deny that I would like to see him get a shot at the starting QB role for the long term, and I do believe he's warranted a start this coming week against the Colts, but that isn't because I doubt Schauby's ability, although I do question where he currently is mentally. Matt Schaub has certainly not played up to the level we've expected of him with a rating under 80 and a 8-9 TD-INT ratio, but he is not the biggest problem on the squad and I don't even believe he's his own biggest problem. The Matt Schaub slander for the most part is unwarranted. Could Matt make a better throw or two? sure. Has he played poorly during stretches? absolutely. However, if you think Matt's struggles are all self-inflicted, I strongly encourage you to think again. You have to dig deeper than face value to determine why Schaub hasn't been up to snuff. This hot-seat that Schaub has found himself in has been thrusted upon him by a terrible circumstance in a flawed offensive scheme, and emotionally driven by irrational angry fans so desperately seeking out their scapegoat. Lets look at a few of the reasons behind Matt's incredibly rough stretch. 

1) zero offensive flexibility
How is it that in an offense that there is zero freedom to audible in, and guys like Richard Sherman are declaring things such as "we knew it was coming" or when Carroll states it was a play they had run "all week in preparation", that Matt Schaub receives all the blame for the offensive shortcomings? There has become such a predictable pattern to this offense. Take the pick six against San Francisco, watch Tremaine Brock stay home as Keshawn Martin cuts to the sideline uncovered, The San Francisco secondary knows that's a designed short slant and knowing such doesn't bite, stays home leaving a man entirely uncovered, and easily jumps the out slant to Andre. In trap coverage, Brock abandons Martin, not even looking at him as he cuts to the sideline. These defenses know what is coming. Granted, Schaub should throw that ball away against Seattle or throw it to the ground, or take the sack, or anything, but seriously, again, am I taking crazy pills? Just watch the sequence of these interceptions, the 5-6 true, non-fluke interceptions. Against Seattle, the Seahawks bring an overload blitz off the left that you can see long before the ball is snapped, the Hawks pressure Schaub's roll side, he's forced to throw, and like clockwork Sherman is there and the rest is history. That's comparable to screen watching in a game of madden. Matt has no freedom to adjust that play regardless of his recognition of the oncoming blitz. The pass blocking has been sub-par this year as well, further warranting flexibility in protections. Pre-2013, I was a big fan of the offensive scheme set forth by Kubiak, but he has to loosen the strings on his puppet, and relinquish a bit of control over his dictatorship. Matt Schaub is a competent QB, and as such should be given the freedom to put himself and his team in the best position to succeed by reading and adjusting play calling to adapt to defensive schemes. If Pinocchio is having a rough performance do you blame Pinocchio or Geppetto? You blame the latter. Gary Kubiak is a puppeteer. Matt Schaub is a system quarterback, he runs the offense to a T the will and intent that Gary Kubiak would have it run. 

2) Gary Kubiak must evolve, and what happened to the play calling? I mean seriously?
What a drastically different offense the 2013 Texans have put out on the field as opposed to years past in terms of routes, philosophy, and scheme. When did Kubes wake up and decide to abandon stretching the field? That rolling PA boot including wide out stretch routes and a TE checkdown 10-15 yards in the flat that Schaub runs so effectively and has done so for 5 years? When did we decide that would no longer be a staple in our offense? And then how do we logically come to a place where short intermediate routes are the answer and expected to work considering we've abandoned virtually any designed passing play of 15 yards or more? During the first four games, and even the Rams game, did no one find it strange how we utilized the run? At no point this season has the run been futile (which is a testament to the solid run blocking as well as the talent Foster and Tate posses. given that defense's have not had to respect the deep ball), and yet there are spells that we have treated it as such. The offense that Gary Kubiak has featured the last 4 years has been one of balance, and this year there has been such volatility in that regard. There is no longer a delicate balance that allows the run game and short to intermediate passing game to both thrive due to the absence of down-field opportunity and threat. The PA boot has not been used to keep defenses in check, stretch the field, and open up the run game as in years past. NFL defenses have keyed in on the Texans opting to hammer home the intermediate routes, and compounded by the predictability of the play calling, opposing D's are licking their chops as they peak through their crystal ball that is the very next play. Kubiak has handcuffed Schaub by not allowing him to stretch the field, and he must evolve in reference to play calling and the timing and frequency of those plays. The offense is a well oiled machine and it starts at the top. Fix Kubiak, and the whole system follows suit, Matt Schaub included. 

3) The psychological effect this season, the media, and the fanbase has had on Matt Schaub 
This isn't a reason as to why he has struggled as much as it is concern moving forward. This season has truly developed into the worst case scenario for Matt. Although it's impossible to truly know what's taking place in a mans mind, what we do know is Schaub appears to be a very even keel guy, regulating his emotions, never getting too high, and never getting too low. Although I am a Schaub apologist, I must admit that he looked far from good against San Francisco, he seemed shaken and it appeared he was pressing. Previous to the 49ers contest, Matt received for the first time in his career heavy national media criticism. Schaub and his struggles were featured on every talk show, blog, column, podcast, and television program. Anywhere from 610 AM in Houston to ESPN's First Take. Compounded by intense national scrutiny, his play, issues with fans at the mans home, and being cheered upon injury by the home town fans, I have absolutely no idea where his head could be. After all he's done for the city and the organization, and that's how he's treated? It's shameful, despicable  and any other manufactured word Stephen A. Smith could conjure. But I digress. Personally, I think Matt Schaub is a boss, most see the guy that takes crumble sacks, I see the tough S.O.B. that loses a piece of his ear, and is in for the next snap. I don't question the mans toughness, I just hope we haven't broken him mentally, because we've surely done our best. Where Matt Schaub is mentally remains to be seen.

     It was announced this past Monday that Case Keenum was indeed the starting QB against the Colts this coming Sunday, and I am happy with that move. Could you imagine how deflating it would've been on Sunday night football for Reliant Stadium to rattle the rafters with boos if Matt Schaub were to walk out onto that field with the starting nod? This will likely effectively end Matt's tenure in Houston as his contract is structured to where near nothing is guaranteed going forward. I think Case is going to be given every opportunity and is going to have to really struggle before we see Schauby again. My hope is that the KC game was a sign of things to come for Gary Kubiak, and that he continues to stretch the field as well as implement a Kevin Sumlin style offense for case, and just evolves in general in his play calling. I would love to have the Gary Kubiak of old back, he could be too conservative at times, but I liked that guy. In closing, I just hope that Texans fans are able to remove their blinders regarding this years struggles and recognize what Schaub has done for the franchise and city. Number 8 has done great things for this town and he helped put Houston football back on the map, so regardless of what happens moving forward with Matt Schaub, whether he remains the starter for the intermediate or long term, or whether he's played played his last snap in a Texans uniform, we should all be grateful for his contributions to the organization. Schaub has exhibited nothing but class his time here in Houston, and it's time we do the same for him. 

2 comments:

  1. You lost me at "Pro Bowl MVP". One of the biggest YAWN achievements a player can have. Half the players beg out of that glorified flag football game. Every other QB you mention in this article (Romo, Manning, Big Ben, Brees etc) is capable of making something out of nothing. Schaub is nothing more than a robot. He can run the play that's called and not much else.

    Matt Schaub helped put football back on the map in Houston? Come on man, that's just silly. This franchise was slightly above the toilet with Schaub as its QB until they hired Wade Phillips and fixed the defense. He will finish his Texans career with 1 post season win. He will leave the team just as he found it, in shambles and probably in need of a coaching upgrade. Schaub is all class as a person, you have that part right, but don't overrate his football value just because the other QB's in the franchise's history were terds in a punch bowl.

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  2. haha c'mon now, it's an award about as useful as a poopy flavored lollipop but an award none the less, right?
    He doesn't create but that's not what is required of him in the system and that's certainly not his MO, he's been very effective at systematically executing the gameplan prescribed so in that regard I do agree he's very robot like. He certainly has his limitations, but he's a Kubiak style Quarterback and the system has worked for him.

    In a sense, I believe so. Did his arm cannon catapult the Texans to perennial contention? absolutely not. You're absolutely right the hire of Wade was huge, and the bulls pushed us over the edge, but the Key word is helped. The point i'm making is that he was at the helm when the Texans became competitive for the first time as a franchise, climbed up the power rankings, and won back to back division titles. I don't think he's the best thing since sliced bread, but I do believe he's better than those around Houston and those in the national media give him credit for.

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