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    Tony Romo Vs. Gary Kubiak

    Tony Romo's not the NFL joke now: Gary Kubiak and Texans find the script flipped, but this coach belongs

    Chris Baldwin
    Oct 14, 2013 | 7:04 am

    Some losses linger. And some couldn't be scrubbed off by a Hazmat suited crime cleanup crew.

    The Houston Texans' 38-13 beatdown defeat to the St. Louis Rams belongs in that latter category. Even the guys who put up the signs in the Texans locker room struggle to move on from this one. Typically, the "One Focus" signs that feature the logo of the team's next opponent are changed almost as soon as a game ends. Especially after a loss.

    Not this Sunday. Instead, the Rams logo is still up there, on both ends of the locker room, at 3:48 p.m., nearly an hour after the clock mercifully struck 00:00 on another embarrassing Texans afternoon.

    Yes, absolutely everything is going wrong for Gary Kubiak's Texans. Even the sign guys nearly fumble.

    "We're not playing good football at all right now," middle linebacker Brian Cushing says. "It's not even like we're close."

    Trying to argue that Schaub played "pretty darn good," as Kubiak puts it, only shows how far the standards have fallen. You don't think the rest of the team's noticed?

    Instead a team with Super Bowl visions (and talent) sits at 2-4, having suffered four straight losses — with the last two coming in complete, no-challenge blowouts. These Texans are as confounded and clueless as you'll ever find an NFL team.

    "We're heading through a downpour of adversity," veteran defensive end Antonio Smith says.

    Most of it is of their own making. These Texans are their own cruel rainmakers. This roster is better than this. This coach is too.

    Kubiak keeps taking the blame — and changing nothing.

    How did he expect the Texans to react when he sent out the same reeling quarterback who tossed seven points to the other team in four straight games? With his team dying for something daring, Kubiak decides to rely on the old loyalty card. These Texans have seen that from Kubiak many times before — and they're obviously not responding to to it.

    And please let's drop any notion that Matt Schaub played "well" or "great" as some of his teammates suggest. Before some dopey fans embarrass themselves by heartlessly cheering when Schaub hurts his leg in the third quarter, the quarterback's led the Texans to six points in six possessions.

    If Schaub put together a game like this last season, he would have never heard the end of it.

    Trying to argue that Schaub played "pretty darn good," as Kubiak puts it, only shows how far the standards have fallen. You don't think the rest of the team has noticed this?

    Maybe Kubiak deserves a pass on this one though. If Schaub's injury is anything close to serious, it's no super stretch to imagine this being the last, significant game action of his Texans career. Any coach would throw one of his favorite players a bouquet in such a scenario.

    How Kubiak reacts from here is going to be the true test.

    DeAndre Hopkins Lessons

    Any idea that Kubiak isn't a good enough coach to push these Texans toward a new upward direction is laughable. The man knows offensive football. He embraced playing an undrafted free agent at one of the game's most high-profile positions, helped mold that guy into a true pro and now the rest of the NFL is still trying to catch up to Arian Foster.

    Kubiak needs to see if he can pull off something similar with Case Keenum, the former University of Houston NCAA record smasher.

    You live with Hopkins' mistakes and just keep throwing him the football.

    He needs to stick with rookie wideout DeAndre Hopkins, mistakes no matter. In truth that's one of the real more alarming signs from the Rams debacle — the fact that Hopkins seems to be largely removed from the passing game once he fumbles inside the St. Louis' 15-yard line.

    Yes, it's a devastating turnover. But these Texans are never getting anywhere without the man with the 3XL hands. DeAndre Hopkins is not Matt Schaub. He's a 21-year-old, first-year player. His upside is tremendous. This is the type of future star you buy into, no matter what the short-term costs are.

    You live with DeAndre Hopkins' mistakes and just keep throwing him the football.

    Keshawn Martin isn't in the same class as Hopkins — and getting the ball ripped out of your hands and returned for a touchdown is about as bad as it can get for a kick returner — but there's still enough potential in this second-year player from Michigan State to stick with him too. If Kubiak plays the rest of this season right, he can set the Texans up for a bright offensive future while salvaging something out of the year.

    Oh, you can forgot those Super Bowl schemes. That's off the table now. These Texans are closer to turning into the 2013 New York Giants than the 2013 Denver Broncos. But they can grab back the love of the city and make themselves NFL relevant again.

    "He's a tremendous coach. He's a coach who does everything right for us. He takes care of us."

    If only their coach shows them the way.

    Remember when Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys stood out as the rightly ridiculed and mocked NFL bunch in Texas? You needn't go back far. But there Romo and the 'Boys are after dropping 48 points on the Broncos and running away from Robert Griffin III on Sunday Night Football standing tall as an NFL intrigue. While the Texans wallow in the mud, soon to be forgotten all together if they don't act fast.

    "I don't even have the words for it," veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph says. "There's so much stuff going on, it's kind of hard to get into words."

    It's looking a lot like that 6-10 lost 2010 season when Arian Foster couldn't be stopped and almost no one else could do anything. Kubiak is a good enough coach to change this though.

    "He's a tremendous coach," Cushing insists. "He's a coach who does everything right for us. He takes care of us."

    Now, Kubiak has to push change and force these Texans into the future. There are going to be plenty of bumps. You really can't blame the sign guys — or anyone else — for not wanting to move on to 6-0 Kansas City. Gary Kubiak is the offensive mind to do it though.

    If, only, he lets himself do it.

    Yes, Houston Texans fans put bags on their heads.

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    Photo by Michelle Watson CultureMapSnap
    Yes, Houston Texans fans put bags on their heads.
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    O'Brien Talks Tough

    Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players

    Chris Baldwin
    Jan 3, 2014 | 1:43 pm
    Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players
    Photo by Rob Carr Getty Images
    Bill O'Brien admits he missed the NFL.

    Bill O'Brien certainly hasn't walked timidly into his new job as the head coach/franchise savior of the Houston Texans.

    With large posters of J.J. Watt and Andre Johnson flanking him on either side of an elaborate press conference stage, O'Brien didn't pay homage as much as he demanded a new standard.

    "To me it's about accountability," O'Brien said. "It's about demanding. It's about putting together a fast, physical football team."

    In other words, Mr. Nice Guy went out the window with former Texans coach Gary Kubiak. O'Brien mentioned "accountability" and "demanding" several times in his introductory press conference Friday afternoon at Reliant Stadium. And you can bet the chorus sounded like sweet music to Texans owner Bob McNair.

    CultureMap was the first news outlet anywhere to report that O'Brien was the Texans' top choice to be the team's new coach way back on Dec. 18. This was a McNair driven pick from the beginning and it is the 44-year-old O'Brien's toughness that drew the owner to the former Penn State coach and Bill Belichick assistant.

    "To me it's about accountability. It's about demanding."

    And McNair himself certainly talked tough on introduction day.

    "I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door," McNair said. "Not acceptable. Not what we're going to do in the future."

    McNair went on to talk about O'Brien having shown he's willing to make the hard decisions — something he clearly felt was lacking as the Texans spiraled from Super Bowl schemers into a 2-14 death march in 2013.

    "Some coaches who have been players still think of themselves as players rather than the head of an organization," McNair said. "And have trouble making difficult decisions."

    Kubiak, of course, played quarterback for the Denver Broncos. As for an inability to make tough calls? Just look at how long Kubiak stuck with a flat-lined Matt Schaub and how he kept trying to go back to Schaub even after the Case Keenum call was made.

    O'Brien noted that "there are a lot of good football players on this team." He also declined to take any pressure off himself and describe this makeover of a team with the worst record in the NFL as a rebuilding job.

    "There are a lot of pieces in place here," he said. "It's all about hard work . . . Quick turnaround, rebuilding are labels. I'm not into all that."

    Tom Brady Tough?

    All in all, it's an impressive opening performance for a first-time NFL head coach. O'Brien knows how to command the stage. Texans general manager Rick Smith talked about the new coach's "charisma."

    O'Brien even makes sure to work in the obligatory Texas joke about the cowboy life.

    "Right after this, I'm going to go out and buy my first pair of cowboy boots," he said.

    It's already becoming clear there will be one cowboy in charge of these Texans. One who happens to be a hard-nosed Northeast guy who's probably still most famous for getting into a sideline screaming match with New England Patriots golden boy quarterback Tom Brady.

    "I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door."

    O'Brien downplayed the incident, but it's clearly helped burnish his taskmaster image.

    "You know it's a competitive sports," O'Brien said. "Tom Brady's a great friend. These things happen. The thing that people don't understand is that 30 seconds after it was over, we were sitting together and going over pictures (of game action)."

    The Texans players are clearly intrigued by O'Brien. Veteran center Chris Myers sat amongst the press at the stadium and listened to the new head man.

    There will be a lot more change coming to the stadium. Smith hinted at as much when he noted how the Texans needed a coach who can guide young players.

    It's hard to imagine O'Brien tip toeing around that change. He plans to meet with all the remaining Texans coaches Saturday (as with any head coaching change, it's unlikely many of the current assistants will be kept by O'Brien). He'll tackle the quarterback question later, though it's clear Keenum is still in the picture.

    Almost every new NFL head coach sounds good on introduction day. Especially when the team brings out a marching band for the occasion. But O'Brien sounds tough and no nonsense.

    Just what Bob McNair wanted. This is his call. His makeover. His tough guy.

    Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.

    Bill O'Brien presser
      
    Photo by Scott Halleran Getty Images
    Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.
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