The Houston Texans are striking fear into the hearts of no one with their passing game this season, something that folks in Houston have grown accustomed to since football returned to the city in 2002. With the possible exception of 2009, the Texans’ “aerial assault” has been the football equivalent of trying to defend yourself by throwing rocks at an F-15 screaming by at Mach Two: it’s just not very effective.
Consider the following:
- If you took the 16 best games in the history of the franchise in terms of touchdown passes, you’d have a total of 54, or one less than Peyton Manning’s record-setting total from a season ago.
- An NFL quarterback has thrown 30 or more touchdown passes 38 times since 2002. None of those quarterbacks played for the Texans.
- Of the 99 times a quarterback has thrown 25 or more touchdown passes in a season during that time, Matt Schaub’s 2009 total of 29 is the only time it’s happened in Houston. Josh Freeman, Trent Green, Matt Hasselbeck, and Daunte Culpepper all did so twice.
- Since 2002, Texans’ quarterbacks have accounted for exactly five of the 252 instances in which a quarterback threw for at least four touchdown passes in a single game (1.98% of the total). They account for a slightly better 20 out of 926 times a quarterback has had at least three touchdown throws in a game (2.16% of the total).
In other words, opposing secondaries aren’t exactly losing sleep over the prospect of facing the Houston Texans.
I won’t blame David Carr. I can’t blame David Carr. He was sacked 234 times in his first four seasons, including an NFL-record 76 times in 2002. But the Texans’ inability (or unwillingness) to address the quarterback position in a manner that would make them serious Super Bowl contenders can be traced back to Carr’s final season with the team.
After a 2-14 finish in 2005, the Texans brought in head coach Gary Kubiak, who was being touted as a “quarterback guru” after his success in Denver and San Francisco. Tops on The Guru’s to-do list? Decide whether or not he could get something out of Carr, who was due a huge raise if the Texans decided to extend his contract. Kubiak decided that he could, so the Texans gave an $8 million bonus and $16.25 million in base salary to a quarterback who, to that point in his 4-year NFL career, had 48 touchdowns, 53 interceptions, and a 16-43 record as a starter.
Take a minute to let that sink in.
Carr was finally run out of town following the 2006 season, and Houston acquired Matt Schaub from the Atlanta Falcons for two second round draft picks. Schaub fit well into Kubiak’s system and the Texans racked up the yardage, even when they weren’t racking up the points.
Schaub’s first two seasons (2007 and 2008) saw the Texans finish 11th and fourth respectively in passing yardage, but only 12th and 13th in passing touchdowns. From 2010-2012? They twice finished in the top 11 in passing yards (fourth overall in 2010) but never higher than 17th in passing touchdowns. The lone bright spot (arguably the only truly good season for a Texans’ quarterback) was Schaub’s 2009 campaign, when he led the league in passing yardage and finished tied for fifth with 29 touchdowns through the air.
In other words: Houston could throw the ball down the field, they just couldn’t throw it into the end zone, which is, of course, the whole purpose of the game. Witness Andre Johnson’s career total of 61 touchdown receptions, an embarrassingly low total for a Hall of Fame-caliber player and arguably the best receiver of his generation.
Fast forward to the present day, where once again, the Texans are coming off an abysmal 2-14 season and have brought in another “quarterback guru” to help right the ship. Tops on The Guru’s to-do list? See if he can get something out of Ryan Fitzpatrick, a turnover machine who has played for five teams in his ten NFL seasons and who, like every other quarterback the Texans have had, has never thrown for more than 25 touchdowns in a season (save Schaub’s 2009 anomaly).
Perhaps it’s time the Texans abandon the “Let’s try to fix this guy by bringing in a coach to work with him” method of quarterback acquisition and actually draft someone to come in and do the job. After all, since drafting David Carr with the first overall pick in the franchise’s history, the Texans haven’t drafted a quarterback higher than 88th since. Matt Schaub was picked 90th overall. Fitzpatrick? 250th.
Not to worry though, Texans fans. The Houston brass has got to figure this quarterback thing out sooner or later.
Don’t they?
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