The Case For Case, Part Two

Regarding "Keenum’s flash of promise dims" (Monday Sports C3), before we go to writing off Case Keenum, perhaps a little perspective is in order.  First off, there is almost nothing about the Texans' offense that even begins to take advantage of Keenum's talents; Ditto for the blocking schemes, not to mention that the Texans' offensive line checked out weeks before Keenum became quarterback.  Kubiak himself admits these problems when he says that Keenum's number one failure has been his inability to anticipate the failure of his offensive line to stop the blitz.

 

The real culprit here is Kubiak's predictable play calling.  On 3rd and short yardage situations, Kubiak called for a shotgun set six times: four of those failed, as they have all season.  Who in his right mind would intentionally take the run off the table in 3rd and short situations?  On first and goal late in the game, Kubiak called for his usual play set: "run, run, pass, kick field goal", an all too familiar pattern for our red-zone challenged offensive coordinator.  Coach Kubiak avoids throwing the ball into the end zone, avoids throwing downfield on first down, and avoids throwing the ball three times in a row, all things at which Keenum excels.  Ironically, this was largely the strategy Jacksonville employed to dominate the play clock and Houston's defense - on their own turf.

 

I could go on: The Texans have very few "Read" options in their offense; they have no effective hurry-up offense and laughingly call their own version the "muddle huddle"; most disturbing, Kubiak's number one offensive priority as he himself admits is not to score touchdowns quickly, but to control the play clock.  This explained the amazing lack of any sense of urgency throughout the game, and throughout eight agonizing seasons. 

 

Coach Kubiak has pursued his offensive strategy for eight years, and you can count the significant victories on one hand.  Bottom line, no NFL quarterback could succeed under such a retro system, and trying to fit Keenum into this offense is like pounding a square peg into a round hole.  And has nobody taken notice of the fact that, on the most mistake-prone and penalized team in the NFL, Case Keenum has been nearly mistake-free?

 

One last thing: there's little doubt that making this "all about Case" is very tempting for the Texans: it takes attention away from the failures of the general manager, coaching staff, offensive line, receivers and special teams, not to mention the profound collapse of Houston's heretofore well regarded defense. 

 

Everybody needs to resist the impulse to make this all about Case and all about drafting a "savior", or we'll be having this same conversation five years from now.  Let's get rid of the current system, and use the last five games of this season to try something else.

 

Pete Smith

Cypress, TX