Dear Coach Kubiak, It's On You...

I agree, that Kubiak has lacked that “Killer Instinct”, this point was brought up last year. I’m not sure what to really think for the rest of the year.

and with a notepad and pen, add up the number of those plays that get totally shut down when Wade Smith blows his assignment and/or technique.

That’s not on Kubiak, or Schaub or Jacoby. It’s the reason Foster couldn’t rush effectively, it’s the reason balls got tipped, it’s the reason screens fell apart.

Seriously, after watching the film several times and catching this it made me sick to my stomach that good plays were called, Schaub and even shit pile Jacoby were doing their best to make plays, and Smith was nuking the team from within.

Think of all the questionable picks, reaches, & signings he’s made over the past years. Darius Heyward-Bey was about as notorious for dropping passes as Jacoby was & was drafted ahead of 3 other WRs that were considered better than him. Richard Seymour was over the hill (by Belichick’s standards) & got traded for a 1st round pick. Jason Campbell was considered a QB that couldn’t put it all together. Michael Huff was a player who hadn’t lived up to the expectations based on where he was drafted. Sebastian Janikowski was drafted in the 1st round, and who the hell drafts a kicker in the 1st round???

There’s a number of players like that on the Raiders. All of them knew that they weren’t gonna let “Coach Davis” down after he died. They were gonna try like hell to make sure that his risks paid off. DHB didn’t drop a pass until late in the 2nd half. Seymour dominated at the line. Campbell did everything he could to get them back in the game when the run game wasn’t working. Michael Huff sealed the deal at the end. But none of that would have mattered if Janikowski hadn’t kept them in the game when the offense couldn’t do crap. His freakish kicking leg was nailing field goals from distances that other teams would punt from. Sure, the Texans made some mistakes, but give the Raiders some damn credit. All those guys that Al Davis took risks on stepped up and made sure that they won that game for him.

This FanPost is not a comment on one game, but over five seasons of games. Gary Kubiak has laid down a pattern of just trying to eke out wins, relying of his players to make plays at crucial moments in games. Well, that strategy doesn’t work all the time. It works about half the time.

I will point to some teams with coaches that have known how to put away games: Bill Belechick and the Patriots, Dick LeBeau and the Steelers, Rex Ryan and the Ravens. These are coaches that find a weakness and it is part of their strategy to exploit that weakness and keep on exploiting that weakness.

On the flip-side, Kubiak finds a weakness, gets up on the other team and then abandons the strategy that got him the advantage, thence he opens the door for the other team to make plays to get themselves back in the game and eventually the other team either wins it or loses it half the time…. flip a coin. Kubiak is incapable of putting away a game. He does not coach to put away games. He coaches to get a lead if he can and then take the foot off the gas. Or, if he can’t get the lead, then he gasses it in a desperate attempt to catch up, sometimes falling short and sometimes actually doing it.

It’s a pattern that he has built over 5 seasons. It’s a pattern that he seems to not have learned from. I do not deny that he is a brilliant offensive mind. I am questioning his ability as a game strategist. He constantly puts the game into the other team’s grasp and half the time the other team takes advantage of it and wins. The outcome is really just a flip of the coin, whichever way the ball bounces, who’s player makes that bigger play or makes the bigger blunder.

If you want to just look at the last game, have at it. But, you are missing the point completely by doing that. Look at his record over 5+ seasons. We have all seen how the Texans are capable, sometimes with inferior players, of building a lead. Haven’t we? Then we see how the Kubiak mode changes during the game. He turtles up with a lead. He stops doing the things that got the lead. He moves his defense into prevent mode, allowing opposing offenses to move and score. He is content not to continue doing what got the scores on offense early in the game and at the most inopportune times the offense stalls out, going three-and-out-punt and gives the opposing team the ball back, where all they have to do is play like they are practicing, because they are going up against the very giving prevent that Kubiak is so fond of. Excruciatingly frustrating!

I am curious as to what about his play calling kept them in the game? The fact that we had 3 players play absolutely horrible games (Allen, Wade Smith, Jacoby) and we were never out of this game is not an indictment of Kubiak’s ability to coach. We were without Andre and lose Mario unexpectedly early in the game. Schaub did not play well, our O-Line did not give Schaub time or give Arian holes to run through and we still had a play at the end to win it.

Kubiak realized the running game wasn’t working and he moved away from it in the second half. He also adjusted to get Foster the ball in space. You cannot create a game plan that opens up 60 yard bombs all day long or you would win every game. He recognized the lack of ability to streych the field and played small ball to set up big plays. Walter is not a player you expect to be behind the defense yet he had an amazing catch after bursting through.

We are not good enough (especially without Andre and Mario and the raiders playing for Al) to be able to run away with this game. Their players are paid to make plays also and that is what they, especially their D-Line, did. I can guarantee you that Kubiak did not sit on the sideline and gameplan to have 3 and outs or missed field goals or poor special teams play or have Vickers drop a sure touchdown pass.

I am not saying he called a perfect game as I do not know anyone that can. His decision to challenge the Dreesen drop (a play that should have resulted in a first down) was more emotional than based on the evidence. I believe he let Dreesen talk him into it and that time out was very costly. I just fail to see how this game was Kubiak’s fault. It seemed to me to be due to poor execution.