I've Had Enough

There were a lot of “what-ifs” today that were not Schaub related. For instance, if Rackers hits the 41 yarder he missed, then that great pass to Dreesen simply sets up the game winning field goal, and there is no discussion. We had our chances. It’s not all on Schaub, and people who think it is are of the personality type that need a scapegoat.

Than any other

But he is our QB

And he has lead the team to 10 victories in the end (should be about 8 more if it weren’t for Buhsian defensive failures)

Ok he didn’t win the game on his own and he can’t run like Michael Vick – last I saw he was a QB on a Team with a losing record.

teh Schaub isn’t perfect, but he is damned good, and if the line would have been decent instead of horrible in the 4th quarter, it is very likely a different outcome.

but I was more concerned with the fact he played bad the entire game. The final play was just a desperation move. He was missing throws all day long and made a few bad decisions. Schaub is a good QB, but will never be a great QB. Mainly because he is slow on his feet and seems(at least to me) to have low poise under a pass rush. He’s great at sitting back in the pocket and reading the defense if there is great protection. Schaub is a good game manager and good at spreading the ball around to playmakers, but he is never going to be the kind of guy who has the athletic ability to make a great individual effort juking a pass rusher and making an amazing throw on the run. Thats just not him. He put up good stats in the past because either we had a one dimensional offense(2009), or we had no defense whatsoever(2010). With a more balanced team, Schaub will be a game manager, which is just what we need. But if the other aspects of the team break down, I don’t think Schuab has enough individual ability to take the team on his shoulders and win a game, put up numbers sure, but win it not so much. Few QBs can though. This is why having a balanced team is so important.

I’ll have a good read after dinner tonight. But if you are giving up on the team after starting the season 3-2, I’m happy to see you go. Have a nice life.

DTF

I agree Olive that Schaub is a good QB. You have to look at what he was working with today….a 3rd string WR in Jones (11 throws, 1 rec) 3rd string Walters (I’ve always like Walters as possession reciever).
Oakland knew that OD and Casey would have Schaub’s attention, that’s why Dreesen caught his two long receptions.
A lot of today would hang on Kubiak…not a basher, but hear me out. Why do you have the best running back in the league only carry 22 times? and why only 5 passes to him? Why were there less play action roll outs than usual? Can’t blame that all on Schaub everyone.
Schaub will come back and will take this team to the playoffs this year. No trading Dre or Super Mario.

Even then there are other people on the field. I’m not uncomfortable with Schaub. At his worst, he is light years ahead of most of the league.

This is what does concern me (injuries aside). In week 1 I got concerned about the way we played the second half. We seemed flat, and if we hadn’t gotten that huge first half lead, things may have turned out much different (say we had a 14-0 lead going into the fourth). Since we basically gave Indy their score, the end of the game could have been more tense. In hind sight, it appeared we actually were doing good game management, trying to eat up clock, avoid costly turn-overs (of the pick six kind), etc.

However, each of the following 4 weeks looked much the same, but without the very large first half lead. I don’t know if this is on Kubiak specifically (though it is his responsibility) or Dennison. The second half playcalling, in general, just seems uninspired. This isn’t a team that build up a 20+ point lead every game and maintain it every game, our defense simply hasn’t had enough time to build of the necessary depth and fill in all the missing pieces (if Allen is a better CB2 than Jackson it isn’t by very much). Yet, our offense seems to come out every week in the second half as if we don’t still have to put up points. Instead, they leave the defense on the field too long, and that isn’t good.

What to do? I don’t know. I would absolutely hate to fire Kubiak and suddenly have to start another rebuilding process. I don’t go in for the win now at all costs reasoning. After all, it has worked so well for the Eagles this year (or to an extent, the 2010-2011 Heat). I’m just now sure how you would replace Kubiak (assuming the problem is not Dennison) and not wind up rebuilding the offense.

Oh well, I’m rambling.

MEANINGLESS.

Unless they result in a “W”.

Period. End. Of. Story.

I read this blog religiously and it has almost gotten to the point where it is unreadable after losses. Altough many raiders players have changed, this is not the same raiders team. They are a much-improved team with a shot at taking out San Diego in the AFC West. With the added motivation of Al Davis’ passing, this became an incredibly tough game.

To throw out everything that happened throughout the game and pass judgement on one single play is not the way to go. Jacoby had an awful game between poor route running and horrible returns. He cost us at least 5-10 yards a punt over what David Anderson could have gotten by dancing around and running backwards.

This was a team loss. By no means was it a good game from Schaub, but the offensive line was dominated between the 6 tips or so and the pocket completely collapsing. The zone Blocking scheme has been great for us overall, but the smaller lineman were just manhandled this game.

Get over it.

Really, it’s top notch and those who don’t understand it obviously have an axe to grind. Great job Olive!

Your post also made me think about this:

All the Schaub haters, seem to conveniently ignore the fact that even a Drew Brees or a Aaron Rodgers, or a Tom Brady would still have had to throw to whom?

Weren’t Owen Daniels, Kevin Walter, an Joel Dreesen covered alot? Oakland didn’t NEED 2 defenders on Jacoby Jones so they didn’t waste them on him. Regardless of what Kubiak called him he was NOT our deep threat at WR. Oakland could double team OD if they really felt like it so that left, Kevin Walter? If Kevin Walter is so great, why didn’t he beat out Jacoby to the #1 WR spot? Maybe Kubiak has seen something in practice that we haven’t? He DOES get to see more of their practice than we do. I like K Dub but I’ve seen him miss vital passes too so he doesn’t get a “free pass” to WR superstardom just because he isn’t Jacoby Jones. I kind of doubt that some misguided form of “seniority” is making Kubiak choose Jones over over Walter but then again this is the same coach who kept Slaton on the roster way longer than we would have liked to keep him so .. I just don’t know.

Jacoby Jones got a HUGE upgrade in status as our “#1 receiver”. But if you were to tell that to the Raiders — which we actually did — they probably would have laughed in our faces (again, which they did) because Jacoby Jones IS NOT a deep threat and never has been (11 pass attempts later and we have ample proof of this).

Once we had no deep threat they could go after the QB with all guns a blazing. They could shut down Arian Foster. Our offense works so well because we are NORMALLY balanced. Andre and Arian are lethal. Double team Andre and you’ve opened up the run game as well as other receivers. Double team Arian (if it’s a play action pass) and you’ve opened up the receivers (if it isn’t play action, except for the fact that once you’ve given Arian the ball, then there’s really no other option except to hope that he can find the openings – but if anyone can it’s going to be Arian ;-) ).

I may be boldly saying stupid things here but I think even I’ve started to glean how this football stuff works.

You see, Jacoby being our alleged WR #1 was really just telegraphing to the Raiders defense that we had zero deep threat as far as Wide Receivers go. Add to that .. I think someone said that the Raiders defenders were like 1 or more inches taller than Schaub . . .no WONDER we had such trouble — no WONDER he had so many balls tipped and batted down.

I doubt that any of the QB geniuses like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Drew Brees could have done a whole heck of alot better than Matt Schaub did given the exact same circumstances and team composition.

The ONLY QB who I think MIGHT have done better is Peyton Manning and he’s basically a QB demi-god so there’s really no point in trying to compare any mortal against Peyton Manning. I remember reading a Colts’ fan saying that Manning has masked a pretty horrible Offensive Line for years by how well he plays and runs the offense. Peyton Manning, is the only QB who could have done better given the exact same circumstances and team composition.