Rick Smith's First Bad Move?

by Tim on Mar 9, 2007 9:26 AM CST in News Comment 12 comments

Ahhhhhh, crap. You knew it had to happen sometime. You can't win 'em all. Insert your favorite cliche here. But Chad Stanley ? I'll be the first to say that he's had a couple of very good seasons here, but last year was not one of them. He was freaking terrible last year!

I can't even count the number of times one of his wounded ducks made me curse at the television. Maybe I'm out of line, but it seemed like every Stanley punt ended with the opposition taking its first snap at nearly the same spot from where the punt originated. A big part of that is coverage, to be sure, but it seemed like nearly all of his punts traveled about thirty yards. I openly called for his ouster after almost every game last season over at H-Town Sports, and it seemed like the Texans regularly worked out punters every week during the season. Despite all that, Chad and I are still in the same spot we were throughout the season...him with a six-figure deal from the Houston Texans, and me with a fistful of rage.

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I'm confused

Much like Tim, I can't remember a time in '06 where I was a fan of keeping Stanley.

But when you read the Texans' site regarding this signing, they have all kind of fancy stats to make him look like the best punter in the league.

I am going to do some more research...

We can be critical of the draft picks, but in the end we always support the new Texan.

by Shake on Mar 9, 2007 10:16 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

That didn't take long...

Thanks to one of the few useful tools provided by the 4-letter-word (which I will from now one refer to as "4LW"), I was able to dig up the following about our beloved Chad Stanley and his 2006 season:

His career high average of 41.6 was only good enough for 29th in the NFL
His career long of 62 was only good enough for 19th in the NFL
His amazing ability to put it inside the 20 was an average of 19.7%, good enough for 31st in the NFL (otherwise known as next-to-last)

Tim- I also discovered that the Texans' other 10 members of the punting unit held the kick returns to an average of 7.6, which was 13th in the NFL.

**Needless to say, Rick is no longer getting a Christmas card from me.

We can be critical of the draft picks, but in the end we always support the new Texan.

by Shake on Mar 9, 2007 10:31 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Kudos to Shake

I knew there were several reasons I hated this deal, and you actually provided rational bases for all of them. Believe it or not, I began to wonder if my disgust was illogical when I read the Texans' article praising his numbers. Thanks for showing (a) that my anger is wholly justified and (b) the Texans cannot shine a turd no matter how hard they try.

Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Mar 9, 2007 10:57 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Hopefully it was one bad season

I'm stunned that the Texans' version of Stanley's numbers is true because I really had a high opinion of his performance until last season, when he seemed to be consistently terrible as compared to years past. That makes it very hard to believe that he had such a fantastic season in 2006, but hopefully he'll just right the ship and return to his 2005 form in 2006. Hopefully with a new QB, Chad will have much more idle time on his hands than he has in the past. It sure seemed like the punter had an awfully excessive amount of face time last season.

by Scott on Mar 9, 2007 11:00 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

You brought this on yourself...

2005 Stats for Chad Stanley:

CATEGORY NFL RANK
38.8 yds/punt 31st
61 yds - longest 17th
37.7% inside 20 6th

The coverage team allowed an average of 6.6 yds/return, ranking 5th in the NFL.

Stanley only had 1 touchback in '05 to go with that great "Inside the 20" percentage. He had 5 touchbacks in '06, and his % inside the 20 was half of '05. The obvious question is "WHY?", especially considering the team's 2-14 record in '05.

Chad doesn't appear as though he has a leg capable of getting his average up in the top half of the NFL.

We can be critical of the draft picks, but in the end we always support the new Texan.

by Shake on Mar 9, 2007 12:12 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Face Time

Stanley had 76 punts in the '06 season.
He had 77 punts in the '05 season.
He had 73 punts in the '04 season.
In both '02 & '03, he had more than 100 punts.

Aren't numbers great? His face time (# of punts) last year was on par with the two previous years.

We can be critical of the draft picks, but in the end we always support the new Texan.

by Shake on Mar 9, 2007 12:18 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Daniel Sepulveda?

What about the Baylor punter as a possible draftee for the Texans? I'm pretty sure he'd be better than Stanley kicking with his weak leg.

Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Mar 9, 2007 2:52 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

What is the Projection

...as far as the draft, for a punter of this caliber?

I saw this guy against the Horns....he can seriously boom the ball.

We can be critical of the draft picks, but in the end we always support the new Texan.

by Shake on Mar 9, 2007 3:24 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Sepulveda Projection

Seems that the opinion is that this guy will go very high for a punter, perhaps as quickly as the third or fourth round. While I don't think the Texans can afford to burn a third rounder on him, I could be convinced to take a hard look at a fourth or fifth rounder.

Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Mar 9, 2007 3:56 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs