4. I think maybe we should have seen the Carr firing coming. Those close to Gary Kubiak say Carr did not progress much from the mechanical, non-instinctive player the coach inherited 14 months ago when he got the Texans' job.
Last summer, on a visit to Texans' training camp, I saw Kubiak micromanaging Carr. I thought it was wise at the time to throw so much into trying to save the quarterback's career in Houston. Looking back, you can see how much work Kubiak had to do, and why, in the end, it was too much to overcome. I wrote:
The other day, Carr threw a pass into a coverage scheme that he, and Kubiak, knew right away was the wrong pass at the wrong time. Terrible decision. And instead of soft-pedaling his criticism, which is the way Carr has been treated for four years as the Disappointing Golden Boy of Houston football, Kubiak offered this gem: "You've been in the league four years and you make that throw? There is no way you can make a throw into coverage like that!''
You've got to love a coach who does not come in and kiss the franchise quarterback's rear end. Because smooching is not what this quarterback needed. "David can't assume, 'I'm OK, we've just got to fix the stuff around me,' '' Kubiak told me after a Texans practice, sounding Parcellsian. "He's not OK. He's a long way from being OK. We all are.''
With Kubiak and offensive coordinator Troy Calhoun micromanaging his every move, there's no doubt in my mind Carr's going to be a better player this year. Will he be a franchise quarterback? I don't know. No one does. I have my doubts. He's got to do it under pressure. But he's going to have a chance, even though I think the Texans should have taken Reggie Bush instead of Mario Williams with the first pick in the draft because Carr needs another offensive weapon desperately.
Last Thursday, the day I watched Carr running Houston's talent-shy first-team offense, Kubiak was standing deep downfield, eyeing Carr's mechanics closely. Every so often, he'd see something, amble up and say something to Carr, then go back and resume watching him from afar. It's so fascinating why Kubiak was doing this.
Last winter, when Kubiak sat down to study every game Carr played last year, he noticed something fatal to quarterbacking success. He noticed when Carr faded back to throw, he consistently looked to the side of the field that was his first option. Imagine how crucial this is. If you're a safety, and you've scouted Carr from the end-zone coaches tape that every team sees, and you've seen that you can figure out the side of the field he's trying to throw to the second he begins his pass-drop, wouldn't that be a huge advantage?
When Kubiak first sat down with Carr to watch tape, he said, in so many words: Are you kidding me? You're an NFL quarterback, and you telegraph your throws so blatantly? So on this day, in this practice, Kubiak watched Carr take his drop and watched his eyes as much as his arm. He watched to make sure Carr was surveying the entire field on his drop, not just half of it.