John Benton - Why did he fail in Houston? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

John Benton - Why did he fail in Houston?

spiketex

spiketex

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We are betting pretty heavily on improving the performance of the O-line. Ireland consistently failed to get the right O-line players, despite spending big $ on free agents most years and many high draft picks. This year with the departure of Mike Sherman and his relative, Jim Turner, we get new coaches and new players.
I understand that John Benton is an exponent of the ZBS system and he developed under the doyen of O-line coaches, Alex Gibbs. I don't know much about the Texans but I am interested to learn why Benton failed in Houston?
Gary Kubiak's whole regime dismantled very quickly. It was one of the most sudden and surprising total failures in recent history.
Sometimes getting fired from a coaching role allows the individual to learn from his mistakes and come back better than ever. Eg Bill Belichick's resurrection after failing in Cleveland, Pete Carroll's after failing in New England, etc. Does anyone have a good handle on why Benton's stint in Houston came to an end? Did the system fail or was it more a case of out with the old and in with the new, or were the wrong players drafted/recruited? I welcome your feedback.
 
Yea it fell apart due to the o line coach lol
 
DisturbedShifty said:
I am confused. Was Benton fired from Houston or did we hire him away from there?
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My understanding is that none of Kubiak's coaching staff were retained by new coach, Bill O'Brien. It was a complete clean sweep. Therefore effectively, he was let go by the Texans after 8 years - probably with a payout. (He has a hell of a lot more NFL coaching experience than Turner - major coaching upgrade).
 
I think the one consistent thing in Houston was the offensive line. Seemed like no matter what back was toting the rock they were successful. They are also in the top half of the league in sacks given up. Schaub and injuries killed them last year.
 
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That team suffered because of injuries and poor QB play....
 
Texans gave up 32 sacks and ran for 4.2 ypc. If that's failing then...we need to "fail forward fast" lol.

Benton didn't fail at his job at all. There was just a difference in philosophy with the new coach who will run more of a power scheme instead of ZBS.
 
they had a more than a couple pro bowlers on that line over the years with benton.

when your qb suddenly goes stinko, bad things happen, a domino effect. and when new regimes come in, they usually do sweep, especially if the season before was a disaster on the scale the texans were. hickey had the same fate with tampa. to instill faith and hope in the fan base [aka the money source] you cant roll out the people who were part of the collapse, weather they were to blame or not.

BENTON was the guy philbin wanted from day one of his hiring. contractual obligations with the texans kept that from happening and we ended up with turner. but NO coach can win with a bare closet and to turners defense, he had a worse case scenerio. limited talent players and a major scandal brewing between to starting players. i dont know that benton fares any better.
 
Last year was not a good one for Benton's OL. His C and RG were GREAT on the run but, no one else. Duane Brown was VG on the pass but, no one else, and Wade Smith showed his age with a very bad year. They may have not allowed a lot of sacks but, allowed more QB pressures than Miami by a fair amount.
 
Using data and metrics from Football Outsiders I created the following on the Texans from 2006-2013. I think the data supports what you guys have been saying. Note: The color rankings reflect the percentile in the column to make it easier to see the good years the Texans had versus the not so good. Their lowest run blocking ranking of 16 is still middle of the pack in the NFL. Thoughts?


Texans2-1.png




Adjusted Line Yards: Teams are ranked according to Adjusted Line Yards. Based on regression analysis, the Adjusted Line Yards formula takes all running back carries and assigns responsibility to the offensive line based on the following percentages:

•Losses: 120% value
•0-4 Yards: 100% value
•5-10 Yards: 50% value
•11+ Yards: 0% value

•Second Level Yards: Yards which this team's running backs earn between 5-10 yards past the line of scrimmage, divided by total running back carries.
•Open Field Yards: Yards which this team's running backs earn more than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, divided by total running back carries.

Adjusted Sack Rate: Teams are ranked according to Adjusted Sack Rate, which gives sacks (plus intentional grounding penalties) per pass attempt adjusted for down, distance, and opponent.

**A team with a high ranking in Adjusted Line Yards but a low ranking in Open Field Yards is heavily dependent on its offensive line to make the running game work. A team with a low ranking in Adjusted Line Yards but a high ranking in Open Field Yards is heavily dependent on its running back breaking long runs to make the running game work.

However, it is important to understand that these ratings only somewhat separate the offensive line from the running backs. A team with a very good running back will appear higher no matter how bad their line, and a team with a great line with appear lower if the running back is terrible.


http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol
 
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