Richard Smith question/Texans

[Texans_Chick]

Hi y'all.

My name is Steph, and I am the Houston Texans "FanBlogger" for the Houston Chronicle. I've been writing a series of articles about what the new Texans offense and defense will look like. I was hoping for some of y'alls help.

My most recent post is about the defense, and how it is hard to figure what it is going to look like.

http://blogs.chron.com/fanblogtexans/2006/07/everything_i_think_i_know_abou.html

1. The new defensive philosophy. Many of the coaches on the offensive side of the ball have some sort of connection to the Denver offensive scheme. On the defensive side of the ball, the coaches have been picked from various spots, so there is no sense of defensive philosophy that you can really pick up based on their previous jobs.

The new defensive coordinator for the Texans is Richard Smith. Though it is not clear from his Texans biography, this is his first year as the sole defensive coordinator. (It is a weird semantic thing. Smith's title with Miami was "defensive coordinator", but Will Muschamp was "assistant head coach/defense"). And given that defensive minded Nick Saban is head coach there, it is hard to tell how much of what Miami did was Smith's doings and how much was others'.

Basically, Miami last year was doing the opposite of what the Texans are doing this year. They switched from a base 4-3 defensive alignment, to a base 3-4, and the Texans are switching from the base 3-4 to the base 4-3.
The Miami scheme that they switched to is a base 3-4 that sometimes changes to a 4-3 and features variations and blitzes. It is complicated, and the Dolphin defense was confused by it some, though they got more familiar with it as the year progressed. Mr. 3-4 Saban was very hands on, and attended every defensive team meeting.

When he was with the Dolphins, Smith's defense ranked 18th in the NFL in total defense and finished the season with 49 sacks, second most in the league. (Added this stat for my fantasy football friends. As another fantasy aside, during the time Bob Karmelowicz, defensive line coach was with Kansas City, his teams recorded two out of three of the highest single-season sack totals in club history).

Anyhow, I often think that fanatic fans know a team better than a lot of traditional media, and so I came here to see if you had any observations about Richard Smith that might be helpful to know in seeing what he might be able to do for the Texans.

I'd appreciate any help you could provide, and once in a while, thoughtful fan observations end up in the blog.

(BTW, I think Capers is a great hire for you. Not so good as a head coach, but top notch as a DC. The Texans didn't run his form of 3-4, they ran Fangios. Don't ask me why.)

Thanks in advance.

 

[dominizzo]

Nice read

 

[Pchd]

It seem's you are un-aware of saban's policy of his coach's not talking to the media or anyone.Not to many really know the answer you are asking and the one's that do cannot answer you.I would imagine that last year saban's finger print was on everything.

 

[arsenal]

smith has a lot of NFL experience and works really well with linebackers... this will be the first time he'll have the full reigns of a defense probably with the offensive minded kubiak probably more focused on getting his influence onto the offensive side of the ball...

here we had a defensive coordination by committee basically with saban having a huge influence on it last year... i dotn even think smith called the plays in, i believe muschamp did... so its hard to say how much he influenced the defense or even what his role was... but one things for sure he will get the most out of your linebacking core and hopefully with all his experience he'll be able to handle the full defensive coordinator role...

and i wouldn't say saban is mr 3-4 coach... in college he ran a 4-3 at LSU, hes more of a hybrid guy, we play some 3-4 and 4-3, whatever we can do to mix it up and give an offense a different look... i wouldn't say hes all about the 3-4, thats why we brought in capers so his 3-4 expertise can come into play in our hybrid scheme...

but good luck to your texans this year, hope they do well (except when they play us, haha)... and ive heard mario is already looking like a beast in training camp, tahst a good sign...

 

[Texans_Chick]

but good luck to your texans this year, hope they do well (except when they play us, haha)... and ive heard mario is already looking like a beast in training camp, tahst a good sign...

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

Mario has looked amazing in camp. Makes everyone else look puny and uncoordinated.

Can't wait for the season to start.