In The Pocket Part 1C

by Longvillian65 | 1 year ago | 0 Comments

In The Pocket Part 1C

By: Kirk Herbstreit

 

A good evening to everyone! There have not been many bright spots in the history of the Texans organization, except JJ Watt, we may have to keep a small eye on this team in the future. Bringing in a new JJ (Justin Jefferson) to give a weapon to ex-buckeye stud Shroud we can see glimmers of hope within an organization of disappointment. So without further ado let us travel down to H-Town and have a talk with Coach Trent and the 3-6 Texans

 

Coach Trent and the Texans

 

Herby- How would you rate the overall performance of your quarterback this season so far?

 

Coach- This season has been full of ups and downs for CJ Stroud. While he has shown flashes of being the franchise QB we all know he will be, he has definitely had his rookie mistakes. We are fully confident that he will finish the season strong.

 

Herby- With being such a young player, have there been any issues with the development this season? What kind of specifics can you share?

 

Coach- The biggest hindrance to his development so far is not being able to stay on the field. I believe, like many others, that the only way for a young QB to develop in the NFL is live snaps. CJ has had a couple of games that he didn’t finish due to turnover issues. Every snap is important at this stage of his development.

 

Herby- How much do you associate the success, or lack thereof, with the performance of your young signal caller?

 

Coach- There have been several games that could have gone our way had it not been for the turnovers, but I place more of the blame on me as a play caller than CJ. We have not held back with our game plans and have expected a lot from him. We are willing to work him through some of these rookie mistakes as we all learn the best way to run the offense in this league.

 

Herby- We have seen many young QBs come in and sit behind a mentor to develop, or some get thrown in right away without that adjustment period. Do you believe that you have adjusted the playstyle and play calling to help cater to a younger QB, or have you gone with trial by fire in hopes he fits in right away?

 

Coach-  We have definitely went with the trial by fire method, for better or worse. When you have a playmaker like Justin Jefferson on the outside, it is very difficult to allow ourselves to hold the play calling back. Moving forward out of our bye week we have made necessary playcalling adjustments to give CJ some help as he continues to improve.

 

Herby- We have seen this as a Quarterback first league so it is interesting that the younger guys just can't keep up with the veterans stat wise.  Only two rookie or 2nd year quarterbacks are in the top 10 of TD thrown this season as we near the halfway mark. Do you think the efficiency of the young guys are hindered by coaching, the development, or the overall of the team so far?

 

Coach-Many of the young starting QB’s are on the worst rosters in the league. I believe this does have a lot to do with it as they are not in the best positions to succeed. But a lot of it has to do with their comfortability with the coach and the offense. This just comes with reps and I believe that many of the young QBs around the league will have a much better second half of the season.

 

Herby- We have seen how coordinators make such an impact on total offense and the system in which younger quarterbacks struggle or flourish.  Do you see any changes coming in the way you handle your young QB in development the rest of the season or next year? New offense possibly, or having the coordinator focus on bettering his own tree to help develop others better?

 

Coach- Yes. Going into our bye week deep dive, we knew that changes on offense were necessary if we wanted to compete at a higher level this season. There is still some work to be done on this front but will be emphasizing these changes on offense to put CJ in a much better situation moving forward. We wholeheartedly believe that CJ’s best football of the season lies in the coming weeks.

 

Herby- Any advice you believe should be shared from one coach to another for those who will be drafting, signing, or trading for a young QB?

 

Coach-I believe that the main attribute in the relationship between Coach and QB is trust. This trust is built through time spent together and time spent on the practice field. I would advice the coaches to spend as much time as they could with the young QB on the practice field. It allows the coach to better understand the skill set of the QB and allows the QB the necessary reps to further develop in the coach’s offense. 

 

Talking to Coach Trent is always a blast. A great guy who has the ability to turn this organization around. Bringing in once in a generation type talent with Jefferson will definitely help Shroud in the long run. Add that to a young core of receivers and a good running back we are in store for a few years of some fun. Hopefully, the defense is able to turn it around and another receiver other than JJ can become more of a threat. Stay tuned as we talked to a RZ Vet about his QB carousel to start the year.