Matt Schaub continues to have growing pains as a NFL QB
Matt Schaub is in his sixth NFL season, and his third as the starting QB for the Houston Texans, and it seems he is still growing into his job. After spending his first three season as the backup to Michael Vick with the Atlanta Falcons Schaub came to the Texans as their second franchise QB in team history. While his play on the field is at times a little erratic, Schaub has reached an important milestone already in 2009. Schaub played in just 11 games in each of his first two seasons with the Texans. This year he has already played in 11 games and has not yet succumbed to injury.
In last Sunday’s game we saw both side of Schaub. In the first half he was suburb, he led his team to a 20-17 lead, had completed 14 of 17 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown. He wasn’t sacked, and he did not throw any interceptions. For the first half his QB rating was 123.5. It seems that the Indianapolis Colts have always had this team’s number, and after scoring on their second half opening drive, Schaub tried to do too much. After getting to solid plays to open a drive Schaub threw a deep pass to Andre Johnson who cut left leaving two Colts defenders to fight over the ball. In the end it was a pass Schaub didn’t need to attempt, and hopefully he has learned that lesson.
That one lay seemed to rattle Schaub and later in the fourth quarter, he tried to hit TE James Casey down the right side, a Colts defender stepped in front of him and returned the pick for a TD. Later in the fourth Schaub was stripped of the ball on the only Colts sack of the day, and it set up the final Colts scoring drive.
In his third years as the Texans starter, Schaub is still growing into his position, and there is little doubt that he is a quality NFL starter. Since the Texans already have a few quality pieces around him, if they can continue to add quality pieces to their team, there is little doubt that they will be a playoff team sooner or later.
