Greg Knapp is the Texans new QB coach (photo.seahawks.com)
Mark Berman of Fox 26 Sports (Houston) is reporting that the Texans have hired Greg Knapp as their new quarterbacks coach.
Knapp replaces a piece of Kyle Shanahan who departed a few weeks ago to work with his dad in D.C.
The larger share of Shanahan's previous duty was assumed by new offensive coordinator Rick Dennison on January 12..
When I saw the headline above Berman's article and saw the name, I said to myself 'wait a minute, I know that guy'
Not 'know' personally, but I've written about Greg Knapp before.
No, it wasn't last season when the Texans crushed the Seahawks 34-7 in Week 14 when Knapp was the Seahawks offensive coordinator under dead coach walking, Jim Mora Jr. It was two seasons ago just prior to the Texans ill-fated visit to Oakland when the 'surging' Texans choked one away to the 3-11 Raiders.
A day before that game, I wrote about Knapp and how his experience working with Alex Gibbs in Atlanta could actually help the Raiders defense against the Texans zone scheme.
Gary Kubiak haters and cynics will be surprised to know that Knapp has never worked at Denver or with Kubiak.
What? The Saints are in the Super Bowl and Kubiak hires someone outside of the friends and family network? Oh my. Hell has indeed frozen over.
Even though Knapp did work with Alex Gibbs and Matt Schaub at Atlanta, it appears he was Kubiak's third choice to fill the vacant QB coach position since the Texans were earlier denied permission to speak with Falcons QB coach Bill Musgrave and Dolphins receivers coach Karl Dorrell.
As offensive coordinator, Knapp hasn't had much success in recent years. His Seahawks offense ranked 21st in the league (yards) in 2009 and his Raiders offenses were near worst in the league, ranked 25th and 29th in Oakland in 2007-08.
While in Atlanta with Mora, Mike Vick and Schaub in 2004-06, his offenses ranked 20th, 12th and 12th respectively.
His biggest success as a coordinator was in San Francisco when the 49ers had top five offenses in 2001 and '03.
Knapp worked with some pretty good QBs in San Fransisco. He was quarterbacks coach for Steve Young in 1998 when Young threw for a team single season record of 4,170 passing yards and 36 touchdowns. That passing yardage record lasted only two years, when Jeff Garcia broke it with 4,278 yards under Knapp’s guidance in 2000. (source: Seahawks 2009 Media Guide)
As a counterpoint to 'media guide speak' and glossy bios it's worth noting that the '98 season was Young's last full season with the 49ers so it's unlikely that Knapp had much influence over Young at that point in his career.
Hopefully the Dennison-Knapp combo are able to keep the Texans offense on track. The Texans can't rest on their laurels and assume that just because their offense was ranked 4th in the league in 2009, that it will be the same in 2010.
Defenses catch up to you over time so fresh ideas and challenging status quo are a must for Kubiak's new hires.
KNAPP’S COACHING CAREER
1986-89 Sacramento State, Running Backs
1989-90 Sacramento State, Wide Receivers
1991-94 Sacramento State, Asst. Head Coach/Off. Coord.
1995-97 San Francisco 49ers, Quality Control/Offense
1998-00 San Francisco 49ers, Quarterbacks
2001-03 San Francisco 49ers, Offensive Coordinator
2004-06 Atlanta Falcons, Offensive Coordinator
2007-08 Oakland Raiders, Offensive Coordinator
2009- Seattle Seahawks, Offensive Coordinator
(source: 2009 Seahawks Media Guide)
Comments
On the outside this looks like a good hire, although I have my doubts. At least its not a Denver transplant, but just how much did he work with Matt in Atlanta? wasn't that when Vick was there? Then you have OC for Seattle which had no offense, but I am sure thats not entirely his fault. Time will tell.
they could score on the jags... more than we did...
The reason he is a good hire is he is familiar with Schaub, and vice versa. That will allow them to get to work on details faster and allow him to work with the other QB's on the roster.
@Tom, yes that was when Vick was the starter. Knapp was OC, not QB coach so while he likely didn't work with Matt individually (much), I'm sure they spent lot of time in the same room during offensive meetings.
Well at least he didn't hire Shanahan's daughter to fill the spot.
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