SB Nation - Joel Dreessen

Texans (Re-)Sign Bryan Pittman, Look At TEs

bigfatdrunk — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:16:18 -0000

Via that great newshound Eric, the Texans re-signed Bryan Pittman, news via NFP.

In addition, we tried out a pair of TEs: Tony Curtis and Troy Humphrey.

As Eric so sagely mentioned, it's possible Joel Dreessen is hurt too badly to play (at least this week), forcing these moves.

Texans vs Rams coverage

The Continuing Misadventures of Aaron Curry

John Morgan — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:59:25 -0000

More photos » by Steven Senne - AP

Texans receiver David Anderson receives a pass from Matt Schaub.

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Aaron Curry was back in action before the Seahawks defense could even take the field. He was wracking up a fifteen-yard unnecessary roughness penalty for an unjustifiably late hit. Jacoby Jones was tackled by two Seahawks defenders, his elbow clearly down, seconds before Curry gave him the ol' Brian Russell. It didn't register as dirty to me, but frighteningly unaware.

He started the next series by backing away from his gap and taking himself out of a run play directed at him. It looked like Curry was held, but not flagrantly and not impactfully. The remaining series went:

2. Contain but did not factor.

3. Timed and blitzed perfectly off right end, but lands only an after the fact hit on Matt Schaub. Josh Wilson was burned badly on this play. Ron Pitts called it a nightmare play for a nickelback because the slot receiver has a two way go. Wilson was burned defending the outside route when David Anderson cut in on a post.

4. Stands up and sheds fullback Vonta Leach.

5. Dominates Joel Dreessen but is held and dragged right and out of the play. This would become a theme.

6. [Out] This looked like a 3-3 stack.

7. Stands up left tackle, sheds him with an inside move, closes to the ball carrier and joins David Hawthorne in a gang tackle.

Then Curry executed to perfection and still allowed Dreessen to squirt out for five on second and seven. He was subbed out and Hawthorne, keying Ryan Moats from before the snap, took a bad angle of pursuit, bubbling up and away from Moats to stay parallel, and whiffed so badly that Moats didn't break stride, didn't even slow as he ducked then drove into the end zone. Lofa Tatupu at least gets a shoulder tackle on Moats, and a shoulder tackle would have staggered the roster cut veteran and allowed Seattle's defense to swarm and stop him.

Three more plays before the quarter ended:

1. Bites hard on play action, does not factor.

2. [Out]

3. Can't separate from Dreessen and is unambiguously held.

Now, I'd rather a rookie that lacks awareness than a rookie that lacks tools, but this was a bad, bad start for Curry. He looked as clueless as he did unskilled, and all his size, strength and speed didn't help him when he was reading wrong, reacting wrong and rarely where the ball was.

Post-Game Breakdown: Texans Lose To Jaguars...Again

Tim — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:05:04 -0000

Four losses in a row. To Indianapolis. To Tennessee. To Indianapolis. And yesterday afternoon, to Jacksonville. From a 5-3 start and talk of playoff contention to a 5-7 record and virtual elimination from relevance. Your Houston Texans finish their 2009 campaign with a 1-5 record in the AFC South. That's failure.

On to the details of the latest crime against the Texans fan base:

1. The single good thing to come out of yesterday's disaster was Matt Schaub refusing to let a little thing like a dislocated shoulder keep him out of the game. Had Brett Favre been the guy who was driven into the ground, we'd be treated to a full week of praise for Favre about his grit, toughness, commitment to his teammates, excellence, and leadership. Since it's Schaub, it won't merit much talk outside of Houston and/or fantasy owners. Thus, allow me to pick up the slack on this one.

After Schaub went down on the first play from scrimmage, I never thought for a second he'd be back and was resigning myself to the remainder of the 2009 season playing out with Rex Grossman under center, followed by a stint in rehab for me come January. But then...with about seven minutes left in the first half, there was Schaub, warming up on the sideline. I couldn't believe it. From the second he went down, judging from the way he went down and then the way he was holding his arm as he left the field, I thought Schaub separated his shoulder. Remember--Schaub missed the last few weeks of the 2007 season with an identical injury. Not this time. Schaub re-entered the game and very nearly brought the Texans back. It showed a resolve we hadn't ever seen from him, and it should put to rest any questions about his resilience. If Schaub can play, he will play. People can criticize him, but not for being soft. The guy's a gamer.

2. Good thing that Schaub's a gamer, too, because Rex Grossman looked awful. I don't even want to talk about it anymore.

3. Once again, Ryan Moats shows a burst that we haven't seen from a running back all year long. And once again, I'm sure he'll be banished to the bottom of the depth chart for reasons that elude me. Can anyone explain why Moats doesn't get more carries? Anyone?

4. Of all the things that puzzled/enraged me about yesterday's game, the most puzzling/infuriating was Chris Brown being in the game on the very next series after he tried to shot-put the ball in Joel Dreessen's general direction. How is it that Kubes can bench Steve Slaton and/or Ryan Moats for turning the ball over but not apply the same zero tolerance policy on C. Brown?

5. I appreciate those of you who think the halfback pass was a good call at the time. I vehemently disagree, and I think it's just the latest example of Kyle Shanahan and/or Gary Kubiak trying to get cute. Just as I had no clue why the Texans called a pass on third down at the IND 15 with slightly more than a minute to go in the first half last week, I'll never understand why the Texans would ask Chris Brown to make that play at that point in the game. It was a truly awful decision, trumped only by even more awful execution.

6. Although he coughed one ball up that turned into an interception, I continue to be impressed by David Anderson. Seems like he very quietly is good for a big third down conversion every week.

7. The absence of Owen Daniels makes Andre Johnson's consistency that much more unfathomable.

8. I never had anything against Chris White. Until yesterday. His false start, late in the third quarter, as the Texans prepared to go for it on 4th and 2 from the JAC 9, was as back-breaking a penalty as I've seen in some time.

9. I mentioned this a few weeks back in the PGB, and I'll reiterate it now: Is anyone else amazed at how no one has taken Alex Gibbs to task this season for the performance of the offensive line? They haven't been able to run block all year, and false starts seem to occur at an alarming rate, especially during this four-game swoon.

10. Why does Frank Bush EVER put the Texans into a zone? It never works. Ever. It's the schematic equivalent of raising a white flag.

11. Judging from the way Gus Johnson was lavishing praise on Dunta Robinson, I'm firmly of the belief that (1) Gus is on Dunta's payroll and/or (2) Gus hasn't watched the Texans play at all this year. The latter possibility is particularly troubling, considering that Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker have called several Texans games this year.

12. Theory: There is not a single member of the Texans secondary who would start for a playoff team except perhaps Bernard Pollard. Agree or disagree?

13. There aren't a whole lot more depressing things as a fan than to watch your defense get gashed via the run when everyone watching knows exactly what's coming, who's getting the ball, and a stop is absolutely crucial to avoid losing the game. It's demoralizing to watch. I can't even imagine what it has to be like for DeMeco Ryans & Co. The odd part is that the Texans did a fine job keeping Maurice Jones-Drew in check all the way up until that last drive. When they absolutely needed it the most, they couldn't do it.

14. Even though the Texans managed to sack David Garrard on four (4) occasions, I never really felt like they got to him. Just like last time, Garrard made the plays when he needed to, regardless of what the numbers say.

15. The Jaguars did everything they possibly could to give this game to the Texans, and the Texans refused to do anything about it. This was the sloppiest game I've seen two teams play in a good long while.

16. The calls for Kubiak's head are getting louder and louder. Not coincidentally, each loss and absurd playcall makes defending him harder and harder. JMay wrote a great FanPost on the topic, and I'll be writing a longer piece myself in the coming days on the subject. For now, I'll leave you with this thought...if you can't get a proven Super Bowl winning coach, are you content with replacing Kubes with someone who has no head coaching experience?

The Seahawks are next on the schedule. Here's hoping that Reliant doesn't look like Jacksonville Municipal Stadium on Sunday.

Texans vs Jaguars coverage

Post-Game Breakdown: Texans Drop Heartbreaker To Colts In Indianapolis

Tim — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:00:38 -0000

Almost a full day later, it still hurts. If you're a believer in moral victories, yesterday's loss in Indianapolis probably counts as a moral victory. If you're like me, moral victories do very little for you eight (8) years in. Still, there's a lot to like from what we saw yesterday against the Colts, and your Houston Texans nearly beat an undefeated team (perhaps the best team in the NFL right now) at their house. Unfortunately, they don't keep track of "near-wins," and we have two full weeks to digest what we saw before the Texans get a chance to take the field again. Let's get to the specifics from the fourth loss of the season:

1. Kris Brown--you are forgiven. He has hit far too many big kicks in his career as a Texan, including but not limited to that monstrous 56-yarder he put through the uprights immediately before the half to seize momentum from the Colts (although it must be noted that said boot was the fortuitious consequence of the Colts calling timeout and erasing his first try), not to receive the benefit of the doubt. It is fair, however, to note that Brown has missed the same number of FGs thus far in 2009 that he missed in all of 2008, in 19 fewer attempts. Worth keeping an eye on.

2. How is it that seemingly every Texans fan, going into the game, knew it was folly to try to cover Dallas Clark with a linebacker, yet Frank Bush assigned Brian Cushing to the task virtually the entire game? Linebackers simply cannot cover Clark, just like linebackers could not cover Owen Daniels. By putting Cushing on Clark, the Texans were essentially conceding the matchup, and Peyton Manning blistered 'em all day. Why not put a DB on Clark?

3. The Texans cannot play zone. It's the equivalent of death by a thousand cuts. Please, please, please do not subject us to any more zone looks, Mr. Bush. It's horrific to watch and astoundingly ineffective.

4. I do not come only to bury Frank Bush, friends. The horrors of the first half (first quarter in particular, when Peyton threw 25 (!) times for about 180 yards) were profound, yes, but Bush showed once again that he can make adjustments at halftime. Say what you will about the Houston offense controlling the ball in the second half, but that was a different Texans defense we saw after the intermission. The offense kept the defense fresh and off the field with sustained drives, but the defense was darn good in the second half.

5. In years past, your Houston Texans would have trailed the Colts 21-0 at halftime. This time, it was 13-3, because the defense bowed up and held the Colts to field goals. That is tangible and anecdotal progress.

6. Total Rushing Yards for Indianapolis: 72. Granted, they only ran it 18 times, primarily because they had so much success through the air. Still...72 yards is 72 yards.

7. I think Kerns e-mailed a copy of his Friday post to Bernard Pollard, because Pollard looked like a man angling for a new deal yesterday. Two interceptions from a SS who's not really the ballhawking type. Yes, one of them was on an awful throw from Reggie Wayne, and the other may well have been the result of a Colt running the wrong route. Regardless, both were HUGE plays and occurred on Houston's side of the field. Qualify them however you like, as long as you throw "HUGE" in there as well.

8. Glover Quin played exceptionally well. I've been one of those fans scratching my head over his elevation to the starting lineup over Jacques Reeves. No more. He's legit. ~~As legit as Fred Bennett was his rookie year!~~. Sorry about that.

9. Chicken/Egg here...although Reggie Wayne had 8 catches, he wasn't much of a factor. Was that relative ineffectiveness due to the Dallas Clark-Brian Cushing mismatch, or did Dunta Robinson have more to do with it than we'd like to admit? Personally, I'm of the mind that it's more the former, but Dunta can't win at this point. If Wayne would've had a big game, we'd all be ripping D-Rob for that.

10. Connor Barwin's contributions to the Texans yesterday came in the form of two gigantic penalties. Yet another reason why Tim Bulman is highly underrated.

11. I waited until the bye week was upon us to do this. I can't wait any longer. Here goes: Jacoby Jones is having a tremendous season. He's been an asset on special teams, in the passing game, and occasionally, in the running game. For someone I thought was sure to be cut in September, I might have been more wrong about him than I was about Cushing.

12. The preceding paragraph has guaranteed that Jacoby will fumble twice on Monday Night Football for all the world to see. My apologies--I simply couldn't continue not praising the guy for having a fine season.

13. While Joel Dreessen didn't put up Owen Daniels numbers, he did have a big third down catch. He's not OD. He doesn't have to be in an offense that features Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter starting at WR. That said, we saw how much Schaub misses OD yesterday. Peyton has Dallas Clark; Schaub had OD. Without OD, Schaub is more prone than ever to lock in on 'Dre and force passes his way (e.g., the pick into triple coverage). I hope that Schaub uses the bye week to reestablish the rapport he had last season with K-Dub. As amazing as 'Dre is, he cannot be expected to wrestle the football away from three defenders every game.

14. K-Dub's catch inside the IND 5 was one of the best I've seen this season. Nice to see him become a significant part of the offense again. I repeat: We're gonna need it more than ever with OD gone.

15. When Dwight Freeney beat Duane Brown yesterday, it looked really, really bad. What we don't see in nearly as dramatic fashion, however, is the multiple times Brown kept Freeney in check. Freeney's one of the best ends in the league, so Brown's going to get beat a time or three. Yet Schaub was clean most of the day, and that's a testament to the entire OL.

16. Schaub's second INT, though? All Chris Myers.

17. Matt Schaub finished with two (2) less completions and seven (7) less attempts than Peyton Manning en route to another 300+ yard passing day. Most importantly, he operated a two-minute offense, starting from his own 15 yard line, with no timeouts, and got the Texans into field goal range. That's about as good as it gets.

18. I hope Ryan Moats enjoyed that starting gig, because I don't think it's going to be his when the Titans visit on November 23rd. That's not to say he played poorly; he didn't. But when a guy gets the gig on the strength of not fumbling the football, then proceeds to fumble the football, all while the deposed starter does not fumble the football, I'm guessing Steve Slaton goes back to the first string.

19. Much was made in the Comments during and after the game about the Texans failing to snap the ball from the IND 1 after Moats appeared to fumble; as you'll recall, Houston let the clock run to the two-minute warning, which gave the Colts extra time to consider challenging the play. Which they did, successfully.

I don't blame Schaub for failing to snap the ball. I blame Kubes. More to the point, I blame whoever he's got in the booth. Kubes may not have been able to see it from the opposite sideline, but there's no excuse for his staff in the booth not to see what was going on. In the past, we've all given Kubes a lot of flack for his horrific and ill-timed challenges. Inevitably, this has led us to question exactly who he has watching over this stuff in the booth. I still don't know who it is. All I know is that the person or persons seem to be doing a very poor job. Even worse, Kubes doesn't seem to think it's a problem worth addressing.

20. Fake Game Balls: Offense--Matt Schaub (chiefly because of that final drive; Andre Johnson deserves it too); Defense--Bernard Pollard; Special Teams--Matt Turk (Jacoby actually did very little on punt returns, and I can't give it to the dude who missed the game-winner).

Now we get to work ourselves into a frenzy for two weeks until Bud Adams' Army of Darkness and Monday Night Football return to Reliant Stadium. It's gonna be a looooooooooong fortnight.

Texans vs Colts coverage
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Three And Out: Useless Predictions For Sunday's Game

Tim — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:35:45 -0000

Last week, yours truly correctly predicted that (1) Jacques Reeves would have an interception and (2) Matt Schaub's streak of turnover-less football would end. Pretty good, right? Kindly ignore the misplaced faith in Steve Slaton's hands, Owen Daniels' health, Schaub's ability to limit his turnovers to one, and/or Kevin Walter's reincorporation into the offense. Nothing to see there, friends. Don't let the misfirings get in the way of admiring my brilliance.

My crystal ball (which may or may not be an empty can of Coors Light) reveals that the following shall come to pass on Sunday in Indianapolis:

1. Ryan Moats will get the start and finish with 13 carries for 57 yards, as well as 3 receptions for 27 yards. Steve Slaton will finish with 9 carries for 64 yards and 4 receptions for 36 yards. Slaton will find the end zone, but he will also put the ball on the carpet again. And then we will be treated to two (2) weeks of chatter about whether Slaton should start on Monday Night Football against Bud Adams' Army of Darkness. Yippee.

2. If the Colts get the ball to start the game, I can't shake the feeling that Peyton Manning's going to have them up 14-0 before we know what happened. If the Texans get the ball to start the game, there will not be a two TD lead at any point all afternoon by either team. Needless to say, I'm going to be paying close attention to the coin toss. Personally, I'd go with tails.

3. The Colts are ravaged with injuries to their secondary, and Matt Schaub's going to take full advantage of it when Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis aren't in his grill. Schaub finishes with 284 yards passing, complete with 3 TDs and 1 INT. He'll also be dropped a total of three (3) times by the Indy defense. Owen Daniels is gone, but Joel Dreessen and Kevin Walter will pick up his slack. Between the two of them, they will account for 122 receiving yards and a TD.

PUT YOUR NAME ON IT: All hyperbole about this being the biggest game in franchise history aside, your Houston Texans are playing with house money on Sunday. No one expects them to beat the mighty Colts on the road. And with good reason--the Texans have never done it before. Unfortunately, I think this is the week that the Texans secondary gets exposed. I mean, it's Peyton Manning; he's the best QB in the league, and the Texans have yet to face a QB in the same zip code of excellence as the one in which Peyton resides. He's going to be the difference, though I think the Texans are going to make it tough on him, particularly in shutting down the Colts' running attack. Texans 24, Colts 30.

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Texans TE James Casey Also Out With Knee Injury

Mike Kerns — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:17:25 -0000

More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP

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The depth at Tight End is quickly depleting in Houston. First, Anthony Hill gets swine flu and has pretty much been MIA all season. Then Pro Bowler Owen Daniels tears his ACL and is out for the season. Well, it was just announced this afternoon that his replacement, James Casey, had to undergo meniscus knee surgery to repair some damage. He is expected to be back after the bye week to face the Titans on Monday Night Football on November 23rd.

Joel Dreessen is expected to be the every down TE this Sunday at Indianapolis. Houston has been somewhat fortunate with most of their injuries up to this point, but it is starting to get back to where it was last year now. Let's just pray it is going to stop here.

Post-Game Breakdown: Texans Beat Bills To Improve To 5-3

Tim — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:14:46 -0000

That was, well, uh, unique. Come the offseason, what will we remember yesterday's win for? That Owen Daniels' otherworldy season was cruelly cut short? That Steve Slaton's inability to hold onto the football finally had lasting consequences? That Ryan Moats somehow laid claim to a job that none of us ever thought would be in play? Possibilities all.

Personally, I believe I'm going to remember it for a different reason. Namely, that it was the first game I can readily recall in the Gary Kubiak Era that the defense won. Yes, the offense put up 31 points, highlighted by Moats' three (3) fourth quarter TD runs. The offense also turned the ball over three (3) times in the first quarter, thanks to two (2) picks by Matt Schaub and yet another inexcusable fumble by Slaton. In years past, those three turnovers would have been fatal. Each would have likely led to points, and the snowball effect of it all would have been insurmountable. Not this time, though.

This time, the defense refused to budge. This time, the three miscues resulted in a yield of only seven, not twenty-one, points. This time, the defense picked the offense up. For a team that's generally seen the offense compensating for the defense's shortcomings, that's simply huge. 31 points scored or not, any Texans fan who watched yesterday's game knows the victory belonged to the defense. I don't know about you, but I can't remember the last time a Houston win was due more to defense than offense. Pittsburgh in 2002 comes to mind, and that's it.

Has the defense arrived? Depends on what your definition of "arrived" is. No one's going to confuse this Texans' D with the Steel Curtain. But has it progressed to a point where you'd deem it average, with the capability of being flat out good on some afternoons? I think so. Given how good the offense has been on balance this season, this team just might be complete enough to make some noise when it counts. We'll find out much, much more in Indianapolis on Sunday.

On to the specifics from the Bills game:

1. Condolences to Owen Daniels, who was playing like one of the, if not the, best TE in the NFL. OD may have become Schaub's favorite target, even moreso than Andre Johnson. It's impossible to quantify how big OD's absence will loom until we see how the offense evolves, but I will say this: Schaub spreads the ball around, as evidenced by the fact that ten (10!) different Texans had receptions yesterday. If there was ever a system that could withstand the loss of a star, it may be this one.

2. Joel Dreessen figures to be the new starter at TE, but James Casey was the guy catching passes once OD went down. There's little doubt that Casey can be a helluva receiver; unfortunately, that's only half the gig. It's going to be his blocking skills that limit his snaps, at least for a little while. Dreessen is the more complete option at TE for now, though I expect Casey to see more and more time as the season progresses.

3. Going to be very, very, very, VERY interesting to see how the organization proceeds with Daniels in contract talks. Everything OD has done this season up to the point of injury says he deserves big dollars. Now what? Although the situations aren't identical, they're similar enough that the way the Texans handled Dunta Robinson is probably instructive. I'd be surprised if Daniels doesn't get the franchise tag in a few months; he's going to (rightfully) want more than the Texans are likely to offer, and the Texans are going to want to see him produce on that surgically repaired knee before they commit to the kind of dollars OD wants.

4. There's been a lot of back and forth on what Kubes should do about his newfound Steve Slaton/Ryan Moats conundrum. My take is rather simple, echoes the view of several others, and pains me considerably, seeing as how Slaton is on my fantasy squad. Start Moats against the Colts. He earned it with what he did yesterday, and Slaton earned it with what he's done all season. That's not to say that Slaton should be tethered to the bench. He's the most talented RB on the roster, and he should remain a big part of the gameplan on Sunday. Until Slaton shows he can avoid putting the ball on the turf, however, he cannot be consistenly counted upon. Although the sample size is skewed, the data we have this season shows that Moats is the more surehanded option. As such, give him the start.

5. It's a fine line Kubes has to walk; he can't bury Slaton, and he has to be careful not to exacerbate what I imagine is an increasingly mental problem for Slaton. At the same time, he can't keep trotting Slaton out there as though nothing's wrong when the early returns show that Slaton's good for a fumble or two each game. Turnovers kill, and Slaton's been skirting first-degree murder charges all season.

6. One more word about Casey, before I forget. Prior to OD's injury (I think), Casey had an absolutely monstrous special teams tackle. Merits a mention.

7. As LoneSpot noted in the Comments, Super Mario managed to completely avoid mention in the box score. Odd, though I seem to recall him being directly responsible for one sack by making Ryan Fitzpatrick step up into the pocket and into someone's grasp. I plan on writing a longer post about Mario in the coming days.

8. Antonio Smith finally posted some stats yesterday. Again, I think he's been solid for most of the year; it just hasn't shown up statistically. Now it has.

9. Amobi Okoye is not a bust.

10. Is Brian Cushing already the second-best linebacker in franchise history? Depends on what you think about Jamie Sharper.

11. Bernard Pollard is too good in run support to have been on the street when the season started. Smithiak really got lucky there.

12. Terrell Owens got his first TD of the season because Dunta Robinson did not do his job. -Jay saw it immediately and pointed it out to me; I caught it on the replay. Dunta had contain and should have forced Owens inside on that TD run. Instead, Dunta gave up the sideline, and that was all she wrote.

13. Has anyone gotten further explanation why Jacques Reeves was demoted to the nickel corner job? I like Glover Quin and all, but I don't get it.

14. Sign No. 79 This May Not Be Your Grandmother's Texans Defense: Jacques Reeves put his hands up and made a fine play in the end zone in coverage on Terrell Owens.

15. This would be where I lavished praise on Jacoby Jones if I wasn't terrified of jinxing Jacoby Jones.

16. Fake Game Balls: Offense--Ryan Moats; Defense--Brian Cushing; Special Teams--Rhymes with "Macoby Mones."

Off to Indy before the bye week. Peyton Manning & Co. may well be playing the best football in the entire league right now, and the Texans have had as many wins at the RCA Dome as Kerry Collins does this season. The Colts are prohibitive favorites, as they should be. It's going to take a near-perfect effort from the Texans to pull this one out. A month ago, that wouldn't have seemed possible. Now? Who knows?

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Owen Daniels "Likely Done For The Year"

Jake — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:55:02 -0000

More photos » by Ed Reinke - AP

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I know everyone is celebrating the win, but today wasn't an all out victory for the Texans. The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Owen Daniels is likely out for the season with a torn ligament in his knee. Obviously, this suck for both the Texans and Daniels who was on pace to shatter his career bests in yardage, receptions and touch downs.

I guess Rick Smith has the ability to look like a genius for drafting two tight ends this year. One way or another, it will be interesting to see what they have in James Casey. He didn't look phenomenal or bad today, but he'll have a full week with the starters to try and fill OD's shoes against one of the biggest games of the year in Indianapolis. Sorry to crap in everyone's cereal.

Texans vs. Bengals - Game Recap

Jake — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:22:29 -0000

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Hard to be a Texans fan and not be pleased with the game yesterday. Despite some lingering issues here and there, the Texans beat the Bengals in every facet of the game. I still think that the Bengals are a good team, so the fact that the boys in Liberty White were able to go into Cincinnati and get a win is impressive. Here's what I saw for the good, the bad or the significant in the third win of the season for the Texans.

Gary Kubiak/Kyle Shanahan - I wanted to start with Kubes and Baby Shan because I was critical of them in the last week. The offensive play calling was amazingly better this game. The fact that the Texans again lost the ability to run the ball after showing proficiency in the first half is disconcerting, but the offensive play calling created ways to adjust for the problems in the running game. The swing passes and screens worked extremely well especially given how aggressive the Bengals' front seven were playing. 87 yards rushing will not get it done, but at least Kubiak and Shanahan showed that they will use the weapons that are still viable if the run is not.

Matt Schaub - Matt played one of the best games I've ever seen him play in a Texans uniform. I got the distinct feeling that his ankle is still really bothering him from watching him limp between plays, which makes his performance that much more notable. If an opposing defense gets him moving laterally out of the pocket the chances of an incompletion are pretty high, but he's proving that if he can step up in the pocket he's going to make the throw whether he gets hit or not. I just wish he would quit throwing that sideline, out route throw that Johnathan Joseph almost intercepted and took to the house the same way that Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie did a week ago.

Steve Slaton - Stevie Wonder looked much better than he has all season, but he is still not up to the level that he was playing at last season. One thing that I saw yesterday that I hadn't since 2008 was his ability to slip out of the first tackle and get extra yards. I would feel much better about his performance if he hadn't fumbled the ball twice. Granted, one of those he was ruled down by contact (Kubiak won a challenge!) but I would rather he not put that decision in the refs' hands and just hold on to the ball.

Andre Johnson - What can you say about this guy? He's as close to automatic as a wide receiver can be in this league. Leading up to the game I read a lot of articles lauding the Bengals for their ability to shut down elite wide receivers this year. After Andre's 8 receptions for 135 yards, I don't think they'll be writing that again next week. I hate myself already for saying this because of how superstitious I am, but as long as he stays healthy for the rest of his career I think we are watching the first future Hall of Fame inductee in Texans history.

Duane Brown - Brown is quietly coming into his own. He did give up a sack yesterday, but otherwise he was very good in protection of Schaub. What makes Brown so good though, is his ability to get out wide and block on screen plays. He made the block that sprung Slaton on his touch down reception and made several other great blocks in space throughout the game. His level of physical shape has made a huge difference this year.

Owen Daniels - Owen is proving that no matter how good Joel Dreessen or James Casey may be, he is irreplaceable. He has great receiving skills that go beyond the soft hands required to make that amazing one-handed grab in the end zone, although those are nice. There was at least one play where OD sensed the zone coverage to his right so he instinctively slid to his left so that Schaub had a chance at a completion. Not many tight ends in the league have his mix of blocking and receiving.

Jacoby Jones - I've never hated and loved one player so much. When he muffed that punt that went out of bounds, I told a buddy who was watching the game with me, "That's good. He's good for one a game, and that one went out of play so we should be good now." That's how conditioned I am to his dropped punts. On the other hand, he did tally his fourth TD of the season. Even though the dropsies are still there on punt returns, this is the most productive season by far of his short career.

Mario Williams - The lack of sacks this year is a problem (only 2), but Mario is playing the run better than he ever has. He seems much more comfortable at left defensive end against right tackles, where he played quite a few snaps yesterday. In my opinion, the Texans need a pass rush specialist to play on the right side so Mario can play on the left.

Connor Barwin - Speaking of hoping for a pass rush specialist, Barwin recorded his first NFL sack yesterday. As big as it was, he simply beat the Bengals RT with an old fashioned speed rush. Barwin shoes flashes either in coverage or on special teams, but he is still green and needs time before he can make a difference on third downs. Still nice to see him get a sack in the city where he played his college ball though.

Amobi Okoye - Yesterday wasn't nearly as good of a day for Okoye as the previous two weeks, but Amobi still let his presence be known in the middle. We tore the defensive line to shreds many a time this season, so we might as well give them credit for holding the NFL's leading rusher to 16 rushes for 44 yards. Okoye has 18 tackles in 6 games now, which is 6 short of what he tallied in 14 games last year.

Glover Quin - The more GQ develops, the more that Dunta is expendable. I by no means think that Quin is a shutdown cover corner, but neither is Robinson. Glover plays with a very similar style to Dunta as well; he may not be an absolute lock in coverage but he supports the run extremely well. He did also break up a pass in the end zone yesterday, although Cedric Benson scored a play later anyway.

Dunta Robinson - Dunta is playing better, but he is still a liability in coverage. He had two instances of pass interference yesterday, one of which was called. Carson Palmer was throwing the ball well where only his receivers could get it, but even so if the Bengals WR's hadn't dropped a couple of those passes Dunta would have been burnt a lot more. He had a couple of huge plays (blowing someone up, great open field tackle on a screen), but I still get nervous when opposing quarterbacks target him.

Bernard Pollard - To dismiss the progress the defense has made in the last three weeks since Pollard was put into the starting lineup would be unfair. He is slow to react in coverage, but he plays the run very effectively and delivers some big hits. As much as you need a complete safety in today's NFL, he's a huge improvement over Dominique Barber and John Busing who weren't playing the run or the pass very well.

DeMeco Ryans - The rookie is getting most of the attention lately, but DeMeco is still playing lights out. He led the squad yesterday in tackles (12) and had a couple of nice pressures on Palmer. What's more impressive about Captain 'Meco is how intelligently he plays the game. As Solis already pointed out, he immediately ran to Cushing after the game-sealing interception and made him go down, thus not risking any turnovers (remember Wilson's interception against Miami last year?). Why hasn't this guy been paid yet?

Brian Cushing - I've never been happier to be wrong in my life, and on the spectrum of being wrong, I was Crying Game wrong. Cushing had 9 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, 2 pass breakups and a coffin nailing interception that was so nice I'm sure it made the Bengals wide receivers embarrased for all of the drops they had. For being six games into his career, this guy is a beast. My ultimate act of contrition is coming soon in the form of a #56 Battle Red jersey.

Frank Bush - As terribly as the defense played in the beginning of the year, it seems as if they're making progress. I definitely don't like that the Texans were up 14-7 with 1:35 to go in the first half and yet found themselves down 17-14 going into the break, but other than that it was a dominant performance defensively. A lot of those holding/tripping calls being called on the Bengals were due to the fact that the Texans defenders were beating them and illegal plays of desperation ensued.

The Texans defense continued a unique phenomenon yesterday; second half dominance. The relinquished 0 points and 78 total yards in the second half to a team that had thus far been known for its late game heroics. After yesterday's outing, the defense is now averaging 7 points allowed in the second half. Not everything is fixed, and I still have nightmares about good passing teams (ahem... Colts), but I was complaining about lack of progress, and the defense is definitely making strides.

Post-Game Breakdown: Jaguars Defeat Texans

Tim — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:52:18 -0000

Yak.

As passionate as I am about your Houston Texans, I generally try not to overreact to a single game. Admittedly, I sometimes fail. This is one of those times. With that warning in mind, go ahead and skip the rest of this post if you're looking for pick-me-ups or they'll-get-'em-next-times. After yesterday's latest kick to the collective groin of the Texans fan base, those commodities are in relatively short supply. Not totally absent, but scarce. Let's get to it. We'll even start with the good:

1. One horrendous early pick aside (and it was a horrible throw/decision in every sense of the word), Matt Schaub played very well. He hit seven (7) different receivers, and it would've been eight if Joel Dreessen's TD catch hadn't been nullified by Kevin Walter's alleged offensive pass interference. As we saw in Tennessee, Schaub will put points on the board for this team if he's given time to throw. His greatest flaw is not his durability. It's his inability to play defensive back.

2. Kevin Walter makes this offense so much better that it's not even funny. He did a tremendous job adjusting his routes whenever Schaub got in trouble, and he works the middle of the field better than any receiver the Texans have ever had. Most importantly, he showed no signs of that tweaked hamstring.

3. As I texted BFD during the game, how is it that Jacoby Jones' hands can be so sure at WR yet such a liability in the return game? I know he didn't put the ball on the ground yesterday, but what does it say about your return man when every fan in the stands is praying that the ball will go over his head on every kick?

4. What was the general consensus on Kasey Studdard's first start? Overall, I thought the offensive line did a solid job in pass protection and a decent (as in, it got better as the game progressed) job run blocking. Although I was nervous about Studdard's debut, Schaub stayed upright for the overwhelming majority of the game and didn't appear to take many hits, so does Studdard get a passing grade?

5. I remain as perplexed as ever about Steve Slaton. While he looked better than he has all season, had a couple of 10+ yard runs, and a made monstrous 22 yard catch on third down late in the third quarter in what was easily his best game of the young season, Slaton still appears to be bracing for first contact whenever he takes a hand-off, which is something I don't recall him doing last year. Whatever the cause of his struggles, said problem(s) render Slaton, and to a large extent the running game, a total afterthought in the red zone. If the Texans were inside Jacksonville's 20, Slaton wasn't getting the ball.

6. Was it just me, or did Andre Johnson once again seem to go way too long between targets?

7. Owen Daniels already has the same number of TDs in 2009 that he had in all of 2008. He and his agent have to be rather pleased with that. Quick...someone check his Facebook to see if he's expressed that glee in print.

8. Helluva call by Kyle Shanahan to run K-Dub on 4th and 1. No one saw that coming.

And that's enough praise. On to the other side of the ball...BFD already did yeoman work pointing out the myriad inadequacies of the defense, so I'm going to do my best not to repeat him. Bear with me.

9. Words cannot describe how much the Houston secondary sucks. They do not cover, and they do not tackle. Fred Bennett might as well have a bullseye on his back, and I'd be even more down on him if not for this FanPost making such a convincing case that Bennett is merely the unfortunate whipping boy of a doomed scheme. Right or wrong, however, watching him get attacked did bring back memories of how Petey Faggins virtually sported a neon flashing "THROW HERE!" in place of a number during his tenure with the Texans.

10. The safety play simply cannot get any worse. I now wonder whether Eugene Wilson and his appallingly deficient counterpart should just line up a few steps inside the pylons before every snap.

11. Dunta Robinson made two (2) big-time plays on Sunday--he had a great deflection, and he had that strip of Sims-Walker late in the fourth. He still prefers diving at ankles to wrapping up, and his overall play continues to make me think that he'll never get anywhere close to the deal he turned down from the Texans from any other team this off-season. In that regard: Good news, Dunta. Keep it up and there's no way the Texans will franchise you again.

12. Brian Cushing continues to show he has a real nose for the ball. Unless David Garrard has the ball, in which case he freezes and lets Garrard waltz into the end zone untouched. Lest anyone think I'm being unfair in that assessment, I'll readily admit that Garrard was almost certainly in regardless of how Cushing reacted, due to the wide swath of open field and the complete absence of any help on that side of the field. But Cushing did freeze, and he didn't lay a finger on Garrard as he crossed the goal line despite appearing to be in position to pop him.

13. Staying on Garrard--his stats were totally pedestrian, but watching the game, I would've sworn he had much better numbers. It seemed like he made a play every time one needed to be made.

14. The numbers make a pretty damning case for Frank Bush being a bad defensive coordinator with a bad scheme. After being subjected to Richard Smith's virulent opposition to the concept of blitzing for three (3) years, I love that Bush seems committed to sending more than his four linemen after the QB. What I don't love is that bringing that additional pressure leaves the middle of the field wide open and further exploits a terrible secondary. Whereas I once thought that blitzing would buttress a crappy secondary (e.g., the QB has less time to throw and thus the DBs don't have to cover as long), I'm now forced to question that stance. Then again, if you don't blitz, you're asking a pathetic secondary to cover their assignments even longer, and you know that isn't going to work. Bush seems damned if he does and damned if he doesn't in that respect, doesn't he?

15. No matter how much you might blame Frank Bush for the atrocities his defense has visited upon us the last three weeks, you cannot blame him for the lack of talent, especially in the secondary. There's not a DB on the roster who would start for a good NFL team.

16. There will be a separate post concerning what happened during the last four minutes and twenty-five seconds of the game, and I should have it up sometime tomorrow (Tuesday). Here's a teaser: I found Gary Kubiak's strategy so amazingly poor that I lost my mind during the end and immediately after the game. Now, more than 24 hours later, that emotion has crystallized into the first real, sustaining doubt I've ever had about whether Gary Kubiak should be coaching your Houston Texans.