Reality Check

[painekiller]

There is a reason I picked the Steelers for the Super Bowl, they have their systems down. They know how to draft guys to replace the guys they lost, and they do not have to force players on the field. That is what happens when you have had a decade of the same system.

Yes we are all tired of loosing, but this game is against a top 3 or 4 team in the NFL. We are not ready to go into a Pittsburgh and beat a team of that caliber.

Now a couple of points. Gibbs system works best when you are playing with a lead, or tied. It is not good at having to throw the ball from a pocket. Why? Because the very reason the OL is effective getting to the 2nd level is that they are smaller and quicker. Well smaller and quicker does not work as well in a power battle. (My understanding was the rookie played OK, not great, but he wasn't the biggest issue in the OL).

2nd point about the OL, it takes more than a training camp to gel an OL. This is a new scheme to them, they have 3 new starters from the end of last season. I watched the Oilers OL with 2 future HOF players start the Jack Pardee era looking like they had never played football before. That OL took a few weeks to gel, but they did, and IRC they went to the playoffs.

Now to the defense, our DL is undersized in the middle to play smash mouth football with teams like Pittsburgh. We start 2 undertackles, and do not have a NT ready to start in the NFL. Hopefully Okam will develop, but remember it took Wilfork a few years to develop and he was a 1st rounder, same with Tommy Harris.

Now the secondary is not good currently. We need to draft a safety in the top 2 rounds next year, it will be a good safety draft. Also Reeves is playing his way to the bench, and it will take time for Molden to get adjusted to the NFL. And maybe Eugene Wilson plays his way onto the field. Time, we need time to mature.

The Houston Oilers used to get blown out a lot on the away opener, and they still recovered. If you thought we where going to start 3-0 this season then you have been drinking to much tea or you have not been looking at the team. Kubiak does not need to be fired, Shanahan is going to be the OC for a while, Richard Smith is not in trouble yet. (But his chair should be getting warm).

Positives? Mario is proving that is not a fluke. Slaton is proving me wrong about him so far.

[Joshua]

I agree that our entire team is built to play with a lead. Unfortunately, that is something we rarely have.

I actually thought Reeves played OK. He broke up a deep ball and was well positioned on a couple of plays. I was much more concerned by the play of Bennett. They went after him non-stop. He was also terrible against the run. He gave up the corner on numerous runs (including a TD). I thought it was a very bad day for him. Much worse than Reeves (although maybe I just expected more).

Overall, I hate the softness of our team. No one (except Mario) scares anyone. No one brings the wood. Seems like every tackle is our guys just riding the guy down.

[popanot]

Expected a win in Pitt? No. Expected to compete? Absolutely! That team was a complete embarrassment in all phases of the game today. I have a hard time believing they would have beaten an awful team today - early lead or not.

[nunusguy]

I was worried about our DLine after the 3rd preseason game against the Cowboys when everyone played atleast a half. Now I'm even more worried about them, because the Steelers OLine was not thought to be that good, as they played as if they are one of the leagues best against the Texans.

[Nconroe]

Yeah, looked like we got out muscled and outsmarted. not a good start . trying to think it is one of 16 and bound to get better.

[NBT]

The saying is the coaches can only coach, the players have to play. Well yes, BUT Jethro Franklin's Dline (other than Mario) would not scare me in the least. Then there is our DC, Richard Smith, I have maintained for almost 2 years now, that he is not the answer.

Why does every pro houston team always have to start out slow. I have never understood that. We not only started slow, we got pasted by a team that I maintain, is not that much better than we are. They were ready to play, we very obviously were not. Why?

I didn't get to see the game, so until I can review the tape, I can't comment on individual personnel.

[bono]

i'd really like to see Weaver not play. maybe see more of Okam as a big fatty up front

[jppaul]

I completely agree. I don't think Weaver gives you anything as a pass rusher and apparently he is useless in the run game too.

Might as well put Okam at Defensive end for all the pass rush Weaver gives us.

[TexicanMexican]

The saying is the coaches can only coach, the players have to play. Well yes, BUT Jethro Franklin's Dline (other than Mario) would not scare me in the least. Then there is our DC, Richard Smith, I have maintained for almost 2 years now, that he is not the answer.

Why does every pro houston team always have to start out slow. I have never understood that. We not only started slow, we got pasted by a team that I maintain, is not that much better than we are. They were ready to play, we very obviously were not. Why?

I didn't get to see the game, so until I can review the tape, I can't comment on individual personnel.
What's the over/under on how many games Richard Smith makes it to? I tongue in cheek told my friends he gets canned after the Cincy game. But that prediction was more a salute to the way Pardee and Gilbride were taken out back and shot after a loss to the Bungles.

[Big Texas]

We have a densive line full of alleged pass rushers. and the ony one rushing the pass is mario. there were several plays I saw amobi making some great moves to get in the back field early to stop the run. but as I mentioned before, he was always in the wrong spot. I blame that on the coaching. The coaches should put you where you need to be and then the player should do the rest.
They have the worst blitz packages I have ever seen.

Good note:
Everyone in our division lost except the Titans and Vince got hurt.

[KJ3]

(My understanding was the rookie played OK, not great, but he wasn't the biggest issue in the OL).

2nd point about the OL, it takes more than a training camp to gel an OL. This is a new scheme to them, they have 3 new starters from the end of last season. I watched the Oilers OL with 2 future HOF players start the Jack Pardee era looking like they had never played football before. That OL took a few weeks to gel, but they did, and IRC they went to the playoffs.
i thought brown was alright, he only let one guy through for a sack that i saw. maybe a few pressures but for a rookie, IN pittsburgh, against that crazy ass defense i'm not upset at all.

Now to the defense, our DL is undersized in the middle to play smash mouth football with teams like Pittsburgh. We start 2 undertackles, and do not have a NT ready to start in the NFL. Hopefully Okam will develop, but remember it took Wilfork a few years to develop and he was a 1st rounder, same with Tommy Harris.
....or casey hampton....we clearly just need a big, big man to lean over on opposing o'lines. that got the better of myers all day.

Now the secondary is not good currently. We need to draft a safety in the top 2 rounds next year, it will be a good safety draft. Also Reeves is playing his way to the bench, and it will take time for Molden to get adjusted to the NFL. And maybe Eugene Wilson plays his way onto the field. Time, we need time to mature.
does molden, wilson, and dunta (eventually) help? i think a safety is in order too but help is on the way sooner than that so maybe things will lighten up?

Positives? Mario is proving that is not a fluke. Slaton is proving me wrong about him so far.
on track for 32 sacks!! alooo haaaa waaaiiiiiii.... aloooo haaa waaaaiiiiiii....

[painekiller]

does molden, wilson, and dunta (eventually) help? i think a safety is in order too but help is on the way sooner than that so maybe things will lighten up?

I want them to be a help, but until they are on the field proving that they are an upgrade over the guys playing.

I mean I think Barber and Harrison have some potential, but they have to be able to show it on the field.

Remember this name William Moore. That is my preseason #1 pick.

[KJ3]

Oh no, you've already got to me about Moore...believe me i'm on board!

It shouldn't take much out of barber or harrison to see playing time. Brown is....not very good.

[Big Texas]

He just always looks outta place.

For example the TD pass to Hines Ward across the middle of the endzone. He went after Heath Miller on the short in pattern as opposed to maintaining his zone responsibilities deep.

Bad Decisions.

[coloradodude]

One part masochist, one part Texan fan.

Well, I'm glad that happened. Now we can forget about that coveted 16-0 season and focus on what the problem is in each specific area.

Oh, and Richard Smith, you better sleep in the film room through the end of October. No pass rush? No excuse!

[NBT]

I simply don't agree that safety is our biggest concern, or even that big a priority. To me it has to be DE #1, and CB #2.

[gunn]

Remember this name William Moore. That is my preseason #1 pick.

I'm looking for a little more smashmouth, so I'm going with Rey Maualuga instead.

[HPF Bob]

Good note:
Everyone in our division lost except the Titans and Vince got hurt.

That's the point I was going to make. I'd much rather lose to the Steelers on the road than lose to the Bears at home. The Jags look like a mess and the Titans are an entirely different team if VY is not in there so the whole division looks messed up right now. Just cause we got out butts spanked doesn't mean we are in dire straits.

[Joshua]

Although I'm not convinced VY getting hurt isn't bad for us.

[kravix]

Although I'm not convinced VY getting hurt isn't bad for us.

I'm with you. I was thinking about it and Collins is a much better QB than VY. With improved QB play on top of their def that team may just have gotten much better for the next few weeks.

[painekiller]

I'm looking for a little more smashmouth, so I'm going with Rey Maualuga instead.

I think Mualuga is a top 10 maybe top 5 pick, so that is one reason I am not projecting him. Then comes the #59 homers that don't think you can move Ryans for anyone.

I say Willis was good enough to move Ryans, and Mauluga is that same kind of guy. I want the 3 best LBs on the field and a huge fast, hit hard player next Ryans is a huge upgrade for this team.

[painekiller]

I simply don't agree that safety is our biggest concern, or even that big a priority. To me it has to be DE #1, and CB #2.


Never said it was the top need. I am one of those guys that says take best player at a position of need.

That said, I think I want to see where Duanta is week 17, and how much Molden progresses, before saying CB#2 is a huge need. But as Al Davis used to say, you can never have enough CBs.

I want play makers, and I think you can get a play making DE in the top 3 rounds, but time will tell.

BTW DE, Safety, RB, seem to be the top needs. Every where else I will let guys mature thru this season to make decisions on them.

[Keith]

Good note:
Everyone in our division lost except the Titans and Vince got hurt.

Yep, the Colts lost at home, the Jags looked pretty bad in Nashville. The Jags also lost both of their starting OG's too.

The Texans really need to have a short-term memory about this, pray their run defense learns how to contain speed rushers, and move on to Week 2.

[KJ3]

I simply don't agree that safety is our biggest concern, or even that big a priority. To me it has to be DE #1, and CB #2.
biggest probably not but i think you have to give the CB's we already have some help over-the-top before we draft another one.

Although I'm not convinced VY getting hurt isn't bad for us.yup. they seem to win in spite of vy, not because of him.

I think Mualuga is a top 10 maybe top 5 pick, so that is one reason I am not projecting him. Then comes the #59 homers that don't think you can move Ryans for anyone.

I say Willis was good enough to move Ryans, and Mauluga is that same kind of guy. I want the 3 best LBs on the field and a huge fast, hit hard player next Ryans is a huge upgrade for this team.if he (or the texans:eek:) slip though....mmm mmm damn that would be sweet. 59 would know his place and we'd have a hell of a LB group. diles, mauluga, ryans. mmmmmmmm.....

[papabear]

Just wanted to put my thoughts in on last weeks game. We all know it sucked. I think the thing that upset me the most was that when we got punched in the mouth we didn't punch back. We knew that our line would have trouble with the steelers, we just didn't know, or hoped, we would have that much trouble. We knew that it would be hard to stop their running game. I felt to have a chance in this game we had to have a good start and get ahead early so that the Steelers couldn't just grind it out on the ground. That was the exact opposite of what happened.

-I thoiught Brown was OK in pass protection early on. He was getting beat to the inside, but seemed to be able to recover enough to let the ball get out. More pressure than I would like, but acceptable for a rookie on oppening day. That didn't last, and he was beaten like a rented mule the rest of the day.

-It seemed in the run game that a lot of the tackles were coming from the pressure created up the middle by Hampton. He was just a terrible matchup for us so it was disappointing, but not that surprising. There also seemed to be a lot of plays being made by the backside defenders....which in my elementary understanding of the zone system is where the cut blocking should be. I guess if you drink the kool aid this could be a positive because it means that as the lineman get more time cut-blocking this should be something that will be cleaned up.

-Schaub was terrible. He pulled a Carr move and just went to the ground once. He didn't throw the ball away when he was under pressure and out of the tackle box. He made two just absolutely ridiculous throws. He missed some open receivers that you could even see on TV. I wish I could see the coaches tape to see how many times guys were covered up when he dumped off for no gain, but either way he appeared to be way to locked in on AJ. I still think that Schaub is better than Rosey, but I was even wondering if it was time for a switch. It's not, but it has to be in Kubiaks head at least.

-The pass blocking was bad. At least one of the sacks was leach's fault, and maybe more were on the backs. I'm sure one or two could be put on Schaub for being late with his reads and getting the ball out. That being said there was still too much pressure to expect much out of any quarterback.

-the linebackers as a group were terrible...and yes I include Demeco in that. I really expected much more out of this group. Diles seemed to be playing all out and seemed to be around the ball a lot but never really made an impact. Demeco was in on a lot of plays, but seemed late to react and the tackles came too far downfield. Greenwood was atrocious, by far the worse of the three. I think it was Parkers last touchdown that went outisde. All three of the LB's were standing flat footed not even leaning in the direction of the run to pursue before the lineman got blocks on them and Bennet missed another tackle. It was just one play, but it's the best example of their play from that day that I can remember.

-The secondary was bad. Fred has to do a better job when forced to step up in run support. He and Reeves got beat, but I thought most of the damage was done to the safeties and in the LB's zone.

-Mario was good. He got caught on a draw play or two, but even without the sacks he was disruptive and was doing a good job against the run...at least early on.

-Slaton ran hard. I'm sure he had his mistakes, but I like his willingness to put his head down and fight for an extra yard. Combine that with his speed and he might be more than I expected if the line gets together on the blocking scheme.

Most of this has already been said, but as bad as it was I'm not ready to start preparing for next years draft either. This was a damn good team. I think we are more than capable of playing them much closer than what we did last week, but we just didn't respond well to the early problems. Before the season started everyone was saying how if we can get through the first five weeks at 2-3 we did OK. After one loss everyones in panic mode. Nobody expected one of the losses to be this bad. If we can win this week (and Baltimore looks tougher than I thought they would be) then we are right back to being on schedule. Jacksonville looked worse than people expected too. Tenn's defense was fantastic, but the VY drama could self destruct that team at any moment. I think the Colts struggles are only temporary, and as soon as Manning gets back in the swing they will be as dangerous as ever. Even so we're tied with the two teams who are favored to win the division. We can't play like we did against Pittsburgh, but there's still hope.

I didn't re-watch the game so this is just from memory. I know most of it has been said....but I think I needed to get it out, like therapy. It's all good now, and my mind has switched to Baltimore and the tailgate menu.

[Bigtinylittle]

Great post.

The thing is, this game has to be kept in perspective as just one game. We may be this bad, or we may not. Way too soon to tell.

As far as Schaub, this game exposed his one true weakenss: Lack of mobility. A scrambler would have bailed out on almost every pass play and bought himself some time. Schaub can't do that very well.

I was really surprised we didn't go to three step drops, if for no other reason than to keep Schaub from getting injured. There were a couple of times I was surprised he got up.

[HPF Bob]

The Jags are so desperate for line help that they just signed MILFord Brown.

[Mike]

Even so we're tied with the two teams who are favored to win the division. We can't play like we did against Pittsburgh, but there's still hope.

I didn't re-watch the game so this is just from memory. I know most of it has been said....but I think I needed to get it out, like therapy. It's all good now, and my mind has switched to Baltimore and the tailgate menu.

Nice post. Long but nice. :D That really sums everything up and puts it all in perspective. I am done looking back at last weeks game. I could not re-watch it. I could not open the wounds and grind salt into them. It was like waiting for Christmas and then when it got here, there were no presents under the tree. That is what hurt the most, even if they did not win, I was hoping to see them compete.

The key is how they respond this week. If they can win this week and look like the team we think can be , then all is OK again. We'd be at 1-1, right where we expected them to be. This is a big week for the staff and team. How they prepare and play will speak volumes for the remaining 14 games. I am not mentally prepared for another 2-14. I can't deal with that again.

[papabear]

Nice post. Long but nice. :D That really sums everything up and puts it all in perspective. I am done looking back at last weeks game. I could not re-watch it. I could not open the wounds and grind salt into them. It was like waiting for Christmas and then when it got here, there were no presents under the tree. That is what hurt the most, even if they did not win, I was hoping to see them compete.

The key is how they respond this week. If they can win this week and look like the team we think can be , then all is OK again. We'd be at 1-1, right where we expected them to be. This is a big week for the staff and team. How they prepare and play will speak volumes for the remaining 14 games. I am not mentally prepared for another 2-14. I can't deal with that again.

The crazy thing is despite my rambling bitch fest, I really don't think any less of this teams chances than I did a few weeks ago. Baltimore scares me now. Huge NT in the middle. Blitzes like crazy and can run it down your throat. I thought the key to beating Pittsburgh would be to get a good start, hopefully an early lead, and have a ball controll offense...whether that was with the running game or with short passes, Andy Reid Style. The one thing we couldn't do was to get down big and be forced to pass to catch up. That holds true for this week as well. Hopefully the execution is better this week.

[cadams]

The crazy thing is despite my rambling bitch fest, I really don't think any less of this teams chances than I did a few weeks ago. Baltimore scares me now. Huge NT in the middle. Blitzes like crazy and can run it down your throat. I thought the key to beating Pittsburgh would be to get a good start, hopefully an early lead, and have a ball controll offense...whether that was with the running game or with short passes, Andy Reid Style. The one thing we couldn't do was to get down big and be forced to pass to catch up. That holds true for this week as well. Hopefully the execution is better this week.

agreed. our defense needs to be playing with a lead.

[sinnister]

agreed. our defense needs to be playing with a lead.

If they play like they did against the steelers, they need to be playing with a 40 point lead.

[papabear]

-It seemed in the run game that a lot of the tackles were coming from the pressure created up the middle by Hampton. He was just a terrible matchup for us so it was disappointing, but not that surprising. There also seemed to be a lot of plays being made by the backside defenders....which in my elementary understanding of the zone system is where the cut blocking should be. I guess if you drink the kool aid this could be a positive because it means that as the lineman get more time cut-blocking this should be something that will be cleaned up.



I know a lot of you have already seen this, but I thought it was a great preview of this weeks game at Thoma Hilton's fanblog...better than anything written by those on the payroll. I thought the section about the Zone scheme was interesting.

http://blogs.chron.com/fanblogtexans/2008/09/texans_vs_ravens_preview_stay.html