Notes on Titans game

[barrett]

1. It continues to amaze me how athletic Duane Brown is as a run blocker in this scheme. He regularly hooks ends and gets to the 2nd level with ease. He is not what you think of when you think prototype run blocker, but he is way further along there than in pass protection.

2. Eric Winston stuggled in protection today against Kearse. He had one of his worst games as a Texan today. However, he sure loves carrying Slaton for extra yards at the end of plays.

3. Bentley was great today. He was clearly our best LB.

4. Greenwood is back and as bad as ever against the run. He got flat backed by their FB the one time he tried to fill a hole. He is solid in coverage but not good enough to make up for his awful play vs the run. Maybe he can play Safety in the canadian league because I have never seen a less physical LB.

5. Deljuan Robinson played the best game at DT of any Texan in at least 5 years. He lived in the backfield whenever he was on the field. On one stop he anihalated the lead blocker and then killed the back.

6. Okoye now has two good games in the last three. He may finally be coming around.

7. Slaton is as tough as they come. I don't think he lasts long when used like today though. Not a knock on him, because I don't think anyone lasts long under those circumstances. And he kept coming. Like the jacksonville game, we saw a 200 lb back wear down a big physical defense. Still we need a 2nd back. I just hope we get to the offseason before we get the best bright spot of 2008 killed.

8. We have the best blocking WRs in the NFL. Davis cracking that DL was great. Walter on every play is into a DB. AJ is a little less enthusiastic but is just so big and strong.

9. Joel Dreesen is a great compliment to Owen Daniels. He blocks well and can catch it when need be.

10. Kris Brown is streaky in a good and bad way. He may be going into a funk like 2 years ago.

11. Fred Bennett had his best game of the year. He didn't play great and gave up a few catches, but he looked like the guy from last year's 2nd half.

12. The offense is doing a good job the last few weeks of going deep. Great to see.

[sinnister]

Anyone see The Titans comments after the game.....Bullock wasn't impressed with Slaton.......I saw several impressive runs by Slaton.......Maybe Bullock was playing in a different game.

[Arky]

Good post, Barrett. Nothing like a 4 game win streak to pick up the mood amongst Texan fans....

I'd like to add:

2. I'll have to go back and check, but I think I saw Slaton grinning during that scrum that kinda traveled about 8 yards helped out by Winston. He was having fun, eheh! That shows me a lot about Slaton...

4. Adibi has a groin strain - that's why Greenwood was in. I sure hope Adibi is a fast healer...

5. I saw one play where DelJuan Robinson beat a double team and still made the tackle in the backfield.

-------------

13. Petey gets hit in the head on a punted ball. If I knew not a thing about Petey, that right there would tell me a lot...

14. I think Schaub might be tougher than we/some of us think. He took a lot of licks during the game but kept his game face on most of the game. Towards the end, he was getting rattled a little but he still held it together. It's good he survived this game - he's still not long removed from the MCL trouble .... The Chronic called it "Schaub took a licking but kept on ticking"...

[barrett]

14. I think Schaub might be tougher than we/some of us think. He took a lot of licks during the game but kept his game face on most of the game. Towards the end, he was getting rattled a little but he still held it together. It's good he survived this game - he's still not long removed from the MCL trouble .... The Chronic called it "Schaub took a licking but kept on ticking"...

Big time. When he took the hit from Finnegan it reminded me of a baseball player refusing to dust himself off after getting thrown at. The titans thrive on intimidation and semi dirty play, and for him to shake it off was huge in our team standing up to them and ultimately winning the game.

[barrett]

Anyone see The Titans comments after the game.....Bullock wasn't impressed with Slaton.......I saw several impressive runs by Slaton.......Maybe Bullock was playing in a different game.

Bullock stated that Slaton "didn't do anything until that last carry." A strange boast considering that last carry was the most important and it iced the game. Odd boast to say "he's no good, we pretty much stopped him except when it mattered most." It would be like A-Rod going 0-for the playoffs and talking trash about how well he hits in July.

[papabear]

Bullock stated that Slaton "didn't do anything until that last carry." A strange boast considering that last carry was the most important and it iced the game. Odd boast to say "he's no good, we pretty much stopped him except when it mattered most." It would be like A-Rod going 0-for the playoffs and talking trash about how well he hits in July.

That's what cracked me up about that comment. They held him in check most of the day, that's true. The running game was just effective enough though. Then in the fourth quarter with the game on the line Slaton guts them for two nice runs when it matters most.

[papabear]

-Ditto on Schaub yesterday. He took some big shots yesterday and kept going.

-Del Juan was great yesterday....the best I've seen a Texans DT since a healthy Seth Payne.

-Okoye seemed more active as well.

-Dunta's still not back, but he's getting there.

-This game was a street fight from beginning to end. Nice to see us punch back.

-Winston did struggle with Kearse. If he could get his hands on him he could control him, but Kearse blew by him far to often. I still love me some caveman.

-who do I need to talk to get the Texans to play hammer time every time Leach lays someone out...and just once, in the intro video they play right before kick off, I want the Bull to take a detour to Mexico and come back with some senoritas on his back.

-I'm continually amazed at how tough of a runner Slaton is.

-Listening to TO wine make me love Andre Johnson that much more.

-I was intoxicated but I thought I saw Weaver move his man into the back field a couple of times. Must have been a hallucination. I wish we could have got to Collins a little more, but we definitely forced him to rush a few throws.

[popanot]

This article is full of moronic bulletin board quotes:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8928828/Texans-deal-league-best-Titans-second-loss

I can't until we get to the point of regularly kicking their ass! They're getting way too cocky for their talent level. I expect a quick exit in the playoffs. Shut down thier running game and they're done.

[chuck]

DelJuan and Amobi are quite a tandem. We may be on to something here.

I might as well make this comment here - outside the stadium the wind was blowing hard from the south. Inside the stadium the goalpost flags were limply fluttering as if there were a slight, slight breeze from the north. Not sure how that works. Maybe the wind entering the stadium mixing with the hot air coming from the owner's box in the south end zone... Anyway, there certainly didn't seem to be any wind to speak of inside, but Fisher was adamant that in pre-game warm-ups there was a substantial difference between kicking to the south end zone and kicking to the north end zone.

[Mike]

That's what cracked me up about that comment. They held him in check most of the day, that's true. The running game was just effective enough though. Then in the fourth quarter with the game on the line Slaton guts them for two nice runs when it matters most.

I was glad that Gary did not abandon the run game completely. Even on plays when we got stuffed, he could not continue to let Matt drop back on every play. Even the 2-3 yard runs are OK against a defense like the Titans. Keep the clock moving, get the second and third down plays from manageable distance.

Alex Gibbs is one intense mother. I saw Studdard on the sidelines with a notepad, and he was constantly writing stuff down, and Gibbs seemed to be barking stuff at Studdard. Not sure if he was being a scribe for Gibbs or what he was doing.

[barrett]

-Ditto on Schaub yesterday. He took some big shots yesterday and kept going.

-Del Juan was great yesterday....the best I've seen a Texans DT since a healthy Seth Payne.

-Okoye seemed more active as well.

-Dunta's still not back, but he's getting there.

-This game was a street fight from beginning to end. Nice to see us punch back.

-Winston did struggle with Kearse. If he could get his hands on him he could control him, but Kearse blew by him far to often. I still love me some caveman.

-who do I need to talk to get the Texans to play hammer time every time Leach lays someone out...and just once, in the intro video they play right before kick off, I want the Bull to take a detour to Mexico and come back with some senoritas on his back.

-I'm continually amazed at how tough of a runner Slaton is.

-Listening to TO wine make me love Andre Johnson that much more.

-I was intoxicated but I thought I saw Weaver move his man into the back field a couple of times. Must have been a hallucination. I wish we could have got to Collins a little more, but we definitely forced him to rush a few throws.

I meant to mention this and forgot. It might have been Weaver's best game as a Texan. He was solid against the run and had penetration a few times. And strangely, he was really good dropping into coverage a few times on zone blitzes. I thought it was a fluke when he had the pick a few weeks ago, but he has a good feel for it. Very odd.

Either way I hope he is not back at his current salary next year, and I have no problem if he is not back at all.

[NBT]

Before the game I went over to the Tacks board to see what they were saying. The gist was they expected Haynesworth to put Schaub out for the rest of the year! Funny thing, not only did Haynesworth get knocked out, but Houston won the game. Ha! Ha!

[cadams]

and haynesworth is out for the rest of the regular season

[nero THE zero]

I'm telling you, Weaver has been player exceptionally well over the past several weeks. I don't know if there was a behind-the-scenes change in scheme or if he's finally healed from his surgery, but we're finally seeing the guy we paid to see two years ago. That coupled with his veteran leadership, don't hold your breath waiting for him to be cut. Maybe he restructures, but he'll be back.

[barrett]

I'm telling you, Weaver has been player exceptionally well over the past several weeks. I don't know if there was a behind-the-scenes change in scheme or if he's finally healed from his surgery, but we're finally seeing the guy we paid to see two years ago. That coupled with his veteran leadership, don't hold your breath waiting for him to be cut. Maybe he restructures, but he'll be back.

If he restructures I would have no problem bringing him back since the rest of the DL is so young. His current salary is way too much though for a guy who is rotating snaps.

[kravix]

I'm telling you, Weaver has been player exceptionally well over the past several weeks. I don't know if there was a behind-the-scenes change in scheme or if he's finally healed from his surgery, but we're finally seeing the guy we paid to see two years ago. That coupled with his veteran leadership, don't hold your breath waiting for him to be cut. Maybe he restructures, but he'll be back.

I have to believe it is a change in scheme.. The entire line is playing better, even greenwood played better. The question is will they get all cutsie again at the begining of next season and suck it up for half the season.

Or it could be he is finally healthy..... End of season is an odd time for a starter to all of a sudden get healthy though.

[TexicanMexican]

A couple on other boards are all ready saying Richard Smith should come back based on the defense's play as of late. I couldn't disagree with the more. I argued back that you have to look at the whole body of work. Why did he wait until the heat was on to dial up the defense? We know who the defense works at the beginning of the season. They are risk averse. I'm afraid they would go back to the bend and break defense. It's time to shake his hand and say good bye and start with a new coach.

[barrett]

I agree that Richard Smith should go based on the overall performance of the defense, but I disagree with the idea that we know why it was so poor early in the year.

It's a nice theory to say it was conservative play calling and it may be true. But look at the defense from the 1st month.

No dunta robinson. Injured Demeco was a shell of himself. Adibi was banged up early, missed alot of time and camp and was not on the field yet. No deljuan robinson who has played great lately. Eugene wilson did not get up to speed until almost 2 months in. The Defense on the field was basically Mario and the 10 stiffs at that point.

I want Smith gone because I don't think he's a good coach, and I don't think we'll ever be great with him, but I still recognize that Monte Kiffin couldn't have stopped people with our early season 11.

[Nconroe]

I guess I'd side on Richard Smith right now appears to have earned the right to stay, that things are working, why shake that up. If you shake it up, for sure it will get worse before getting better. If the team is maturing, the coach is maturing, maybe even it was Kubiak being conservative, not Smith. And maybe it was players and not coaches, we have different safeties from past two years and start of year, we have two different line backers , and even DL with Bulman and Robinson is different. Takes times to get these new players, and even some different coaches on the same page.

Not many teams have stopped the Titans run game, not many teams have held two of last three games to no touchdowns. Seems on a four game win streak, excellent defense, not time for this kinda talk.

[NBT]

Phooey to being cutesy on defense next year. We gotta come out screaming like a Banshee from the get go.

[papabear]

I agree that Richard Smith should go based on the overall performance of the defense, but I disagree with the idea that we know why it was so poor early in the year.

It's a nice theory to say it was conservative play calling and it may be true. But look at the defense from the 1st month.

No dunta robinson. Injured Demeco was a shell of himself. Adibi was banged up early, missed alot of time and camp and was not on the field yet. No deljuan robinson who has played great lately. Eugene wilson did not get up to speed until almost 2 months in. The Defense on the field was basically Mario and the 10 stiffs at that point.

I want Smith gone because I don't think he's a good coach, and I don't think we'll ever be great with him, but I still recognize that Monte Kiffin couldn't have stopped people with our early season 11.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt last year because of the injuries we had then. The D also played better down the stretch last year....once we were out of contention. If you look at the starting 11 this year compared to the end of last season...I probably take this years team. Reeves is better than Faggins. He still had the "upgrade" at Safety in Demps who was prematurely labeled as a savior last year (not by me though ;)). Okoye was a year older. Diles was an upgrade until he got hurt. Guys like Earl Cochran and Tim Bullman contributed this year. Demeco was banged up last year and Dunta was gone too so that's a wash, but the defense regressed from the way they finished last year with what should have been a better squad IMO. The only major drop-off was the way Greenwood has fallen apart.

I suspect, but have no way to know for sure, that Kubiak might be dictating some of the conservative approach. If that's the case then hopefully Kubiak recognizes it, and assuming they bring Smith back he lets him turn the defense loose. I'm concerned that we will see the same pattern next year if there's not a change with the defensive co-ordinator...I call it "coaching tight" until we have nothing to lose.