Official Texans @ Titans Game Thread, 12/19/2010

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Personally, I thought we wasted Foster most of the season except in Week 1 and the week in Oakland. We'd run Foster on first down and maybe on second and, even when it worked, we couldn't wait to start throwing the ball around even on days that Schaub sucked when we should have been giving the rock to Foster and Ward until the other team figured out how to stop it and *then* after they had cheated up to stop it, burned then with play action. Instead, we'd let Foster run on the obvious first down and might even do it two plays in a row but, after he'd get a first down or two, they'd go away from it and then be forced to punt.

Running the ball is easier than passing the ball. If you establish that you can run, good coaches will force you to stop it. Only against Indy did we keep running it down their throats. A smart coach knows that you tire a defense by keeping it on the field all day so they have nothing left by the 4th quarter and, with all these defenses being built to stop the pass, a strong running game is the best weapon to wear the opposition down and keep your own defense from being exposed for the chumps that they are.

Fair enough Bob, but my point was that we never had any idea what we wanted to do. Kubiak himself could not tell you what our first objective was going into a game. There was nothing this team was trying to accomplish.

Did we want to establish the run? Did we want to be a passing team? Were we looking to score and win with offense? Did we want to control the clock to protect the defense?

None of that ever came clearly through. No gameplan ever demonstrated that even our coaches had any idea of what we are.

[HPF Bob]

I'll agree to that, except in Week 1 there seemed to be no real plan. That said, it's not the coach's job to *advertise* to the fans what the game plan is. You're supposed to keep the defense guessing however when you fall behind as early and often as we did, you need no degrees to figure out the strategy was to throw the ball to catch up. It worked against KC and almost worked in a few other games but this offense is more talented than to fall behind to everyone. They just couldn't stop shooting themselves in the foot, whether it be from dropped passes, dumb penalties, untimely turnovers or plain old bad luck.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

I'll agree to that, except in Week 1 there seemed to be no real plan. That said, it's not the coach's job to *advertise* to the fans what the game plan is. You're supposed to keep the defense guessing however when you fall behind as early and often as we did, you need no degrees to figure out the strategy was to throw the ball to catch up. It worked against KC and almost worked in a few other games but this offense is more talented than to fall behind to everyone. They just couldn't stop shooting themselves in the foot, whether it be from dropped passes, dumb penalties, untimely turnovers or plain old bad luck.

I don't need advertising. And a team's goals cannot remain secret after the game unless they fail completely to accomplish them.

Last night for instance, Green Bay came in with no Aaron Rodgers for a very difficult road game. All night it was clear they wanted to run the ball to take pressure off of Flynn, but that they also wanted to take shots down field to look for quick scores, and that they wanted to involve the RBs in the passing game more than Rodgers does. No advertising is needed to see that AFTER the game. And it's not supposed to remain secret after the game.

The Texans never had a direction until they were forced into one. And then when they were forced into one, they were great, because great players perform great when they know what they are doing. Every great moment for us this year came when it was clear what we needed to do. And not just throwing from behind. But even the Indy win in week 1 when it was clear we needed to run to protect the D and kill the clock.

When our offensive aim was clear, we were great. When the canvas was blank, we wandered in aimless circles.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by barrett

Fair enough Bob, but my point was that we never had any idea what we wanted to do. Kubiak himself could not tell you what our first objective was going into a game. There was nothing this team was trying to accomplish.

Kubiak has said repeatedly that he wants to have a balanced offense. He wants to run as much as they throw. Of course it never works like that because they come out throwing and often go three and out. They run the ball largely the next couple of series. Unfortunately in this time the defense has invariably given up a couple of touchdowns so they have to start throwing the ball around and the final numbers are usually very lopsided in favor of the passing game.

Other than that I have no idea what they are trying to do.