Official Texans vs. Vikings Game Thread, 8/31/2009

[HPF Bob]

The next time the Texans successfully defend a screen pass will be the first.

[papabear]

I'm actually not nearly as upset as some people are about the game last night. There are plenty of things that concern me, but as I was looking through comments here and at battle red during the game it seemed like their was plenty of the we suck crowd. The offense didn't look sharp, but we were playing one of the better defenses in the league. The defense has some holes, but we all knew that. They also showed some backbone especially the drive where they held Minnesota to a field goal. General observations:

-I thought there were times last year where Slaton missed the whole, or picked the wrong one. Last night I thought he looked indecisive early, but better after Brown had a couple of series. I don't know if it's rust or what, but he seemed to be dancing a little last night and didn't have the "one cut and go" mentality. On one play he damn near went backwards to try and bounce it outside instead of taking it for a yard or two at least up the middle. I think he'll be fine...and even last year our running game was a bit feast or famine. Brown could be a big help, and Foster looked good too. Gibbs will fix whatever problems are in the run game.

-I thought the defensive line did a good job last night. They pressured the QB into a few incompletions, got a few sacks, and were close enough to get a shot on the QB several times. The big run early was not their fault. Adibi overpursued, but Adibi and Ryans were both kept clean on that play. If the d-line does nothing else against the run accept hold the line and keep the LB's clean they did their job. Barwin is very active. Okam had a couple nice pressures. Okoye too, and I saw him string several plays out to the sideline. Showed a lot of effort. Smith got a paw on Favre that allowed Mario to get a sack. Plenty to work on, but overall I thought the D-line looked better than the LB (minus Demeco) and the secondary....though that's not saying much I guess.

-It will be interesting to see who starts at WILL once Cush is back. Adibi and Diles have both made plenty of mistakes. It's a tossup in my opinion at this point. I think Adibi has much better potential and should therefore win the tie breaker. Ryans was playing with a fire that was great too see. The LB's have to do a better job sniffing out screens, especially if the CB's are in man.

-I thought the corners were fine last night. Minny's not known for their passing game, but we were beaten mostly by screen passes and dump-offs that aren't necessarily the corners primary responsibility. The couple of down-field passes they tried were well covered (and/or poorly thrown by that guy). The safeties get a failing grade just for that Eugen Wilson tackle though....I think that was the same play where Demeco looked like he had man coverage on that, or at least sniffed it out, but slipped trying to get to the play.

-Duane Brown had a great day pass protection. Captain A-hole was held in check.

-Pitts needs to play next week even if it's mostly back ups in that game to knock the rest of the rust off.

-Orlovsky was making me feel good about him....until that pick. Both picks looked like the same problem. It looked like they decided where to go with the ball before the snap. I don't know if the breakdown was in the pre-snap read, an audible, or they just did a good job of disguising coverages, but Kubiak needs to fix that. I'm not worried about it as much with Schaub. I thought we saw a little of why Kubes likes Orlovsky so much last night though.


I'm not guaranteeing playoffs(I always think you should wait to get through a good chunk of the season before playoff talk starts anyway) or anything like that, but I don't think it's fair to write this team off either. The defense struggled against a VERY good offense one week. The Offense struggled against a very good defense the next. Both games were still winnable when the starters started coming out, and we have no idea what would have happened had it been a real game. Sure, I would have liked for them to look better, but most NFL games are of a back and forth nature that usually aren't settled until well into the fourth quarter. We've been great in the preseason before and it didn't do us any good. I think we have enough guys on this team with the right make up to use the last couple of weeks for motivation.

[coloradodude]

Connor Barwin and DeMeco Ryans played excellent. They will have to be accounted for.

Mario Williams had the best seat in the house last night on several run plays. He is no threat to the opponents run game, that's for certain.

Eric Winston...I really hope Gibbs puts his pathetic play under the microscope.

Back to the positive! I think Connor Barwin is a young, inexperienced Jared Allen in the making. Relentless.

[TexanJedi]

Well, I do admit I have tempered my expectations (I hate to say a third straight 8-8 season would not floor me, disappoint me yes) after the last two weeks. Sure it's preseason , but these are good football teams.

I always thought the defense would take some time and be a work in progress, and it hurts to not have Cushing, Reeves, and Robinson; but Antonio Smith has yet to really flash and I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach that he could be another Super Bowl free agent bust- but I won't freak until halfway through the season if this keeps up.

I think this team lacks toughness, however you define it. They certainly are not the Steelers or Ravens.

On offense the pass protection looks good, but the run blocking thus far leaves a lot to be desired. I am usually very optimistic, to the point of being a homer, when a new season begins, but this one not as much though I guess I should be. Come on prove me wrong Texans.

[papabear]

Originally Posted by coloradodude

Mario Williams had the best seat in the house last night on several run plays. He is no threat to the opponents run game, that's for certain.

Mario can get a little pre-occupied with rushing the passer and the run stopping suffers. He improved greatly since he first got here and I think he's proven that he is very capable against the run....much better than other elite pass rushers such as Allen, Freeney, etc.

[dadmg]

I was waiting tables at Applebee's while the game played on our TVs. After paying attention during some of the pre-game because the restaurant was dead, I began trying to do some actual work. Then, as I was walking by I saw the Vikings lined up and I thought, "Let's see how the Texans run D is looking." Turns out it was that first play of the game. I went back to work and didn't watch another play. I had all the answers I needed. And now I'm thinking my 7-10 win projection might be on the optimistic side, even if it's lower than most of the prediction's I'm seeing here.

[nunusguy]

Looking at the replay, it was a basic inside zone run. The Vikings were in a tight I-formation, the flow started left and most of the Texans defensive front went with it. Peterson took a deep handoff from Favre and seemed to be running full speed when he hit the hole.

Mario Williams and Fred Bennett were on the backside and are probably the corner and end that Kubiak was talking about. Mario took the outside shoulder of the right tackle which allowed the backside cut. The receiver lined up just outside the tackle came over and helped screen Mario away from the play. I'm guessing that Mario was supposed to crash inside when he saw the fullback lead left.

Bennett was lined up tight on the wide receiver just outside the tackle and got sucked into that same double team. He took a bad angle to the hole which prevented him from making the tackle. At the second level, Xavier Adibi was in the best position to make a play but he got sucked in to the flow to the left side - with six other defenders.
http://www.examiner.com/x-778-Housto...for-prime-time
***********************************************
In case anybodys still interested, here's a comprehensive analysis of the Texans busted play vs AD/Vikings on the 75 yard TD by AJ from the
Examiner.

[idymoe]

I replayed that run about 10 times last night in stop action. Mario was basically stood up at the los by one blocker. I'm not sure what "crashing inside" means. If he had penetrated outside the block, he would have been even more out of the play than he was. The right tackle basically had him sealed, and it appeared Mario was pretty content just to hold his position.

Let me back-track and set up the defense. The ball was on the right hashmark. Diles was up on the los on the strong side. (defensive right side). Ryans was in the middle of the hashmarks and Adibi was on the right hashmark, just about lined up with the center. The play was zone blocked to the strong side with the right tackle sealing Mario as I mentioned. Bennett was outside Mario. I don't know what the hell Bennett was doing. Once the play started, he took himself completely out by running right up into Mario's back. Weird. Adibi took himself out of the play by ignoring his gap responsibility and going with the flow to his right. It was an easy play for AD and was basically all over but the shoutin' about 4 yards beyond the los. McCain was lightly engaged by a wide receiver, but AD is so fast, I'm not sure he could have made the play in that much space even if he was unblocked.

Adibi has to take most of the blame. Mario did nothing on the play. If Bennett has contain responsibilities, then Mario should be sliding over to help fill that gap. Bennett might as well not even have been on the field. Maybe what Mario did or didn't do confused him. Those three were the culprits.

[Big Texas]

Originally Posted by coloradodude

Mario Williams had the best seat in the house last night on several run plays. He is no threat to the opponents run game, that's for certain.

Me personally, I think he made some mistakes in the backfield, but damn it he was in the backfield, which is more than I can say about our line backers minus Ryans. He cant do it all. I think he did his job by causing disruption in the backfield. There were times when Peterson was dead in the water in the backfield and there was no body there except Mario and by the time they got there, they were getting juked out their socks are completely ran over.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

The next time the Texans successfully defend a screen pass will be the first.

Hey, at least the Texans are designing and calling screen passes on offense now. There was a period of about three years when I didn't see a single designed screen.