Texans at the Quarterpoint

[barrett]

I figured I'd review the first quarter and see if I could spur some conversation.

Offense
Passing game
Matt Schaub has been very good and done everything asked of him in every game. He has especially impressed me on 3rd downs, and on intermediate and deep routes. Andre has been great. We appear to be making a concerted effort to lighten his load when we can, but he looks like 100% of Andre when we go to him and when we need him. We have made sure to go to him early in every game which sets up everything else we do for the next 55 minutes. I think there is still nobody better in the NFL and definitely nobody more complete. It is also extremely impressive how well Kubiak gets him open considering he is priority 1 in our passing game for opposing defenses.

Daniels has looked the best he has since before he blew out his knee. His YAC is one of the things that made him so tough a few years ago and it is there again. Graham has been very solid in the passing game and we haven't missed Dreesen there. I'd have to watch closer to see Graham's run blocking effectiveness.

Casey is still not as big a part of the offense as I think he could be, but we are using him more. I hope there are some more things we will do with him when the games get tougher. But the use of him on arrow routes has been great. Nobody thinks twice of an offset FB, but then we catch you in man and it is like stealing on 3rd down when we clear the middle of the field and get him on a LB. The TD last week was the latest example but it's worked 3-4 times already this season.

Walter has had a solid year with a number of possession type catches over the middle mixed in with the one deep route. Just showing that on film gives one more concern for opposing coaches and DBs. Same with the designed deep shots to Martin and Jean. Even if they are a wasted down, they still occupy a piece of the defenses time/thought. Martin still appears to be trying to play too fast. He has lost his feet a number of times trying to make cuts/moves too fast. He has also flashed some YAC ability and a good feel for getting open. Jean doesn't get open and it doesn't appear he needs to. He just uses that big body to sceen defenders so well. I really believe he'll be a weapon as the season goes along.

Posey is an incomplete at best right now, and Holliday is a loss. He has had no big plays and few medium plays. He just goes down on contact so easily. I wonder if some of his preseason success wasn't more about bad/non-nfl talent on opposing coverage teams. On the plus side he has looked more steady in fielding kicks the longer he is out there. But he also avoids catching punts that cost us big field position on the bounces.

The pass protection has been very good. Now that is easy to do when you run it over half the time, but Schaub has been upright for the most part (3rd quarter in Denver being the exception). Newton may not be there yet but he is obviously talented.

Kubiak has done some great things in the passing game even if it looks like he would rather never throw the ball (and that he would rather keep the ball than score when we're winning). The long TD to Walter (or maybe AJ), had a beautiful half boot that was a huge change up from our regular outside stretch vs naked boot offense. He brought a blocker back to keep the outside clean in a max protect setup and had Schaub set his feet in mid-boot. It was just a beautiful change of pace that exposed the defense. The Tennesee defenders mentioned it as a difficulty in their prep last week. Now you have to account for the zone stretch in both directions (like many teams), for the boot in both directions (most teams won't come left like we do), and for this new wrinkle that takes advantage of teams camping on the short and mid crossing routes when we PA boot. Great play design and execution.


I'll try to continue today with run offense, and both sides of the defense (unless someone gets to it first).

I have been suprised how little Foster has been involved in the passing game though.



Arian Foster has been very good. His average is skewed by the swallow the ball end of game strategy vs Miami and Tennessee. and at how few 10+ yard runs we seem to be breaking this year. The initial holes

[Nconroe]

Does anybody else think Schab's passes have looked a little more crisp this year compared to past couple years?

[popanot]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

Does anybody else think Schab's passes have looked a little more crisp this year compared to past couple years?

I thought Schaub's arm looked really weak the first 2 games, but really strong these last 2. Leads me to believe he was playing it safe and conservative the first 2 since he was out so long.

[nunusguy]

Based upon how our 4 opponents have performed since we played each of them, I'm trying to figure out if we've played anybody thru our first Quarterpoint ?

[Nconroe]

Miami sems to be getting better. Denver is good.
Maybe jacksonville and Titans struggling. Still early.

[barrett]

I think schaub's arm has looked about the same in general. Although it looked good on the deep balls in Denver.

As for our competition, it's tough to say exactly how good they are, but I know they all looked better against everyone else than they did against us.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by barrett

I think schaub's arm has looked about the same in general. Although it looked good on the deep balls in Denver.

Maybe it was the altitude.

As for our competition, it's tough to say exactly how good they are, but I know they all looked better against everyone else than they did against us.

J-Ville and Tennessee are clearly in rebuilding mode and having trouble breaking in new quarterbacks (although we broke them both pretty good ourselves - they were each on the injury report the following week).

Miami is also using a young quarterback and Denver's personnel around Manning just isn't that great (as the Patriots proved yesterday) so you could say the Texans are strong or their competition was weak. We'll know more after we play these next three games.