We now know..

[painekiller]

What a BOB player looks like.

We know the SEC is our primary hunting ground.

We know BOB is not afraid to wait.

We know BOB will play smash mouth football when he needs to.

We know that on paper our OL is set for a while. (Brown, Su'a-Filo, Meyers, Brooks, ?Quessenberry?)

We know that Rick Smith does know how to draft.

The Texans just got Bigger, Meaner, and Faster.

I am looking forward to seeing this team play.

[HPF Bob]

We don't know what our OL looks like and that's one part that worries me most. I can see Brown, Sua-Filo and Meyers plus two question marks. Ben Jones probably wins a backup role or starts at RG while he waits his turn at center. Quessenberry, if healthy, could be the RG or maybe even the RT. Otherwise, I see a lot more of Brooks, Newton and others who had Keenum and Schaub running and ducking respectively.

I would not be surprised to see Smith/O'Brien find a Patriots cast-off to insert into the lineup eventually.

[Arky]

Ya know, I saw a little spot on TV after the draft and OB said (paraphrasing), "We didn't draft *my* players or Rick Smith's players - we drafted Houston Texan's players". Eheh, still doing the team-first thing....

But yeah, I'm especially glad to see the improvement in team speed. I'm pretty sure most of these guys are fast for their position - even the tub of goo NT. That was one of Jimmy Johnson's formulas for success.... team speed across the board......

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

We don't know what our OL looks like and that's one part that worries me most. I can see Brown, Sua-Filo and Meyers plus two question marks. Ben Jones probably wins a backup role or starts at RG while he waits his turn at center. Quessenberry, if healthy, could be the RG or maybe even the RT. Otherwise, I see a lot more of Brooks, Newton and others who had Keenum and Schaub running and ducking respectively.

I would not be surprised to see Smith/O'Brien find a Patriots cast-off to insert into the lineup eventually.

Newton was much better in 2012 than 2013. The truth is everybody on the team was. When your QBs cannot pass and your RBs cannot run it makes it tough to block. Especially once the league decided Keenum couldn't handle a blitz and they should just blitz him on every play. I don't think OL struggles down the stretch of a 2-14 season with a 3rd string QB and a 5th string RB necessarily mean bad Offensive Lineman. I am pretty confident that a solid group can come out of what we have. Far more confident than I am about the secondary, QB, RB, or K.

[Nconroe]

We did get no. 1 rated Kicker as a UDFA, so perhaps Kicking will improve in kickoffs depth and in accuracy of FG's?

Then in the draft, seems we did a lot to help offense improve the Run Game.

We got the best line blocking TE, who can also flex to receiving and Tail Back.

We got no. 1 rated FB who also can also run and catch.

We got best rated run blocking OG who can flex to center if needed.

We drafted a big RB, 6'2", 223 lbs who knows how to block and catch and averaged 6 yds per carry.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by barrett

When your QBs cannot pass and your RBs cannot run it makes it tough to block.

Usually, this works the other way around. When the blockers cannot block, the QBs cannot pass and the runners cannot run. I'll bet if we had five Hall-of-Famers up front, your wife/gf could have a 100-yd day.

I am pretty confident that a solid group can come out of what we have. Far more confident than I am about the secondary, QB, RB, or K.

I'm pretty confident that if Rick Smith were a better selector of o-line talent, we wouldn't have needed to use a second-rounder on Su'a-Filo. We would have already had the bodies in place to replace Wade Smith.

[Nconroe]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Usually, this works the other way around. When the blockers cannot block, the QBs cannot pass and the runners cannot run. I'll bet if we had five Hall-of-Famers up front, your wife/gf could have a 100-yd day.



I'm pretty confident that if Rick Smith were a better selector of o-line talent, we wouldn't have needed to use a second-rounder on Su'a-Filo. We would have already had the bodies in place to replace Wade Smith.

The problem is trying to evaluate blame and which was root cause off a 2-14 season with multiple injuries, where nothing worked after some point. Maybe throwing INT picks 6's caused everything to go downhill.

I'd prefer to just move forward than place blame in the past. That has already occurred in Jan., Feb.

But up to you to keep bringing up the OL. I think OL will perform better this year for a multitude of reasons and incremental gains in several areas.

Expereince, coaching, getting well, new players, new schemes, for a few items which could help.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Usually, this works the other way around. When the blockers cannot block, the QBs cannot pass and the runners cannot run. I'll bet if we had five Hall-of-Famers up front, your wife/gf could have a 100-yd day.



I'm pretty confident that if Rick Smith were a better selector of o-line talent, we wouldn't have needed to use a second-rounder on Su'a-Filo. We would have already had the bodies in place to replace Wade Smith.

But we essentially had the same guys on the right side in 2012 and they were much better. We had cement shoed Eric Winston at RT and broken legged Mike Brisel at RG in 2011 and it was considered an elite group. The difference is the offense was productive.

The way Case Keenum responded to a blitz last year, we could have had 5 HOFers and they couldn't have blocked. Even the switch between Schaub and Keenum in that late season Thursday Jacksonville game all of a sudden resulted in the ball moving and the OL looking way better. And that was with garbage at RB. Sure Schaub still lost the game with an INT, but the offense was competent enough to be in the game and blow it.

Kubiak stated that Keenum was not confident with the blitz calls. Combine that with Kubiak's refusal to let the QB audible out of a dead play, and all of sudden the very good line of 2012 was terrible in 2013 with the same players.

[Arky]

Here's a couple of good videos.

In the first Bob McNair gives his impressions of the draft. In the 2nd, Rick Smith and OB comment on the players drafted....

[Nconroe]

All has to develop a lot from last year, but see some hope.

So, do we see the Texans trying to build from inside out on both sides of the ball. I think so. Most think this is best way to build sustainable success.

The defense front seven should be stronger, more pressure on opposing QB, which helps secondary and overall defense. Need more turnovers generated and seems a possibility.

The offense has done quite a bit to help OL, blocking, TE, FB, RB and running game in general to be stronger. Strong run game helps Receiving game and overall offense. Need to be better in the red zone, and looks like could be.

QB still a question for now, hope to see develop thru OTA, and pre-season. Kicking still a question for now, but some options. Special teams also a question that needs to improve, perhaps the bigger stronger philisophy will help.