Official Texans vs. Bills Game Thread, 9/28/2014

[chuck]

3-1 is 3-1 and you can't argue with that. But gaining 30 yards on 30 carries or whatever it was is not a blueprint for success. My overall point is that this team is going to be stuck in NFL purgatory until it starts producing at least average drafts every year.

We're coming up on a stretch where we play some varsity teams for a change and if we bring no running game we're likely to get exposed. If you're going to spend 33 on an interior lineman and he's healthy then he should be doing a lot more ass kicking on the field than ass scratching on the sidelines, especially if your team is having trouble running the ball.

Or you should find someone else to supervise your drafts.

[Arky]

Man, early returns have the Cowboys as a 4 pt favorite over the Texans. "Vegas" definitely has a higher opinion of the Texans than some of us fans do....

Edit: The lines have disappeared. Check back later...

[barrett]

Originally Posted by chuck

3-1 is 3-1 and you can't argue with that. But gaining 30 yards on 30 carries or whatever it was is not a blueprint for success. My overall point is that this team is going to be stuck in NFL purgatory until it starts producing at least average drafts every year.

We're coming up on a stretch where we play some varsity teams for a change and if we bring no running game we're likely to get exposed. If you're going to spend 33 on an interior lineman and he's healthy then he should be doing a lot more ass kicking on the field than ass scratching on the sidelines, especially if your team is having trouble running the ball.

Or you should find someone else to supervise your drafts.

At least part of that is due to Foster not being healthy, and the total lack of fear for our passing game. It's not like the OL got worse since the first 2 weeks.

But that is more an overall OL excuse from me. Issues with Su'a Filo are totally legit. The guy can't see the field because of Ben Jones? It may be a month into his career, but that has all the early makings of a blown pick.

And Nix has made Clowney look like Ironman so far.

At least uncovering Morris, Bouye, Blue can offset the mid rounds. But Clowney has to get healthy and be good enough to make it worth a wasted year with no QB. Or we accidentally get lucky with Mallet (1 in 50?) or Savage (1 in 100?) as a true franchise guy.

Altogether more than enough issues to keep me depressed even at 3-1 (and more than enough to keep Chuck happy about his half empty cup).

[chuck]

Our quarterback will have to exceed expectations to be league average. That's fine, everyone knows that. In order for the team to be respectable and give the Colts any sort of competition in the division we need to have an ass kicking defense and a solid running game. Watt is a freak of nature, the secondary is a lot better than I thought it might be, the LBs have disappointed but not so much as to be tremendously alarming. If Clowney ever gets healthy that should change things significantly for the better because that guy also has the makings of a lunatic.

But they need to figure out how to run the ball. Foster being injured is an obvious root cause but his injury shouldn't be any surprise at this point. And the Texans have usually run the ball pretty well with their back up running backs whoever they might have been. That's not happening right now. There are very few teams you can beat in the NFL if you're at second and eleven all day long.

The good news is that the coaches don't seem insistent on doing the same stupid sht every game despite the fact that it doesn't work. For example they brought a jumbo package in and tried to sneak a pass out to Andre. It didn't work, of course, but I was elated at the effort.

So I'm looking forward to seeing how BOB tries to tinker with the running game to get it moving. I'm sure he'll do something reasonably intelligent. Until then I'll enjoy savoring the emptiness of my cup.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by chuck

Our quarterback will have to exceed expectations to be league average. That's fine, everyone knows that. In order for the team to be respectable and give the Colts any sort of competition in the division we need to have an ass kicking defense and a solid running game. Watt is a freak of nature, the secondary is a lot better than I thought it might be, the LBs have disappointed but not so much as to be tremendously alarming. If Clowney ever gets healthy that should change things significantly for the better because that guy also has the makings of a lunatic.

But they need to figure out how to run the ball. Foster being injured is an obvious root cause but his injury shouldn't be any surprise at this point. And the Texans have usually run the ball pretty well with their back up running backs whoever they might have been. That's not happening right now. There are very few teams you can beat in the NFL if you're at second and eleven all day long.

The good news is that the coaches don't seem insistent on doing the same stupid sht every game despite the fact that it doesn't work. For example they brought a jumbo package in and tried to sneak a pass out to Andre. It didn't work, of course, but I was elated at the effort.

So I'm looking forward to seeing how BOB tries to tinker with the running game to get it moving. I'm sure he'll do something reasonably intelligent. Until then I'll enjoy savoring the emptiness of my cup.

I love that even though we can't throw the ball, we are still taking shots downfield. If you have a terrible QB, the other team knows you have a QB, and they are selling out against the run because of it, why even bother trying to put together 10 play drives. Just pick good times to try 6-8 big plays per game. Hit 3 or 4 and you win. Or hit 1 and have your DE intercept a pass from 5 yards away and run it back 80 yards for a TD. Either way you win.

And I have not seen it mentioned anywhere, but Swearinger is playing his butt off. It's a bit hard to like the guy on occasion, but he has a manic energy out there that reminds me of pre-injury Cushing. He is flying around with total disregard for himself, his teammates, and his opponents. Everybody gets hit. I am seriously waiting for him to go helmet to helmet on a mascot. I don't even mind that much that he blew the coverage on the 80 yard TD. As time goes by hopefully we are smart enough to pair him with a great cover safety that can protect him (Like Earl Thomas with Chancelor). Until then, I just like watching him create havoc.

[chuck]

We don't have anything resembling a passing game but as you note we surely can go vertical from time to time and it is great to see that we do that. Fitz has the arm to get the ball downfield and we have at least two receivers who I'm happy to see in one on one coverage with most any corner, certainly any corner in our division.

The bit about Swag going helmet to helmet with a mascot made me laugh.