Official Texans vs. Ravens Game Thread, 12/21/2014

[Warren]

Originally Posted by Keith

I thought it was disclosed that Shane Lechler was the emergency QB.

The TV guys for the Colts game seemed to think so, but when O'Brien was asked about it last week on his radio show he wouldn't answer, implying it was for strategic reasons. While watching yesterday's junior high trickery it occurred to me that would be a better option in a situation where there's no real QBs available than having Lechler back there to hand off and throw the occasional desperation pass.

[HPF Bob]

Foster's pass had a lot of wobble but at least it got to a wide open receiver. The difference between the Foster play and the Chris Brown play was that the receiver was uncovered. Baltimore had nobody on the TE and I can't say that I blame them.

Honestly, the Wildcat, as a surprise option, works quite well. As the announcers described it, one defender had to follow Keenum out of the play, meaning Foster had one less guy to run through. It becomes 10-on-10 football instead of 10-on-11 since the QB is not a blocker.

And, while Keenum wasn't running for his life (thanks to having a legit running threat and better blocking), he did have a long run that had a personal foul tacked onto the end of the run.

I'm sure all week the coaching staff was thinking "how do we run an offense with no quarterback" and what you saw was, in part, what they came up with. I'm glad they didn't turn to the slow white guy reverse that was a Kubiak staple.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Warren

The TV guys for the Colts game seemed to think so, but when O'Brien was asked about it last week on his radio show he wouldn't answer, implying it was for strategic reasons. While watching yesterday's junior high trickery it occurred to me that would be a better option in a situation where there's no real QBs available than having Lechler back there to hand off and throw the occasional desperation pass.

FWIW, in one of the local TV Sunday night sports specials, O'Brien told a reporter that Arian Foster can throw a tight spiral 60 yards. That wounded duck he tossed to CJF doesn't really support this claim, but yeah, I could see Foster running the wildcat as quickly as I could see Lechler under center in an emergency QB situation.

[Arky]

Texans are a whopping 10.5 pt favorite over the Jags next Sunday....