We still Suck: last week was a mirage

[gunn]

Originally Posted by barrett

I'm telling you that whatever impact it has is no indication of a soft team.

Soft/tough comes into play when beating Tennessee. Not in some idea of recovery time. If anything you are talking about mental toughness which is not what you started out talking about with interior line and each level of the defense.
Either way the Texans are plenty tough physically and mentally. Just not very consistent.

They are certainly not a team that anyone would confuse with a physical team. Outside of a handful of individual players there's not one unit of this team that would be considered physical as a whole. Physical teams control the los and it's clear that the Texans lack this, and it's highlighted in the redzone both offensively and defensively.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by gunn

They are certainly not a team that anyone would confuse with a physical team. Outside of a handful of individual players there's not one unit of this team that would be considered physical as a whole. Physical teams control the los and it's clear that the Texans lack this, and it's highlighted in the redzone both offensively and defensively.

and yet they did exactly that for the last month. Even against teams like Jacksonville and Tennessee who are confused with physical teams.

A bad game this week doesn't erase the four good ones. Just like the four good ones don't erase the bad start. you can't take a loss to the Raiders and declare them soft.

The Texans have been just fine physically up front this year. They've run the ball fine and held up against the run more often than not.

[sinnister]

Originally Posted by barrett

The Texans have been just fine physically up front this year. They've run the ball fine and held up against the run more often than not.

I am not sure which games you have been watching. If you mean they have held up physically, as in little injuries, then yes. As far as being physical, at times they have been, but it hasn't been a consistent effort. The only game where we played a very physical game was last week against the Titans.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by sinnister

I am not sure which games you have been watching. If you mean they have held up physically, as in little injuries, then yes. As far as being physical, at times they have been, but it hasn't been a consistent effort. The only game where we played a very physical game was last week against the Titans.

The Texans came into the game having outrushed their opponent in 5 straight. How else would you define playing physical?

How about putting away Jacksonville (who prides themselves on being physical and stopping the run) with two 4th quarter TD runs where everyone in the stadium knew we were running the ball.

The Texans are plenty physical. If I'd tag them with a single issue it would be playing dumb, not soft. From the HC down to the players (turnovers, blown challenges, wasted TOs, bad clock management, costly defensive penalties, special teams unpreparedness, etc...). I would definitely characterize their problems as more mental than physical.

Even on the line. Our OL struggles with speed way more than size. Only Meyers gets pushed around. Every other OL is very physical and better in run blocking than pass protection. On the DL the same is true. We hold the point of attack just fine, we just struggle with getting penetration against the pass and run.

After the first two weeks of the season the Texans have won the physical battles way more than they have lost them.

[gunn]

Originally Posted by barrett

and yet they did exactly that for the last month. Even against teams like Jacksonville and Tennessee who are confused with physical teams.

A bad game this week doesn't erase the four good ones. Just like the four good ones don't erase the bad start. you can't take a loss to the Raiders and declare them soft.

The Texans have been just fine physically up front this year. They've run the ball fine and held up against the run more often than not.

If you think this team controls the los on either side of the ball, I don't know what to tell you. I've been saying that they need to get more physical for a while now... They're just not that.... I don't need a loss to the Raiders after a tough game against Tennessee to tell me that.

Find some redzone statistics both on offense and defense....
They're bad on 3rd down defense and even worse trying to create a stop on 4th. Physically, they don't stand up.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by barrett

and yet they did exactly that for the last month. Even against teams like Jacksonville and Tennessee who are confused with physical teams.

A bad game this week doesn't erase the four good ones. Just like the four good ones don't erase the bad start. you can't take a loss to the Raiders and declare them soft.

The Texans have been just fine physically up front this year. They've run the ball fine and held up against the run more often than not.

Texans have run the ball pretty well lately, but I don't think that alone indicates that they are physical. Physical running shows up in short yardage and in the redzone, and the Texans are horrible at both.

As for stopping the run, right now, the Texans are ranked 25th and give up 105 yards a game with a 4.5 yard average. Throw in the fact that they are one of the worst redzone defenses and I don't see how they can be characterized as a tough, physical defense. Aside from Mario and Dunta, I don't think anyone else on the team is an above average player from a physical/toughness standpoint (and I also don't think this is one of those cases where the sum is greater than its parts).

Like you said, one game doesn't make you something, and the only game I truly thought the Texans appeared to be physical was Tenn. (While Jacksonvile has historically been a pretty physical team, this year's team just doesn't bring it like year's past (middle of the road 14th against the run)).

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Joshua

Texans have run the ball pretty well lately, but I don't think that alone indicates that they are physical. Physical running shows up in short yardage and in the redzone, and the Texans are horrible at both.

As for stopping the run, right now, the Texans are ranked 25th and give up 105 yards a game with a 4.5 yard average. Throw in the fact that they are one of the worst redzone defenses and I don't see how they can be characterized as a tough, physical defense. Aside from Mario and Dunta, I don't think anyone else on the team is an above average player from a physical/toughness standpoint (and I also don't think this is one of those cases where the sum is greater than its parts).

Like you said, one game doesn't make you something, and the only game I truly thought the Texans appeared to be physical was Tenn. (While Jacksonvile has historically been a pretty physical team, this year's team just doesn't bring it like year's past (middle of the road 14th against the run)).

so we are more physical than a middle of the road physical team. I agree completely. We are not a physical team, but we are not losing games because we get pushed around. We are just fine in that department. We lose games from stupid play.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by barrett

so we are more physical than a middle of the road physical team. I agree completely. We are not a physical team, but we are not losing games because we get pushed around. We are just fine in that department. We lose games from stupid play.

No disagreement from me that we lose games from stupid play, whether from the coaches or the players. I do think we have lost several games by being pushed around. Off the top of my head, we were pushed around severely by Pittsburgh and Baltimore (although they are the 2 best at it and do it to a lot of people). We also were somewhat manhandled in the first Tenn. and Jacksonville games as well as the Minnesota game. I will acknowledge that we are getting better at playing tougher. However, I'm not convinced we're there yet. And up until the second half of this season, I don't know how you could characterize the Texans as anything but a soft team.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Joshua

No disagreement from me that we lose games from stupid play, whether from the coaches or the players. I do think we have lost several games by being pushed around. Off the top of my head, we were pushed around severely by Pittsburgh and Baltimore (although they are the 2 best at it and do it to a lot of people). We also were somewhat manhandled in the first Tenn. and Jacksonville games as well as the Minnesota game. I will acknowledge that we are getting better at playing tougher. However, I'm not convinced we're there yet. And up until the second half of this season, I don't know how you could characterize the Texans as anything but a soft team.

i think we actually agree. I don't think we are a team of tough guys, I just think we are plenty tough to win in the NFL (or at least not get beat by it if we play smart). We are tougher than the colts, but they play smart football and make it their identity.

I guess my point is we can win without getting any tougher. But we can't win without getting smarter. Not many superbowls are won by the team featuring a bunch of tough guys playing intimidator and pounding their chest. Most of the time the more disciplined team wins.

If anyone disagrees I'll put money against the titans and their false bravado squad.

[NBT]

I don't like that we are characterized as "sucked". We may not meet certain peoples criteria, but we certainly don't suck! Certain players and coaches need to be weeded out, and I am sure they will be. Right now we are what we are, average. That is a heck of lot better than what we were.

[Big Texas]

Originally Posted by NBT

I don't like that we are characterized as "sucked". We may not meet certain peoples criteria, but we certainly don't suck! Certain players and coaches need to be weeded out, and I am sure they will be. Right now we are what we are, average. That is a heck of lot better than what we were.

I understand, "suck" may be a bit of an overexaggeration but mediocre, average, underacheivers, and less than par are pretty close to defining where we are right now. And as far as us being better than we were, I disagree. 7-8. We can only hope to be as good as we were last year. Because in the end it all boils down to wins.

[jppaul]

I bet we win the bears game but only if we are underdogs. If anybody expects anything out of us we are bound to fall flat on our faces