Upcoming Week 5 Game with Arizona

[Nconroe]

I guess we'll see a lot of scoring, certainly we can't be overly optimistic, but hopeful of a win and a 3-2 record.

We have the AJ vs LF duel at WR. And everyone is wondering if Texans DB's are now stabalized and defense can continue to stop the big play, hopefully we'll get some turnovers. We should see some of Reeves and Eugene Wilson returning to help the secondary. If our front 7 does well and keeps Warner off balance, should be a good result.

Arizona is 1-2 and coming off their bye week. They lost to SF 20-16, beat the Jags 31-17 and lost to Indianapolis 31-10.

Their offense is ranked 15th at 335 yards per game. They are -2 on turnovers. Defensively Cardinals are ranked 20th giving up 360 yards per game. Cardinals power ranking is 19. Kurt Warner is about 17th ranked QB with rating at 84.

Texans are ranked 16th on offense at at 332.2 yards per game and are +1 on turnovers. We are ranked 26th of defense giving up 366 yards per game. Texans have power ranking of 20. Schaub is 7th ranked QB with rating of 98.

Texans, if really for real, should make it close and perhaps win this one.

[Arky]

3pm start time instead of noon.

Cardinals favored by 5.5

Announcers = Ian Eagle, Rich Gannon

Should be a good one....

[Keith]

Well, for Gannon's sake, hopefully this one won't go to overtime.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shu...urn=nfl,193869

With seven seconds left in overtime, the Bengals called a timeout to prepare for the potential game-winning field goal, to be kicked by Shayne Graham(notes). It was an easy decision for head coach Marvin Lewis... Gannon, though, took exception. ...

Gannon didn't like the timeout because he thought that if Graham hit the field goal, it would leave too much time for dangerous Cleveland return man Joshua Cribbs(notes) to take back the subsequent kickoff for a touchdown. You know, that dreaded post-score overtime kickoff that has felled so many teams throughout history.

Gannon's partner in the booth, Ian Eagle, quickly and politely informed Gannon that the game would be over if Graham successfully converted the field goal, since NFL overtime is sudden death. Gannon laughed and apologized for his mistake.

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

Their offense is ranked 15th at 335 yards per game. They are -2 on turnovers. Defensively Cardinals are ranked 20th giving up 360 yards per game.

Texans, if really for real, should make it close and perhaps win this one.

The Cards' defense allows 3.1 ypc and 79.7 ypg in terms of rushing ranking 6th in the NFL. Could that spell trouble for Steve Slaton? On the flip side, their pass defense gives up 280 ypg which ranks 30th. The cause could be that teams get into shoot outs with Kurt Warner and give up on the run and rely upon the passing game. On the other hand, teams may just find it easier to pass on this defense.

Based upon what Slaton has been able to do up to this point, I'd be creating a game plan that utilized a lot of formations that had at least 3 WRs. There would be situations in which I'd have TEs Daniels, Dreesen, and Casey as receivers and Slaton out wide. My offense would make defensive coordinators stay up late at night wondering if I would be bringing out even more tricks next week.

On defense, our Secondary of Reeves, Quinn, Robinson, Wilson, and Pollard should be able to hold their own. Bolden and Fitz are going to get some plays, but we have to be able to contain them somewhat by getting turnovers. I hope we run some blitzes up the middle with Ryans and Cushing to fluster Warner. Having the Nickleback (Quinn) or Pollard blitz a couple of times will also rattle their cages.

Hightower does not scare me. I hope they do run the ball with some degree of success, because they might be less likely to hit a deep ball on a pass play.

[mussop]

Originally Posted by Roy P

The Cards' defense allows 3.1 ypc and 79.7 ypg in terms of rushing ranking 6th in the NFL. Could that spell trouble for Steve Slaton? On the flip side, their pass defense gives up 280 ypg which ranks 30th. The cause could be that teams get into shoot outs with Kurt Warner and give up on the run and rely upon the passing game. On the other hand, teams may just find it easier to pass on this defense.

Based upon what Slaton has been able to do up to this point, I'd be creating a game plan that utilized a lot of formations that had at least 3 WRs. There would be situations in which I'd have TEs Daniels, Dreesen, and Casey as receivers and Slaton out wide. My offense would make defensive coordinators stay up late at night wondering if I would be bringing out even more tricks next week.

On defense, our Secondary of Reeves, Quinn, Robinson, Wilson, and Pollard should be able to hold their own. Bolden and Fitz are going to get some plays, but we have to be able to contain them somewhat by getting turnovers. I hope we run some blitzes up the middle with Ryans and Cushing to fluster Warner. Having the Nickleback (Quinn) or Pollard blitz a couple of times will also rattle their cages.

Hightower does not scare me. I hope they do run the ball with some degree of success, because they might be less likely to hit a deep ball on a pass play.

I agree with everything except that our secondary should hold their own. I see a shootout on the horizon. We need our front four to really step up and make a couple of big plays in this game for us to have a chance. In fact I predict whichever DL creates the most QB pressure will win this game.

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by mussop

I agree with everything except that our secondary should hold their own.

Let me define what I mean. Warner has 3 games this season in which he threw 288, 243, and 332 yards, respectively while completing 65.6% of his attempts. If we hold him to 55% completion percentage and less than 240 yards, I'd say they "held their own" against this offensive machine.

[HPF Bob]

So the "offensive machine" has yet to score 20 points in a game this season? Yeah, I'd say that's offensive.

They may have been a few seconds away from being Super Bowl champions but I really think the Cards are the same old Cards we love dissing. If Fitz doesn't go wild on us, I'm really not particularly worried about what they will do. I'm more worried about how we shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties, turnovers and blown assignments.

Hopefully, the Raider game helped the Texans right the ship and on Sunday they can build on that for two wins in a row. Texans have been road warriors all season too.

You only get one chance every four years to mop up the pathetic NFC West so you have to take the opportunities when they come.

[TheMatrix31]

Cushing has flu-like symptoms as per Twitter.....great

[Nconroe]

Some interesting analysis of the upcoming game from Cards perspective:

on our top three offensive guys - seems a fair review of Schaub, SS, AJ
http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articl...ffense/1319398

and position comparisons - fairly even split as analyzed
http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articl...e_Edge/1322957

[nunusguy]

Except that one would expect atleast a fair-to-midland number of TDs being scored, I have no clue on this game or no clue on what kind of effort the Texans will produce Sunday in the dessert ?

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by Roy P

There would be situations in which I'd have TEs Daniels, Dreesen, and Casey as receivers and Slaton out wide. My offense would make defensive coordinators stay up late at night wondering if I would be bringing out even more tricks next week.

Here is somebody who is thinking a lot like me.

http://media.www.dailyorange.com/med...-3708872.shtml

And one more on the future of the 3 TE sets.....

http://www.footballtimes.org/Article.asp?ID=218

"In Denver's first game of 2008, for the first few plays, Mike Shanahan flirted with the three tight end sets. He then switched to conventional ball. It's on his mind and he is an offensive mastermind. Shanahan is a lot of fun though. He's also played around with the old "option" plays seen in college too. My guess is that Shanahan would run a finesse version of the magic three system, while a team like Pittsburgh might run the smash mouth version.

Notably, the Patriots used the three tight end set for a series in the last regular season game in 2007 against the New York Giants. The offensive coordinator for New England at that time, Josh McDaniels, now coaches Denver and has many tight ends to play with."

I wonder if Kubiak or lil' Shan have been given the tablets from Mike?

[Fonz the Boss]

Originally Posted by TheMatrix31

Cushing has flu-like symptoms as per Twitter.....great

Yeap... I heard it on ESPN radio this morning. They are going to take swine flu precautions because several Texans players have been ill. I wonder if they will travel on a different plane?

[Nconroe]

Sounds like Cushing was back at practice Thursday, so hopefully he'll be ok.

Apparently Cardinals have no reception play over 30 yards this year and Chris Beeny Wells only has 15 carries in 3 games with 2 fumbles. Mainly passing a lot but short plays due to teams have double and triple covered Fitzgerald.

So, just wondering if the game will be as high scoring as I had been thinking.

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

So, just wondering if the game will be as high scoring as I had been thinking.

Cards - 17 Texans - 24

that's my guess

[nero THE zero]

Originally Posted by Nconroe

Sounds like Cushing was back at practice Thursday, so hopefully he'll be ok.

Apparently Cardinals have no reception play over 30 yards this year and Chris Beeny Wells only has 15 carries in 3 games with 2 fumbles. Mainly passing a lot but short plays due to teams have double and triple covered Fitzgerald.

So, just wondering if the game will be as high scoring as I had been thinking.

Yea, I don't know what the O/U is but I'd take the under. Shootouts hardly ever live up to their billing it seems.

[NBT]

Turns out Cushing just had a cold.

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by Roy P

Let me define what I mean. Warner has 3 games this season in which he threw 288, 243, and 332 yards, respectively while completing 65.6% of his attempts. If we hold him to 55% completion percentage and less than 240 yards, I'd say they "held their own" against this offensive machine.

Okay, so Warner was 26 of 38 for 68% and threw for 302 yards and 2 TDs. They also scored 28 points, so we definitely made them look like an offensive machine.

While watching the game casually, I noted some good plays by Pollard and Dunta Robinson. Reeves looked a little rusty at times. I haven't gone through and looked with a fine tooth comb to see where we could have done better, yet.