Lets look at what we did right in 04'

[Bayern]

Offensively:

I'm speaking specifically of the point last year when Carr was able to really improve his numbers. Namely against the Chiefs, Raiders, and Vikings the passing attack improved, Carr was not getting laid out on his butt all day and we looked like a team in progress. I vaguely remember the Vikings game especially, and I'll say thats probably the best I've seen from Carr since he's been with the team.
So what happened after that which has seemingly made the Texans regress so far? I know the double teams AJ drew were part of the problem which forced Carr into finding other options, but something else must of happened as well to cause the guy to run for his life. I hear all this talk about getting AJ open but why don't we get the other receivers open to take the pressure off of AJ?
I guess I'm not buying into the "Carr sucks" talk quite yet, because I do remember the few flashes of greatness he had when the options were there.

BTW I'm not bashing the O-Line either, just trying to figure out where we got trainwrecked last year to this year.

[LBC_Justin]

Originally Posted by Bayern

Offensively:

I'm speaking specifically of the point last year when Carr was able to really improve his numbers. Namely against the Chiefs, Raiders, and Vikings the passing attack improved, Carr was not getting laid out on his butt all day and we looked like a team in progress. I vaguely remember the Vikings game especially, and I'll say thats probably the best I've seen from Carr since he's been with the team.
So what happened after that which has seemingly made the Texans regress so far? I know the double teams AJ drew were part of the problem which forced Carr into finding other options, but something else must of happened as well to cause the guy to run for his life. I hear all this talk about getting AJ open but why don't we get the other receivers open to take the pressure off of AJ?
I guess I'm not buying into the "Carr sucks" talk quite yet, because I do remember the few flashes of greatness he had when the options were there.

BTW I'm not bashing the O-Line either, just trying to figure out where we got trainwrecked last year to this year.

Quality of opponent is a big factor:
Bills and Steelers are two of the absolute best defenses. Actually the Browns last year had the 4th best pass defense (but very poor run defense).
Raiders, Vikings, and Chiefs were three of the absolute worst defenses last year.

After this week, it is going to get much better. Your right Carr doesn't suck. But against a good pass rush, fast playmaking linebackers and a tight secondarys plus factor in the Texans poor pass rush and you have all to ingredients to making Carr look really bad. He'll be fine. So will the Texans.

[TheOgre]

Originally Posted by Bayern

I'm speaking specifically of the point last year when Carr was able to really improve his numbers....against the Chiefs, Raiders, and Vikings...
So what happened after that which has seemingly made the Texans regress so far?

In a way you answered your own question. The Chiefs, Raiders, and Vikings were in the bottom quarter of the league in pass defense last year. Carr was able to light them up. After those first 6 games, we started playing some more stout defenses. That is what led to his dropoff. We need to get our offense to a point were we can dictate what the defense does instead of the other way around (reminds me of one of the major flaws with the Run-and-Shoot). It will take a combination of better talent and coaching to get that done.

[Runner]

I think this is more noticeable in pro basketball, but it applies to football too.

The teams who are improving from mediocre (or worse) to good seem to do the following:

1) They beat or are competitive with a lot of the good to very good teams they play. (The teams they should lose to)
2) They lose to teams that are worse than they are. (The teams they should beat)

Point 1 gets the fans hopes up, point 2 dashes those hopes.

However, when the team is really good or very good:
1) They beat or are competitive with the best teams in the league
2) They almost always beat the teams that are worse.

Right now, the Texans are the first type of team.

[Bayern]

Wow.... very well thought out answers. Thanks guys!

[HardKnockTexan]

Besides the Viks, Raiders and Chiefs having poor defenses, we also used a lot of 4 WR sets during those games. Carr seemed to have more faith in his other recievers. I remember Armstrong making a name for himself during that Vikings game. We seemed to spread the ball out a lot more which opened up the running game.
Using the pass to open up the running game seems to be what Carr, Palmer and Johnson want... maybe Capers should start listening to the people that run his offense.