IF Cushing is done for the season what are our SB chances?

[LondonTex]

Still quite new to all this and TT so sorry again if this seems a somewhat dim question....

Prayin it aint so but if Cushing (already my second favourite player) is done for the season how much of a hit on our SB chances is this? Recently a lot of fans (Texans and otherwise) speak about our chances and it has appeared we have a great shot if we stay healthy. If Cush is out for the season do we have solid guys to step in? Also, if he is done for the season whats the chances he'll be back nice and strong for the start of next season?
I gotta say, since I started watchin these boys I've fast grown to love watching this defense more than any other defense in any other sport and Ill be really gutted about his injury (IF it's a torn acl) so I can imagine long time fans must be really bummed.

[speedfreek]

Honestly, they dropped, but not by as much as people are probably thinking..

We've really been vanilla and conservative on offense because of the great defense. Now it's just time to turn up the dial.

TJ

[houstonspartan]

Sorry, but, I'm calling BS on people who say that we're done because of one player. People, take a good, hard look at 2011 and what this team accomplished. We had 5,0000 players get injured, and we kept on rolling.

If Cushing is out, he's out. And we press on.

[b0ng]

They lowered a little bit but I think we are still favorites in the AFC as long as we don't get too many more injuries to our great players.

[disaacks3]

In we trust!

[LondonTex]

Encouraging to know! I only ask because he seems such an influential player and they are usually hard to replace... The offence has plenty of weaponry so we're ok there. I haven't heard anyone say we're done if Cush is out btw ... Gauging this kinda thing is still something I'm feeling as I go along... By next year I'll have a better grip on the depth of this roster and know the players more. Whatever happens I love this team! #bullsonparade !!

[ItsMyFault]

Dropped significantly. But, the next two weeks should be telling on how good we can defend the rush.. especially against Ray Rice.

[LikeMike]

It is a major blow... it sucks... it`s frustrating. It hurts. But in the end we still have a pretty good chance at the SB. Every team gets hit by injuries - and it is always just one game at a time. We have a deep team and if last year proved anything, then it is: "next man up"... who knows, Dobbins looked pretty good so far, Bradie James seems to be improving and if Sharpton can come back soon, we should be fine.

In the end this loss turns our ILB from a strength to a "normal" position.

[LondonTex]

Originally Posted by ItsMyFault

Dropped significantly. But, the next two weeks should be telling on how good we can defend the rush.. especially against Ray Rice.

Who is the main MLB who can come in and do a job if Cush is out?

As an aside that week I'll be dropping Rice from my FF team as I'll be wanting him to suck against my Texans D

[Thorn]

Re: IF Cushing is done for the season what are our SB chances?

Same as before. If a 9-7 team can win the Super Bowl, we have a chance. Winning the Super Bowl is part talent, coaching, players having a good day and good old fashioned luck.

[silentassassin]

Originally Posted by speedfreek

Honestly, they dropped, but not by as much as people are probably thinking..

We've really been vanilla and conservative on offense because of the great defense. Now it's just time to turn up the dial.

TJ

Hit the nail on the head.

Hope people haven't forgotten what they're capable of.

[TdotTexas2Step]

Originally Posted by houstonspartan

Sorry, but, I'm calling BS on people who say that we're done because of one player. People, take a good, hard look at 2011 and what this team accomplished. We had 5,0000 players get injured, and we kept on rolling.

If Cushing is out, he's out. And we press on.

Actually, 2011 is probably THE prime example of what can happen when you lose that one key player. The OP is wondering about our Superbowl chances and not just how our depth will handle the regular season. It probably wouldn't be hard to find a Ravens fan who can accept that we may have won the game had Schaub played.

[SheTexan]

Originally Posted by disaacks3

In we trust!

This! ^^^^^^^^

JJ Watt called Wade a genius! Cush is the captain of the D, very high motor and his absence will definitely be felt. But, we have the coach that will know how to fix it. Sometimes adversity makes you stronger, just ask our TEXANS!!

[LondonTex]

Originally Posted by LikeMike

It is a major blow... it sucks... it`s frustrating. It hurts. But in the end we still have a pretty good chance at the SB. Every team gets hit by injuries - and it is always just one game at a time. We have a deep team and if last year proved anything, then it is: "next man up"... who knows, Dobbins looked pretty good so far, Bradie James seems to be improving and if Sharpton can come back soon, we should be fine.

In the end this loss turns our ILB from a strength to a "normal" position.

True, other teams will have their own injuries to deal with. I doubt any team that reaches the SB will do so without losing someone important along the way. It's whether a team can lose a KEY player and replace strength with strength I guess.

[PRican1493]

All I know is, if he is going to be out which I know he is, I hope for a quick recovery. The person that is going to be put in his place, well he's got pretty big shoes to fill and I hope Wade Phillips put the best person in their. So that job and he better be that doggone good at it because the New York Jets were running over our defense. I'm just glad that they pulled it off at the end. Wade Phillips has a lot a work to do this week before the Green Bay Packers game. I am in Houston Texans fan since the beginning and I'll always be to the end. Win, lose, or draw Texans fan for life. Go team go!

[C Madd]

I agree with most everyone else in this thread. I don't think Houston's chances have dropped by much, if at all. Sure it sucks to lose Cushing, but it seems like Wade's defense is more about the system than dependIng on individual players. Dobbins seems solid against the run and I trust Wade to utilize what he has.

Plus we still have the offense in tact and that JJ Watt fella terrorizing the entire league. Now let's start focusing on the next task at hand, beating Green Bay!

[guichows6]

The D won't be as good as if we had The Kraken, but we still have The JUGGERNAUT watt making game changing plays. Dobbins is good enough as far as I know, and if we keep injuries to a minimum the rest of the way, we are still Superbowl bound no doubt.

My concerns are the Run D especially with our BEAST in the middle being out now.

ST suck. Punting sucks, return game sucks. Our offense continually has a long field to march.

AJ just isn't the same. He shoulve owned cromartie last night and instead got shut down easy. Yea yea schaub didn't Target him..well from what I saw aj couldn't get separation.
He needs to get refocused and channel his younger self to come out.

We missed Ben Tate last night. Arian is a BEAST, but he can't keep this pace up if he wants to last thru Feb..

[GP]

Tim Dobbins is a helluva' run stuffer, so we haven't lost run defense with Dobbins in there. He should've been playing in Bradie James' spot anyways (with Cush calling the plays), and it sucks that he's playing only because Cushing got hurt.

Frankly, I would expect us to go with a bigger secondary. Maybe play more nickel now. I'd have Manning up in the box, and have Quin and Nolan as safeties (Demps then replacing Nolan when Demps comes back). JJo and KJ as the two CBs. This way we can play Manning for coverage skills, but he can lay the damn wood on the shallow stuff and act as sort of an extra 'Backer out there too. When you have a guy like Manning, you have to use him differently if your ILB situation is iffy. And it's damn sure iffy now.

I don't know that any team out there would trade us a true, genuinely GOOD ILB right now. I'd offer the 2013 1st rounder, and maybe even an extra pick or player, etc., IF we could find a dancing partner who wants to party with us. Just don't see us doing that. ILB will be THE target of our next draft. We need multiple ILBs. Badly.

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by LondonTex

True, other teams will have their own injuries to deal with. I doubt any team that reaches the SB will do so without losing someone important along the way. It's whether a team can lose a KEY player and replace strength with strength I guess.

yep, good article on that here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/sp...kers.html?_r=0

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by speedfreek

Honestly, they dropped, but not by as much as people are probably thinking..

We've really been vanilla and conservative on offense because of the great defense. Now it's just time to turn up the dial.

TJ

Originally Posted by b0ng

They lowered a little bit but I think we are still favorites in the AFC as long as we don't get too many more injuries to our great players.

Haha, Las Vegas just updated their odds.
On Sep 18, our odds were 6 to 1.
A couple of weeks ago, our odds were 5 to 1 to win the Super Bowl; it went up to 9 to 2 last week (Oct 4).
Today we're at 7 to 2.
What it means is that we are favored to win the SB even more than last week.
We're still the darlings of Vegas.

However, in the short term, our odds against the Packers dropped.
Yesterday, we were favored by some 5 points.
Today, it was reduced to 3-1/2.