Defense 12/2/2012

[76Texan]

Bring on the Pats!

If the refs just let them play in a normal way, I think we match up very well with the Pats.

We are the better team, really!

[Dutchrudder]

Originally Posted by DocBar

He should only get better with more reps. I'm not saying he's gonna go all JoJo or anything, but I just didn't think he was completely awful against a not very good Titans offense.

Look how long it took Kareem (AKA "Most NFL ready CB in the draft") to get competent at the position. A 2nd year, 5th round CB will take a while before he learns the ropes, and it might not be until next year that we can count on him to play the nickle. He looked bad yesterday against a QB that was getting pressured a lot. The Pats and whoever we face in the playoffs will be much better than what we saw yesterday, and he will need to improve greatly to avoid being a weak link that gets picked on.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by 76Texan

We are the better team, really!

I don't think that matters. Not against the Pats. They play to win. Doesn't matter who the better team is.

If you let them hang around, they'll beat you in the end.

[TimeKiller]

Biggest standout to me was Brandon Harris. I'm not so sure McCain is indeed a better nickel corner. This guy had a bunch of passes defensed in his first real shot. I'm not saying he won't get burned, I'm saying McCain doesn't make that many plays per game. If Harris can keep that up or even improve he's the better man for the job.

Watt is just fantastic.

Ruud is playing way over his head. He's making the impact James was supposed to.

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

Look how long it took Kareem (AKA "Most NFL ready CB in the draft") to get competent at the position. A 2nd year, 5th round CB will take a while before he learns the ropes, and it might not be until next year that we can count on him to play the nickle. He looked bad yesterday against a QB that was getting pressured a lot. The Pats and whoever we face in the playoffs will be much better than what we saw yesterday, and he will need to improve greatly to avoid being a weak link that gets picked on.

I understand what you're saying but consider that Roc will not be thrown to the wolves as KJ was and will be playing dime. He needs to fill his role adequately, not magically turn into Revis in a week. He's also not a rookie. He's had 1 1/2 seasons of learning under his belt. If he's even remotely competent, he should be able to adequately play the position he's being asked to play. He got the 1st game jitters out of the way against the flaming thumbtacks, so just maybe next week will be better.
Who knows, it could happen.

[Maddict5]

just rewatched the game again in condensed version (awesome btw half an hr and ur done) after seeing some of the threads/opinions on here because i thought the defence played excellent yesterday...

after watching it again im not changing my mind- both roc and harris played excellent. roc gave up one big play where locker made that excellent throw to the right side when he threw it last second after it looked like he was going to run with it. harris had a penalty or two but otherwise it was tight coverage all the time & made nice plays. actually kareem (who didnt play badly either) was the one who gave up any other big play. excellent first outing for both new guys. id love to hear where ppl are getting that they looked 'bad' yesterday

other observations:

-like the last few games, we looked alot more dangerous running the ball with forsett & tate than with foster. alot of 2 yds and a cloud of dust in fosters running lately.

-for that matter, our whole skill position guys (apart from limited forsett/tate touches) were very meh all game apart from jean's big play

-pass rush was noticeably better yesterday

-ST are improving all the time: donnie jones was excellent, keshawn is looking more & more dangerous every wk (made some titan look rly silly yest on his big return) & graham even showed some leg. coverage teams have improved last couple wks too.

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by Maddict5

just rewatched the game again in condensed version (awesome btw half an hr and ur done) after seeing some of the threads/opinions on here because i thought the defence played excellent yesterday...

after watching it again im not changing my mind- both roc and harris played excellent. roc gave up one big play where locker made that excellent throw to the right side when he threw it last second after it looked like he was going to run with it. harris had a penalty or two but otherwise it was tight coverage all the time & made nice plays. actually kareem (who didnt play badly either) was the one who gave up any other big play. excellent first outing for both new guys. id love to hear where ppl are getting that they looked 'bad' yesterday

other observations:

-like the last few games, we looked alot more dangerous running the ball with forsett & tate than with foster. alot of 2 yds and a cloud of dust in fosters running lately.
-for that matter, our whole skill position guys (apart from limited forsett/tate touches) were very meh all game apart from jean's big play

-pass rush was noticeably better yesterday

-ST are improving all the time: donnie jones was excellent, keshawn is looking more & more dangerous every wk (made some titan look rly silly yest on his big return) & graham even showed some leg. coverage teams have improved last couple wks too.

That seems to be the case for the whole season. Foster is getting tripped up just before he breaks a big one. That wasn't the case the last 2 seasons. Besides Foster, what is up with Texans slipping so much this year? Is someone sneaking around and spraying Pam on their cleats?

[Maddict5]

also something that annoyed me on second watch:

on GQ's interception right at the end of the first half. he picked it off with about 5-6 secs left at the titans 41. it never looked like being a pick 6 as there's titans back and he has to start cutting across the field immediately. if he gets down there we get an attempt at a 50ish yd fg but he kept running and time ran out by the time he went out of bounds at the 25 yd line.... hard to pick on GQ because of the heat of the moment play & he had a great game but hopefully kubes can use it as a know your situation highlight for the pats game cos we cant be missing pts opportunities against them

[Maddict5]

Originally Posted by DocBar

That seems to be the case for the whole season. Foster is getting tripped up just before he breaks a big one. That wasn't the case the last 2 seasons. Besides Foster, what is up with Texans slipping so much this year? Is someone sneaking around and spraying Pam on their cleats?

i only rly notice it with foster but now that you mention it, aj slipped on a bubble screen and OD slipped on a 3rd down yesterday.

hopefully arian's keeping it in the tank for when he'll really need it. the dirty secret of the texans season (which has been masked by his tds/continued tds good play in the RZ & # of carries) is that arian hasnt been running the ball well at all. his big play ability in the passing game has disappeared too. at the moment he just looks like a grinder

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by DocBar

He got the 1st game jitters out of the way against the flaming thumbtacks, so just maybe next week will be better.
Who knows, it could happen.

He'll be going up against Brady & Welker. No way he's going to be "better" enough for someone who expected him to be a shutdown corner in his first real experience playing at this level.

[DocBar]

Originally Posted by Maddict5

i only rly notice it with foster but now that you mention it, aj slipped on a bubble screen and OD slipped on a 3rd down yesterday.

hopefully arian's keeping it in the tank for when he'll really need it. the dirty secret of the texans season (which has been masked by his tds/continued tds good play in the RZ & # of carries) is that arian hasnt been running the ball well at all. his big play ability in the passing game has disappeared too. at the moment he just looks like a grinder

Keyshawn Martin has looked like he was on roller skates a few times, so has Forsett and Walter. Try to make a cut and end up on their backsides.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by Maddict5

also something that annoyed me on second watch:

on GQ's interception right at the end of the first half. he picked it off with about 5-6 secs left at the titans 41. it never looked like being a pick 6 as there's titans back and he has to start cutting across the field immediately. if he gets down there we get an attempt at a 50ish yd fg but he kept running and time ran out by the time he went out of bounds at the 25 yd line.... hard to pick on GQ because of the heat of the moment play & he had a great game but hopefully kubes can use it as a know your situation highlight for the pats game cos we cant be missing pts opportunities against them

I think it's a No-Go.

He wasn't able to secure the ball until the 5-sec mark.
Say he kneels down; they won't blow the whistle until the 4-sec mark at the earliest.

A 57-58 yd FGA has more risk than reward.
We can be pretty sure (almost with 100% certainty) that with Kubiak, he'd just have Schaub kneel down to the end the half with the 21-3 lead.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by 76Texan

He wasn't able to secure the ball until the 5-sec mark.
Say he kneels down; they won't blow the whistle until the 4-sec mark at the earliest.

Clock stops with a change of possession.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by Fiddler

Clock stops with a change of possession.

What can you do even with 5 secs?

[DX-TEX]

Originally Posted by 76Texan

What can you do even with 5 secs?

**** it! Im going deep!!

[Maddict5]

Originally Posted by 76Texan

I think it's a No-Go.

He wasn't able to secure the ball until the 5-sec mark.
Say he kneels down; they won't blow the whistle until the 4-sec mark at the earliest.

A 57-58 yd FGA has more risk than reward.
We can be pretty sure (almost with 100% certainty) that with Kubiak, he'd just have Schaub kneel down to the end the half with the 21-3 lead.

i meant instead of cutting across the field he goes straight upfield... gets his 5-10 yds and we try a fg with 2 secs left. its a very minor point & GQ is normally a very heady player anyway