offensive line was huge

[legacy_gt]

offensive line was huge. we even ran the ball inside, to the left, and right. schaub was protected like a king and wasn't sacked. this setups everything in the offense for playaction and bootlegs.

the past games since thanksgiving, our offensive line overall wasn't doing well at all. bengals def front line are good and they got manhandled.

yes we have red zone issues, but if our line opens holes for foster and protects our immobile qb, plus using up lots of time of for brady, we have a good shot and winning (granted our defense always plays like bulls on parade today).

all you people predicting high scoring blowouts against the texans haven't been watching playoff football. check the stats, teams including the pats don't score a ton of points in the playoffs usually (30+). the more we move around the ball, the less stress our defense has to endure.

[badboy]

Well they were not as good as you state but better than recently. I think Jones and Brooks got blown up at least once each. I was mostly impressed by Newton and Mitchell at nose.

[legacy_gt]

Originally Posted by badboy

Well they were not as good as you state but better than recently. I think Jones and Brooks got blown up at least once each. I was mostly impressed by Newton and Mitchell at nose.

for schaub not to get sacked with a defense that ranks 2nd in sacks, for foster to get 150+ yards, and for the lineman to sustain long drives today, i think they did great.

[aussie_texan]

Originally Posted by badboy

Well they were not as good as you state but better than recently. I think Jones and Brooks got blown up at least once each. I was mostly impressed by Newton and Mitchell at nose.

jones didnt have a great game on first glance, brooks looks good but inconsistent but i think we have something in brooks.
Mitchell got in the back field a bit was also impressed by him

[hradhak]

This was the offensive line that we had earlier in the season. They played very well. The playcalling helped keep Schaub from getting hit as well, but credit needs to be given to the O line. They played well and they gave Arian holes to run through.

Bengals have a better D line than the Pats. The o line needs to play as well next week for us to have a shot.

[aussie_texan]

brown was back to his dominate self

[legacy_gt]

Originally Posted by hradhak

This was the offensive line that we had earlier in the season. They played very well. The playcalling helped keep Schaub from getting hit as well, but credit needs to be given to the O line...

totally agree

[qqert]

so what changed with the o-line?
what was the secret to them turning up for todays game?
did arian take back the segways?

[Mr teX]

Yeah they looked good today, the right side still had some issues though. There were more than a couple of times where Arian should've been tackled in the backfield, but he wound up turning it into a positive play just through his sheer talent. All in all though, they looked better than they've looked the last 4 weeks.

[Brisco_County]

Was anyone watching Brandon Brooks? I watched on a few plays, but how did he do overall?

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by badboy

Well they were not as good as you state but better than recently. I think Jones and Brooks got blown up at least once each. I was mostly impressed by Newton...

Interesting. I'm seeing Jones get better & better, I don't think we brought him in to play guard, but I don't see him not playing into the future. I think that's his spot to lose & to me, it looks like he's playing well below his ceiling, meaning he's going to get a lot better.

Newton on the other hand, I think we're probably seeing the best he has to offer, or pretty close. I can see an upgrade coming at that position.

[legacy_gt]

Originally Posted by Mr teX

Yeah they looked good today, the right side still had some issues though. There were more than a couple of times where Arian should've been tackled in the backfield, but he wound up turning it into a positive play just through his sheer talent. All in all though, they looked better than they've looked the last 4 weeks.

agreed, but there were some solid runs to the right and they did do a great job protecting our qb

[klockWork]

Our O-line always plays well in pass protect. It's only when we lost is when you guys seems to blow up with spats against our line. This is the same line that shutout V.Miller, Wake, and Allen earlier this year. When Shcaub can't find his primary targets and panicks in the pocket is when the sky seems to fall in this forum. And sadly it's the O-line that is the sacrificial scapegoats to our bad QB plays.

There hasn't been one time this year where our line cost us a game due to their inability to provide sufficient time in pass protect. In every game there were numerous plays where our receiver are open downfield but due to Schaub panicking in the pocket and throwing to his safety valve or out the bounds or Schaub taking phantom sacks that caused the illusion that our line failed him.

It's amazing how losing can cause the media and fans to point out things that just aren't there. Look at Peyton Manning in the first few games of this season when they weren't winning. Everyone falsely criticized Manning arm strength. In interviews every DC that studied those first few games stated that is not an issue. But when Manning started being comfortable in the system and they began winning suddenly arm strength not an issue.

If Manning were to make some bad throws in the PA and if they were to lose just watch at the wave of critics pointing out to Manning arm strength.
Expect the same treatment when Schaub cost us a game.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by klockWork

Our O-line always plays well in pass protect. It's only when we lost is when you guys seems to blow up with spats against our line. This is the same line that shutout V.Miller, Wake, and Allen earlier this year. When Shcaub can't find his primary targets and panicks in the pocket is when the sky seems to fall in this forum. And sadly it's the O-line that is the sacrificial scapegoats to our bad QB plays.

There hasn't been one time this year where our line cost us a game due to their inability to provide sufficient time in pass protect. In every game there were numerous plays where our receiver are open downfield but due to Schaub panicking in the pocket and throwing to his safety valve or out the bounds or Schaub taking phantom sacks that caused the illusion that our line failed him.

It's amazing how losing can cause the media and fans to point out things that just aren't there. Look at Peyton Manning in the first few games of this season when they weren't winning. Everyone falsely criticized Manning arm strength. In interviews every DC that studied those first few games stated that is not an issue. But when Manning started being comfortable in the system and they began winning suddenly arm strength not an issue.

If Manning were to make some bad throws in the PA and if they were to lose just watch at the wave of critics pointing out to Manning arm strength.
Expect the same treatment when Schaub cost us a game.

Do you know why that pass to AJ in the endzone was a hair away off AJ's hands?
It was because Wade Smith got beat right off the bat.

Do you know that pretty much all the sacks Schaub took this year were due to that reason?
Schaub has been doing a very good job of not holding on to the ball too long (unlike he did his first 2-3 years here.) He saved his buddies' arses quite often.

[Rufus Jarvis]

Originally Posted by legacy_gt

for schaub not to get sacked with a defense that ranks 2nd in sacks, for foster to get 150+ yards, and for the lineman to sustain long drives today, i think they did great.

I agree.

[qqert]

cincy had a better defense overall coming into the playoffs.
but we dominated time of possession.

if the O-LINE can keep the offense on the field much like they did vs. CIN,
i am calling a BLOWOUT @NE in the texans favor!!

thats what tiring the defense will do !!!

but if the O-LINE cant keep the offense on the field, our DEFENSE will suffer the same fate as the CIN defense, it's going to get ROASTED!!!!!

so rest well O-LINE, the SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONSHIP will depend mostly on YOUR play on the field!!!!

[TheMatrix31]

Originally Posted by Mr teX

Yeah they looked good today, the right side still had some issues though. There were more than a couple of times where Arian should've been tackled in the backfield, but he wound up turning it into a positive play just through his sheer talent. All in all though, they looked better than they've looked the last 4 weeks.

Yep. Totally agree with this assessment.

[HJam72]

O-line is definitely not our biggest problem or the second biggest. The biggest problem we have is Schaub's lack of arm-strength and the next is his immobility. Right side of the line still doesn't impress me, though.

Speaking of Schaub's arm-strenth (or lack-thereof), I think Cinci wins this game if they don't waist efforts covering deep so much. If they don't do that, maybe Foster doesn't have some of his longer runs. I know Schaub can make deep throws, but he can also throw picks trying to, even if it's one corner beat deep.

If we get blown out of Foxborough, like I fully expect, and Schaub doesn't look good trying to fight back, I will likely be calling for his job, not that anybody's going to care what one poster thinks. I still think he's got the head for it, for the most part, but I just don't see the physical ability to really compete in the playoffs. Of course, you can try (correction: keep trying) to build the perfect team around him, but it won't stay that way long.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by qqert

cincy had a better defense overall coming into the playoffs.
but we dominated time of possession.

if the O-LINE can keep the offense on the field much like they did vs. CIN,
i am calling a BLOWOUT @NE in the texans favor!!

thats what tiring the defense will do !!!

but if the O-LINE cant keep the offense on the field, our DEFENSE will suffer the same fate as the CIN defense, it's going to get ROASTED!!!!!

so rest well O-LINE, the SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONSHIP will depend mostly on YOUR play on the field!!!!

I love your optimism, but... to add to your points.

The pass rush has got to show up & they've got to finish. Getting hits on Brady is not good enough. Our secondary played well enough that Dalton had no where to go several times & we still failed to get him down.

Barwin played with great effort, but he's got to finish. Same as Antonio. I like the big guy, but he wasn't in the QBs face like usual & against Brady, even that is not enough. He has to get good solid hits on him.

Brady has to be frustrated, taken out of his game. It doesn't happen often, but that's what it's going to take to beat him.

[legacy_gt]

Originally Posted by HJam72

...The biggest problem we have is Schaub's lack of arm-strength and the next is his immobility..

i can list over 10 qb's (including matt ryan, luck, and a smith) that have lesser arms than schaub so arm strength is not the biggest issue with this team. Immobility is an issue. But all these are negated with the O line is protecting well.