New Game, Same Problems

[eriadoc]

You can blame officiating if you like, but the same problems that have plagued this team since Week 3 starred in yet another Texans loss.

1.) This team is the #1 authority on how to get into field goal position and execute a beautiful FG. Kris Brown is showing no signs this year of playing as poorly as he has in years past. He is kicking very well. Unfortunately, we need TDs - something our offense seems allergic to when it matters most. The team has normally been good for one offensive TD a game when it matters, but I guess they felt like they owed the football gods for the Carolina game, so they evened it out a little more today.

2.) The defense cannot get off the field on 3rd downs. They've played well at times, but most of those times have not been 3rd down. This problem has persisted throughout the season. Once the Jags figured out the defense today, it didn't matter what down it was.

3.) The running game is pitiful, and all to quickly abandoned for the pass. Ahman Green came back today and it made next to no difference.

4.) Matt Schaub is good for at least one bad pass per game. Today, it was another one of his classic underthrown balls on a deep route. He has consistently underthrown the deep ball this season. The only deep pass he seems to be able to get out tehre is the deep crossing pattern, a la the AJ TD vs. the Chiefs. Schaub does lots of things well, especially challenging the middle of the field, but throwing the ball deep down the sidelines just isn't in his repertoire. The coaches need to recognize this and plan accordingly.

5.) Turnovers - No team can overcome turnovers easily (well, unless you're JAX, facing us, I guess). This team is not talented enough, yet, to overcome turnovers. Schaub's fumble today was classic #8, to be honest. The ball was barely contacted and he was being careless with the ball. Andre Davis' fumble was unnecessary - all he had to do was tuck and dive.

The officiating contributed, but nowhere near as much as our guys just getting their asses kicked.

[wwffan99tx]

3. The running game was OK until McKinney went out for the year. As long as Flanagan is playing this team will not run the ball. Bench him and give Chris White a shot. Can't do any worse.

[brakos82]

#2 is from the refs, but the rest are good points. Not saying we would have won, but it would have been a four quarter game.

[HJam72]

Originally Posted by wwffan99tx

3. The running game was OK until McKinney went out for the year. As long as Flanagan is playing this team will not run the ball. Bench him and give Chris White a shot. Can't do any worse.

I don't know anything about White, but you're right. It's Flanagan that's killing the running game.

[taruky]

Boy, if Schaub is good for one bad pass a game, I'd say the Texans are pretty lucky. I'll take that any day. Schaub is perfectly capable of hitting that pass and I'm sure he does it in practice enough that the coaches know he can do it. It's not an issue of arm strength, those deep crossing routes require more of that than some of the posts he's underthrown.

[eriadoc]

Originally Posted by taruky

Boy, if Schaub is good for one bad pass a game, I'd say the Texans are pretty lucky. I'll take that any day. Schaub is perfectly capable of hitting that pass and I'm sure he does it in practice enough that the coaches know he can do it. It's not an issue of arm strength, those deep crossing routes require more of that than some of the posts he's underthrown.

And yet he consistently underthrows it - every single game.

[taruky]

Originally Posted by eriadoc

And yet he consistently underthrows it - every single game.

Yeah, but I wouldn't abandon the post patterns, that would be absurd. I'm sure he'll improve. Keep in mind he has completed some of those, just not in stride like you would want.

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by eriadoc

And yet he consistently underthrows it - every single game.

There are plenty of weaknesses/issues/problems that need addressing on this team.

Matt Schaub is not one of them.

[Hervoyel]

1.) The red zone offense is truly pitiful. This is the point in drives where two things conspire to literally rob us of any chance at crossing the goal line. First we have no running game. Second we lack Andre Johnson and seemingly have no faith in anyone else when we get that close to the goal line. We either cannot run block well enough to create holes for any running back on our roster or we do not have a running back on our roster capable of running the football well in the NFL. I personally feel like this is primarily the result of lousy personnel. I was wrong about Dayne, always knew Gado was garbage, and had a bad feeling about the Ahman Green signing. I do not believe he has anything left in the tank. Just my thoughts on that. Hopefully he proves me wrong at some point. Right now we got nothing.

2.) Our defense is lousy and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. We have enough quality personnel in places to look good from time to time but we are a few players short, have no depth at all, and Rick Smith has no business running our defense. It was widely reported that when Kubiak went looking for a defensive coordinator his first choice was Frank Bush and that he settled for Rick Smith when Bush wasn't given permission to talk to the Texans. Since then our defense has not excelled and Frank Bush has joined the coaching staff. Why is the consolation prize still involved?

3.) I think Green is done. He just doesn't have anything left (opinion) and is making the kind of difference in our running game that Stacey Mack did back in 2003. Sadly we don't have somebody ready to step in a play Domanick Davis this year.

4 & 5) Schaub throws the pick on a regular basis and there's no getting around it. I don't mind as much when he's also throwing touchdowns but right now those turnovers are kicking our butt. The fumbles are so sloppy that I come unglued seeing them happen. Good teams force fumbles and we played a good team today but jeez, make them at least work for it. Davis turning over the ball at the goal line was a huge example of why this Andre can't completely replace that Andre.

Lack of talent I don't expect the team to be able to overcome without more players. Sloppy, stupid turnovers on the road I can't tolerate, won't watch, and know that the coaches can correct.

[awtysst]

Originally Posted by eriadoc

And yet he consistently underthrows it - every single game.

Many of those are timing routes. Its hard to get a precision down when you have different Wrs coming in and out.

[taruky]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

1.) The red zone offense is truly pitiful. This is the point in drives where two things conspire to literally rob us of any chance at crossing the goal line. First we have no running game. Second we lack Andre Johnson and seemingly have no faith in anyone else when we get that close to the goal line. We either cannot run block well enough to create holes for any running back on our roster or we do not have a running back on our roster capable of running the football well in the NFL. I personally feel like this is primarily the result of lousy personnel. I was wrong about Dayne, always knew Gado was garbage, and had a bad feeling about the Ahman Green signing. I do not believe he has anything left in the tank. Just my thoughts on that. Hopefully he proves me wrong at some point. Right now we got nothing.

2.) Our defense is lousy and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. We have enough quality personnel in places to look good from time to time but we are a few players short, have no depth at all, and Rick Smith has no business running our defense. It was widely reported that when Kubiak went looking for a defensive coordinator his first choice was Frank Bush and that he settled for Rick Smith when Bush wasn't given permission to talk to the Texans. Since then our defense has not excelled and Frank Bush has joined the coaching staff. Why is the consolation prize still involved?

3.) I think Green is done. He just doesn't have anything left (opinion) and is making the kind of difference in our running game that Stacey Mack did back in 2003. Sadly we don't have somebody ready to step in a play Domanick Davis this year.

4 & 5) Schaub throws the pick on a regular basis and there's no getting around it. I don't mind as much when he's also throwing touchdowns but right now those turnovers are kicking our butt. The fumbles are so sloppy that I come unglued seeing them happen. Good teams force fumbles and we played a good team today but jeez, make them at least work for it. Davis turning over the ball at the goal line was a huge example of why this Andre can't completely replace that Andre.

Lack of talent I don't expect the team to be able to overcome without more players. Sloppy, stupid turnovers on the road I can't tolerate, won't watch, and know that the coaches can correct.

Oh so that pick today was Schaub's fault? Let's see, the throw was right into Davis' gut, Davis catches it with the defender behind him, the defender then reaches around him and takes the ball away while tackling him. Nope, I don't see where that was Schaub's INT except in the stat sheet.

[grinch1134]

Ahhhh. The sky is falling, the sky is falling. I cannot remember one time in the last six years that I have gone in knowing we can win. We broke down before halftime, but I wouldn't call this the same problems. I can't remember when we had a QB that could evade sacks and throw to more than one receiver a game.

Let's go Texans, there are still 10 games to go.

[Hervoyel]

Originally Posted by taruky

Oh so that pick today was Schaub's fault? Let's see, the throw was right into Davis' gut, Davis catches it with the defender behind him, the defender then reaches around him and takes the ball away while tackling him. Nope, I don't see where that was Schaub's INT except in the stat sheet.

Schaub throws the pick on a regular basis. He's got as many of them as he does TD's right now. I never said they were all his fault. I just said that he's consistently thrown a pick this year.

[Pantherstang84]

I'm starting to get the feeling that this franchise is snake bit or something. Is there a Bud Adams curse on this town or something?

[Htownsportsfan]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

1.) The red zone offense is truly pitiful. This is the point in drives where two things conspire to literally rob us of any chance at crossing the goal line. First we have no running game. Second we lack Andre Johnson and seemingly have no faith in anyone else when we get that close to the goal line. We either cannot run block well enough to create holes for any running back on our roster or we do not have a running back on our roster capable of running the football well in the NFL. I personally feel like this is primarily the result of lousy personnel. I was wrong about Dayne, always knew Gado was garbage, and had a bad feeling about the Ahman Green signing. I do not believe he has anything left in the tank. Just my thoughts on that. Hopefully he proves me wrong at some point. Right now we got nothing.

2.) Our defense is lousy and anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. We have enough quality personnel in places to look good from time to time but we are a few players short, have no depth at all, and Rick Smith has no business running our defense. It was widely reported that when Kubiak went looking for a defensive coordinator his first choice was Frank Bush and that he settled for Rick Smith when Bush wasn't given permission to talk to the Texans. Since then our defense has not excelled and Frank Bush has joined the coaching staff. Why is the consolation prize still involved?

3.) I think Green is done. He just doesn't have anything left (opinion) and is making the kind of difference in our running game that Stacey Mack did back in 2003. Sadly we don't have somebody ready to step in a play Domanick Davis this year.

4 & 5) Schaub throws the pick on a regular basis and there's no getting around it. I don't mind as much when he's also throwing touchdowns but right now those turnovers are kicking our butt. The fumbles are so sloppy that I come unglued seeing them happen. Good teams force fumbles and we played a good team today but jeez, make them at least work for it. Davis turning over the ball at the goal line was a huge example of why this Andre can't completely replace that Andre.

Lack of talent I don't expect the team to be able to overcome without more players. Sloppy, stupid turnovers on the road I can't tolerate, won't watch, and know that the coaches can correct.

There is not a runningback in the league today who could run behind the line that played the Jags today. The lack of holes to run through was terrible. I dont know what the solution on the line is but I know until its fixed nobody will suceed behind our line against a D like the Jags. I just wish that was our only issue!

[Twitch-Houston]

Originally Posted by Htownsportsfan

There is not a runningback in the league today who could run behind the line that played the Jags today. The lack of holes to run through was terrible. I dont know what the solution on the line is but I know until its fixed nobody will suceed behind our line against a D like the Jags. I just wish that was our only issue!

From what I saw, Jones-Drew did a pretty good job of creating plays all by himself. Our backs tend to fold when they are touched. Kind of a blanket statement I know, but I watch other backs around the league and they seem to fight for every yard they get. I don't see that same fight in our RBs most of the time.

[Runner]

Originally Posted by grinch1134

We broke down before halftime, but I wouldn't call this the same problems. I can't remember when we had a QB that could evade sacks and throw to more than one receiver a game.

Even with the new improved QB play the Texans have some of the other same problems. The team has had more than one problem in its history, hard as that may be to believe.

[V3rm0nt3r]

God I'm pissed. With Green coming back you would think that they'd get something going on the ground, but Noooooo.

atrocious as it is everyweek when they're playing a team doesn't have the incomptatant run defenses that Miami, Carolina, and KC have...

hell they didn't even run that well against Miami last week.

[Yankee_In_TX]

Originally Posted by V3rm0nt3r

God I'm pissed. With Green coming back you would think that they'd get something going on the ground, but Noooooo.

I still have NO idea why everyone thinks that and/or blamed Dayne. It's the OL, and coincidentally so since McKinney went down.