"yahoo's" Texan's need

[wags]

Originally Posted by Vinny

Eric Brown and Jay Foreman can tell you that.

I would have liked to have seen if Earl could have covered Gates, because Brown sure couldn't.

[Panther5407]

Originally Posted by wags

Dunta was really good during the latter part of the season, and I think Babin played well also. D-Rob is going to be the leader of our defense next year IMO.

As far as Earl goes, I think it's hard to argue he's good or bad. The man didn't do a whole lot. It's hard to say he looked good or bad, because he was almost invisible at times. I think if a safety deserves credit for the end of the season it would have to be McCree. He filled in for Coleman and actually played well.

I think as far as Earl he did pretty good. You didnt hear his name alot duriing plays. That seems to pretty good not hearing "the reciever blows past earl for a touchdown" or anything on those lines. He kinda quietly did his thing last year.

[texasguy346]

Perhaps I'm a bit biased about Earl. I tried to watch him closely when he was in the game, and for a young safety coming off an injury he played pretty well. I don't recall him blowing coverage, and he always seemed to be where he was supposed to be. He played well against the run, but he could certainly improve. I fully expect him to excell next year and I'm looking forward to see him lay the wood on some people. I really want to see him thumping RBs when he meets them in the hole. I'm sure we'll all admit that he played much better than Brown did at SS, and that's pretty good for a rookie.

[D-ReK]

Earl played well last year and deserves to be our starting SS next year...That said, last year he didn't prove himself to be a difference maker...In games he started, he averaged about 4 tackles a game with no sacks, no INTs, no forced fumbles, and no fumble recoveries...I'm not saying that he won't prove to be a playmaker in the future, but for he, he still has to prove himself...

[Texansbacker]

Originally Posted by Vinny

Since he wasn't isolated and lit up I think that it is a good sign. When you are a weak link you get picked on. Matt Stevens, Eric Brown and Jay Foreman can tell you that.

Those are 3 definite weak links and Coleman, Earl, & Greenwood are all definite upgrades at each position, certainly a much faster team. Add a LB, like a Michael Barrow, to replace Sharper and our team will have rapidly improved.

Then hope that LB Derrick Johnson falls to the Texans.

[TexansTrueFan]

Originally Posted by Texansbacker

Those are 3 definite weak links and Coleman, Earl, & Greenwood are all definite upgrades at each position, certainly a much faster team. Add a LB, like a Michael Barrow, to replace Sharper and our team will have rapidly improved.

Then hope that LB Derrick Johnson falls to the Texans.

i like all the ugrades, but i was think we have wong move back inside with Greenwood and have babin and peek on the outside,,,but if we were to get DJ thatd be awesome,,, but even so i'd still like the starting outside to be peek and babin,,,with wong coming in to keep them fresh !

[D-ReK]

Originally Posted by Texansbacker

Add a LB, like a Michael Barrow, to replace Sharper and our team will have rapidly improved

I've got to disagree with you on this...Barrow is soon to be 35 and coverage has never been his strong point...I don't think Barrow would be an upgrade over Sharper...

[rittenhouserobz]

The OLB's need to improve the pass rush for the coverage to improve. You could have cloned 4 Deon Sanders in his prime to play the in the Texans secondary and they still would have had trouble against Peyton with our inconsistent pass rush.

[BornOrange]

One underlooked aspect of the pass defense from last year is that injuries at different times really prevented the Texans from using the personnel they wanted to. Once Earl took over for Brown, I'm sure the Texans wanted Earl to only be a two-down player with Jason Simmons coming in for him on third downs. Unfortunately, Simmons was out of the lineup due to his concussion. Then, when Simmons returned Coleman ended up on injured reserve so Simmons had to finish the year playing free safety.

If everyone remains healthy, I expect Simmons to step in for Earl when the Texans go into their nickle and dime packages. Earl will get to concentrate on stopping the run and learning to read passes on first and second down. Eventually, Earl will become an every down safety. He actually didn't do a bad job last year when forced into playing more than the Texans would have liked, but with Simmons on the team the Texans would be foolish not to switch him in for Earl in passing situations.

[Texansbacker]

Originally Posted by D-ReK

I've got to disagree with you on this...Barrow is soon to be 35 and coverage has never been his strong point...I don't think Barrow would be an upgrade over Sharper...

Sorry, I didn't write that right. I meant we should pick-up through the draft a Michael Barrow "type" not actually Michael Barrow. Like the rookie Mike Barrow coming in on the Oiler's Buddy Ryan 46 D, replacing big Al Smith at linebacker who was injured. He increased the intensity of the D.

I agree with you that a 35 year old Barrow would be a step backwards from 31 year old Sharper.

[Texansbacker]

Originally Posted by rittenhouserobz

The OLB's need to improve the pass rush for the coverage to improve. You could have cloned 4 Deon Sanders in his prime to play the in the Texans secondary and they still would have had trouble against Peyton with our inconsistent pass rush.

I agree with you that the Texans need to improve their pass rush, but we were getting after Peyton when the Colts were at Reliant this past season, but the refs were unmerciful in bad calls. A CONSISTENT pass rush will be the key to success of our D.

[cadahnic]

DJ would be perfect compliment inside with Greenwood and then Peek and Wong fight it out for the starting ROLB position. BABIN better bring it this year cause I am still not convinced we did not reach for him and give up some damn good player depth in order to get him. Peek and Wong can provide pass rush and babin to me seems kinda like Teddy Brushi without the coverage skills. Greenwood is serviceable and no real upgrade. Please ohh please let him prove me wrong.

[TheOgre]

Lets see what Earl can do before we replace him. I don't think many will dispute that he played better than Brown. Lets see what he can do this season with more experience and an additional year removed from his major injury.