Something happened

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by Hervoyel

Yeah, can't argue with that. That is when someone else has to step up and get it done. When I look at the guys we have out there I see that Smith & Barwin are both capable of doing that but so far we haven't seen much of it from them. Mercilus maybe could too. Don't know.

If nobody else steps up you're right, we're done.

just "playoffs" done, but we all know how that feels. The Oilers were always not quite the best team in the NFL when they were at their best. This team has that same feel....but I'm not knocking that. I've been and am still excited about this season as a whole. If for no other reason to watch JJ Watt play. It reminds me of watching Earl Campbell or Hakeem play. They play on another level and it's rare and one must stop to reflect on what we are looking at before it goes away.

On the broader point, we haven't had good secondary play...or at least 'consistent' play. We have had very little big time edge rush, our linebackers are awful in man coverage without Cushing. Wade moving Watt all over the line is forcing teams to gameplan around him. Frankly I find it amazing that with no real NT push up the middle, no edge rush, poor man coverage and sub-par secondary play and this team is still in the hunt for home field advantage.

[DerekLee1]

Originally Posted by 76Texan

Same thing with AJ.

He said the Pats game is the biggest game in franchise history.

He said to come out and watch them play against the Colts.

Does that mean he's been taking play off the whole year?

To play a 25-week season (17, plus pre- and post-season), you absolutely MUST pace yourself, or you'll be out of gas come playoff time. I think what he's saying now is "damn the pacing, it's full speed from here on out". I get that.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by DerekLee1

To play a 25-week season (17, plus pre- and post-season), you absolutely MUST pace yourself, or you'll be out of gas come playoff time. I think what he's saying now is "damn the pacing, it's full speed from here on out". I get that.

That & I doubt you'll find a "great" player that says any different after a loss. There is something they could have done better that would have changed the outcome of the game.

After the Colts game, Watt saying the same thing, "I left plays on the field" that's that other level.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by DerekLee1

To play a 25-week season (17, plus pre- and post-season), you absolutely MUST pace yourself, or you'll be out of gas come playoff time. I think what he's saying now is "damn the pacing, it's full speed from here on out". I get that.

And that is exactly what I'm talking about.
There are two seasons: The regular season and the play-off season.

The young ones go all-out, all the time.
They may not even get to the play-off season, where it really counts.

The NFL is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

[powda]

Ok the pats and colts have drastic talent differences in their lines, but something else was different technique wise I think.

Last week the pats seemed to keep their linemen on our rushers like glue to stop all the batted balls. Between that and Bradys quick release it worked. It was a great strategy.

This week the colts tried the same strategy. The Texans rushing front didnt play for batted passes. They charged hard, outleveraged their man and got lower. The result was more penetration...couple that with a rookie qb who wasn't as decisive as Brady and we got what we got.

[thunderkyss]

I'm adding this post from another thread.

Originally Posted by Fiddler

If I told you Matt completed 66% of his passes for 275 yards, Andre had 12 catches for 141 yards, & Arian carried the ball 16 times for 96 yards against the hapless Colts, how would you guess the offense played?

Keep in mind, Luck only completed 50% of his passes for less than 200 yards. Vick Ballard toted the rock 27 yards for only 78 yards, & Wayne had 4 catches for 40 yards... who do you think would have won the game?

I know many of you saw the warning signs that foreshadowed the current state of the team. Serious issues that needed to be addressed while we were winning.

My question, is can we see the flashes of hope in a loss? This isn't about moral victories. This is about identifying what this team needs to do to get us where we need to go & seeing if we think they are doing them.

We lost this game. We looked like a young, immature, unfocused, undisciplined team that couldn't get their stuff together, couldn't get out of their own way.

However, there was quite a bit of "success" in between all the crap. Matt Schaub mentioned on his last radio show, that what this team needs to do is string more of those successes together.

The biggest problem I've seen over the last 5 weeks is our Red Zone offense & big play defense. Other than the penalties that are killing us.

[thunderkyss]

Matt Schaub completed 76% of his passes for 262 yards.
Arian ran the ball 32 times for 148 yards & 8 catches for 38 yards
Owen Daniels had 9 catches for 91 yards
We held the ball for 38 minutes & 47 seconds.
The defense held the Bengals to less than 50% and 127 yards passing.
We held them to 80 yards rushing (15 by the QB)

I think something happened, I think the Texans slowed the descent a few weeks back & have started to play better & better every week. I understand 2 wins over the last 5 games isn't anything to brag about. But what I'm seeing, is instead of just band-aiding the offense, & the defense, we're actually getting better.

We're not slinging the ball on a lot of short dump offs & quick slants to hide the fact we can't protect our QB. They're providing good protection, handling their assignments & Schaub is getting time to scan the field & make good decision.

We're not pitching the ball to our running back, bringing in an extra tackle, or changing the way we block up front to hide the fact that we're just not good. We're not dazzling them with misdirection or direct snaps or anything like that. We're lining up in our run formation on run downs & blowing them off the line of scrimmage.

Defensively, we still have pass rush issues. But the secondary (I'm going to have to start another thread for them) is playing lights out.