Chris Palmer is too predictable.

[footballguy69]

Chris Palmer is too predictable. The play calling is terrible. Only good thing Sunday was we spread the ball around to receivers. Defense should look into the mirror. Terrible pass rush from Deloach, Walker and Smith. More blitzs should be called especially on 3rd down and long. The defenses 3rd down allowance was horrible. We need Gary Kubiak as offensive coordinator and send Palmer somewhere else before he screws up Carr like he did Couch! And....BJ Symons will be the 2nd string QB next year. We need his quick reads and quick release. Ragone will be history!

[aj.]

The Texans gained 336 yards even though they turned it over 4 times. If they had held on to the ball they would have easily eclipsed 400 yards of offense. What exactly do you want them to do? Playcalling had little to do with the melt down yesterday.

[footballguy69]

I am not real excited by 336 yards against last years worst defense! I still say our red zone calls are terrible1

[aj.]

I still say our red zone calls are terrible

Ok, so let's break it down play by play:

1st drive, what didn't you like, the Hollings run on 1st down at 12:47 or the two pass incompletions on 2nd and 3rd down that followed?

Last years worst defense (in terms of yards allowed) was Atlanta - followed closely by a team near and dear.

Count the times the Texans gained 336 yards last season, period. I'm guessing it happened once or twice.

[Meisterman]

Its the timing of the play calls in the game that really hurt. The series in the 4th where the Texans went ...Baxter dump pass for 3, Baxter up the middle for nothing (and I heard alot of boos on that one), then Carr sack. Three and done. This is the Texans 4th quarter trend continuing from last year. That play calling series makes Mac Brown look like an X's and o's genius. JUST TERRIBLE.

Bottom line is...Andre Johnson is our best offensive threat. He had one catch the whole second half. Is that good play calling?

[aj.]

The series in the 4th where the Texans went ...Baxter dump pass for 3, Baxter up the middle for nothing (and I heard alot of boos on that one), then Carr sack. Three and done.

Agree, that was a horrible series. Play calling or execution? The Baxter pass on 1st down wasn't a bad call. The Baxter run on 2nd was. The Carr sack was a downfield attempt but Wade couldn't contain Phillips and Carr was trapped in the pocket.

Andre Johnson is our best offensive threat. He had one catch the whole second half. Is that good play calling?

We don't know what plays were called (in terms of Carr's progressions and reads) but I think it's safe to say that if AJ was open, Carr would have found a way to get him the ball. They were rotating a safety over on AJ all day long.

[clandestin]

Don't know about you guys, but I sure wasn't predicting we'd only punt twice in that game.

[BuffSoldier]

I wouldnt say he is pedictable, but I will say he has been too conservative going into the second half, yes we did have 336 yards in the game, but less than 100 yards came in the second half. If we can call plays in the second half like we do in the first, I think our offense could have at least 300 yards a game on a regular.

[Mistril48]

Originally Posted by aj.

Agree, that was a horrible series. Play calling or execution? The Baxter pass on 1st down wasn't a bad call. The Baxter run on 2nd was...

Capers clarified the 2nd down Baxter call on his radio show. He said that as part of the game plan, they were going to split Davis out. The first two times, the Chargers didn't 'cover' him and the play was successful (although Davis fumbled on one of the two calls). On this 2nd down, they called it for the third time, so Palmer and Capers expected a throw to Davis. When the Chargers rotated the coverage, the Texans had practiced the response of going up the middle with the FB. Of course, it was Baxter instead of Norris.

I agree that it looked like bad play calling and I was livid. I think in fairness, I now understand that they were trying for a more dynamic play and that Carr correctly checked to a run where they had an advantage. Unfortunately, they didn't execute the run.

To answer your question ... it was execution.

[aj.]

If we can call plays in the second half like we do in the first, I think our offense could have at least 300 yards a game on a regular

Ok then, in the second half yesterday:

Drive 1:
Davis run
Carr pass to Gaffney, 1st down.
Davis run
Carr - interception.

Drive 2: 8 plays 52 yards Touchdown.

No problem so far.....except for the turnover. Unless you see some bad play calls in there.

Drive 3:
Davis run
Carr sacked (pass attempt)
Carr flushed out of pocket - tackled short of 1st down.
Two pass attempts - were they bad calls? Or was the Davis run on 1st down a bad call?

Drive 4:
We covered above

Drive 5:
Davis run
Carr pass to Bradfordf for 1st down
Davis fumble
Bad calls where?

Or is it execution? Or if it doesn't work, is it automatically a "bad call."

[aj.]

They went to the well too many times on that play. Once OK, twice maybe - if the first was a setup. But three times? Bad call - in terms of the fallback option if Davis isn't open - which he shouldn't be if they've already ran that play twice. It was one of the few among the 56 plays they ran that I would consider a bad play call because it didn't appear that the first option would have a high probablility of success.

[BuffSoldier]

Originally Posted by aj.

Ok then, in the second half yesterday:

Drive 1:
Davis run
Carr pass to Gaffney, 1st down.
Davis run
Carr - interception.

Drive 2: 8 plays 52 yards Touchdown.

No problem so far.....except for the turnover. Unless you see some bad play calls in there.

Drive 3:
Davis run
Carr sacked (pass attempt)
Carr flushed out of pocket - tackled short of 1st down.
Two pass attempts - were they bad calls? Or was the Davis run on 1st down a bad call?

Drive 4:
We covered above

Drive 5:
Davis run
Carr pass to Bradfordf for 1st down
Davis fumble
Bad calls where?

Or is it execution? Or if it doesn't work, is it automatically a "bad call."

I never said "bad calls" I said conservative, and I distinctly remember them calling at least one rushing play to our Fb on a second down which you happened to leave out. Oh and less play action in the second half, why did we stop calling screens that worked so well with DD and Hollings, why did we stop throwing the quick outs to AJ and DD when they can do so much with the ball in their hands not to mention it worked well in the first half besides the fumble after a pretty good gain. What happened to the deep balls, I saw two in the first half. I never said bad calls or execution because we executed well in the second half, besides the turnover, because if you recall we only punted twice. Like I said not bad calls but conservativeness

[Mistril48]

Originally Posted by Bottle-O-Bud

Is that the playcall that got 75,000 people boooing? ...

Yes 4th quarter, Baxter run

[Mistril48]

Originally Posted by aj.

They went to the well too many times on that play. Once OK, twice maybe - if the first was a setup. But three times? Bad call - in terms of the fallback option if Davis isn't open - which he shouldn't be if they've already ran that play twice. It was one of the few among the 56 plays they ran that I would consider a bad play call because it didn't appear that the first option would have a high probablility of success.

I can't agree.

If you call a play twice and it is successful, I see nothing wrong with calling it a third time, particularly if they the defense haven't adjusted to it yet. It was a situation where they were dictating to the defense. They shifted Davis, forcing the defense to adjust their interior defense. They felt they had an excellent chance to gain yardage against a soft middle, thereby cutting the yardage to a 3rd and short, if not a 1st down, after 3 yards on 1st down.

I think the logic is fine, just not the execution. The O-line needs to beat on the D-line sometimes ... plus they'd work on it in practice as part of the game plan. If they get some yards on the play and then a 1st down, no one would have noticed the call.

[aj.]

I distinctly remember them calling at least one rushing play to our Fb on a second down which you happened to leave out

Didn't leave it out. It is covered above.

Two of the four failed drives in the second half were cut short because of turnovers. That had as much or more to do with the dearth of yardage in the second half as conservative or bad play calling - or whatever name we want to give it.

Are you on the FB Marshall varsity? If so, let me know your number since I will be in the stands on Thursday night.

If you call a play twice and it is successful, I see nothing wrong with calling it a third time

I have no problem with that but it wasn't successful both times. The first time they ran it (on the 1st and 20 in the 1st quarter) it failed miserably.

[texasguy346]

Originally Posted by BuffSoldier

Oh and less play action in the second half, why did we stop calling screens that worked so well with DD and Hollings, why did we stop throwing the quick outs to AJ and DD when they can do so much with the ball in their hands not to mention it worked well in the first half besides the fumble after a pretty good gain.

I can't speak for the playaction passing, but as far as the DD screens go the reason they were so successful is because Palmer called it when SD was in a full blitz. If you watch the tape you'll notice that the OLineman on the screen have no one to block. They called the two screens at an opurtune time, and SD adjusted accordingly after getting burned twice. I think AJ was SD's focus on defense much like Tomlinson was our focus. I wouldn't have minded seeing more 3 or 4 wideout sets, but the pressure was getting to Carr too quickly and that might be the reason for not using it as much. I felt Gaffney was doing well against them early on, and I thought it was a matchup we could exploit.

[BuffSoldier]

Originally Posted by aj.

Are you on the FB Marshall varsity? If so, let me know your number since I will be in the stands on Thursday night.

Yes I am on the Thurgood Marshall varsity team, but I would rather not give you my # since I am a junior and will not be getting much PT(senior will be startin) lol. If I make a big play or two, I will post my # just to show off though. :hehe: Are you a Marshall fan or a Clear Brook fan?

[aj.]

I follow Brook and will be making the trip over. Don't worry about the lack of pt, I'm sure your day will come. It looks like you guys have a pretty good passing game. I know you took care of Dulles. Looking forward to watching the game.

[Meisterman]

In Regard to Baxter..this is the second string FB..coming off a season of rehab....who earlier in the game dropped a touchdown pass. The mere fact that he is doing anything more than blocking during crunch time in the 4th quarter is poor play selection "period".

[BuffSoldier]

Originally Posted by aj.

I follow Brook and will be making the trip over. Don't worry about the lack of pt, I'm sure your day will come. It looks like you guys have a pretty good passing game. I know you took care of Dulles. Looking forward to watching the game.

Oh yeah, our passing game is really good, and alot of the players where kind of dissapointed that we didnt blow out Dulles by more, we could have played alot better , our running backs are good too but our zone o-line scheme is a liitle complicated and is confusing our linemen, we changed that to a different type of zone, we should run more effectively now. Our D didnt play up to their capabilities, but that is being fixed, hope you guys are ready because we have one heck of a squad here.