2 most important "If factors" for a succesful season

[TheRealJoker]

This upcoming season is filled with "If factors" that will determine whether the Texans will be picking in the top 10 in next year's draft or if the Texans will be the breakout team this year and make the playoffs. There are so many question marks about this team going into the season, too many to list imo. So I am going to list my 2 biggest "If factors" for a succesful season, and then hopefully some of you can also chime in with your 2 biggest "If factors". Ill start:

1) "If Schaub can play like a top 16 NFL qb, the Texans will have a succesful season." - Schaub is the key to our offense. How he performs will determine how our entire offense performs. If he can read defenses, spread the ball around, and make plays while avoiding sacks our offense will be competitive.

2) "If our defense can consistently rush the passer, the Texans will have a succesful season." - The weakest link on our defense right now is our secondary. What is the easiest way to make a secondary look better than it actually is? By providing a good pass rush. If Mario plays lights out, Amobi creates a push up the middle, and Babin or whoever steps up and becomes our pass rush specialist (like Mark Anderson from the Bears) our secondary and thus our entire defense will be much improved and much more competitive.

[Texan_Bill]

Pretty good analysis, but I would add Green's contribution to the offense. And defensively, any pass rush will help our secondary out tremendously, even though they will still be considered "suspect" at best.

My two biggest if factors to a successful season:\

1) "If" we win games

2) "If we don't lose too many


Not going to go into what I think needs to happen because football is football...Our team just needs to make fewer mistakes and more plays than out opponents.

[TheRealJoker]

Originally Posted by xtruroyaltyx

My two biggest if factors to a successful season:\

1) Execute

2) Execute more

So we need to execute correct?

[badboy]

Originally Posted by TheRealJoker

So we need to execute correct?

1. If there are no major injuries 2. If all players play to potential.

I think you pretty much summed it up. Only other thing I would throw out there is our running game. Will it be better or worse than last year? Will Ahman Green hold it together and rush for 1,000 yards again? Will Ron Dayne be the Ron Dayne from the last half of the season or the Ron Dayne from the rest of his pro career? Who is Chris Taylor? What kind of back will he be? And what about Wali Lundy? I truly believe our running game is key in the success of Schaub and if we run the ball effectively, I think we will see the Matt Schaub we are all hoping for.

Originally Posted by TheRealJoker

So we need to execute correct?

No.

I meant it just how I put it. We could play terrible football but if our opponent is worse we will win.

We just need to find ways to win.

[Double Barrel]

While I certainly think Schaub's performance is a big factor in the success of the offense, I'd say that establishing a consistent running game is probably more important. Without the run, the play action doesn't work and the defensive line can just pin it's ears back and rush the pocket.

I do agree that putting consistent pressure on opposing QBs is the biggest requirement for our defense to be dominant. If we can't put up some sacks, knock downs, and hurries, we leave our coverage exposed too long. And nobody is so good that they can cover for 7-10 seconds on a regular basis.

Overall, good analysis and nice subject for a thread.

[TheRealJoker]

I notice a lot of people mentioning our run game as one of our biggest "If factors". While I agree with you guys on the run game being important, I dont think its as much of an "If factor" as Matt Schaub. The reason being, our team has historically had a decent run blocking OL and once Dayne came in towards the end of the season our running game really took off.

I wasn't trying to say Matt Schaub is more important than establishing the running game. I was saying that Matt Schaub is a bigger and thus more important "If factor" than our run game, which is an "If factor" but not quite as big and thus not quite as important of an "If factor" or question mark if that makes more sense.

Originally Posted by TheRealJoker

I notice a lot of people mentioning our run game as one of our biggest "If factors". While I agree with you guys on the run game being important, I dont think its as much of an "If factor" as Matt Schaub. The reason being, our team has historically had a decent run blocking OL and once Dayne came in towards the end of the season our running game really took off.

I wasn't trying to say Matt Schaub is more important than establishing the running game. I was saying that Matt Schaub is a bigger and thus more important "If factor" than our run game, which is an "If factor" but not quite as big and thus not quite as important of an "If factor" or question mark if that makes more sense.

I totally agree with you. But what so often gets overlooked in any sport, especially football, is the importance of everything clicking. If our OL is not doing their job and we are not successful running the ball, Matt Schaub probably will not look too hot out there.

But yeah, no doubt, Schaub's performance is one of the most important factors to our success or failure.

[powerfuldragon]

sweet, our if's are the qb and pass rush... haven't heard those before...

[brakos82]

Injuries- if we don't lose one of the highest numbers of people in the league this year, we should be fine.

[maddogmrb]

1 - Charles Spencer - if he comes back healthy early and stays healthy then the rest of the oline will fall into place and Schaub can do his job. If he's not back, then our line becomes a variety of experiments and Schaub will struggle to do his job.

2 - Pressure, pressure, pressure defense. If we sit back and play passive defense, we are in trouble. Must attack the offense.