DL, & our pass rush...

[thunderkyss]

I'm scratching my head.... with 3 1st round picks on the DL, and we can't get any pressure on the QB.....

So, I'm watching the N.O. game finally, to see what's going on.

1. Hopefully they'll start calling "holding" in the regular season. The Saints were pretty blatant about it, and not one was called. I'm not going to say we dominated their line or anything like that, but we definitely would have had a few sacks, or stalled some drives, had they called holding.

2. WTF.. everytime we blitzed, the four down linemen were stunting. Normally, you would think that would help, but our guys suck at stunting. Mario, TJ, Amobi....... they're all go through your man & get to the QB kind of Linemen. When we Blitz, that's what we should be doing. None of them have any lateral speed to speak of.

3. We're stunting.... our guys suck(a repeat of the above, but this one is for 4 man rushes). Travis Johnson will never make it around the DE. Never, and I like TJ. That's just not his game.

4. Why in the world was Earl Cochran playing DT??

5. Probably because Frank Okam is a disappointment. I'll usually give a guy time to develop, I'll usually give a guy the benefit of the doubt, at one time, I was high on Frank Okam...... but now?? Looks like very little effort coming from him... he's just going through the motions. For a guy we(I) thought was the steal of the draft, he ought to be blowing up against second teams.... We should be demanding to see him with the first team, but TJ has nothing to worry about right now.

6. Didn't we sign a pass rush specialist?? Rosevelt Colvin, where the hell is he?? I see someone out there on the field, with the name on his jersey, but that can't be the guy we brought in to get to the QB.

He's not going to get any pressure from the DE spot. they need to move him to the LB spot, and use him on passing downs. We should put him in at Will, or Sam, and rush Mario, TJ, Amobi, Kalu.

7. What the hell was TJ doing in coverage??

8. That Reggie Bush touchdown, we had a DL blow the coverage, I think it was Cochran. He dropped into coverage, over the tightend..... our safety had him, no problem. He let Reggie leak into the flat. Had a LB covered him, and recognized the safety had the TE...... that play never would have happened.

9. Did I mention how disappointed I am in Frank Okam??

[Toro59]

1st round picks don't always turn out to be first round players. We all know about Mario. Amobi is still TBD. And TJ in my opinion is a bust. Not that he's a bad player, but definaltly not a 1st round choice.

I keep thinking it's only the preseason. Will see what happens when the games actually matter...

[gtexan02]

Not that this necessarily matters, BUT:
New Orleans was the premier team last year at keeping Dl off their QB. They only allowed 16 sacks all season, and led the league.

We went up against the very best pass protection team in the NFL

[Kaiser Toro]

Valid points. However, they are points made after two pre-season games. Game 3 will be a better measuring stick. Moreover, one of the underlying themes for this team is that this is the first year where we have some depth in certain areas. Rotating fresh players who can make an impact with the playbook fully open into the 4th quarter is something to look for. The Texans D Line may close teams down in the later stages of the game.

Just opining aloud....

[maddogmrb]

Okay, give 'em some slack for preseason and for the fact the Saints are excellent at protecting the QB, even though it wasn't their #1's out there most of the time.

But, I still believe we have a coaching/scheme problem on defense. If a DT can't stunt well enough to get outside a stunting DE, then HOW IN THE WORLD WOULD WE THINK HE COULD DROP BACK IN COVERAGE?????

To me, and I've played a bunch of ball. Sending a DL into coverage is about as effective as putting a CB at DT or a WR at G. Ridiculous.....

[nunusguy]

I'm a bit concerned about Okoye. I haven't really watched him this year, but to a man the posters who comment on his play are panning him and yet I'd heard so much positive stuff coming from Kubiak about his progress this year in TC. So what's going on with AO ? Is he having a good preseason or not ?

[Señor Stan]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

I'm a bit concerned about Okoye. I haven't really watched him this year, but to a man the posters who comment on his play are panning him and yet I'd heard so much positive stuff coming from Kubiak about his progress this year in TC. So what's going on with AO ? Is he having a good preseason or not ?

Kubiack also said that Mario was our most consistant defensive player at the start of last year, but it wasn't showing up in the stat sheets....

We all know how that one turned out.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Señor Stan

Kubiack also said that Mario was our most consistant defensive player at the start of last year, but it wasn't showing up in the stat sheets....

We all know how that one turned out.

But watching Mario, there was no doubt.

He was in the backfield, he was mowing people over, he was doing several good things, and it was only a matter of time.

If you watch Amobi, I'm not saying he disappears, or that he lacks motivation like Okam, but he isn't as dominating as Mario was. I'm not counting Amobi out, or anything like that, but I'm just not seeing the comparison to Mario, like everyone is saying.

[Texan JBZ]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

I'm a bit concerned about Okoye. I haven't really watched him this year, but to a man the posters who comment on his play are panning him and yet I'd heard so much positive stuff coming from Kubiak about his progress this year in TC. So what's going on with AO ? Is he having a good preseason or not ?

No he isn't. Check out the Amobi Okoye thread. I have faith that he is going to be a good player for the Texans this year, but he has some serious work to do.

[Hervoyel]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

I'm a bit concerned about Okoye. I haven't really watched him this year, but to a man the posters who comment on his play are panning him and yet I'd heard so much positive stuff coming from Kubiak about his progress this year in TC. So what's going on with AO ? Is he having a good preseason or not ?

I'd tend to go with Kubiak over what we all generally say. We don't know as much about what the Texans are trying to do as we collectively think we do. Maybe we'll see more clearly on Friday against Dallas where our DL truly is. They'll be out there playing longer than in any game so far and I always feel like they have to be on the field a little longer than they have been to find the kinks in an offensive line's armor.

[Ty Webb]

Sometimes it is a good idea, but I think we move our defensive lineman around too much. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems that we have some guys playing out of position at times.

[HJam72]

Yeah, sometimes it's not good to have our DTs back in pass coverage.

TJ did get an INT. doing that last year, though (well, sort of).

[Texan JBZ]

Originally Posted by HJam72

Yeah, sometimes it's not good to have our DTs back in pass coverage.

TJ did get an INT. doing that last year, though (well, sort of).

Richard Smith runs a lot of zone blitzes. Most of the time you see a DE drop back in coverage in most zone stunts, but a few will call for the DT to drop back in the dump or curl lane to prevent a kick drop off pass. I really don't like Richard Smith's schemes. I like aggressive 4-3 schemes, like the one's that Tennessee, Philly, and the NY Giants run. We need to be aggressive like their defenses are. Smith is way too conservative in his play-calls.

[Texan JBZ]

Originally Posted by Texan JBZ

Richard Smith runs a lot of zone blitzes. Most of the time you see a DE drop back in coverage in most zone stunts, but a few will call for the DT to drop back in the dump or curl lane to prevent a kick drop off pass. I really don't like Richard Smith's schemes. I like aggressive 4-3 schemes, like the one's that Tennessee, Philly, and the NY Giants run. We need to be aggressive like their defenses are. Smith is way too conservative in his play-calls.

Ooops, that's quick drop off pass. No coffee yet

[Hervoyel]

Originally Posted by Texan JBZ

Richard Smith runs a lot of zone blitzes. Most of the time you see a DE drop back in coverage in most zone stunts, but a few will call for the DT to drop back in the dump or curl lane to prevent a kick drop off pass. I really don't like Richard Smith's schemes. I like aggressive 4-3 schemes, like the one's that Tennessee, Philly, and the NY Giants run. We need to be aggressive like their defenses are. Smith is way too conservative in his play-calls.

No way man, "aggressive" is what a Richard Smith defense is all about. He can't tell you anything else about what he's trying to do or how he plans on doing it but he uses the word "aggressive" a lot.

"We're going to be an aggressive defense with aggressive schemes and aggressive players who do aggressive things while trying to stop the other team.... aggressively."

I've seen message board posters who I'd feel better about planning our defense than this guy. No, I don't count myself among them.

[HJam72]

Kick passing never was real effective.

[HJam72]

I bet dropping the DTs back works real good against those unexpected run plays.

[The Pencil Neck]

If you go back and look, you'll also see Weaver dropping back into coverage and it's almost scary. He was out there "covering" Bush on one play; luckily, Bush dropped the pass. That could have been embarrassing.

I noticed it last year that Richard Smith runs some zone blitzes but he also runs some three man rushes where he lines up 4 dlinemen and then drops one into coverage without bringing a blitzer.

Other than that, I agree with you. I've been hoping for more from both Okoye and Okam. I was really high on Okam when we drafted him and I'm still hoping he gets it together and pushes TJ for starts.

[TheRealJoker]

I've never been on the Richard Smith bandwagon and he has yet to show anything that causes me to believe I may be on his bandwagon in the future.

I think i'm generally a glass half full thinker when it comes to the Texans but there is nothing to suggest that Richard Smith will be able to get our defense to play up to their pay grade.

As a matter of fact, I dont even think he's in the top 3 defensive coaches on our staff, much less the head guy.

[BigBull17]

Originally Posted by Texan JBZ

Richard Smith runs a lot of zone blitzes. Most of the time you see a DE drop back in coverage in most zone stunts, but a few will call for the DT to drop back in the dump or curl lane to prevent a kick drop off pass. I really don't like Richard Smith's schemes. I like aggressive 4-3 schemes, like the one's that Tennessee, Philly, and the NY Giants run. We need to be aggressive like their defenses are. Smith is way too conservative in his play-calls.

Amen. I hate our Scheme. Id rather get beat on a along play because we blitzed too many people, than watch our 4 man rush get nickle and dimed down the field. Just open it up and come at people from everywhere. Blitz the guy holding the yard marker.