Dennison

[SAMURAITEXAN]

I'd seen Foster, Leach, and our O-line getting alot of credit for a successful running game against the Colts however, not hearing much about our new OC Rick Dennison. The most of us here expected in some degree that Dennison would bring decent running game for us. I hope, this is the beginning of our new and more balanced O for us. Your thoughts?

Go Texans!!! and thank you Dennison!!!

[TheCD]

You make a good point. The offensive line and backs are getting a ton of credit for the game, and I think that's how Dennison likes it.

We've changed to a (slighlty) new blocking scheme that seems to be working well for our linemen (at least so far).

We've got a back with great vision can can make the cuts and is aggressive in getting yards after contact.


What I like the most about Dennison right now is his ability to adapt. Someone posted something about the offense having planned to come out passing a lot more in the 2nd half, but decided to capitalize on the running game's momentum. I think that is what Kyle Shannahan had a problem doing: adapting to the defense.

I can confidently say that if this is an indicator of things to come, I will definitely not be worried if we are down 2 scores going into halftime during a game.

[painekiller]

When the running game was handled by Alex Gibbs, they had 8 running plays total. That was it. Now they have added pulling guards and tackles, even man on man blocking like they did in the 2nd half against the Colts.

He has added things that will make the defenses have to worry about so many more things. As someone else said on this site, Dennison might be the biggest signing this team did this offseason.

[thunderkyss]

There isn't a lot of difference between what we are doing now & what we were doing last year. We're doing it better across the line & Wade Smith is a huge improvement over Studdard.

I heard Winston mention in one of his interviews, that he believes the biggest improvement to what they are doing, is that the guys on the backside of the play understand what they are doing is just as important as when they are on the play side.

You can see that in the cutbacks.

And while I do remember seeing pulling guards in the preseason, there wasn't any of that in the Colts game. Pulling guards was a part of our game, when Alex Gibbs was here. It's possible we pulled that out to reinstall the system, then with loosing Pitts & Brisiel it stayed out the rest of the year.

[BigWig]

I said the same thing over on the Texans Examiner in an article written by AJ.
A more experienced OC knew you had to run the ball to beat the Colts and thats what he called.
Kudos to Dennison for calling a good game!

[El Tejano]

I'm curious what we are doing differently in our passing game though.

[BigBull17]

Originally Posted by painekiller

When the running game was handled by Alex Gibbs, they had 8 running plays total. That was it. Now they have added pulling guards and tackles, even man on man blocking like they did in the 2nd half against the Colts.

He has added things that will make the defenses have to worry about so many more things. As someone else said on this site, Dennison might be the biggest signing this team did this offseason.

See, Gibbs was behind the times. His running game was a dinosaur. The pure zone wont work now a days, but you have to mix in fresh looks from time to time.

[STEEL BLUE TEXANS]

From LZ's blog after the Cowboy's preseason game.

3. The running backs are being coached differently: Alex Gibbs is notorious for wanting the running backs to think "cutback lanes" when he is in charge of the running game, while new offensive coordinator Rick Dennison clearly prefers his running backs to think "outside" first and react to cutback lanes. Too often last year, you could see Steve Slaton hesitate as he waited for cutback lanes to develop, and that ended in disaster. This year, Arian Foster is more than happy to ride the outside zone over the left tackle and go with the flow outside. Defenses were defending the Texans from inside out last year, taking the cutback lanes away. That will all change this year now that they are more willing to challenge the edge with their outside zone game.

http://blogs.chron.com/fantasyfootba..._the_ru_1.html

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by BigBull17

See, Gibbs was behind the times. His running game was a dinosaur. The pure zone wont work now a days, but you have to mix in fresh looks from time to time.

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

There isn't a lot of difference between what we are doing now & what we were doing last year. We're doing it better across the line & Wade Smith is a huge improvement over Studdard.

I heard Winston mention in one of his interviews, that he believes the biggest improvement to what they are doing, is that the guys on the backside of the play understand what they are doing is just as important as when they are on the play side.

You can see that in the cutbacks.

And while I do remember seeing pulling guards in the preseason, there wasn't any of that in the Colts game. Pulling guards was a part of our game, when Alex Gibbs was here. It's possible we pulled that out to reinstall the system, then with loosing Pitts & Brisiel it stayed out the rest of the year.

Sunday, all the runs were pure ZBS.

[SteveDeberg]

[quote=thunderkyss;1522842]There isn't a lot of difference between what we are doing now & what we were doing last year. We're doing it better across the line & Wade Smith is a huge improvement over Studdard.

I like Wade Smith and like Bernard Pollard the Chiefs were idiots not for utilizing him better. Last year the Chiefs had him sitting behind Mike Goff (no longer in the NFL) until Goff's injury, that along with their misuses of Jamaal Charles cost them badly 1st half.

Smith may not be a pro-bowler but he is good guard for zone blocking and does get out front to lead a block and knock a defender on his asset.