cc: Jamie Sharper... Am I the only one...

[HardKnockTexan]

I know that Jamie Sharper has been a corner stone of the Texans defense for the last 3 seasons. However, I havent been impressed with his play nearly as much as my fellow posters seem to have been. He has lead the team in tackles for his 3 seasons in Houston, but to be honest, I've seen more mistakes, missed tackles, poor persuite routs, mistakes in coverage, than I liked out of the teams "backbone." Him leading the team in tackles isnt as impressive to me as most it seems. His possition on the defense makes it to where he should be in on just about every tackle when the oponent runs the football. I watched every game last season and I would cringe when Jamie was the first to the football. MANY times he would just slow the runner down and not bring him down. Now dont get me wrong, I like the guy, and I think he's a GOOD player... not great, which is what the team needs in that possition. So maybe getting rid of Sharper this season will open the door for the Texans to be able to bring in the caliber of player they need. When the other team runs the ball... our inside linebackers need to be the first one's their.. atleast 1 yard behinde the LOS. Constantly, other teams would gain 3+++ yards when running due to lack of linebacker presence. The Texans DLINE i felt did a solid job of ocupying the offensive line (their stats relate this aswell... so few sacks from their DLINE and little in tackles too). So, even though at first it seemed a little strange to me for the Texans to shop Jamie Sharper around.. the more I thought about it, the more it made sence. Lets just hope they find a better replacement this season.. or possibly next.

-Jeff

[TexansTrueFan]

dont you think the D-Line had a little to do with letting RBs get 3+ yrds every run ? I mean they were terrible at run support, i really thought the best guy on the DL at syopping the run this year was R.Smith. But a linebackers job is not just to stop the run, they also drop into coverage from time to time, so when they do that shouldnt it be up to the D-Line/Out side linebackers to stop the run. I'm sorry but i always thought Jamie was one of our most sure tacklers, the guy is a play maker, and even though he may be on the down slide of his career, i dont feel it will be easy to find a LB to match his productivness. Maybe Greenwood can do they job as good or better than Sharper, but if not we will all see what a playmaker we had in Sharper !

[the wonger need food]

Originally Posted by TexansTrueFan

dont you think the D-Line had a little to do with letting RBs get 3+ yrds every run ? I mean they were terrible at run support!

At least they weren't as bad as the secondary... statistically anyway.

Originally Posted by TexansTrueFan

I'm sorry but i always thought Jamie was one of our most sure tacklers, the guy is a play maker, and even though he may be on the down slide of his career, i dont feel it will be easy to find a LB to match his productivness.

Sharper missed a ton of tackles last year. Go back and look at the games. He is not a playmaker. Ray Lewis is a playmaker. Derrick Brooks is a playmaker. Teddy Bruschi is a playmaker. Sure he led the team in tackles, that's his job. He's more of a Zach Thomas without the tackling ability.

Originally Posted by TexansTrueFan

Maybe Greenwood can do they job as good or better than Sharper, but if not we will all see what a playmaker we had in Sharper !

I'm not happy about having to chuck my #55 jersey, but it's time for a change. They've had one of the worst defenses in the league the past 2 years and the linebackers are the most important part of a 3-4. A change had to be made if they're going to make any progress.

[TexansTrueFan]

yeah well the secondary would LOOK a whole lot better if the D-Line/LBs could get a little better pressure on the opposing QB. I still dont agree with you on all the missed tackles, i dont rememebr seeing to much of any. But i do agree we need to get some young blood in here, to prepare our defense for the future. And Jamir going is problably for the best.

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by TexansTrueFan

dont you think the D-Line had a little to do with letting RBs get 3+ yrds every run ? I mean they were terrible at run support, i really thought the best guy on the DL at syopping the run this year was R.Smith. But a linebackers job is not just to stop the run, they also drop into coverage from time to time, so when they do that shouldnt it be up to the D-Line/Out side linebackers to stop the run. I'm sorry but i always thought Jamie was one of our most sure tacklers, the guy is a play maker, and even though he may be on the down slide of his career, i dont feel it will be easy to find a LB to match his productivness. Maybe Greenwood can do they job as good or better than Sharper, but if not we will all see what a playmaker we had in Sharper !

You have a 4-3 mindset, instead of a 3-4 mindset. In the 3-4 scheme, it's not the job of the defensive line to look for the ball carrier. Thier job is to disrupt the offensive line's blocking scheme to enable the linebackers the freedom to seek out the ballcarrier on running plays, and provide coverage on passing downs. As Casserly has stated, "in the 3-4, the DL ties up the OL, and the 4 LBs find the ball and cover".

After reviewing the game tape, the coaches during the meetings concluded that the DL was doing their job, (tying up the OL) and that the linebacking core was doing a poor job of 'finding the ball and covering'.

[TexansTrueFan]

oh i know this marcus, thats why our linebacking crew is among the top in the league in tackles, the 3-4 is designed where the LBs are in position to get most of the tackles. But the DL may of dissrupted the OL but obviously not to much, i mean how many sacks did our D-Linemen get this season ? Now ya cant tell me they shouldnt still be getting sacks !

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by TexansTrueFan

Now ya cant tell me they shouldnt still be getting sacks !

Oh yes, I sure can. Again, quit thinking 4-3. Every once in a awhile, a DL on a 3-4 defense will occasionally will get a sack, but that's not by design. The DL's job, again, is to disrupt the OL to enable the LBs to get to the QB unimpeded. The LBs out on the edge put the pressure on QB.

Think about this. You have 3 defensive linemen going up against 5 offensive linemen. (2 OTs, 2OGs, and a C) Asking them to sack the QB is unrealistic. It's the faster, quicker LBs whose job it is to get to the QB.

[TexansTrueFan]

hmm ok well i musta been dreaming when i saw the stats on the 2002 DL and the 2004 DL, cause 02 were WAY better, and obviously the DL isnt dissrupting to much, we were nearly last in QB sacks this season. SO i guess all our outside LBs suck as well as all our ILBs !

[Marcus]

Originally Posted by TexansTrueFan

hmm ok well i musta been dreaming when i saw the stats on the 2002 DL and the 2004 DL, cause 02 were WAY better, and obviously the DL isnt dissrupting to much, we were nearly last in QB sacks this season. SO i guess all our outside LBs suck as well as all our ILBs !

Let me see the stats on the 2002 DL and the 2004 DL.

[TexansTrueFan]

I saw them on NFL network, ya have NFL network ? Well they were talking about or defense in 02 to 04, and their was a big difference in the numbers. I'll try to find them for ya but i'm sure Vinny or Fiddy could do it better than i could ! where would u go to find that kinda info ? espn.com stats ?

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by TexansTrueFan

where would u go to find that kinda info ? espn.com stats ?

NFL.com has stats back through the 2002 section. I would suggest going to each year and clicking the Texans--toward the bottom is a list of individual D statistics so you can add up tackles/sacks by the DL and LBs for each year. Remember on the DL the Texans substitute a lot so to be fair you should include the numbers from the backups as well.

[G-Man]

Last year we only had a miserable 4.5 sacks from our starting 3 DL. i could not find the information on 2002. Robaire did not play in 2002, who played in Robaire's slot?

[TexansTrueFan]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

NFL.com has stats back through the 2002 section. I would suggest going to each year and clicking the Texans--toward the bottom is a list of individual D statistics so you can add up tackles/sacks by the DL and LBs for each year. Remember on the DL the Texans substitute a lot so to be fair you should include the numbers from the backups as well.

alrigth thanks Cak !

[TexansTrueFan]

in 2002 our d-line total combined for 9.5 sack and 126 tackles thats only including G. Walker, S. Payne, Deloach, C. Sears (and i should have one more for 02 but i dont know the the other DL was)

in 2004 our d-line combined for 4.5 sacks and 144 tackles and thats icluding R. Smith, G. Walker, S. Payne, Deloac, and C. Sears

so 2002 tackles is lower than i have it shown up there ! Anybody know who or other 2002 DL guys were ?

[cyanides]

According to nfl.com

------------------Sacks----------Tackles
Charles Hill----------0---------------1
Jerry Deloach-------1---------------24
Seth Payne---------1---------------54
Cory Sears---------1----------------14
Erik Flowers---------0---------------3
Gary Walker--------6.5--------------36

Total--------------9.5--------------132

[G-Man]

http://www.footballdb.com/teamstat.html?yr=2002&tm=13

the football database has a lot of information. the address is footballdb.com. It does not show any other dl on this website.

[TexansTrueFan]

see they had a few less tackles ^^ than in 04 but had a few more sacks. So it may seem like better stats to some but not to others, depends on how you look at it, they also talked about QB pressures and tipped balls. but i looked on the nflnetwork website and couldnt find if the program it was on will run again !

[cyanides]

Actually I don't think the "line" had more sacks in 2002 vs 2004. What sticks out to me is that G Funk went from 6.5 in 2002 to 0.5 in 2004. Seems to me the line is playing the same and Walker either had a fluke year in 2002 or hasn't been playing up to his standard in 2004.

Sharper also went from 5.5 sacks in 2002 to 2 sacks in 2004. I thought our line last year was better that the 2002 DL. So what's up with that? I figured he should have more sacks.

[D-ReK]

Originally Posted by cyanides

Actually I don't think the "line" had more sacks in 2002 vs 2004. What sticks out to me is that G Funk went from 6.5 in 2002 to 0.5 in 2004. Seems to me the line is playing the same and Walker either had a fluke year in 2002 or hasn't been playing up to his standard in 2004.

G-Funk's 2002 season wasn't a fluke...Up until 2002, he had had a great career, but he got injured in 2003 and it obviously affected his play in 2004...I think he'll improve this year, however, because he's further removed from his injuries and he's not coming off of a contract year...Usually players take it easy the year after they get a big contract and then start to work hard after the season is over...If he doesn't improve this year, though, he may be released and we'll have to eat all that dead cap money...

[rittenhouserobz]

Does Babin or Peek every line up at end? If they get a sack when rushing the passer from that position, then that should count for the DL and not the LB's.