Dale thinks worse part of season is behind the Texans

[OzzO]

or at least he's trying to make the case for that. That'd be a switch considering it was majority agreement on the boards that the 2nd half looked harder.

...With a daunting eight-week gauntlet to run and their wiggle room realistically exhausted, the Texans need to play 32 quarters of relentless football. The Tennessee Titans and the New York Jets share their respective division leads, and the Baltimore Ravens are just a half-game back. The Texans’ next obstacle, Jacksonville, is a fellow 4-4 team that, lest anyone who wears a bull on his helmet forgets, beat them twice last season.

The only “weakling” left is 2-6 Denver, and the Broncos likely come along too late on the schedule (Dec. 26) to be of much help....

...Asked about the “murderers’ row” of teams the Texans have already encountered, Kubiak said what lies ahead “must be murderers’ row II.” But closer scrutiny of the rest of the schedule offers more encouragement than a cursory glance provides. In fact, the Texans may have the hard — or at least harder — part of the season behind them. And, although it didn’t go terribly well, it didn’t go terribly wrong, either. ....

The hardest part of the Texans' schedule may be behind them if you look at how the upcoming teams rank statistically compared to the ones they played over the first half of the season.

• Division leaders faced (2): New York Giants (NFC East), Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West).

• Division leaders to face (2): New York Jets (tied with New England in AFC East), Tennessee (tied with Indianapolis in AFC South).

• Top-10 offenses faced (5): 1. San Diego; 2. New York Giants; 3. Indianapolis; 9. Oakland; 10. Dallas.

• Top-10 offenses to face (2): 4. Philadelphia; 8. Denver.

• Top-10 passers faced, ranked according to rating (4): 3. Philip Rivers, San Diego (102.9); 4. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis (96.1); 5. Tony Romo, Dallas (94.1); 6t. Eli Manning, New York Giants (92.7).

• Top-10 passers to face, ranked according to rating (2): 1. Michael Vick, Philadelphia (105.3); 2. Vince Young, Tennessee (103.1) (twice).

• Top-10 receivers faced (6): 1. Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis; 6. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants; 7. Santana Moss, Washington; 9t. Miles Austin, Dallas; Austin Collie, Indianapolis; Jason Witten, Dallas.

• Top-10 receivers to face (1): 9t. Jabbar Gaffney, Denver.

• Top-10 rushers faced (3): 3. Ahmad Bradshaw, New York Giants; 4. Darren McFadden, Oakland; 6. Jamaal Charles, Kansas City.

• Top-10 rushers to face (1): Chris Johnson, Tennessee (twice).

Top-10 defenses faced (3): 1. New York Giants; 2. San Diego Chargers; 7. Oakland Raiders.

Top-10 defenses to face (2): 6. New York Jets; 7. Baltimore Ravens

cronic 11.14.10

[texanhead08]

Those are some interesting facts, but what has me nervous as how we have made average receivers look like all pro's this year. Last week the Chargers WR that went off was on the practice squad earlier in the year.

[Lucky]

What Dale fails to mention is that one reason these offenses we've faced are in the top 10 is because they've already had the opportunity to play the Texans defense. I'm sure teams like the Jets, Titans, and Ravens offensive players are looking forward to padding their stats versus the Texans.

[kiwitexansfan]

Originally Posted by Lucky

What Dale fails to mention is that one reason these offenses we've faced are in the top 10 is because they've already had the opportunity to play the Texans defense. I'm sure teams like the Jets, Titans, and Ravens offensive players are looking forward to padding their stats versus the Texans.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.

[DexmanC]

2 Games against 2nd-rated Vince Young (Randy Moss)

1 Game against 1st-rated Mike Vick (Desean Jackson)


THREE LOSSES with the 32nd-ranked secondary.

[hradhak]

The stats are interesting. Thanks for showing those.
I'd be interested to see what the defense does now to make changes.
I think the only way we make it to the playoffs is the defense has to step up and get out of the bottom half of the league.

[dc_txtech]

Jabar Gaffney? By what statistical measure is he a top 10 WR?