1st preseason evaluation

[EllisUnit]

Originally Posted by Rey

I thought Matt was ok. He looked worse than he had in the past, but hopefully he gets better with time. Yates was good. I think if schaub is out for some reason we'd be fine. Not sure what to make if Keenum. Beck did some good things but I don't trust him.

Arian needs to not fumble. Tate ran really well. I thought grimes was better than Forsett and meggett, but I'll admit I'm biased. I like him more than those guys.

I didn't notice the fb, but that can be a good thing. I lime Grahm and I think he's going to be a solid player this year.

O line needs some work. Looked good most running plays, but the straight drop back pass blocking needs work.

I thought the we'd played well. I liked Martin. Didn't notice posey. Jean made some plays.

Defensively Kareem looked good. Really good. Looks like a completely different player out there.

I thought mister Alexander played well. Dobbins played well. Didn't notice Brady james, but honestly I don't expect him to be a playmaker.

I thought Harris showed some skills.

Overall, it was pretty much what I expected.

I thought Matt looked really good out there. Was patient, was accurate. I think the INT was more of a not really wanting to get hit and risk getting hurt during pre season kind of throw. But overall i though Schaub looked about as good as i have ever seen him !

[BullBlitz]

I thought the defense looked as good as it did last year, despite Watt's absence.

The offense looked worse. Schaub looked good before he threw the critical interception at the wrong time. Typical. Foster looked worse. The line looked worse.

There were bright spots among various young players but overall, I sense a 2012 season in which the offense will be less productive, but the defense will keep the games close enough for us to have a chance to win.

[The Medic01]

Originally Posted by BullBlitz

I thought the defense looked as good as it did last year, despite Watt's absence.

The offense looked worse. Schaub looked good before he threw the critical interception at the wrong time. Typical. Foster looked worse. The line looked worse.

There were bright spots among various young players but overall, I sense a 2012 season in which the offense will be less productive, but the defense will keep the games close enough for us to have a chance to win.

So wait. Because Schaub threw one pick and the Oline only did okay not great in its first game our offense is not as good. No the offense will be fine. You just never seem to see the good in anything.

[Lucky]

I won't get negative after the first reason game which the Texans dominated. I'll just comment on some of the positives.

Pass rush - If there are two elements that define this team, they are the ZBS and the pass rush. In a year where the Texans will face many top notch passers, it is crucial that the pass rush shines. It did, and i really like how the rush can come from so many places. Creating turnovers from the pass rush will be the key to taking this team to a championship.

TEs - I was concerned about the depth at the position following the loss of Dreessen. But Graham looks ready to step up and Casey loss more comfortable there. Daniel is Daniels. Still think a blocking Tight End would be beneficial. But you can go into the season with this group as a plus.

Yates - TJ looks so comfortable in the offense now. His play action fakes are similar to Schaub's. He seems to know where to go with the ball. Im excited about his potential.

Coaching - i couldn't help noticing how engaged the coaches were, even late in the 4th quarter with the end of the bench. I think they realize there is something special here.

[jtexas]

Our RB depth is starting to look like the old Broncos where guys that get the scheme always do well.

Alan Ball is horrible! He was consistently bad on the Cowboys and i love that his play is being exposed during preseason. He cannot sub for Jackson and should never be on the field.

Jackson looked pretty good out there, but i will need to see him defend the deep ball.

[BorrowMe]

QB: Matt looks like he's back to his old form, just a lil rusty that's all. I have no worries about him. TJ looks like he's in mid-season form. Beck looked alright. But he's a veteran, so looking alright against 3rd stringers isn't quite what you wanna hear. Keenum looks pretty good, he just needed more protection from his line.

RB: Arian had a lil mishap thats all. He's gonna be alright. Everyone has fumbles now and then. Tate looks like Tate. He's no doubt the best second string running back in the league. Forsett looked pretty good. Grimes was great, so come the final cuts, idk if he or Forsett are gonna be sent to the PS. Megget looked not so good for my opinion.

WR: Kevin Walter looks good. He was good in the run blocking game and had a very good route on that pass that he caught. Keshawn, wow, I really like this dude. Has amazing crisp routes and great hands. Maybe the steal of the draft. Jean looked good as well. Had a nice catch down the middle of the field. I didn't really notice Posey that much. Hope to see more of him next week. Iglesias looked great against those scrubs, but then agian, they're scrubs lol. Where was Bryant Johnson??? Was he inactive??

OL: The whole line looked good on run blocking. Where they looked suspect was pass blocking. 1st string o-line had a misshap when they let two guys blow past them on that would be sack but turned interception on Matt Schaub. The second and third string o-line looked horrible on pass protection but good on run protection.

DL: They were just beasting all game. It didn't matter who it was, 1st string, 2nd string, 3rd string. They were just flat out good. I can't really point out someone in particular because they were all good. But if I had to, I would pick DJ Bryant. Dude looked like he was hungry for a spot in 53 man roster. I dont think he will but he'll definetly be PS.

OLB: Man oh man were just down right scary at this position. This position is our strength of the team. The depth is ridiculous. I mean you have a 1st round rookie as your backup! That's crazy! They were just too good for the panthers. Amazing.

ILB: Bradie looked alright. Not really great just alright. He can run and tackle, that's for sure. Mister Alexander looked ok with the 1st string defense. Dobbins was amazing with the second stringers. He was all over the place. I didn't really see that much of that 90 kid.

CB: Joseph was just Joseph. He was locking his receiver like he's suppose to do. Great veteran player and great playmaker as well. Kareem was outstanding in this game. He had a great read on that short pass play which he deflected. McCain was awesome at covering the slot. Ball.....sigh. Let's just say he ain't making the team. Brandon Harris was great. He was knocking balls down and covering pretty good. McMannis was meh. But it's alright, its just the 1st pre-season game.

S: Quinn and Manning were great. They know where to go and where to look. Great safeties. Demps and Keo were great as well and Nolan was great too. All the safeties played great.

[BullBlitz]

Originally Posted by The Medic01

So wait. Because Schaub threw one pick and the Oline only did okay not great in its first game our offense is not as good. No the offense will be fine. You just never seem to see the good in anything.

The very first thing I noted was that the defense looked good, even without Watt.

If you are going to be critical of others' posts, please improve your comprehension skills.

[foo82]

I know it's preseason, but we are still having issues with our red zone. I'm surprised not that many people are concerned.

[EllisUnit]

Originally Posted by Lucky

I won't get negative after the first reason game which the Texans dominated. I'll just comment on some of the positives.

Pass rush - If there are two elements that define this team, they are the ZBS and the pass rush. In a year where the Texans will face many top notch passers, it is crucial that the pass rush shines. It did, and i really like how the rush can come from so many places. Creating turnovers from the pass rush will be the key to taking this team to a championship.

TEs - I was concerned about the depth at the position following the loss of Dreessen. But Graham looks ready to step up and Casey loss more comfortable there. Daniel is Daniels. Still think a blocking Tight End would be beneficial. But you can go into the season with this group as a plus.

Yates - TJ looks so comfortable in the offense now. His play action fakes are similar to Schaub's. He seems to know where to go with the ball. Im excited about his potential.

Coaching - i couldn't help noticing how engaged the coaches were, even late in the 4th quarter with the end of the bench. I think they realize there is something special here.

And all of this was without all of our advanced blitz packages. Sure we blitzed but they were fairly simple blitzes at that. And this was without Watt and Cushing, man our D is gonna tear some teams up this season.

[gary]

I'd think about playing Holiday at RB for a play or two.

[GP]

My thoughts on the red zone woes:

Remember that we had a TD with Yates/Martin but the CB for the Panthers barely nicked the ball (fluke play, actually). That was 6 points right there, but the ball was just an inch too close to the inside and gets deflected.

Red zone issues come and go. One game we struggle with it, the next game we score TDs and blow a team out. One game, a guy like Holliday has a huge TD return and helps out the offense. Every game, someone or some unit out there has to stand out and deliver for us.

We are never out of games, IMO. This offense has a suddenness about it that while it might not always translate into Red Zone production game after game...you can always count on the team to get the job done before the final whistle. Two years ago in Washington is the prime example--We were getting hammered by Donovan McNabb's Redskins and we came back and won the game by forcing OT via a Schaub-AJ hookup on one of the last plays of the 4th quarter. We almost clutched it out in the playoffs vs. Ravens too this past year.

Hell, the Raiders beat us last year on nothing but long-ass field goals by The Janitor. We got nickel and dimed by The Janitor that game, and it still counts as a "W" in the Win-Loss column for the Raiders. However you can get it done is what counts.

Tom Brady came to the sideline this past preseason game vs. the Saints and slammed his helmet down and was entirely put out with his offense. Guys or units have bad outings whether it's preseason or reg season or playoffs.

[Mr. Texan]

i have no doubt our red zone offense will be better with schuab, foster, and aj actually playing together

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Mr. Texan

i have no doubt our red zone offense will be better with schuab, foster, and aj actually playing together

Hopefully for more than 2 1/2 quarters like last season.

[utahmark]

Originally Posted by foo82

I know it's preseason, but we are still having issues with our red zone. I'm surprised not that many people are concerned.

Seems we always have a little trouble with red zone and short yardage situations. I blame the zone blocking system. Not that I would change it(we have to much success between the 20's). When you draft guys for the zone blocking scheme then you spend most of your practices working on zone blocking your going to have some trouble when you just need to pound the ball in short yardage or the field shrinks inside the 10.

[BigTimeTexanFan]

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/201208...ts&tab=analyze

HOU CAR
Total 1st downs 20 12
3rd down eff. 8/16 (50%) 2/10 (20%)
Rushing yds 174 61
Avg/rush 4.5 4.4
Pass comp-att-int 17/27-1 12/24-1
Pass yds 201 76
Avg/pass play 6.7 2.4
Total yds 375 137
Penalties/yds 8/73 4/24

There are a few things I would like to clean up, but I'm pretty happy with their overall performance .

[Corrosion]

Originally Posted by Lucky

Pass rush - If there are two elements that define this team, they are the ZBS and the pass rush. In a year where the Texans will face many top notch passers, it is crucial that the pass rush shines. It did, and i really like how the rush can come from so many places. Creating turnovers from the pass rush will be the key to taking this team to a championship.

Its pretty obvious the defense is way ahead of the offense (as if you couldnt tell that by practice) but this defense is downright scarry with the depth along the DL and the OLB's. Hard to say which unit is better ... After watching that , Im a bit less concerned about the list of QB's they will have to face ...

Ball should be a gonner in the first round of cuts .... he looked like Petey Faggins out there , had no clue where the ball was on any play in his direction even tho he had decent coverage on most plays.


Martin and Jean both had good games much to our relief .... Posey only had one ball thrown his way that was well off target (by Keenum). I think that was more a product of the team running the ball so often by the time he got on the field , he gets an incomplete.
If they can give that type of production thruout the season , the offense will be fine.

Tate was in beast mode ...

Not worried about Schaub other than him getting hurt. He looked solid enough .... Yates looked really good too. Seemed to go thru his progressions much better than last year tho that wasnt near the calibur defense he was facing late last season and in the playoffs.

[Jackie Chiles]

Originally Posted by Lucky

Yates - TJ looks so comfortable in the offense now. His play action fakes are similar to Schaub's. He seems to know where to go with the ball. Im excited about his potential.

Coaching - i couldn't help noticing how engaged the coaches were, even late in the 4th quarter with the end of the bench. I think they realize there is something special here.

Just to follow up on these points a little bit, you can tell how much emphasis the coaching staff puts on footwork when Yates jukes out a referee. Keenum also had a PA rollout that the DE bit on harder than I have ever seen, the guy was following the RB halfway down the field before he realized the play was in another zip code. Partial disclaimer that both the DE and the ref are noobs but its that kind of attention to detail that gives me a lot of confidence in this coaching staff.

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by The Medic01

So wait. Because Schaub threw one pick and the Oline only did okay not great in its first game our offense is not as good. No the offense will be fine. You just never seem to see the good in anything.

I'm a little more worried about Schaub than I figured I'd be. I didn't like his decision to throw that ball under pressure and when did Gary start smoking crack?

Originally Posted by gary

I'd think about playing Holiday at RB for a play or two.

[Thorn]

Along the same line, and I'm not sure if a seperate thread is needed for this, but what did yall think of our division rivals play? I was not at all impressed with either the Titans or Kittens in their first game. The Dolts are on TV in about 20 minutes. I expect them to suck even worse.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by Vinny

I'm a little more worried about Schaub than I figured I'd be. I didn't like his decision to throw that ball under pressure and when did Gary start smoking crack?

Yeah gary needs to step away from the pipe.

I'm going to go the opposite way on Schaub only because of the specific circumstances. Yes it would have been smarter to pull that ball down but the last thing you want is a QB who is scared to let a play develop or take a hit. Seeing him hang in there for the hit after a significant injury shows his attitude is fine. Now he needs to develop the smarts to Manning flop when the play is hopeless.