Every NFL Team's Weakest Link: Texans - CB K.Jackson

[Tango]

Per Russell Baxter in an article featured on TheBleacherReport...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...t-link/page/14

Agree? Disagree?

[Section516]

Disagree. For a #2 CB, he's in the top half of the league. He was pretty good for us last year.

IMO, our weak link player wise last year was RT and WRs not named A.Johnson...

Then you have special teams on top of that.

[The Pencil Neck]

JJo and KJack are two of the guys I'm NOT really worried about.

My worries, in no particular order are:

1. Our ILBs: I'm worried about Cush coming back 100% but more than that, I'm worried about who's going to line up next to him.

2. Our RT: Newton might not be able to make it back and Ryan Harris worries me. Heck, even when he's healthy, Newton worries me. That whole right side of the line has to improve. I don't want to depend on rookies to get it done.

3. Our WR2-4: I've got high hopes for Hopkins. But ultimately, he's a rookie and rookies are notoriously hit and miss. But behind him, we've still got Martin (who needs to take a giant step forward from his production last year), Jean (who needs to take a giant step forward from his production last year), and Bonner (who's another damned rook.) This scares me because it remind me of our Kiddie Korner experiment and that crap didn't work out at all.

4. Our TEs: Although OD has been an unsung hero and Graham has made some great catches. But we've lost Casey. This offense is really set up to reward hard working TEs and Graham's slow development worries me. Now we're going to be hoping that either Griffin or Supernaw steps up and fills the Dreessen/Casey void.

5. Our NT: Mitchell's got to step up. And Jones has got to step up.

6. ST: We've got to learn to cover and we've got to learn to block. So. There you go.

[Rey]

Weakest link?

Seems lazy.

[Vance87]

Originally Posted by Tango

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...t-link/page/14

The only weak link I see is the one I quoted.


AM I RITE GUYS?

[Texn4life]

I'm not gonna even bother to give this trash a hit and read it. I just hope it was an article from 2011.

[TejasTom]

Originally Posted by Texn4life

I'm not gonna even bother to give this trash a hit and read it. I just hope it was an article from 2011.

My thoughts as well.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by The Pencil Neck

JJo and KJack are two of the guys I'm NOT really worried about.

My worries, in no particular order are:

1. Our ILBs:

2. Our RT:

3. Our WR2-4:

4. Our TEs:

5. Our NT:

6. ST: .

I think this is a good list, except NT... I believe they are getting what they want from the NT position, so I'm not worried about that position at all.

Like you said, CB is not a position I'm worried about at all. Kj was our best CB for much of the season. He's really elevated his play & I expect him to continue to play with a chip on his shoulder & prove the doubters wrong.

As far as our weakest link last year, I truly believe it was the #2RB. Yeah, the RT/RG situation didn't help. But if Ben Tate were healthy & able to make a play or two to keep the offense on the field a lot of our problems wouldn't have been as glaring.

[deucetx]

Put it like this. My response on the article when I saw how he responded to one person saying he is wrong and didn't do his research (in a rather sarcastic manner) was as thus:

Okay I'll play along to your witty response to him. Wholly professional by the way.

Here is why you didn't do your research. For one, Kareem Jackson allowed a QB rating of 68.2 and catch percentage of 46.8. This was 6th among all cornerbacks that had at least 25% of the snaps. Two, both Texans safeties allowed ratings over 95+ and J. Joseph 72.6. In other words, the best cover guy for the Texans last year was actually Jackson so like Will was saying...Jackson wasn't the weakest link. In fact, not even close. The nickle corners were both below average last season in McCain and then Harris. Safety play inconsistent, Joseph hobbled and they had musical chairs at ILB. Could have chose player/s from that area but you chose the guy who had the best season coverage wise.

So yeah...tremendous and amusing...Thanks for the enlightening and deeply researched article!

Heck, he could have went with the Newton, Jones or whatever but chose the guy who played the best in the secondary last year which just made the article very amateur. It's why I don't take Bleach Report very seriously.

[Playoffs]

Originally Posted by Vance87

The only weak link I see is the one I quoted.


AM I RITE GUYS?

Originally Posted by Texn4life

I'm not gonna even bother to give this trash a hit and read it. I just hope it was an article from 2011.

Effin' Bleacher Report.

[BigBull17]

Pass rush by guys not named Watt was our weakest link. Barwin/Reed/Mercilous were not very good. ILB was terrible outside of Cushing and RT was also unsatisfactory. KJ was fairly solid if not very damn good. Quin gave up a ton more plays than KJ but this is lazy coverage by a terrible bleacher report.

[HOU-TEX]

I agree with PN. Although, I'd lump all the LBs together as the weakest link. Our OLBs couldn't take advantage of one on ones and provide much of a pass rush. Our ILBs were taken advantage of in the passing game. The Pats knew they were the weak link and shredded them.

[bckey]

Its almost like this guy hasn't watched the Texans since KJ's rookie season. Jackson is not the weakest link. In fact he is progressing into a really solid db. ILB was the weakest link after Cushing went down. It could be a strength this year if Cushing plays like his old self and Brooks Reed moves inside.

[Rey]

Kareem was better than Joseph last year.

Now some of that had to do with Joseph's injury problems, but Kareem balled out last year. By far his best year as a pro. He's a legit starting corner and a borderline #1 corner if not a legit #1 corner type of player.

[DBCooper]

KJ was awesome last year.

Maybe he meant Keo.

[Scooter]

Kareem was probably our best DB last season. he's grown so much since his rookie season that i'd certainly consider him a solid #1 corner.

Originally Posted by HOU-TEX

I agree with PN. Although, I'd lump all the LBs together as the weakest link. Our OLBs couldn't take advantage of one on ones and provide much of a pass rush. Our ILBs were taken advantage of in the passing game. The Pats knew they were the weak link and shredded them.

this. our starting 4 DB's were pretty good, our defensive line was fantastic, but our linebackers were horrible once cushing went down. we couldnt generate any outside pass rush which was a killer late in the year. the big hole though was in the middle. we dont have a linebacker with cover skills after cushing, and putting quin in the box left us too light against the run, too small against bigger packages, and too predictable.

[Playoffs]

KJ was in top 20 CBs targeted in 2012, but still rated 13th overall and 11th against the pass out of 113 CBs by PFF (>25% of defensive snaps). Opposing QBs had a 68.2 rating (old QB rating, not QBR) going against Kareem tying him for 12th out of 113.

Article is

[Tailgate]

Originally Posted by The Pencil Neck

JJo and KJack are two of the guys I'm NOT really worried about.

My worries, in no particular order are:

1. Our ILBs: I'm worried about Cush coming back 100% but more than that, I'm worried about who's going to line up next to him.

2. Our RT: Newton might not be able to make it back and Ryan Harris worries me. Heck, even when he's healthy, Newton worries me. That whole right side of the line has to improve. I don't want to depend on rookies to get it done.

3. Our WR2-4: I've got high hopes for Hopkins. But ultimately, he's a rookie and rookies are notoriously hit and miss. But behind him, we've still got Martin (who needs to take a giant step forward from his production last year), Jean (who needs to take a giant step forward from his production last year), and Bonner (who's another damned rook.) This scares me because it remind me of our Kiddie Korner experiment and that crap didn't work out at all.

4. Our TEs: Although OD has been an unsung hero and Graham has made some great catches. But we've lost Casey. This offense is really set up to reward hard working TEs and Graham's slow development worries me. Now we're going to be hoping that either Griffin or Supernaw steps up and fills the Dreessen/Casey void.

5. Our NT: Mitchell's got to step up. And Jones has got to step up.

6. ST: We've got to learn to cover and we've got to learn to block. So. There you go.

About right to me.

But RT prob gets #1 spot. Looks like another rotating/injury/grooming year at that position.

ILBs If Cush can be 100% and Dobbins can stay healthy we will be fine here, and would be a huge impact to this D over last year. Big IFs I know. But a chance its a non issue.

WRs are stocked now, but the timing of it all coming together is off due to age/injury/experience.

TEs are going to have to stay on the field and improved blocking. Not likely. Priority need next year.

NT and OLB need stud starters to complete this D. OLB could be fixed w current group but top picks free agents next year would be ideal.

STs I like the additions, getting players back and better depth should see a spike in production this year.

I think Tate plays healthy and surprises this year. He doesn't have a choice.

[Tango]

In Russell Baxter's defense, he explained on the radio that the collapse of the Texans defense toward the latter part of the season was what he was going after and provided some stats on the collapse over the stretch (I don't have them). The game that stuck out to him was the Jacksonville game where Justin Blackmon had a big game against KJ.

As for me I don't agree with Baxter's assessment. I'm inclined to say it's a toss up for me post-Cushing, between the ILB's, OLB's, or Glover Quin.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by Tango

In Russell Baxter's defense, he explained on the radio that the collapse of the Texans defense toward the latter part of the season was what he was going after and provided some stats on the collapse over the stretch (I don't have them). The game that stuck out to him was the Jacksonville game where Justin Blackmon had a big game against KJ.

As for me I don't agree with Baxter's assessment. I'm inclined to say it's a toss up for me post-Cushing, between the ILB's, OLB's, or Glover Quin.

But Blackmon did not have a big game at Jackson's expense; just one play.

The other plays weren't on KJax.