OK. I'll drink some Hateraide & play along for this one. Here are my top reasons why the team wouldn't make the playoffs (pessimists view).
1) D-Line play -- Aside from Super Mario, there is really no-one on that line that has lived up to their potential. Antonio Smith was brought in to anchor the left side of the D-line, but he will move inside on 3rd down and Barwin is an unkown commodity after playing only one year on the D-line. To this point TJ, Okoye, etc have not truly lived up to their potential.
2) Cushing is a two down player that struggles in pass situations. The LB play will remain largely the same in spite of investing a 1st round pick at the position. They will do fairly decent against the run, but struggle with the pass.
3) The DB corps remains very suspect with no real top level talent help coming via the draft or free agency. Dunta was average last year according to the sabermetrics & teams certainly didn't have any qualms about throwing at Reeves even though the numbers say he performed better than DR. Our safety play is mediocre with no real difference makers there like elite defenses seem to have (Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, etc.) With the line play basically the same, expect us to give up lots of yards through the air and with the new aggressive approach, look for Brady, Manning, & others to pick the secondary apart when we blitz.
4) Lack of depth at running back. Slaton has turned into a real find, but short yardage aint really his strong point and we don't have a whole lot of upside behind him. Chris Brown can't seem to stay healthy and we've got a bunch of other guys that no-one would recognize on the street if you saw them.
5) Matt Schaub's glass chin errr legs. Matt has been susceptible to injuries and if he goes down for a stretch, I think you can pretty much stick a fork in us.....cause we'd be done.
6) Kubiak's Brain Farts -- Kubiak's game management late in close tussles often leaves a bunch to be desired. A few less mental errors from the head man could mean the difference when matched up against good teams that are well coached.
7) Brown doesn't deliver -- Brown had a baptism by fire last year and while he seems to be good in the run game, he struggled in the pass game. He's got the job solo this year, so when he starts to struggle, there aren't any rescue ladders.
I don't know if that was cathartic or will induce nightmares for the next month, but those would be the reasons I think we might miss the playoffs....aside from the easy ones (turnovers, rash of injuries, tough division, etc.)
Go Texans
