Hooston Texan
Rookie
I've seen it mentioned here that the Texans' offense has not played well against 3-4 defenses in the past (by "the past", I mean the last two seasons; the Carr-era teams were an entirely different ball of wax), but I'm not convinced that those struggles were due to the mere fact we were playing against a 3-4.
We have played six games against 3-4 defenses the past two years: Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Miami and Cleveland last year and San Diego and Cleveland in 2007. Our offense certainly struggled against San Diego, Baltimore and (especially) Pittsburgh, but those were elite defensive teams when we played them.
That leaves three other games against 3-4 teams: Miami last year and Cleveland the last two years. Against Miami last year, we went up and down the field on them almost at will and were stopped only by turnovers or because Duane Brown couldn't handle Joey Porter. We put up 480+ yards on a team that gave up an average of only 330 on the season.
Last year at Cleveland was a Rosenfels game, but we still managed to gain 370 yards on the day against a team that gave up an average of 350. We were limited to 16 points because of our usual redzone struggles and the fact that we went completely conservative in the second half after two really dumb picks by Sage (he didn't lose the coaches with the Rosencopter; he lost them in the second half against the Browns). Plus, it became apparent in the second half that Cleveland's pop-gun offense was no threat even to our pitiful defense.
The one game where we can't say the offense had a good game was at Cleveland in 2007 when we lost 27-17. But we dominated that game early until a second quarter interception completely changed the momentum. We then got rolled in the second half. We only got 315 yards against a team that was giving 360 per game.
So we had one great game, one good game, and one bad (but by no means terrible) game against non-elite 3-4 units. We averaged about 388 yards against teams that were surrenduring about 347 per game.
I would revise the conventional wisdom that says we struggle against 3-4 defense as follows: we struggle against elite 3-4 defenses. In our small number of games against non-elite 3-4s, we've generally done pretty well.
Are the Jest an elite 3-4 unit? They were good last year, but nowhere near as dominant as the Steelers and Ravens. They ranked just behind Miami--whom we shredded--as the #16 overall defense in the league. Will Ryan and Bart Scott prove to be the missing pieces? We'll see, but we need not believe we will struggle against them just because they run a 3-4.
We have played six games against 3-4 defenses the past two years: Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Miami and Cleveland last year and San Diego and Cleveland in 2007. Our offense certainly struggled against San Diego, Baltimore and (especially) Pittsburgh, but those were elite defensive teams when we played them.
That leaves three other games against 3-4 teams: Miami last year and Cleveland the last two years. Against Miami last year, we went up and down the field on them almost at will and were stopped only by turnovers or because Duane Brown couldn't handle Joey Porter. We put up 480+ yards on a team that gave up an average of only 330 on the season.
Last year at Cleveland was a Rosenfels game, but we still managed to gain 370 yards on the day against a team that gave up an average of 350. We were limited to 16 points because of our usual redzone struggles and the fact that we went completely conservative in the second half after two really dumb picks by Sage (he didn't lose the coaches with the Rosencopter; he lost them in the second half against the Browns). Plus, it became apparent in the second half that Cleveland's pop-gun offense was no threat even to our pitiful defense.
The one game where we can't say the offense had a good game was at Cleveland in 2007 when we lost 27-17. But we dominated that game early until a second quarter interception completely changed the momentum. We then got rolled in the second half. We only got 315 yards against a team that was giving 360 per game.
So we had one great game, one good game, and one bad (but by no means terrible) game against non-elite 3-4 units. We averaged about 388 yards against teams that were surrenduring about 347 per game.
I would revise the conventional wisdom that says we struggle against 3-4 defense as follows: we struggle against elite 3-4 defenses. In our small number of games against non-elite 3-4s, we've generally done pretty well.
Are the Jest an elite 3-4 unit? They were good last year, but nowhere near as dominant as the Steelers and Ravens. They ranked just behind Miami--whom we shredded--as the #16 overall defense in the league. Will Ryan and Bart Scott prove to be the missing pieces? We'll see, but we need not believe we will struggle against them just because they run a 3-4.
