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SI: Time for texans to go deep

Sounds like a plan to me. Looks good on paper but stayin healthy is unfortunatley all too hard these days. I'm excited about our potential :headbang:
 
Thats something that I really do hopr the Texans begin to do on a regular basis, evern if they dont through deep but 2 or 3 times a game, have Bradford of Johnson go on a deep route every 3rd pass play or so, so at least you have that option. It would really spread the D and give DD more room to run in the middle.
 
You need good protection to go deep in the NFL. That is something expanson teams generally don't have. As our talent evolves so will our ability to exploit the entire field.
 
until you have the overwhelming talent or scheme to take what you want, you take what the defense gives you. if that means 3+ yards and a cloud of dust, outlet passes to davis, slants to gaffney, or post to johnson, you take what the defense allows.

dont get me wrong, i was starving to see the deep bomb myself at least 2-3 times a game ,but those are not high percentage plays even when the defense isnt looking for it. now the threat of it is another story all together...
 
I can see us going deep this year, because the line will be that much better. I am looking for us to do more of the "Keep the defense on their heels" type of plays and then DD runs wild. I can see it now......and it looks GOOD.
 
clandestin said:
a lot of our deep ball game will depend on how well Wand picks up his LT duties.
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Good point, he seems to be the only question mark,on IMO a very solid offensive line which can both open run lanes and alow Carr to throw deep.
 
I feel like once Carr establishes himself at the beginning of the season and shows he can get some positive things rolling we'll see alot of new things happen as far as play calling goes. Seems like too many times last year we were in 3rd and 10 or 3rd and 8 situations and we ran the ball and I'm sure it was because Palmer thought something was exposed in the defense but I feel those are almost definite pass situations. I think he'll have a bit more faith in Carr and start trying to let him get it done. Just my two cents, I'm sure there's other obvious reasons that I'm just not seeing.
 
Tulip said:
I hope they are ready. I'm already tired of watching AJ run 5-yard outs all the time.
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You're not going to see them give up on those because it would be failing to use part of what makes AJ special. AJ in his rookie year was 1st in the NFL in yards after catch--he is a nightmare for DB's to bring down alone. Short routes like that keep the db's from backing off of him too much, are very safe, are very quick making the OL's & Carr's job easier and make it dangerous for the opposing team to bring all the LB's and safeties in tight into the box. They'll take plenty of shots down field (hopefully with the QB's being more accurate--Bradford and AJ were wide open many times last year and overthrown) but look for this kind of play as well to be balanced and play on AJ's strength.
 
infantrycak said:
You're not going to see them give up on those because it would be failing to use part of what makes AJ special. AJ in his rookie year was 1st in the NFL in yards after catch--he is a nightmare for DB's to bring down alone. Short routes like that keep the db's from backing off of him too much, are very safe, are very quick making the OL's & Carr's job easier and make it dangerous for the opposing team to bring all the LB's and safeties in tight into the box. They'll take plenty of shots down field (hopefully with the QB's being more accurate--Bradford and AJ were wide open many times last year and overthrown) but look for this kind of play as well to be balanced and play on AJ's strength.
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YAC are tough when you're already at the sidelines. And they didn't throw to him there much - he just ran the route.
 
Panther5407 said:
What happened to Gaffney in the article, Isn't he worth reconizing as one of the recievers? idonno:
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I was thinking that too, but they are talking about going deep and Gaff really isnt a deep threat. Gaff runs great routes and has great hands and probably will become a great WR on the slant routes, which the slant routes will be open when AJ and Bradford go deep...
 
I am definetly looking forward to seeing what the "opened up playbook" actually means. I suspect that the biggest change we might see is going for it on 3 and long instead of dive plays up the middle, the deep pass on 1st or 2nd down instead early in the game of the hail mary at the end of the half.

The bottom line is that this season we will get the true measure of our stable of running backs because we still look to be a 55-60% run team. Who knows if Carr and the pretty boys gets the air game going things may switch around.
 
From the FWIW file:
(Courtesy of Footballguys.com)

Highest percentage of completions that went for at least 50 yards:

Jeff Blake 1.9%
David Carr 1.8%
Jon Kitna 1.8%

So Carr does throw deep...when he gets the opportunity to pass. More opportunities will present themselves when the Texans get more and longer possessions. If I have one gripe, it's that the Texans didn't go playaction on 1st down often enough last season. That's the best chance of catching the defense with a big play. Of course it would help if Carr sold his PA fakes as well as Manning does.
 
we still look to be a 55-60% run team.
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I know it feels that way some times, but the Texans had 421 rushing attempts last year and 439 passing attempts. That is a split of 49% rushing to 51% passing--which is a little more rush oriented than most of the NFL but not as skewed as it seems. Keep in mind also that the QB's had 39 of the 421 rushing attempts and probably only 5 of those or so were designed rushing plays as opposed to broken passing plays--15 of those plays go as intended and the ratio is 47% rushing 53% passing.
 
nice post infantry. good info. but wouldnt those numbers be somewhat jaded from a team with a 5-11 record? to get a better idea of what the coaches intend our offense to be (what % pass run etc...) wouldnt we have to look at the playcalling when the score for both teams was even ,and the clock was a non-factor?

i would think most of the teams with losing records pass more then run inorder to catch up. just a thought.

i think carr's freedom to finally call plays at the line will be a huge factor this season as well. that maybe a another good reason we throw deep more often.
 
I haven't broken down the figures but we weren't playing catch-up too often even though we had a losing record. We just got pounded in the 4th quarters of most games due to the offense not being able to convert any first downs. There were not too many comeback scenarios. Mostly just a team falling apart in crunch time due to inexperience and lack of depth.
 
__V__ said:
I haven't broken down the figures but we weren't playing catch-up too often even though we had a losing record.
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would you say we played catch up often enough to make a 1% diffrence?
 
powda said:
nice post infantry. good info. but wouldnt those numbers be somewhat jaded from a team with a 5-11 record? to get a better idea of what the coaches intend our offense to be (what % pass run etc...) wouldnt we have to look at the playcalling when the score for both teams was even ,and the clock was a non-factor?

i would think most of the teams with losing records pass more then run inorder to catch up. just a thought.

i think carr's freedom to finally call plays at the line will be a huge factor this season as well. that maybe a another good reason we throw deep more often.
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As Vinny said, I don't think we were playing for behind as were say the Cardinals. In fact, as we know we lost a number of games on come from behind wins where we were trying to protect leads so the offense was playing safe and playing even more run than normal and the D failed--in other words our late games were not always attempts to come from behind throw it all the time desperation attempts. Basic point was that overall compared to the NFL last year we were slightly run oriented--not surprising for a team with rookies and a rotation of wounded QB's. Add even better pass protection this year and expect the pass % to be from 52-54%. Capers is not going to get away from ball control, but it isn't as out of line as many feel. People that like a wide open offense will always feel we are running 60+ % of the time even when we pass 53% of the time. I also think/hope that giving Carr more flexibility will result in the Texans moving a bit more to an open offense--hopefully those attempts succeed.
 
infantrycak said:
Capers is not going to get away from ball control



People that like a wide open offense will always feel we are running 60+ % of the time even when we pass 53% of the time.
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i agree on both accounts. i think a contributing factor to the widespread notion we're so conservative is that so many of our passing plays last year were for such short yardage.

but while we were in plenty of games last year for an extended period of those games, i still think that come from behind mentality (i.e. pass to catch up and perserve the clock) had a statistical effect. we were behind in enough games to make a diffrence in the numbers you shared. at least 1-3 %.
 
I don't think we will change the % of pass much (52-54% range), but I suspect we will move the range of throws a bit further down field. Last year we threw short and hoped the reciever, typicaly AJ, would get good YAC. A more than 5 yard throw was not very common, but sometimes we wound up with 15-20 yards as a result. This year I look for the 10-20 yard range to be the common throwing range and the good YAC after that could result in some NICE gaines, because once your past 15-20 yards, there aren't to many defenders left and AJ or Bradford can out run almost anyone in the league and AJ is a BEAR for any DB to bring down.
 
donbmt said:
That article is exactly what I've been saying for two years, just look at my signature. :idea:
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The difference between this year and the last two years is that this year we have talent at every position on offense...
 
I'd like to see more of Derrick Armstrong. I keep hearing good things about him from the players and coaches and I'd like to see his stuff. If he has as good of hands as some are saying, he may find his way into more plays this season.
 
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