My week 1 grades

ugh... makes me sick just to think about it, but i've been looking foward to sept 11th since that great game against cleveland last season. So here are my possition by possition grades of week one.

David Carr - F - Showed no leadership ability. Lacked confidence in his arm, his offensive line and his recievers. Made poor decissions when he did have time to throw. Ruined plays by running outside of the pocket, bassically leaving him with only 1 person to throw to.

Dominick Davis - D - He got a passing grade, but just barley. Made a few decent runs. Caught the dumb off passes that everyone knew he'd get. FUMBLED THE FOOTBALL THE ONLY TIME THE TEAM HAD A SPARK OF HOPE FOR COMMING BACK.

Moran Norris - inncomplete - Due to a lack of cohession I could never get a good look at how he picked up his blocks. Dominick had a few good holes to run through when he was in the game though.

Andre Johnson - F - PAINS ME TO GIVE HIM THIS GRADE. It may not be his fault but the passing game was HORRIBLE. He droped a few balls that he should of caught. He was bassically taken out of the game by Nate Climents.

Corey Bradford - F - The 1 good ball i saw david carr throw hit Bradford right in the freakin hands... and he droped it.

The rest of the skilled possition players on offense - F - nothing went anywhere. It may be a lack of a solid #2 WR , a poor offensive line, a poor QB, or a combination of the 3... but none of the speedy guys that we need to get the ball got the ball.

Marc Breuner - C - He actually caught a ball.. unlike our Wide Recievers. Just 3 more for Breuner and he reaches his last seasons reception total!! come on Marc!!! we know you can take it home for us!!!!!

Matt Murphey - C - He too caught a ball... maybe we should line our recievers up as tightends and our tightends up as recievers...

Offensive Line - D - To be honest... I thought the sacks laid much more on Carr's shoulders than the offensive line's. I actually saw a pocket form a few times only to have carr tuck the ball and run for his life anyways.

Chris Palmer - D- - I was pleasantly suprised when we opened the game up throwing on first and second down. He seemed to try and open the game up for the miniscule amount of time he had to work with. You cant call plays when the guy that is running the show decides to tuck tail and run as soon as he gets the ball.

Overall offense - is there anything lower than an F??? - I LOVE my Texans and I have had faith in Carr and Palmer since day one. I want to believe they know what they're doing. There is NO excuse for not showing improvement from last year. I wasnt expectin a win, but i was expecting to see signs of a team that was well prepaired for OPENING DAY. I guess it is a lot to ask with only 9 months to prepare.

Defensive Line (Seth Payne, Robaire Smith, Gary Walker, Travis Johnson, Corey Sears) C - The offsides were excrutiating! This is a sign of piss poor coaching. Jumping offsides shows a lack of dissiplin wich is a coaches job to give players. Gary Walker showed a nice burst off the ball and was in the backfield. Payne cloged holes and stoped McGahee up the middle for the most part. TJ showed he had good strength.

Linebackers (Peak, Babin, Greenwood, Wong) D - I dont know if it was because Peak was worried about Losman running or what, but there were times i saw him just standing there locked up with an offensive lineman, watching the QB. I was expecting more from him. The unit did a decent job against the run but still no sign of a pass rush. I dont think i heard Greenwoods name called all day.

Defensive backs (Robinson, Buchanon, Coleman, Brown, Faggins.. and a few others) - D - I never heard Robinsons name called... and that was great. He was locked up against Moulds and shut him down. GREAT JOB DUNTA! With that being said... I heard Buchanon's name get called ever freaking play! He got picked on consistantly. He seemed to be so worried about getting beat deep that he gave up the underneath routs. THIS MUST BE CORRECTED. On a bright side.... he did make some nice open field tackles. I though Coleman was his consistant self. They did pass the ball at will it seemed but none of the pass plays were of the deep ball variety. I was satisfied with CC Brown. I thought he would be what really hurt us this game... never thought he would be the least of our problems.

Fangio - B - I liked the defense he called. He blitzed and rolled coverage well. allowing 22 points with what he had to work with should be consided a success.

Overall defensive grade - C - Working with what they were given, and being on the field for as long as they were I think they did a decent job. Very solid job in the redzone. Must get better in coverage, MUST get much more intense pass rush.

Special Teams (Morency, Davis, Buchanon, Brown, Stanley, Coverage) - C - No turnovers. Thats the #1 thing i'm proud of. We really need Mathis to play. Morency didnt have the burst to be returning kicks and I do not want to see Davis back there at all. Buchanon never really got a chance to show what he can do. The one time he did field a returnable punt the blocking quickly broke down. Our punt and kick coverage was decent. Stanley is a great punter. I think Brown is a solid kicker... but what was up with that kickoff after our only touchdown going a whole 30 yards??? ouch

I love my texans and always will but for the first time in our teams brief history I am truley dissapointed in them. I dont have a time frame for them to start improving I just want to see it happen. 7 - 9 wont cut it this year and the way we played last week... it looks like we'll be LUCKY to win 7.

pretty fair grades IMO. i think our TE getting involved this early in the year will help establish some confidence in carr with his TE's. hopefully it will help him make a second read between AJ and his safety valve (at the very least). you may be a little harsh on PBuc, i think he's a little humbled right now with his new "whatever helps the team win" attitude and it my be influencing him to play it safer than he's used to. i think as the season progresses we'll see him gain confidence back in his ability to change games single handedly, and it will manifest itself with him still taking risks, but recognizing his odds better because he knows his teammates are counting on him. all in all, pretty fair

I Have to disagree with the grade of the O line I saw an F like performance. Same thing as last year our tackles seem to be on islands away from the interior opening pass rush lanes big enough to drive a golf cart thru. Our O line needs to slide protection and stay tightly packed,wiegert seemed to be our weakest link as most of the delay blitzes came thru his area. I have to give coach palmer an F on his 2 tight end set formation no one was even a worry cept for Andre... I think Carr is starting to look down one receiver whether he is in the pocket or scrambling. That throw on the run that ended in an INT should not have even been attempted. I agree on the defensive side that peek looked tentative in his pass rush I guess fearing that if he missed Losman there was no outside contain. Morlon Greenwood - F - he seemed to look lost at sea out there at times. Missing a few tackles. Jasons Simmons F² (squared) - He showed a real lack of composure in his short stint and took a dumb penalty maybe because the rest of the time he played he was tackling his shadow. Describing the game on a whole, I think atrocious doesnt begin to cover it. I saw mistakes that would have been unacceptable even in year 2. Granted McGahee is a stud running back, we should not have let them march straight down the field right before halftime. We seemed to be playing for the clock and not playing to get another posession before the half. I never really saw the sense of urgency even after the first turnover. We seemed to be content letting them kick field goal after field goal. I felt like the team seemed to give up in the 3rd. and accept the loss. I was ashamed of our performance as a whole, and hope that the attitude does a 180. and with the way the Buffalo defense handled our O line look for similar blitz packages from our opponents the rest of the season. The line needs to slide together more in protection and do a better job of sealing off at the ends. The again maybe we need this kind of wake up call.

David Carr {B-} Had NO protection all day, had to roll out constantly, whether it was planned or not, dove head first for at least one first down and a touchdown, threw up prayers, because he knew it was their only chance, and hit Bradford with one of them, only to have it dropped. Also nailed Gaffney in the shoulder with one really good pass that Gaff wasn't looking for. Gaff needs to be more aware of the O-line situation. Most of the time, Carr had a triple teamed AJ and nothing else to throw to.

Dominick Davis {B} Very rarely had any place to run to. Was covered by 2 or 3 guys even when catching a dump off. I was impressed that he even got the yardage he did. (Like 47 yds.) Bye the way, DD's problem yesterday are more proof that Carr's problems are the O-line. The fumble was an abhoration. He didn't see the guy until he was ripping the ball out of his one arm. No excuse, but I'm just saying that it won't be a habit.

Moran Norris [Incomplete] I agree with you here; but, let's remember what Norris does for this team. He gets very little accolades, while being one of our best producers on the field.

Andre Johnson [B+] As usual, he was double and triple teamed all game long. That in itself is helping the team, or at least it would be if we had another receiver on the field.

Corey Bradford [F] Agreed. This guy should be on the bench. Actually, he should be looking for a job.

Marc Breuner [C] Agreed.

Matt Murphey [C] Agreed.

Offensive Line {F} The "F" I'm giving them is too good for this O-line. They should be on a college team. Car rolled out on those plays because the pocket was too small and they were reaching in to him.

Chris Palmer [C] I agree with you, except I don't blame it on Carr. I was happier about the passing than you, I guess, because I'm gave him a "C". I still think he needs to go.

Overall offense [F] Agreed. When your O-line is terrible, you have no chance at all.

Defensive Line (Seth Payne, Robaire Smith, Gary Walker, Travis Johnson, Corey Sears) [C] Agreed; but, I'd blame most of their problems on being on the field too much and Buchannon backing off too much.

Linebackers (Peak, Babin, Greenwood, Wong) [C-] I basically agree with you.

Defensive backs (Robinson, Buchanon, Coleman, Brown, Faggins.. and a few others) [D] Agreed, completely.

Fangio [A-] I'm giving him a little more credit than you, but for the same reasons.

Overall Defense They stopped several touchdown drives, but they couldn't get to Lossman. They were on the field way too much.

I'm gonna pass on grading special teams until Mathis is back.

don't forget Bruener had the best return of the Texans giving them field position past the 30. he grades a B+

HJam72 said:

David Carr {B-} Had NO protection all day, had to roll out constantly, whether it was planned or not, dove head first for at least one first down and a touchdown, threw up prayers, because he knew it was their only chance, and hit Bradford with one of them, only to have it dropped. Also nailed Gaffney in the shoulder with one really good pass that Gaff wasn't looking for. Gaff needs to be more aware of the O-line situation. Most of the time, Carr had a triple teamed AJ and nothing else to throw to.

Click to expand...

Not that it matters what people "grade" the players but this is nuts. It's not that I agree with the original posters grades or observations like "[David Carr] Ruined plays by running outside of the pocket" but come on. You grade a QB that has 3 INTs and a 12.1 QB Rating as a B-? So if he would have thrown 2 more INTs he'd still be a C? Carr may not have been as bad as his rating showed and was definately pressured more than any QB deserves but he played poorly overall. He did nothing in that game that makes me feel he's going to be able to handle adversity. He failed miserably.

He was still responsible for most of our positive yardage (through running) and he showed more "want to" than most anyone on the team, especially the offense. He threw interceptions trying to force everything, because nobody was freaking open. No protection and nobody open. What the heck are you gonna do? You have 1.5 seconds to decide. "Tick" your done. You don't get a "tock", lol.