Staying positive

Even though I'm as disappointed as the rest of you that we are 0-2, I really do feel that the team will turn it around.

I see signs that indicate to me at least, that the Texans are not that far away from being good . . . really good.

Carr's play in the 2nd half yesterday was the best half of football I've ever seen him play. It looked like he was actually controlling the offense, even though I thought he had shabby pass protection. But the pass protection I feel will get better through time.

Domanick Davis, will have no choice but to protect the football better, even at the expense of giving up yardage, because now future teams will concentrate on trying to make him cough it up. Teams that do that generally have more missed tackles.

I'm not seeing any of the receivers dropping any passes that they should have caught. (knock on wood) They all are catching it with their hands, even Gaffney.

On the defensive side, I saw more pressure being put on the QB in passing situations than I did in the first game, so I see that getting better as time goes along. And I'm seeing very good pursuit on the run defense.

With the linebackers, I thought that Antwan Peek would be the ROLB, but I'm not disappointed with Wong's play at that position. And Jason Babin has shown me enough raw talent already, that I think he's going to exciting to watch the second half of the season.

As for Dunta Robinson, I don't think I remember his name being called on Sunday. But I do have concerns with Faggins in the nickle. But all in all, the play of entire secondary will improve dramatically when the front 7 gets more pressure on the QB. I see that happening more and more as the season goes along.

The botton line is that I see signs. They may lose next week, and the week after that. They may go even 0-6 before it turns around. But I think what they are going through right now will help them come together as a team, and be fun to watch during the 2nd half of the season.

I am with you on this. I am upset by the losses but I am also encouraged by the stats we have put up. The wins will come.

Go Texans!

Marcus, I would have to agree with you, in regards to the Texans having and showing a lot of pieces to turning this things around, but unfortunately, I don't feel this season can be turned around.

Your right, Carr showed great attributes in the second half, and the guy continues to get better and better. BUT, I don't believe this offense or the coaches place him in the situation to be fully explosive or successful. This is a run first, control the clock offense, and it appears well to often, not only Carr, but the rest of these young explosive players, cannot get into a flow.

Dominic Davis appears to have the same ability shown last season, but mental lapses trying to create big plays has caused him to cough up the ball. This was never a problem last year or in college, but it looks as though he, as others, are pressing to make anything happen now, whether it is extra yards, extra cuts, whatever, and when you press, mistakes happen.

The secondary? I love AG, but is he loosing a step? Robinson, better. Coleman still adjusting? Brown, good against the run, but exposed against any team with a receiving tight end, and the nickle and dime backs have just been horrible in 3rd down situations.

Coaching. I've said it before, Palmer was in need of a job when we got him for a reason. This guy is brialliant at times, but does not control the flow of a game, thus leaving out weapons. Come on, Johnson 7 catches in two games? He, like TO, like Moss, needs to touch the ball in some way, at least 10 times a game. Fangio. Became more agressive this past week, but shut down the defense in the second half, with no pressure on Harrington? Capers. Needs to get a grip and let these young players go out there and play wild. When this happens, we will see a fun team to watch. They have way too much athletism, to be moving like robots!

All in all, this team needed to at least win 1 one the first two, but neither? Now you have the Chiefs, a Packers team, a tough division, road games in Denver, Chicago, and NY in the winter months! This season is basically a wash and look for the Texans to now go somewhere between 3-13 & 4-12. Maybe we can pick up Antrel Rolle or a left tackle, because unless some of the changes that were addressed previously are down, this season is over!!

I heard an interesting statistic yesterday.

DD last year fumbled 3 times. This year in 2 games he has fumbled 4 times.

I don't know what or if he is doing anything differently handling the ball this year but that is becoming frustrating drive killers.

Bottle-O-Bud said:

DD is fumbling because he is trying to make the big play happens cause Palmer is giving him the ball 30 times. He knows that by not getting the big play, this team can't move the ball. By handing it too Davis too much, Carr gets predictable and bad defenses gets a leg up on him.

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I don't buy that. I do think we need to pass more on 1st and 2nd downs in the 1st half. I like the philosophy of running Davis a lot and wearing down a defense in the fourth quarter. He will get those big runs in the 4th when the D gets tired. I just think our main problem right now is turnovers. We all but eliminate those, and we win both of these games.

According to what DD said on channel 13 last night, he is going to have to be more patient, that is, not try to force his way through when there are two or more defenders tackling him. The other one is always going for the ball. He should just cover up and go down.

pittbull said:

All in all, this team needed to at least win 1 one the first two, but neither? Now you have the Chiefs, a Packers team, a tough division, road games in Denver, Chicago, and NY in the winter months! This season is basically a wash and look for the Texans to now go somewhere between 3-13 & 4-12. Maybe we can pick up Antrel Rolle or a left tackle, because unless some of the changes that were addressed previously are down, this season is over!!

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Sorry Pittbull, but that isn't what I would call trying to stay positive. You act as if they should just cancel the rest of the season, and look forward to next April's draft. If you do that, you are setting yourself up for more disappointment because as previous drafts have shown, it won't turn out the way you want.

The reason why you should stay positive is this. Turnovers are the reason why the team is 0-2. You can talk all day long about 'fire and emotion', you can talk all day long about Capers being a conservative coach, you can talk all day long about 'Palmer hindering the development of the offense'. But the simple fact still remains. If the Texans hadn't had all those turnovers, you'd be standing in line trying to buy playoff tickets instead of moaning about how this season is a lost cause.

Turnovers are a conversation killer. But things like 'play-calling' and Capers conservative philosophy' can make you pound on that keyboard all day long.

NoBullTexan said:

According to what DD said on channel 13 last night, he is going to have to be more patient, that is, not try to force his way through when there are two or more defenders tackling him. The other one is always going for the ball. He should just cover up and go down.

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Could it be that Davis is trying too hard to make his prediction of 2000 yards come true?

That could well be. It sounds like he now realizes he needs to let the game come to him rayher than force the issue.

Bottle-O-Bud said:

I happen to believe that the conservative playcalling and playing not to lose is causing all these turn overs. You think the coaches will change thier philosophy? DD is fumbling because he is trying to make the big play happens cause Palmer is giving him the ball 30 times. He knows that by not getting the big play, this team can't move the ball. By handing it too Davis too much, Carr gets predictable and bad defenses gets a leg up on him.

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I couldn't disagree with you more. The reason why Davis fumbling the football is because he's carrying it like a loaf of bread even after he gets hit the first time. He needs to put both hands on the ball, and cover up. He's not worried about 'conservative playcalling'.

Totally agree. DD needs to cover it up with two hands.

I think it's just basically common football sense that you should carry the ball with 2 hands.

I noticed too when Glenn intercepted the ball he was doing the Deion thing and holding the ball like it was a loaf of bread. When he came to the tacklers he covered it up but somebody could have come up behind him and knocked it out of his hands easily.

DD is young but the mistakes are becoming glaring and need to be fixed immediately. You just cannot fumble the ball away time after time. I have faith he'll get it fixed.

I'm pretty sure from what I have seen the past two games, that the Texans will have a strong second half of the season. We are stumbling all over the place right now, our offense is getting yards but turnovers and the lack of pass protection has not helped us score points. Defensively I think our secondary will play better as Marcus Coleman and Dunta Robinson get more experience every week. We have to get some pressure from the middle. I think Robaire Smith will play better and Jason Babin has shown a lot of promise. Therefore as the season goes along our players will play better. I'm extremely dissapointed the way we've played, but we still could've won both these games. We're not clicking yet, and when we do watch out! David Carr arguably had one of his best games of his young career yesterday. He made some outstanding plays yesterdays that showed me that he's a special player. I'm not worried about DD, players go through a rough stretch every season where it seems like they do everything wrong. To that I say, it's better to get all the bad stuff out of the way early. The only thing I have a problem with is the play callling, sometimes it seems they play too conservatively. We saw what can happen when DC throws it deep to AJ, and with the new emphasis on illegal contact, we should be throwing it deep more than we have done. All in all, it's been a dissapointing start to the season but like Michael Jordan said, it's not how you start it's how you finish. Hopefully we'll finish better than we've started.

I'm not willing to give up on the season but you have to be discouraged when you play in the best division and you have a killer schedule just playing against those teams in your division.

I'm pretty sure when most Texans fans saw the schedule this year they marked down the Chargers and Lions as teams the Texans would beat.

The team looks out of synch but I think the players are good enough to improve and will and I think Coach Capers is a very good coach and will do his best to correct mistakes.

Growing pains hurt.

I'm sorry, but I have to get on my
(clears throat)
Gas Prices are too High!
Texas Summers are Hot!
I hate paying Taxes!
(get's off )

OK Now that that';s over with.
I think that if anyone took a look at the Texans offensive stats for the first two games they would believe that they had won both games.



I think we can take a much larger solace in that than the people on this board have to this point.

Even at their worst, the Texans are not a perpetual +3 turnover team.

The Defense may be doing their best impression of a collander right now, but they're going to get it eventually.

And when that happens, then the rest of the NFL will see what we have been expecting the entire off-season.


then we'll show 'em!