Texans - Redskins impressions

- We got absolutely blown out for the 3rd straight game...... by an 0-2 team..

- David Carr came back to earth, he had time to throw and he looked slightly above average. He's never going to be Carson Palmer or Peyton Manning, but I still think he's a good QB and we can win with him. Yea he fumbled, so what. Ben Roethlisberger and the conservative Steelers turned the ball over 5 times today, it's not unheard of for a QB to lose a fumble. We simply have bigger fish to fry at this point, IMO.

- AJ had a good game, despite a drop or two. Moulds is solid when we get the ball out to him.

- Dayne should be a 3rd stringer, but atleast he fights for extra yards.

- Our OL pass protected fairly well, too bad they can't run block. DHog looked like he was listening to a different snap count than everyone else.

- Our DL sucks. They can't rush the passer, they can't stop the run. Mario looks like a marginal starter. TJ and Payne got into the backfield but couldn't do much from there. Babin and Kalu aren't providing much of a spark.

- Dunta could be a really good #2 in the right situation. He's a gamer, but he's not that great when you put him on an island. Our safeties are not NFL starting quality. When they make it past our linebackers, it's gonna be a 25+ yard gain and/or TD, our safeties aren't functioning well as safety valves. Lewis Sanders isn't playing well, but for a street FA as a starting CB I guess he's ok.

- We've established now that teams can beat us by: 1. Running the ball. (Washington) 2. Passing the ball. (Indy) 3. A combination of the two. (Philly).
In the past I got frustrated because we'd stay close and then our offense would blow it at the end of the game. Now our defense blows it in the first half, so I don't even get to watch a close game. The suspense dissipates at the end of the 1st quarter.

- We're gonna have a top 5 pick this next draft, but don't get your hopes up drooling over the studs coming out of college this year, aside of AJ we don't seem to have a great track record in the top 5.

Nice summery. Here is mine:
We suck
~Proteus

I think you are exaggerating this loss a bit.

We were a penalty and TD away from OT. Granted, we would have had to convert 2 2 pointers as well, but that doesn't change the fact that we were there. We got beat but it wasn't a blow out by any stretch of the imagination.

Regarding Dunta, I read a comment on here about moving Dunta to safety that I am inclined to agree with. If we could pick up a big name CB in FA this off season and draft one with a high pick we could move Dunta to safety where he could utilize his strengths.

Proteus said:

Nice summery. Here is mine:
We suck
~Proteus

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It's like you rolled up my entire post into two words.....brilliant.

- We're gonna have a top 5 pick this next draft, but don't get your hopes up drooling over the studs coming out of college this year, aside of AJ we don't seem to have a great track record in the top 5.
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Maybe our laundry list of needs on defense will convince our FO that we need to trade down, and we will get a couple picks in the 12-20 range

Well put by all of you :brickwall

Nice summery. Here is mine:
We suck
~Proteus

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LOL. I couldn't watch the game. The last 2 years it's been on the TV (regular, not cable which I don't have) but they don't show the Texans here in Lubbock anymore. They must think we're the new Lions.

War Is Greed said:

I think you are exaggerating this loss a bit.

We were a penalty and TD away from OT. Granted, we would have had to convert 2 2 pointers as well, but that doesn't change the fact that we were there. We got beat but it wasn't a blow out by any stretch of the imagination.

Regarding Dunta, I read a comment on here about moving Dunta to safety that I am inclined to agree with. If we could pick up a big name CB in FA this off season and draft one with a high pick we could move Dunta to safety where he could utilize his strengths.

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Score and stats aside, I watched the thing and I felt like we weren't even competitive, hence calling it a blow out. I'm being more subjective here by saying that, whereas you're being objective, which is cool. I just feel like when you have to say things like, "If we scored a TD, got the conversion, recovered an onside kick, scored again in under 5 minutes, and converted another 2 pt attempt we'd have tied them," you're probably getting blown out especially when you'd been getting your butts kicked into the 4th quarter.

Grid, I could totally go for us trading down next draft to fill some of our many, many holes. And I'm obviously being a little rough on the current staff, as Rick Smith has not had a chance to try his hand at a Texans draft yet. Maybe we'll turn it around with some new people calling the shots.

Rick Smith has not had a chance to try his hand at a Texans draft yet. Maybe we'll turn it around with some new people calling the shots.

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We can hope.

My opinion is that we build around one side of the ball. Considering we have moulds and andre johnson on offense, I would start building on that side of the ball.

Adrian Peterson would help this offense tremendously as well. And he might be the best player on our defense by keeping them off the field with longer sustained drives.

You can look through the rest of the draft to pick up more defensive players ala early 2nd round you can still find playmakers.

This team is missing a playmaker. While andre johnson is a great player, he wont take over games. I think having a player of peterson's level for many years will help raise the opinions of other team's/free agents to come play in our organization. Like the effect vick has had with the falcons.

I think building an exciting offense to hang with the colts, and a consistent improvement on defense would be the best route.

i say lets see if we can get any momentum from the miami game and then see what happens after the bye. this thing may yet come together yet. there has to be a low point to every season, i think this game may have been it.

We're really bad right now and there's really no denying it. I still believe that the Texans will pull it together in the second half of the season and that will be the "springboard" for whatever progress we make this season.

Our defense just mystifies me. I expected us to have offensive growing pains over the first half of the season and I expected our defense to not be dominant. What I didn't expect was for our defense to not even be visible. On paper this isn't that bad a group. We're lower half without a doubt but we don't look this bad on paper. In reality though we're monumentally bad.

That to me was surprising. Now I'm wondering what wer'e going to do about it.

To me the line looks slow and weak. They're getting defeated easily out there. The linebackers look hesitant to me and the defensive backs look like they're just trying to keep people from getting behind them. It's like they know if they don't play way off their man then they'll get beat and give up the big play. Dunta Robinson in particular looks very frustrated to me.

Is it just me, but my wife and daughters were all at the game, watching in sadness again today .....But does it just seem the Texans give up, and stop playing.....it's like someone let the air out of them, they just seem to give up............

BattleRedToro said:

But my biggest dissapointment at the game was not the team but the FANS. Booing their own team, not getting up and yelling to help their defense, and in general giving away the home field advantage. Maybe just maybe, if the fans believed in their team enough to support them they might just pull out a win, but as I see it, the fans in Houston these days are fickle and don't deserve to have a good team.

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Totally disagree. In fact, in my view it's the opposite. This team doesn't deserve fans.

Another thing, Mario would have had his first sack (or possibly half a sack) on that play when both tackles were called for holding.

War Is Greed said:

Another thing, Mario would have had his first sack (or possibly half a sack) on that play when both tackles were called for holding.

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There's no doubt in my mind he would've had his first sack, Brunell held the ball for another second or two while Mario was being held 2 feet away.

Along what Herv said, based on my assumptions heading into the season and what I saw in pre-season, I'm really surprised in alot of ways by what I've seen on the field. I thought our D would get burned for the big play, but I thought they'd get after the quarterback and send more blitzes than they are. I also thought our passing game was going to take a while to come along while the run game would be picking up the slack. It's the other way around. Our run game is sputtering while our passing game looks light years ahead of what it did in the past. All the people who complained in the Capers era about not atleast putting up some big plays in our losses should be happy now. Carr is hitting some big plays now, but our D is playing so poorly that it doesn't matter. How exciting.

blockhead83 said:

There's no doubt in my mind he would've had his first sack, Brunell held the ball for another second or two while Mario was being held 2 feet away.

Along what Herv said, based on my assumptions heading into the season and what I saw in pre-season, I'm really surprised in alot of ways by what I've seen on the field. I thought our D would get burned for the big play, but I thought they'd get after the quarterback and send more blitzes than they are. I also thought our passing game was going to take a while to come along while the run game would be picking up the slack. It's the other way around. Our run game is sputtering while our passing game looks light years ahead of what it did in the past. All the people who complained in the Capers era about not atleast putting up some big plays in our losses should be happy now. Carr is hitting some big plays now, but our D is playing so poorly that it doesn't matter. How exciting.

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I held the same sentiments about the defense. I was touting our "top 5 DL" all preseason.

Actually thinking the Texans were in this game is an absolute joke. The Redskins owned them in every aspect of this game. They got to 31-15 because the Skins lightened up a bit on their intensity. If they wanted to, they could have won this game by 30 points.

And, thinking now, "Hey, we need a playmaker and a running back would really help us" and "let's build up one side of the team" means we really should have drafted Reggie Bush. Mario looked terrible again today. He looked lost, played without intensity, and hasn't shown anything at all that would show him deserving of being a first round pick, much less a No. 1 overall pick.

But hey - at least the Saints got Bush (they needed that shot in the arm there), and maybe the Texans get Adrian Peterson. Kind of funny, going with an OU guy a year after passing on UT's legend (Vince Young).

Here's my thoughts in the Fanblog, with stat badness: Link

The short version:

Both Texans lines look overmatched.

The offense is ungood, but it is remarkable that Carr has been able to throw at all when the run blocking is non-good. (Usually that is death). He seemed to have more time in the pocket today. This offense needs the run to work, but it is hard to run much when your defense can't make a stop. Still too many stupid mistakes.

The Texans defense might be irretrievably bad this year. Personnel-wise, there are few guys on the defense that you would really want on your team as a starter. We are having to depend on rookies for key positions without too many good experienced guys helping them. We have young guys, and old guys, but few really good peak of their career middle guys.

All that being said, there is no excuse for giving up that many yards per game for three games in a row. That is a coaching/scheme issue. And Richard Smith does not have the sort of long standing track record as a defensive mind that makes you feel confident that he is going to turn this puppy around. (Though I am sure we will start to hear the 2005 Dolphins song and dance soon enough--not really comparable, I don't think).

Texans_Chick said:

Here's my thoughts in the Fanblog, with stat badness: Link

The short version:

Both Texans lines look overmatched.

The offense is ungood, but it is remarkable that Carr has been able to throw at all when the run blocking is non-good. (Usually that is death). He seemed to have more time in the pocket today. This offense needs the run to work, but it is hard to run much when your defense can't make a stop. Still too many stupid mistakes.

The Texans defense might be irretrievably bad this year. Personnel-wise, there are few guys on the defense that you would really want on your team as a starter. We are having to depend on rookies for key positions without too many good experienced guys helping them. We have young guys, and old guys, but few really good peak of their career middle guys.

All that being said, there is no excuse for giving up that many yards per game for three games in a row. That is a coaching/scheme issue. And Richard Smith does not have the sort of long standing track record as a defensive mind that makes you feel confident that he is going to turn this puppy around. (Though I am sure we will start to hear the 2005 Dolphins song and dance soon enough--not really comparable, I don't think).

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Great points.

We are three games into the season, and I am already tired of Richard Smith's act. The aggressive, blitzing defense is just not there, and according to reports, he ducked out again after the game and chose not to face the music. Just like his defense, pretty pathetic!

BattleRedToro said:

Maybe just maybe, if the fans believed in their team enough to support them they might just pull out a win, but as I see it, the fans in Houston these days are fickle and don't deserve to have a good team.

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Are you kidding me? This team has had the City of Houston behind them for 4 years now! This comment is a joke. The Team needs to show people why they deserve fans.

maybe i'm just numb at this point, but i'm not overly concerned. i really thought we would win this game (or atleast be in it), but it's becoming clear that we're probably just not going to be very good at all this season. what concerns me is coaching on defense. smith has to get his players motivated and wanting to play, something they had a lot of trouble doing earlier today. i did like seeing guys like mario, ryans, & orr trying to pump their teammates up on the field though ... i just hope that the defeatest attitude that some of the others have doesnt rub off on them. also on defensive coaching, smith needs to research other teams. nobody in football sends only 4 guys the entire game. pittsburgh sends 5+ for 90% of the game, as do every other team in the league. our defense is simply too vanilla and it's painfully obvious to the opposition how we're going to play them.

what became crystal clear to me this game, is that we're simply too young on defense. veterans pick up on screens the first time, rookies and young players go entire games without being able to recognize them in time. same thing with draw plays. we dont have the experience on defense as a whole for this type of recognition and it really showed today.

that being said, i think this team is going to be fine in the long run and a few more losses arent going to hurt my feelings too much. we're putting our pieces together and will be there very soon. we've got our franchise LT (although injured), 2 quality DE's in babin & mario, dunta's going to have to step it up but we know he can, our WR's are awesome, and we've got an absolute stud leading the D at mlb. we're going to be ok, it just might take longer than we hoped.

Im the biggest Carr supporter on here, but he fumbled 3 times, UNDERTHREW most of his recievers and he is not to blame but he had a marginal game at best today.

NO RUNNING GAME, Sam Gado looks like he weighs 300 lbs and I cant help but think if Morency was given a chance he might have used that burst of speed and would have had some decent runs today. Dayne gets tired in the 2nd quarter and is done.

I love Andre Johnson, but I dont know if he cares much anymore and he dropped 2 passes today. Putzier is pathetic at best.

Our Offensive Line I think only gave up 1 or 2 sacks, but it is HORRIBLE! McKenney has to be the worst guard in the game and Weigert cannot play RT because for a pass play he sets way to deep and ROOTS in the ground to quickly. Salaam and LT was ok.

BRUNELL COULD HAVE TAKEN A NAP TODAY WITH THE TIME HE HAD! Granted the Skins were holding a ton, but they were a non factor (where is Peek)?

Demeco is the only player on Defense!

no great CB play, and Earl is a decent player but with CC, forget it!

Coaching, we look like Capers. Is it me or do we seem to shut down if we get a lead? We did not blitz until the 4th and MANY TIMES we had no clue on Defense with SIMPLE PERSONNEL! A few times I saw guys running to the sidelines, raise their arms in confusion and run back in or switch out, HORRIBLE!

Im embarassed, but I am a Texans fan and I will cheer for them still. It will be a rough ride but I hate to say it....NEXT YEAR!

I wonder if the Texans are going to call Charley Casserly to help with the first round pick next year?:brickwall

The team plain out sucked today. Only encouraging thing i saw today was that DC is coming along nicely IMO. Our defense is horrible. We cant stop anyone!!! I really thought that it would be our strength this yr. M. Williams and Co. are lost out there and our DB's cant cover anyone. Its a really sad situation. Dont even talk to me about the running game because it is just as bad. I said it before the draft...we needed to pick up a running back and no not necessarliy Bush. I would have been very happy with DeAngelo, Maroney, or maybe even Addai. We should have traded down for a couple of defensive guys and picked up one of these backs. Hell, there were a few quality defensive FA's this yr that would have helped. Oh well, we look like we will have a top 5 pick this yr. If things dont get any better that is. Hopefully they will make the right pick this coming draft and not just pick someone because "We Can Have Him Signed Before Training Camp".

I was never for Bush, MW or VY, but GOD I wanted D Brick!

This year lets hope they take Adrian Peterson (at the moment) and not have that "signability" issue.