Post game analysis ITBE

Drive Breakdown

Given the Friday night game scheduling, I had time to go back and watch this in detail, jotting notes as I went, the result of which is a drive-by-drive breakdown below of what I saw. Yeah, it's lengthy, but you've got four more days until the Texans' next game against the Bucs, so print this out and keep it near the toilet for good poop-time reading. .

Click to expand...

Nice, long read.

http://www.inthebullseye.com/

And for the people that's been dogging Okoye these past couple of weeks....

Game Balls

Amobi Okoye hardly showed up in the stat sheet (one tackle), but he pushed his way into the Dallas backfield often.

Click to expand...

First Quarter

One bright spot on this drive is DT Amobi Okoye. He beat his man (usually G Leonard Davis) one-on-one at least three times in the drive’s seven plays.
...
Okoye continues his good play with a tipped pass, though the screen pass is still completed for six yards to Barber.

Click to expand...

2nd Quarter

Greenwood makes a goalline stop to keep Barber out of the endzone, and Okoye is credited for the tackle.
...
Demps makes a good read on the run, as Barber runs into Okoye for no gain.
...
Okoye beats Davis again, flushing Romo from the pocket. Romo though is able to scramble 13 yards with plenty of open space.

Click to expand...

3rd quarter

Okoye makes good penetration, credit 1-yard tackle to Weaver.

Click to expand...

You guys need to be quiet, and stop making random assumptions because if you truly kept your eyes on Okoye during the games, then you would've known he was one of the bright spot on D. He was second best dlinemen, after Mario, and the margin between them isn't big at all.

There was atleast three different clips on the highlight video at NFL.com that shows Okoye beating his man and penetrating into the backfield. I believe it was on passing plays aswell.

Thanks for the enlightening read.

I always like ITBE's analysis, but it's not easy for one pair of eyes to see everything that was going on.

So far, I have only reviewed our D in the first quarter.
(I've also watched the games 3 times, plus the videos on NFL.com)

I'll try to get to more specific plays if I can, later.

On the TD pass to WR Patrick Crayton, there were several blown coverage assignments and confusion amongst Bennett and LBs Zac Diles and DeMeco Ryans

Click to expand...

Cowboys in shotgun formation
Crayton (84) on the right, a few yards outside the hashmark.
Martellus Bennett(80) at TE, just inside of him.
Witten (82) a few yards behind.
Marion as single back on the right of Romo.
T.O. on far left.

Texans in their nickel package.
Reeves followed T.O. on a GO pattern straight up.

Fred Bennett tried to jam Martellus who is much bigger and stronger.
It was a decent job by Bennett to slow him down.

Marion would spring to the right side.
Diles wanted to go over the top to cover the back out of the backfield, but he ran into the duos Bennetts. So he tried to go underneath.

He would impede Demeco (a little bit), who was trying to go underneath to make sure if the ball gets to Marion, he can be stopped short of the end zone.

Romo made a good read and know that the Texans have 5 on 3 on his right side, that both LBs would be on Marion, so he went the other way.

There's got to be single coverage either on T.O. or Crayton (who ran that Slant pattern.)

Demps made a bad read.
Looks like he thought Crayton would stay with the IN pattern and stop in the soft spot in the middle.
He took the wrong angle and could never recover as Crayton continued on toward the far end zone.

J-Russ said:

There was atleast three different clips on the highlight video at NFL.com that shows Okoye beating his man and penetrating into the backfield. I believe it was on passing plays aswell.

Click to expand...

Bulleyes Weiland also reports Okoye had a good game, beating his man Leonard Davis on multi plays. That's encouraging.

IMO, Amobi has the talent and potential, but he was blasted just as many, if not more, than he beat his man. That also goes for TJ, Zgininia, Okam, etc.

I don't even want to get started about the DE's.

Okoye did beat his man on several plays...

He also struggled against the run...

Amobi is very talented...I think he'll eventually get it together and be a force on a down to down basis...

I'm not really worried about him at this point though...

I still say: It's preseason. There are things to work on, sure. But the world doesn't come to an end just because we lost a preseason game and looked bad doing it.

Remember San Diego last year? That was awful and we still enjoyed our best season yet.

J-Russ said:

Nice, long read.

http://www.inthebullseye.com/

And for the people that's been dogging Okoye these past couple of weeks....


You guys need to be quiet, and stop making random assumptions because if you truly kept your eyes on Okoye during the games, then you would've known he was one of the bright spot on D. He was second best dlinemen, after Mario, and the margin between them isn't big at all.

Click to expand...

Random??

First of all, I already mentioned Amobi did better against Dallas, than he did against New Orleans. Nothing from that link disputes that. If you can go back and watch the New Orleans game, and post such examples of his play, by all means do so.

But even Coach K said the same things about Amobi, and is perhaps the reason Okoye stepped up his game.

Don't go taking it personal when we criticize the players on this team. No one has used the B word in the same sentence with Amobi. No one said he can't play at this level. We've all got high hopes for him, and want him to be a success...... but we'll call a spade a spade, and a duck a duck. He didn't show the same effort against New Orleans, as he did against Dallas.

He has indeed redeemed himself somewhat..... we're not putting him in the pro-bowl or anything, but he did have a better outing Friday night.

Call me crazy, but I enjoyed the read on the post/blog right below the drive-by-drive recap. I was unaware that our Pro-scouting director was a hold-over from the C&C front office, and that our Pro-scouting director has never been considered too good at his job. He needs to go.

The guy who needs to go is Richard Smith. The guy is a total bum and is easily one of the worst defensive co-ordinators in the league if you go by performance and experience at that position. Coaching is probably the second most necessary aspect of any team's success (behind QB) and I just ain't seeing much in that department. Our ability to make adjustments has always been suspect and we need to get rid of the trash (Smith).

Too bad the organization is too carebear to do anything about a problem until its way too late (see Carr, see Weaver, see RB situation, see Richard Smith still being umployed). That kind of mindset will get you nowhere in this league....and it sure as hell hasn't gotten us anywhere to date.

With the way the top tier of the AFC having so many problems, this could have been our year to make a difference and be relevant. Why do we continue to coddle our coaches and players all the while spurning possible opportunities to improve the talent level on the field. Why didn't we try and lure Kris Jenkins to play alongside Okoye? Why didn't we try and lure Jason Taylor here to play opposite Mario and help our totally anemic and pathetic pass rush? Why didn't we try and make a deal for Lito Sheppard or get a real defensive back in Free Agency like Asanti Samuel. Don't give me that BS about teh salary cap either or mortgaging the future. We have no problem paying top dollar for scrubs (weaver, greenwood, wand, carr, etc.) why not spend a little more and get someone who can actually f'ing play? All this 2nd Tier free agency stuff is just ridiculous....and there isnt an excuse. Geez, there isn't even going to be a salary cap in 2010 (called that about 6 months ago FYI and was told I was crazy).

Just get some people here that can play. Weaver needs to be cut, Green needs to be cut, Brown needs to be cut, Reeves needs to be cut, Greenwood needs to start earning his $$, and if the defense doesnt ever start playing with some more fire and some more testicular fortitude, we need to get finally get rid of the bum Richard Smith....the guy is a total bum and is honestly probably the worst DC in the league.

Second Honeymoon said:

Just get some people here that can play. Weaver needs to be cut, Green needs to be cut, Kris Brown needs to be cut, Reeves needs to be cut, and if the defense doesnt ever start playing with some more fire and some more testicular fortitude, we need to get finally get rid of the bum Richard Smith....the guy is a total bum and is honestly probably the worst DC in the league.

Click to expand...

I hope you mean Chris Brown?

lol. in one post, he clearly puts all the blame on the coach. Then the players. Then the coach.

Fire and cut everyone and start from scratch!

gtexan02 said:

lol. in one post, he clearly puts all the blame on the coach. Then the players. Then the coach.

Fire and cut everyone and start from scratch!

Click to expand...

i blame the coaches for sticking with the players that suck and the coach (Kubiak) for sticking with his coaching that sucks (Smith). is that so hard for you to understand? It's not exactly rocket science. But I am sure its easier to try and belittle someone's opinion than actually come up with one of your own. Maybe you could work on that some, k? God forbid someone give some honest criticism ariound here. Geez.

do you think Weaver deserves a spot on the team? Chris Brown? Green? Reeves? The only guy that even remotely deserves a spot is Greenwood and that is at least debatable as he can't even cover his own shadow out of the backfield. What I am getting at is all our 2nd and 3rd tier Free Agent moves never amount to squat, and maybe it would be nice to bring someone to the team that can actually play the freaking game.

I said to get rid of 4 worthless guys and a worthless coach. If that is getting rid of everyone and starting from scratch so be it.

I apologize for not being a homer and for actually thinking of ways the team could improve and move forward and not continue to be a losing franchise. excuse the hell out of me.

i don't think it's all that bad. some clear weaknesses though. Studdard on offense. That's really it. Everyone else on that side of the ball is playing above average or better. Defense: Weaver, Reeves and our Safeties are an issue but those are the only glaring issues. the scheme as well i suppose.

but it's still safe to give it some time. the most worrisome issue to me was that we looked rattled and confused. that's going to lead to mistakes by average and below average players.

barrett said:

i don't think it's all that bad. some clear weaknesses though. Studdard on offense. That's really it. Everyone else on that side of the ball is playing above average or better. Defense: Weaver, Reeves and our Safeties are an issue but those are the only glaring issues. the scheme as well i suppose.

but it's still safe to give it some time. the most worrisome issue to me was that we looked rattled and confused. that's going to lead to mistakes by average and below average players.

Click to expand...

you mean the same scheme that has done nothing for going on 3 years? maybe we should have changed the scheme and the loser that installed it BEFORE the season started. it's not as if he has ever been successful as DC or that he has ever shown our defense to be anything other than below average.

I respect your opinion about giving it some time, but I have to disagree. We got to get rid of the scrubs on teh team and on the coaching staff. There is no salary cap for coaching and this bargain basement loser Richard Smith has just got to go. What use is having money if you don't use it on quality. You can sign a Weaver and a Reeves but why not spend the same money you spent on those two guys and get just one guy that can actually play (jenkins, samuel)

until we start trying to nickel and dime our deficiencies, whether they be coaching or personnel, I doubt we will ever be relevant.

This is the year where we have a pretty favorable schedule especially if some of our divisional foes take a step back (and that looks possible due to Manning's injury/Harrison's question marks and Jacksonville and Tennessee both looking to have some big deficiencies) I just wish management and ownership would have made a more vested effort into improving the team's talent level via Free Agency. The moves they have made look like crap, Colvin included (who I wanted us to get and looks pretty underwhelming so far)

Second Honeymoon said:

i blame the coaches for sticking with the players that suck and the coach (Kubiak) for sticking with his coaching that sucks (Smith). is that so hard for you to understand? It's not exactly rocket science. But I am sure its easier to try and belittle someone's opinion than actually come up with one of your own. Maybe you could work on that some, k? God forbid someone give some honest criticism ariound here. Geez.

do you think Weaver deserves a spot on the team? Chris Brown? Green? Reeves? The only guy that even remotely deserves a spot is Greenwood and that is at least debatable as he can't even cover his own shadow out of the backfield. What I am getting at is all our 2nd and 3rd tier Free Agent moves never amount to squat, and maybe it would be nice to bring someone to the team that can actually play the freaking game.

I said to get rid of 4 worthless guys and a worthless coach. If that is getting rid of everyone and starting from scratch so be it.

I apologize for not being a homer and for actually thinking of ways the team could improve and move forward and not continue to be a losing franchise. excuse the hell out of me.

Click to expand...

Settle down there buddy. Getting a little worked up about a game.

First off, Im not ready to fire Richard Smith.
Secondly, Im not ready to cut Green, Brown, Reeves, Weaver, or Greenwood.
Third, Im still optimistic about our team.

Why? Because its preseason.

For the first point: Ive watched the games. I've seen the defensive calls. I dont think Smith is calling a bad game. He is calling blitzes. He is calling stunts. He is trying DL in coverage, and he is trying them rushing. Many, many of these are not working. But its preseason. Thats when you try new things--to see if they work. If the play calling in the regular season sucks, then I'll judge. But we had a decent defense last year in the last half of the season, so IM not going to haywire with ALL-CAP tirades just yet.

For the second point: Green is a vet, and Kubiak knows what he can do. If he's healthy, I don't want him running in the preseason. Let him save his energy. Same goes for Brown. As for Weaver, Im disapointed. But he's a run stopper, and again, the coaches know what they have with him. Reeves is our best option. No sense in cutting him. Greenwood will perform his usual mundane 100 tackle season, and have another average if unspectacular season. When you are a young team, you don't just cut all your players. Starting a bunch of rookies is not the way to win in the NFL.


So lets all settle down a bit. The team did great in week 1, the team did pretty well for part of the game in week2, and struggled in week 3. Teams have up and down games. Lets not freak out just yet.

We may start the season 0-4, and you will see 2nd honeymoon go on his typical knee-jerk bender. Luckily our staff is a little more level-headed

The sky is falling!!!

There are several players on our team that I would love to replace. A true starting RB, a great DE opposite Mario, an awesome CB in the backfield would be great to get... but it all takes time. I think Smith and Kubiak have done a terrific job thus far in finding stop-gap players to fill in while younger guys can develop, they've done a great job in drafting young talent, and they've done a great job at finding inexpensive free agents that come in and contribute hugely.

With that said, sure there are certain players that don't cut it: See Green and Weaver so far. Reeves has yet to play a regular season game with us and he'll be tested against some of the best early on: Big Ben (and his slew of talented WR's that have a good running game) and Peyton Manning. Plus, I would not be happy in the least bit to go the first half of the season with Bennett and Fletcher or Bennett and Faggins as our starters... while relying on Dunta to come back 100% after nearly 12 months off of not playing a single down of ball/practice.

The point is, it's hard to get very good players at every position with quality backup in such short time. Some players will pan out... some won't. All in all, I think they've done a great job and as time goes on we can replace those players that aren't cutting it. You can't just cut certain players that suck unless you've got better players right behind them to step up and/or you can pick up some free agents that will be better. They're working with what they can right now.

Back off of Kubiak and Smith! (hahaha)