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Texans Minicamp, OTA’s and Preseason

thunderkyss said:
Not really. Like SteelBTexian said. We know what they brought in on the OL. We know what they brought in at RB with Lindsay & Ingram.

The run game should be better (I’m not saying best in the league) than it was last season.

Defense can’t be worse.

I’m not predicting a 10 win season. But it will be more entertaining than last year which was all about the amazing houdini.
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Build a sound ground game and the passing game opens up more as well.
Will be interesting to follow.
 
thunderkyss said:
No he doesn’t. He can be Tannehill in Miami & still be a solid starter. We’re talking about a third round pick & the expectations one should have.

Tannehill, Schaub, Dalton, Keenum, etc... these guys aren’t going to elevate your team to championship contention (which of course you ultimately want), but they’re not going to make a good team look bad. Like a David Carr, or Jonny Manzell.

With guys like that you’re constantly fixing the same thing & your team goes nowhere.

While you’re looking for your Mahomes, or Rogers, imo, it’s nice to have a Tannehill or Schaub taking snaps. Even a Fitzpatrick, ideally an Alex Smith. But not a Hoyer, or Rosenfells
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What?

Uh, yeah, when you're looking for that franchise QB, it is nice to have a Tannehill or a Schaub. But if those are the QBs you're going to go to war with, like the Dolphins did with Tannehill or the Texans did with Schaub, you're going to need to build the rest of the team up to raise their play.

If you're assuming Mills will be the guy for the next 4 or 5 years, they are going to have to build this team up like the Texans did, eventually, for Schaub, badass run game, badass defense. Otherwise Mills will be a middling nobody.

If Mills is just here until you find that franchise QB, then it really doesn't matter much how his play is, as long as it's not Hoyer or Savage bad, I guess. But still need to be building your team up regardless, of course.
 
thunderkyss said:
Not really. Like SteelBTexian said. We know what they brought in on the OL. We know what they brought in at RB with Lindsay & Ingram.

The run game should be better (I’m not saying best in the league) than it was last season.

Defense can’t be worse.

I’m not predicting a 10 win season. But it will be more entertaining than last year which was all about the amazing houdini.
Click to expand...

Most definitely I believe the offensive line and running backs groups has improved tremendously. Coaching should be vastly improved in those two departments as well.
 
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Speedy said:
What?

Uh, yeah, when you're looking for that franchise QB, it is nice to have a Tannehill or a Schaub. But if those are the QBs you're going to go to war with, like the Dolphins did with Tannehill or the Texans did with Schaub, you're going to need to build the rest of the team up to raise their play.

If you're assuming Mills will be the guy for the next 4 or 5 years, they are going to have to build this team up like the Texans did, eventually, for Schaub, badass run game, badass defense. Otherwise Mills will be a middling nobody.

If Mills is just here until you find that franchise QB, then it really doesn't matter much how his play is, as long as it's not Hoyer or Savage bad, I guess. But still need to be building your team up regardless, of course.
Click to expand...

If Mills is the guy or isn't the guy doesn't mean you cant keep building up your team.

BTW, It's not like Tannehill inherited some great offense. Did you see the Titans offense under Mariota. He raised the level of the entire teams play up. Did you see their defense last yr? They sucked and still made the playoffs. Your love of DW4 makes you undervalue Tannehill. He played at a high level last yr.
 
Speedy said:
I'm simply in a prove it to me 1st mode.

Analyzing this team, I just don't see the playmakers, on either side of the ball. If you do, so be it. I don't. Cooks is a decent receiver, but in all of his 1,000 yard seasons, he's never even been named to a Pro Bowl. And if people are going to say that they only won 4 games with the numbers Watson put up last year, but then turn around and tell me that Cooks can give me 1,000 yard season to make this year's team better, well that just doesn't make any sense. Cooks had 1,100 yards on a 4 win team last year too.

Even if Lindsay gives you something in the run game, how long do they give every opportunity to Johnson before turning it over to him? Is Ingram washed up? They were phasing him out in Baltimore for a reason.

The talent of individual players on past performance? I see a few guys who've started a few games per year, but never been THE guy. Coaching only goes so far, you still have to have talent. I can see the o-line improving with just coaching alone. I mean they looked like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get out and block on simple screens. I suspect that will improve. Will they have a pass rush? That's kind of important. I know JJ hasn't been the all world player we once knew, but he still drew a lot of attention, and nobody else was able to step up. Now there's no JJ to draw that attention. Who steps up? You can tell me this guy or that, but based on past performance, I don't see it. They're gonna have to prove it to me first.

Maybe they can find a couple of diamonds in these thousand moves they've made, and if so, great. But, I need to see it because there's not much there to go on from my viewpoint.
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I've just had a rainy day looking over Mills record at Stanford. We've seen the high lights and the low lights; but I'd never actually looked at Stanford's schedule and the games Mills played and his wins and losses.

The first thing I noticed was the improvement in his interceptions between 2019 and 2020. The second thing I noticed is, he had 4 straight wins in 2020, to close out the year, losing only the first game, in a shootout against Colorado. The third thing I noticed is that all his interceptions, 3, came in the last game, a shootout against UCLA. A lot of the negativity and low lights come from this one game. What is overlooked, Stanford won this game 48 - 47. Mills had three TD's to go with his 3 INT's.

Another thing I noticed is that Stanford was scoring a lot of points, but Mills was not throwing a lot of TD's, indicating Stanford had a strong running game.

Against Colorado, Stanford scored 32 points with Mills throwing for 31/56, 327 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Against California, Stanford scorded 24 points with Mills throwing for 24/32, 209 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Against Washington, Stanford scored 31 points with Mills throwing for 20/30, 252 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Against Oregon State, Stanford scored 27 points with Mills throwing for 22/30, 292 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Against UCLA, Stanford scored 48 points with Mills throwing for 32/47, 428 yds, 3 TD's, 3 INT's.

Add to this outstanding final season performance, a strong pro day performance; and a high football IQ; and I see an NFL game manager QB who just may push Taylor as the starter during training camp. It will depend on simplifying the game planning to fit his progress and a strong running attack - running the ball to set up the passing game.

Mills was a solid pick at 67 and I like his potential.
 
You're right here.
I had wanted them to take
steelbtexan said:
So you're still on the Kubiak/DW4 train that ran off the tracks. Guys who won nothing here in Houston. Got it.

I think y'all are underestimating Schaub. 2009 Schaub was actually quite good as was Schaub in ATL before he got traded to Houston.

Kubiak was great at identifying QBs. I just wish RS had listened to him and drafted a QB sometime during their decade together. Obviously Caserio values the QB position.
Click to expand...
You're right here.
I had wanted the Texans to take Wilson, with a second if needed.
I said at the time that Wilson and Keenum can be insurance for each other.
Wilson would have been a perfect fit since he played in the WCO for 3 years at NC St. before a year in the Pro system at Wisconsin (which has a lot of elements of the WCO).
He would be the one to come in first as Keenum came from an Air Raid offense with very few snaps under center.
With Wilson in the lineup, Keenum would have been a back up for at least 3-4 years before his rookie deal runs out, and might even become a long-term backup if Kubiak had stayed on.
We don't know who decided to extend Schaub; might have been Mcnair for all we know.
Remember how McNair was extremely enthusiastic with the Texans seemingly taking another step under Schaub?
No QB might have been due to McNair; quite possible, I'd say.
Dejaview said:
So that OL that Missed the blitz obviously wasn’t the one taken in the third round. Got to the big game with him but damn, you just hate how he missed that blitz and lost the big game. I mean this is so obvious why didn’t I see that?
Click to expand...
I've no idea what you're talking about.
Can you elaborate?
 
Number19 said:
I've just had a rainy day looking over Mills record at Stanford. We've seen the high lights and the low lights; but I'd never actually looked at Stanford's schedule and the games Mills played and his wins and losses.

The first thing I noticed was the improvement in his interceptions between 2019 and 2020. The second thing I noticed is, he had 4 straight wins in 2020, to close out the year, losing only the first game, in a shootout against Colorado. The third thing I noticed is that all his interceptions, 3, came in the last game, a shootout against UCLA. A lot of the negativity and low lights come from this one game. What is overlooked, Stanford won this game 48 - 47. Mills had three TD's to go with his 3 INT's.

Another thing I noticed is that Stanford was scoring a lot of points, but Mills was not throwing a lot of TD's, indicating Stanford had a strong running game.

Against Colorado, Stanford scored 32 points with Mills throwing for 31/56, 327 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Against California, Stanford scorded 24 points with Mills throwing for 24/32, 209 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Against Washington, Stanford scored 31 points with Mills throwing for 20/30, 252 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Against Oregon State, Stanford scored 27 points with Mills throwing for 22/30, 292 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT's.

Against UCLA, Stanford scored 48 points with Mills throwing for 32/47, 428 yds, 3 TD's, 3 INT's.

Add to this outstanding final season performance, a strong pro day performance; and a high football IQ; and I see an NFL game manager QB who just may push Taylor as the starter during training camp. It will depend on simplifying the game planning to fit his progress and a strong running attack - running the ball to set up the passing game.

Mills was a solid pick at 67 and I like his potential.
Click to expand...

In the Colorado game, Davis Mills actually led the team in rushing with 36 yards and a td. Their starting RB had 9 carries for 9 yards. They went away from the running game early.

But in the other four games he had 20+ carries and at least 85 yards. Including two games over 120 yards rushing and 6 tds in the four wins.

www.espn.com

Austin Jones - USC Trojans Running Back - ESPN

View the profile of USC Trojans Running Back Austin Jones on ESPN. Get the latest news, live stats and game highlights.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
steelbtexan said:
Or the previous GM who wouldn't trade up for Jimmy G and never drafted a QB before the 6th Rd until McNair gave him an ultimatum to draft a QB and he screwed that up. Is that the GM you're talking about?
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As stated in another post; we have no idea who extended Schaub, only that McNair signed the check.
And as I had stated many times, all the QB that Rick Smith brought in previously had played in the EP system; they all fit in OB's mold of the big tall QB in the pocket.
None came from a shotgun system.
That ought to tell you it was OB's heavy influence, especially with Hoyer and Mallett with that NE connection.
Osweiler also played in the EP under Adam Gase; OB was saying a whole lot of positive things about him; I don't think you can put it on Rick Smith.
(For the record, I had stated many times that Ricky is a so-so GM).
 
76Texan said:
As stated in another post; we have no idea who extended Schaub, only that McNair signed the check.
And as I had stated many times, all the QB that Rick Smith brought in previously had played in the EP system; they all fit in OB's mold of the big tall QB in the pocket.
None came from a shotgun system.
That ought to tell you it was OB's heavy influence, especially with Hoyer and Mallett with that NE connection.
Osweiler also played in the EP under Adam Gase; OB was saying a whole lot of positive things about him; I don't think you can put it on Rick Smith.
(For the record, I had stated many times that Ricky is a so-so GM).
Click to expand...

Corrosion stated several times it was Rick Smith who extended Matt. But the rest you’re spot on.
 
Speedy said:
If Mills is just here until you find that franchise QB, then it really doesn't matter much how his play is, as long as it's not Hoyer or Savage bad, I guess. But still need to be building your team up regardless, of course.
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That’s all I’m saying. Except that it does matter. With Carr, we’d keep swapping linemen, RBs, defensive players, etc... nothing seemed to work.

Swap him out with Schaub & we start gaining traction.

Same thing in Tennessee.

Miami though, they had a solid starter & still couldn’t build a team. But it wasn’t for lack of a QB.

Joe Flacco is another one. I’d hate to spend a 1st round pick on that quality starter. But if we can get that with a 3rd round pick that would be good, right?
 
steelbtexan said:
If Mills is the guy or isn't the guy doesn't mean you cant keep building up your team.

BTW, It's not like Tannehill inherited some great offense. Did you see the Titans offense under Mariota. He raised the level of the entire teams play up. Did you see their defense last yr? They sucked and still made the playoffs. Your love of DW4 makes you undervalue Tannehill. He played at a high level last yr.
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Tannehill inherited this:

www.pro-football-reference.com

Derrick Henry Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Derrick Henry. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.
www.pro-football-reference.com www.pro-football-reference.com

Mariota never had a fully healthy Derrick Henry.

He was never fully healthy himself.

Also, he was playing in a shotgun offense at Oregon.

When Vrabel came to Tennessee, he decided to run the WCO instead.

Mariota had to learn a new offense.

On the other hand, by the time Tannehill came in, the line had had plenty of time to gel over a couple of years.

Henry finally rounded into shape.
He only had one game with exactly 100 yards in the first 6 games in which Mariota started.
Look at the number Henry put up in those first 6 games vs. The rest of the year.

www.pro-football-reference.com

Derrick Henry Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Derrick Henry. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.
www.pro-football-reference.com www.pro-football-reference.com
 
thunderkyss said:
Seems to be par for the course.



Are you saying Schaub (that's the name you used) or Cousins were "so-so"?
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Well, this is your question, and I answered that "yes, I think they are so-so".
They are guys that you can't depend on in big games; games that matter.
 
Texansballer74 said:
Most definitely I believe the offensive line and running backs groups has improved tremendously. Coaching should be vastly improved in those two departments as well.
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Until some guys get injured.
This is a very real possibility/scenario based on their injury history combined.

Nobody wants it to happen, but it's the NFL.
 
thunderkyss said:
That’s why you have to have completely objective FO personnel making those types of decisions. No way Matt Schaub should have stopped us from looking at QBs in the 2nd & 3rd rounds.

Especially after Wade Phillips & drafting Jj Watt
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You can thank RS for this.
 
thunderkyss said:
That’s why you have to have completely objective FO personnel making those types of decisions. No way Matt Schaub should have stopped us from looking at QBs in the 2nd & 3rd rounds.

Especially after Wade Phillips & drafting Jj Watt
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Maybe they all thought that Schaub still has quite a few years left in him.
 
Texansballer74 said:
That wasn’t just Rick Smith
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Who was the GM at the time of the draft.

If you give credit for DW4, I don't RS screwed that up too. Then you have to criticize him for not drafting Russ. Who do you blame? Who was in charge and why wasn't there a QB drafted in the decade of RS/Kubiak. We know for a fact Kubiak wanted RS to draft a QB.
 
steelbtexan said:
Who was the GM at the time of the draft.

If you give credit for DW4, I don't RS screwed that up too. Then you have to criticize him for not drafting Russ. Who do you blame? Who was in charge and why wasn't there a QB drafted in the decade of RS/Kubiak. We know for a fact Kubiak wanted RS to draft a QB.
Click to expand...


Kubiak called the shots back then, Come on dude, everyone knew that.
 
76Texan said:
I had mentioned the Patriots with Tom Brady.
When the team is already solid, you can afford to spend a third rounder or even a second rounder on a QB.
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technically, Watson is still a Texan. Patriots drafted Jimmy Garoppolo end of 2nd, 62nd overall, in 2014 draft, just a couple picks before the Texans selection in top of the 3rd. #65 overall (Fiedorowicz).

Wonder if any reporter has asked Caserio what his evaluation of Jimmy G was compared to Mills?

Probably never happen, too scared of Nick. Nevertheless there is your comp, similar value/draft slots and skill set. Quick release, mobility, size and intermediate range. It’s fair value, position of need. QB trumps all. Here is an article from Athletic, excellent site to learn information and worth subscription.

https://theathletic.com/2602287/202...ctedly-picked-him/?source=user_shared_article
 
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EllisUnit said:
I love this guy, even if he turns out to be a horrible coach he sure is likeable and I see why he was hired! I wish I was all sunshine and rainbows, wife tells me I am a negative asshole...
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My fear is that he will be too soft as a head coach. He can be a nice guy but then at the same time he has to show that he is the boss and players will be expected to tow the line. I worry he may not command respect.
 
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76Texan said:
I had no idea the way steelb and TB74 went about it.
Looks like Kubiak wanted to draft a QB, but Ricky didn't think it's time yet.
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I don't know that Ricky didn't. He didn't see a QB worth drafting other than Yates.

He brought in plenty QBs. They weren't game changers or franchise makers. Smith missed Russell Wilson. & maybe Dak Prescott. But there were basically crappy QB drafts unless you drafting top 5...
 
thunderkyss said:
I don't know that Ricky didn't. He didn't see a QB worth drafting other than Yates.

He brought in plenty QBs. They weren't game changers or franchise makers. Smith missed Russell Wilson. & maybe Dak Prescott. But there were basically crappy QB drafts unless you drafting top 5...
Click to expand...

Or made a move to draft in the top 5 like teams that need QB's usually do.
 
steelbtexan said:
Or made a move to draft in the top 5 like teams that need QB's usually do.
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Did you want him to draft Bortles at no. 1 or even trade down a spot or two for him?

Did you want him to trade up to the
No. 1 spot to take J Winston?
No. 2 for Mariota
...
No. 1 for Goff
No. 2 for Wentz
..
No. 1 for Trubisky?
 
76Texan said:
Did you want him to draft Bortles at no. 1 or even trade down a spot or two for him?

Did you want him to trade up to the
No. 1 spot to take J Winston?
No. 2 for Mariota
...
No. 1 for Goff
No. 2 for Wentz
..
No. 1 for Trubisky?
Click to expand...

Once again and I've told you many times I was a

1-1 Clowney
Trade back into the bottom of the 1st Jimmy G guy.
 
76Texan said:
Did you want him to draft Bortles at no. 1 or even trade down a spot or two for him?

Did you want him to trade up to the
No. 1 spot to take J Winston?
No. 2 for Mariota
...
No. 1 for Goff
No. 2 for Wentz
..
No. 1 for Trubisky?
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In fairness to Trubisky he played behind one of the worst O-lines in the NFL. Same goes for the Bears Qb Nick Foles who also played a starting role for the Bears and struggled. I do not think the two of them were bad quarterbacks. Atleast with Foles we saw how good he can be if given adequate protection. Trubisky actually did a solid job considering.
 
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steelbtexan said:
Once again and I've told you many times I was a

1-1 Clowney
Trade back into the bottom of the 1st Jimmy G guy.
Click to expand...
Obviously Rick thought he was trash. I agree. You have a higher view of Garoppolo than I do. That's fine. We all get it wrong from time to time.
 
steelbtexan said:
Once again and I've told you many times I was a

1-1 Clowney
Trade back into the bottom of the 1st Jimmy G guy.
Click to expand...
Well, shouldn't we be glad he didn't take Garoppolo?

www.pro-football-reference.com

Jimmy Garoppolo Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Jimmy Garoppolo. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.
www.pro-football-reference.com www.pro-football-reference.com

I did like him a bit, but nowhere as much as you.
 
TxnsJuggernaut1 said:
In fairness to Trubisky he played behind one of the worst O-lines in the NFL. Same goes for the Bears Qb Nick Foles who also played a starting role for the Bears and struggled. I do not think the two of them were bad quarterbacks. Atleast with Foles we saw how good he can be if given adequate protection. Trubisky actually did a solid job considering.
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I didn't really know what to make of Trubisky in his lone year in college.
He looked pretty good, but I prefer Mahomes and Watson.

Trubisky would be right in OB's mold though (the offense he played in and the style of play.)

I remember reading how O'Brien grouped the 3 of them at the top.
 
TxnsJuggernaut1 said:
If you don't think DW4 is a franchise Qb there is no way Jimmy G is.
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I think Jimmy G is the kind of QB you can win with if he's healthy. He gets hurt alot, hence why the 49ers drafted Lance.

I dont think DW4 plays a winning brand of ball although he does put up numbers it doesn't lead to winning.
 
steelbtexan said:
Once again and I've told you many times I was a

1-1 Clowney
Trade back into the bottom of the 1st Jimmy G guy.
Click to expand...

Really?

You dont think Jimmy G could've taken the Texans to an AFCCG if not a SB duringthe Hoyer/Mallett yrs? He did make a SB with the 49ers and came within an eyelash of winning that SB.

You keep on loving those losing stat stuffing QB's. I will take the QB's that win. BTW, you missed the point of my post. Why do you keep insisting I was a Bortles guy? That couldn't be further from the truth and you know this. Nice attempt at avoidance though.
 
steelbtexan said:
I think Jimmy G is the kind of QB you can win with if he's healthy. He gets hurt alot, hence why the 49ers drafted Lance.

I dont think DW4 plays a winning brand of ball although he does put up numbers it doesn't lead to winning.
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This is fair and I can see your point. I'd take it a further and say the head coach from 2014-2020 (regardless of the QB) could not produce a winning brand of football and put up meaningless wins vs cupcakes but against higher quality opponents he was out-coached and his game plans failed.
 
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