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how good were the Texans at the end of the season?

speedfreek

speedfreek

All Pro
Pretty good when you consider the beatdown Baltimore is
handing to the Steelers..

And to do it with Keenum on 4 days working with the first
team?

Very impressive considering what the Ravens are doing to Big Ben..
 
The Texans were better than the Ravens and Panthers at the end of the season with Case Keenum starting at quarterback (2-0 in 2014). Two teams who advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs.
 
On the plus side we have the 16th pick in the 2015 draft.
We can likely land a day one starter at any needy position.
All is not lost. I think we can go 13-3 and kick ass in 2015.
 
we beat the Ravens with our defense and the Jags also... and they both had sucky days


And we still damn near lost to the Jags...

The JAGS for petes sake
 
Both were team wins, the D didn't score all the points..
Give credit where it is due..

Think about how the team improved since the embarrassment in NY

JB said:
we beat the Ravens with our defense and the Jags also... and they both had sucky days


And we still damn near lost to the Jags...

The JAGS for petes sake
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I didn't watch the whole game, but I caught most of the 4th qtr. I couldn't believe how clean Flacco ' s uniform was. Compared to OD's looked like it just came out of the wash.
 
I thought the defense was playing near elite level after the bye. They shutdown two of the best offenses in the league (Ravens & Colts). Watt is getting majority of the credit, and deservedly so... but so many unsung heroes on defense this year. Guys like Crick, Pickett, Mohammed, Mercilus, and the whole secondary played outstanding IMO.

The offense took a little longer to click, which is expected compared to the defense... but once the OL started to perform better, the whole unit started to look a lot better. I think if Mallet was able to stay healthy (as well as Arian), we're a true contender right now in the playoffs.
 
After seeing the Balt/Pitts game pretty darn good.

Atleast on the defensive side of the ball.
 
steelbtexan said:
After seeing the Balt/Pitts game pretty darn good.

Atleast on the defensive side of the ball.
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Yeah. On the defensive side of the ball, we were so elite that if we'd just had RYAN FITZPATRICK healthy down the stretch, we would have probably been in the playoffs. And we probably would have advanced past the Wildcard round.

That's kinda crazy.
 
we will never know good enough to sqweek bye a Fistey Jags team

next year I don't think the AFC south will be the worst divison all 4 teams should be pretty good
 
Ups and downs, if only this game or that game. It doesn't matter now anyway, because the team that is fielded game one of next season won't be the one we've finished up with this year.
 
we were the same team the entire season.

what changed was on offense. the defense was fantastic by combining two of the best coordinators. early on that defense won against the worst of the worst, while a crippled version of kubiak's run game does it's best - and fitz was nothing. mallett looked strong for a game against a middling team, and then he played hurt in a game we should've won. fitz had his one good game against a 2 win team. everybody is out and one of kubiak's guys comes back to get us to a winning season.

we were the same team all season, especially considering our health. ridiculous health. we just happened to play one of the most pathetic schedules, capped by keenum and that great defense finishing us off strong.
 
Scooter said:
we were the same team the entire season.

what changed was on offense. the defense was fantastic by combining two of the best coordinators. early on that defense won against the worst of the worst, while a crippled version of kubiak's run game does it's best - and fitz was nothing. mallett looked strong for a game against a middling team, and then he played hurt in a game we should've won. fitz had his one good game against a 2 win team. everybody is out and one of kubiak's guys comes back to get us to a winning season.

we were the same team all season, especially considering our health. ridiculous health. we just happened to play one of the most pathetic schedules, capped by keenum and that great defense finishing us off strong.
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Our defense got a lot, a LOT better once we got Pickett. Don't know where you get the combining two coordinators. Still hurting for Wade? He may get a job soon, I saw a rumor somewhere
 
Bulls on Parade said:
The Texans were better than the Ravens and Panthers at the end of the season with Case Keenum starting at quarterback (2-0 in 2014). Two teams who advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs.
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Except that Keenum didn't play the Panthers. He played the Jaguars. But I still think they were better than the Panthers as well. We even had a better record.
 
JB said:
Our defense got a lot, a LOT better once we got Pickett. Don't know where you get the combining two coordinators. Still hurting for Wade? He may get a job soon, I saw a rumor somewhere
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pickett was a surprise and a fantastic addition. i do love me the big bodies, i've been wanting us to lure casey hampton from the steelers for years. the defense was bigger than the offense from day 1 though, to argue is folly as we allowed 6 to the redskins and 7 (plus garbage 7) to the raiders. we have been carried solely by the defense. keenum managed to win against a good team with that defense while fitz got crushed repeatedly.

not hurting for wade, we've gone over this. i appreciate what wade taught, and how his teaching lead into how immediately we were able to turn a new system into continued dominance. wade's a hell of a teacher (interviewing with the redskins last i saw) and would be fantastic guidance on any team - especially in concert with a more game day oriented coordinator like romeo.

if i had mcnair's pockets i'd bring wade back as "assistant head coach - defense". an obviously paper title, under both o'brien and crennell, but would keep him in the organization and city. it would also put him on the field as a monday through saturday resource, an area that you will never EVER find a bad word about his work.
 
Scooter said:
pickett was a surprise and a fantastic addition. i do love me the big bodies, i've been wanting us to lure casey hampton from the steelers for years. the defense was bigger than the offense from day 1 though, to argue is folly as we allowed 6 to the redskins and 7 (plus garbage 7) to the raiders. we have been carried solely by the defense. keenum managed to win against a good team with that defense while fitz got crushed repeatedly.

not hurting for wade, we've gone over this. i appreciate what wade taught, and how his teaching lead into how immediately we were able to turn a new system into continued dominance. wade's a hell of a teacher (interviewing with the redskins last i saw) and would be fantastic guidance on any team - especially in concert with a more game day oriented coordinator like romeo.
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You can tell I'm on board with Pickett from my signature.
 
Scooter said:
pickett was a surprise and a fantastic addition. i do love me the big bodies, i've been wanting us to lure casey hampton from the steelers for years. the defense was bigger than the offense from day 1 though, to argue is folly as we allowed 6 to the redskins and 7 (plus garbage 7) to the raiders. we have been carried solely by the defense. keenum managed to win against a good team with that defense while fitz got crushed repeatedly.

not hurting for wade, we've gone over this. i appreciate what wade taught, and how his teaching lead into how immediately we were able to turn a new system into continued dominance. wade's a hell of a teacher (interviewing with the redskins last i saw) and would be fantastic guidance on any team - especially in concert with a more game day oriented coordinator like romeo.
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yes but I don't know how you give him equal credit with RAC for this defense
 
JB said:
yes but I don't know how you give him equal credit with RAC for this defense
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not equal, different. are you denying the work that wade did? in all 3 years with wade we had a top 7 defense based on yardage. top 9 scoring until the ultimate fubar that was 2013. romeo created the 7th ranked scoring and 16th yardage defense with wade's players and an insanely weaker schedule.

i prefer romeo on sundays. he's much more creative, has a better grasp of zones and blitzes and defensive adjustments. he has a hole though. while romeo is fantastic in space, i see a notable decline in close - man to man coverage and hand technique from the rush. that hole in his ability is wade's strong suit. wade teaches hands, rush, hips, reads, and man to man. if romeo were the man, gold star by his name, and wade were a gloriously paid position coach to stay in houston, they'd combine to accentuate each other's strengths and overcome weaknesses.

this loses sight however, because like it or not wade spent 3 years working on a defense that was at worst top 7 in yardage. we didnt have a defensive epiphany, we had a fantastic coach build upon what a fantastic coach already did. and that from day 1 against the redskins dictated our season - the offense sucked, how or when or why the defense was awesome is a bit mute in comparison.
 
Browns
W 23 - 7

Bengals
L 22 - 13

Titans
W 45 - 21

Jaguars
W 27 - 13

Colts
L 17 - 10

Ravens
W 25 - 13

Jaguars
W 23 - 17

They went 5 - 2 after the bye and defense allowed 15.7 pts per game. If this team had made the playoffs they probably would have beaten Pitt last night without Bell and I believe gone toe-to-toe against the Patriots. Assuming either Fitz or Mallett had been able to stay healthy.
 
The Pencil Neck said:
Yeah. On the defensive side of the ball, we were so elite that if we'd just had RYAN FITZPATRICK healthy down the stretch, we would have probably been in the playoffs. And we probably would have advanced past the Wildcard round.

That's kinda crazy.
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Didn't we go 2-0 down the stretch without Fitz. I think you mean if he hadn't gotten hurt in Indy, yes then i do believe we would of won the Division.
 
JB said:
Our defense got a lot, a LOT better once we got Pickett. Don't know where you get the combining two coordinators. Still hurting for Wade? He may get a job soon, I saw a rumor somewhere
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The problem with Pickett is, he's old! Think he's been in the league like 14 years. Going forward we need to see more out of Powe and a lot more out of Nix who was on IR this year and basically will be a rookie next season. Don't know if they keep Pickett next season or even how much he has left in the tank, but I think it would be wise to hang on to him for insurance purposes.
 
Insideop said:
The problem with Pickett is, he's old! Think he's been in the league like 14 years. Going forward we need to see more out of Powe and a lot more out of Nix who was on IR this year and basically will be a rookie next season. Don't know if they keep Pickett next season or even how much he has left in the tank, but I think it would be wise to hang on to him for insurance purposes.
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Hopefully Nix is healthy and can reduce Pickett's snap count while he learns from him, but yeah, I would like to see him back for one more year unless we replace him in FA with someone similar
 
OB inherited the nucleus of a playoff team. With Schaub gone 8-8 was expected. The Texans were a team good enough to beat teams with below average QBs and bad enough to lose to teams with above average QBs.
 
Pretty damn good. We just needed a really good QB, and we could have been competing with just about any team. 9-7 could have easily been 12-4 or better which could have possibly had us in a week one bye situation.
 
I think this team was capable of competing with the teams playing this weekend (Bal, Pit, Cin, Ari, Car). I think we would have been experiencing a double digit loss next week against New England, though. Similar to the 2012 team, I guess..
 
People talk about how pathetic it was that the Texans almost lost to the Jags.

I just have to wonder: are we keeping in mind how tough the Jags are to beat at home? In 2011 and 2012 (the playoff years) the Jags were no picnic at home.

The fact that the Texans beat the Jags with a QB who wasn't on the roster 2 weeks before the game says a lot!

Even in the good years, the Texans have trouble taking down the Jags at home. Heck, even in the good years the Texans can't even be the Colts in Indy, no matter who their QB is!
 
Runner said:
Defense was great. Offense was marginal.
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True, but with the excellence displayed by Foster this year and the duo of AJ + Hopkins the only thing we really needed was that QB. Hell, it didn't even need to be a great one. A guy as good as Romo or even possibly Flacco could have had us at 11-5 worst case scenario and likely 12-4. Every loss was other than the Giants game was a play or two that changed everything where we were right there. The other two that weren't extremely close were games where we played with a hurt Mallet against the Bengals and that Colts game where all of our QB's were getting hurt and we still almost won. The only piece other than the QB that we were inadequate at was a good pass catching TE. The Texans team this year was a very strong example of just how how important a QB is.
 
EllisUnit said:
Didn't we go 2-0 down the stretch without Fitz. I think you mean if he hadn't gotten hurt in Indy, yes then i do believe we would of won the Division.
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Yes, I think a Healthy Fitz would have gotten us the win in Indy as well as bigger wins than what we got with Case. But just getting that win in Indy would have put us into the playoffs.
 
JB said:
we beat the Ravens with our defense and the Jags also... and they both had sucky days


And we still damn near lost to the Jags...

The JAGS for petes sake
Click to expand...

I'd add coaching to that as well, especially vs the Ravens. OB dang near altered his entire offense to fit Keenum's college style of play. I think he knew they were up poop creek if Keenum ran the same offense as Mallett and Fitz. Just my opinion
 
Win two or three more games and they were in the playoffs a better QB next season and we're set.
 
gary said:
Win two or three more games and they were in the playoffs a better QB next season and we're set.
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One. One more game was all we needed to be in the playoffs. If we had finished 10-6 instead of 9-7, we would have finished tied for the last playoff spot with the Ravens and because we beat them head-to-head, we would have been in.

That's how close we were with a QB for most of the year that most of us would have thought that was impossible for.
 
I would say that Watt pretty much was the most unstoppable defender i had ever seen play the game. He was superb for the season but those last four or five games words cannot begin to describe what he was doing on the field.
 
ung14 said:
Browns
W 23 - 7

Bengals
L 22 - 13

Titans
W 45 - 21

Jaguars
W 27 - 13

Colts
L 17 - 10

Ravens
W 25 - 13

Jaguars
W 23 - 17

They went 5 - 2 after the bye and defense allowed 15.7 pts per game. If this team had made the playoffs they probably would have beaten Pitt last night without Bell and I believe gone toe-to-toe against the Patriots. Assuming either Fitz or Mallett had been able to stay healthy.
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No way the Texans go into Heinz Field and beat the Steelers with Case Keenum. No way.

Sure the Ravens lost AT the Texans with Keenum- had a lot of injuries on Offense- LT Monroe went out with a knee and still hasn't played- you had an undrafted rookie playing LT against Watt and co....Watt is a premier pass rusher who All Pros have a tough day with: Hurst was a Turnstile that day.... Forsett was maybe 60%.....Flacco had a horrible day against relentless pressure....and our defense laid a huge egg....perfect sh*t storm.....as they say "any given Sunday"....

The reason the Ravens won is that the Steelers are a familiar foe and the Ravens aren't afraid of them and they aren't afraid of us. Superior pass rush and an Offensive (makeshift) line playing out of its mind kept Joe clean...plus the Steelers are really bad in the back end.....rookies and age.....and zero pass rush with ancient players in Harrison and Keisel...
 
handswarmer said:
No way the Texans go into Heinz Field and beat the Steelers with Case Keenum. No way.

Sure the Ravens lost AT the Texans with Keenum- had a lot of injuries on Offense- LT Monroe went out with a knee and still hasn't played- you had an undrafted rookie playing LT against Watt and co....Watt is a premier pass rusher who All Pros have a tough day with: Hurst was a Turnstile that day.... Forsett was maybe 60%.....Flacco had a horrible day against relentless pressure....and our defense laid a huge egg....perfect sh*t storm.....as they say "any given Sunday"....

The reason the Ravens won is that the Steelers are a familiar foe and the Ravens aren't afraid of them and they aren't afraid of us. Superior pass rush and an Offensive (makeshift) line playing out of its mind kept Joe clean...plus the Steelers are really bad in the back end.....rookies and age.....and zero pass rush with ancient players in Harrison and Keisel...
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Don't know how you can say that for sure. I think they would have beaten the Steelers.

They should have beaten them there on MNF. An incredibly bad, almost historically so, last 2:00 of the first half prevented that...and the way the Texans D was playing the last part of the year, they definitely would have had a good shot at beating them, no matter who was playing QB.

And, despite what you say above, the Ravens were dominated by the Texans in Houston with Keenum at QB. Yeah, the Texans would've had a good shot going up there.
 
tedr said:
Don't know how you can say that for sure. I think they would have beaten the Steelers.

They should have beaten them there on MNF. An incredibly bad, almost historically so, last 2:00 of the first half prevented that...and the way the Texans D was playing the last part of the year, they definitely would have had a good shot at beating them, no matter who was playing QB.

And, despite what you say above, the Ravens were dominated by the Texans in Houston with Keenum at QB. Yeah, the Texans would've had a good shot going up there.
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Ha ha...."dominated"??? By the 3.2 yds per rush of Foster or the 4.4 yds per passing of Keenum?

The Texans defense dominated, not the Kennum led offense....otherwise Bullock doesn't have to kick 6 FG's to win the game....or Foster throws the only TD pass for the Texans....please be serious.
 
handswarmer said:
No way the Texans go into Heinz Field and beat the Steelers with Case Keenum. No way.

Sure the Ravens lost AT the Texans with Keenum- had a lot of injuries on Offense- LT Monroe went out with a knee and still hasn't played- you had an undrafted rookie playing LT against Watt and co....Watt is a premier pass rusher who All Pros have a tough day with: Hurst was a Turnstile that day.... Forsett was maybe 60%.....Flacco had a horrible day against relentless pressure....and our defense laid a huge egg....perfect sh*t storm.....as they say "any given Sunday"....

The reason the Ravens won is that the Steelers are a familiar foe and the Ravens aren't afraid of them and they aren't afraid of us. Superior pass rush and an Offensive (makeshift) line playing out of its mind kept Joe clean...plus the Steelers are really bad in the back end.....rookies and age.....and zero pass rush with ancient players in Harrison and Keisel...
Click to expand...

I think the Texans would have made a game of it.... pull out a win with Keenum I'm not so sure. Harrison has always given Brown fits
 
JB said:
I think the Texans would have made a game of it.... pull out a win with Keenum I'm not so sure. Harrison has always given Brown fits
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I don't know the numbers, but that seems like it should be the opposite. Even subtract the block that broke Harrison's orbital bone and it still seems like DB kicks his tail. My hallucinogens may be kickin in, so I may be wrong

Freeney, otoh, had DB's number
 
handswarmer said:
Ha ha...."dominated"??? By the 3.2 yds per rush of Foster or the 4.4 yds per passing of Keenum?

The Texans defense dominated, not the Kennum led offense....otherwise Bullock doesn't have to kick 6 FG's to win the game....or Foster throws the only TD pass for the Texans....please be serious.
Click to expand...

Our defense and Flacco stinking up the joint won us the game. Dude was getting hit practically every play
 
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