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Dissecting the Eagles game.

Texansphan

Football connoisseur
I must admit, I didn't give our boys much of a chance in this game but they actually made a decent fist of it. I am as disappointed as anyone else that we lost this close one, but we have dished out plenty of close ones ourselves this season.
Personally, I am encouraged with this effort as I think what JJ says is true - they keep trying to find ways to win which shows they have some heart and this to me is what is keeping us in the hunt this season.
The Eagles are not monkeys - they are the reigning SB champs
Sure, every team has injury woes at this point of the season, but to lose one of your two premier WR's ingame plus KJac, hurt us badly as we are thin on the bench as well.
Neither team was able to muster any kind of running game and it looks like we definitely missed Miller this week.
I just wish O'Brien was a little less conservative early in games - needs to be a little more aggressive.
Oline looked okay today - they actually got Watson some time in the pocket.
I am very pleased with Watson's progression - he is going to be good.
Nuk was heroic in this game. That catch on that last drive was just amazing.
Vyncent Smith looks like he could be a starter next week.
Gonna need to find a running game moving forward.
We gave up more penalties than I'd like to see.
What are the rules at this point of the season - can we bring someone in?
What did you see in this game that stood out to you?
 

IDEXAN

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
So that's Vyncent Smith, huh ? So I've heard of him but the most I've seen of him up until today was his name on our roster.
Foreman looks to be in descent shape, not pudgy or overweight. Looks fit.
Watson was terrific today: throwing the ball with good accuracy, no major screwups, cool as a cucumber under the gun, and some of those Houdini acts he pulls are utterly amazing.
Yea think we finally got our franchise QB. Thanks Rick, hope you and the family are doing well these days, and here's holiday wishes to you, wife, and rest of your family.
 

Texecutioner

Hall of Fame
TBH, anyone that thought we were still going to win after we lost our 2nd starting corner in Joseph had some serious poor false hopes. Foles has been on fire again since he came in, and most teams will get eaten up if they lost both starting corners. Oline gave this game away as usual. Way to many sacks and that strip in the 4th did it to them. They needed to much offense after their secondary got taken out
 

Texansphan

Football connoisseur
The come back in the fourth quarter gave me hope we could make some noise in the playoffs.
The fact the defense could not prevent the Eagles from marching down field from their own 10 yard line with two minutes left made me lose that hope.
I think they can make some noise in the playoffs after this effort.
Hopefully KJac is not too badly hurt and can play v Jags. And Miller. How far away is Coutee?
Nice to see Dylan Cole come in and make a nice play as well.
Perhaps Foreman can step it up too.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
I know Jj has 14.5 sacks on the season, but I think it would help us if we do something to keep him fresh. We can't have him out there on 80% plus of defensive snaps.

I'm not saying we make him a pass rush specialist, but I don't think he's been as explosive as we've come to expect.

I'm not saying Jj is done, but he needs help finding his 2nd wind.
 

ATXtexanfan

Hall of Fame
I know Jj has 14.5 sacks on the season, but I think it would help us if we do something to keep him fresh. We can't have him out there on 80% plus of defensive snaps.

I'm not saying we make him a pass rush specialist, but I don't think he's been as explosive as we've come to expect.

I'm not saying Jj is done, but he needs help finding his 2nd wind.
He's the only constant on D. Let him be.
 

Insideop

All Pro
TBH, anyone that thought we were still going to win after we lost our 2nd starting corner in Joseph had some serious poor false hopes. Foles has been on fire again since he came in, and most teams will get eaten up if they lost both starting corners. Oline gave this game away as usual. Way to many sacks and that strip in the 4th did it to them. They needed to much offense after their secondary got taken out
The Texans "Achilles Heel" all year! I don't expect them to go very far in the Playoffs because of it. The question is, what will they do to fix it in the off season?
 

txtx

Waterboy
I must admit, I didn't give our boys much of a chance in this game but they actually made a decent fist of it. I am as disappointed as anyone else that we lost this close one, but we have dished out plenty of close ones ourselves this season.
Personally, I am encouraged with this effort as I think what JJ says is true - they keep trying to find ways to win which shows they have some heart and this to me is what is keeping us in the hunt this season.
The Eagles are not monkeys - they are the reigning SB champs
Sure, every team has injury woes at this point of the season, but to lose one of your two premier WR's ingame plus KJac, hurt us badly as we are thin on the bench as well.
Neither team was able to muster any kind of running game and it looks like we definitely missed Miller this week.
I just wish O'Brien was a little less conservative early in games - needs to be a little more aggressive.
Oline looked okay today - they actually got Watson some time in the pocket.
I am very pleased with Watson's progression - he is going to be good.
Nuk was heroic in this game. That catch on that last drive was just amazing.
Vyncent Smith looks like he could be a starter next week.
Gonna need to find a running game moving forward.
We gave up more penalties than I'd like to see.
What are the rules at this point of the season - can we bring someone in?
What did you see in this game that stood out to you?
I agree with almost all of that, except two things.

1) Watson is already good and is still learning; he gives us much more of a chance in long odds than the past. Aside from Watson's great escape plays and regaining his awesome deep ball the past two weeks, I was impressed with how many times he threw it away to avoid a sack.
2) I don't think of O'Brien as too conservative a play-caller, just a dumb one, and I hope Sean Ryan (or someone) can take that over next year. We may very well have won this game if OB had called for a FG on that 4th and 9 instead of going for it. The opposite of conservative, that's over-compensating. OB loses his mental capacities when he gets emotional and imagines how he wants things to go, rather than sticking to what's working or to obvious percentages. Turned it over on downs and lost by 2. Apologies to Tony "Dingy" Dungy, but that was as much the play of the game as any other.

We won the TO battle. Glad to have Cole (work on your tackling) and Foreman (work on ball security) back. Too bad the defense couldn't allow Vyncint Smith to be a hero.

I worry about the coaching of the LBs and DB with such poor tackling in a huge game this late in the season. Our pass rush is "fierce" only in theory, as again the opposing QB was allowed too much time to wait for long routes to develop, making our hurt secondary look bad when it actually had good coverage but couldn't maintain forever.

By and large, we've been able to erase our mistakes, penalties and bad play calls by playing low-level QBs and bad kickers who miss late FGs. So losing 32-30 and being leap-frogged by the Patriots for the 2nd seed is what happens when neither of those things go our way for once.
 
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Texan Asylum

Hall of Fame
The come back in the fourth quarter gave me hope we could make some noise in the playoffs.
The fact the defense could not prevent the Eagles from marching down field from their own 10 yard line with two minutes left made me lose that hope.
As I see it, the hope from the comeback outweighs the failure of the defense only because the defense has proven itself able to do the job most of the time. Next game will be a good indicator — for me that is — if we have any hope of both sides gelling going into the playoffs.

I’m looking for a good challenge next week for the boys to build on going forward. I believe they still have the confidence they had during the streak of wins, and if they do, that — with both sides coming together — may be all that we need going forward into the post season.

Let’s hope.
 

markn

All Pro
The conservative 3 plays after the McKinney INT still bothers me. Gotta, just gotta get points there. Anything.
Agree one hundred percent. That was some lame play calling right at the moment we should have gone for the jugular. I'd love to know BOB's reasoning there, I often get the sense he doesn't have the feel for the critical moments in the game. He needs to be watching from a far, less involved in the minutiae so he can develop this sense. Instead of calling 'Current RB up the middle' he needs to be telling the play caller, 'find me a quick strike to seal this momentum changer.'
 

badboy

Hall of Fame
Our tackling sucks and some is because guys are so far out of play they tackle high or 'block tackle' hoping that works. Sproles is not being brought down like that not are many TEs.

OBrien as OC is our biggest disadvantage. Maybe Cal will change that.

Next draft should increase our over all draft & we should again add with UDFA & other team cast offs like Carter.

Oline was okay but of course every mistake is glaring. We should be able to rectify with draft but those may not start immediately.

DBacks see Oline

Foreman on field was great. His play not so good. He should get better each game..if we have many more.

If Thomas needs same time as Foreman with same injury type, we have $14 m new cap space 2019 as a positive. Can Vyncint Smith replace Thomas?
 

BOBdaFRAUD

Waterboy
Can Vyncint Smith replace Thomas?

Hahahhahahahaahahaha? Hahahahaahahahahahahaahahahaaaaaaaa AHAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaahahahahahahahahaahah hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh wait.............. hahahahahahahahaahahahahaa hahahahahaahaha hahahahahahaha I am done? NO!!!!!Hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahhaahhaha
 

Texazan

Our HOF 34
That drive after the int really irked me as well. Even 3 points would have perhaps altered the game. And some of the punts instead of long field goals or going for it on 4th bothered me too.
I know Fairbairn missed that PAT and I still think the hold sucked the way he paused and then swiped at it but at any rate we've seen this kid bang it through at 55 yards and have plenty after the crossbars so I don't know why BOB doesn't let him try a 56, 57 or 58 yarder. Yea our D had been bad but short field, long field, it didn't seem to matter to Foles and Co. so get the damn points.
 

Porky

Hall of Fame
Totally different skillset. I guess in the short term that is the remainder of the season, he might. But he's more Will Fuller in nature, albeit a very poor man's version. For now, if he can just stretch the field and IF Cutee can somehow find a way to stay healthy, he and Carter can play the slot and that's the makings of something at least. With no Fuller and Cutee, it's been rough sledding. Good news is that Watson, like all the greats, makes those around him better.
 

welsh texan

You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one
Why run Foreman so much? He was clearly not ready.

I feel a theme is inability to properly evaluate offensive players in practice
They don't generally hold contact practices this late in the season though, so have no chance to evaluate. Issue with Foreman is that he's been in shape for some time but there is the question of his explosiveness.

He showed he can be an asset catching out of the backfield yesterday, just got to hope he can hit the hole still because it did not look good yesterday although I haven't looked back whether the blocking was working at all.
 

badboy

Hall of Fame
Oh wait.............. Hahahahahaha...... ha
I did not say he could but based on limited plays how do we know he couldn't? Don't go all 'JJ Watt cannot ever be replaced' on me. I'm not asking if Smith can be exactly what Thomas brought [that production also was very short] but can Smith have the small number of targets Thomas would get 2019 with Fuller and Coutee back?
 

Insideop

All Pro
Why run Foreman so much? He was clearly not ready.

I feel a theme is inability to properly evaluate offensive players in practice
Don't think they wanted to play Foreman at all but when they sidelined Miller with his injury then they had no choice. I'm hoping he can "knock the rust off" quickly and get back to something close to what he was last year.
 

Jadmakaveli

Veteran
Why run Foreman so much? He was clearly not ready.

I feel a theme is inability to properly evaluate offensive players in practice
I feel like it was more of him doing same things he did last year. Try to bounce every run to the outside and get stopped,Poor ball carrier vision. Other than that I didn’t really see anything different.
 

Insideop

All Pro
To me, one of the best things to come out of this game was the Vyncint Smith TD play. I know he's not DT, Fuller, or Coutee but he gives the Texans that element of speed and stretching the field that was missing since Fuller and Coutee went out. Hopefully they can use him a little more against the Jags and whoever they play in the playoffs to take some heat off Hopkins. Just that deep threat might help to open things up a little more.
 

santo

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Why run Foreman so much? He was clearly not ready.

I feel a theme is inability to properly evaluate offensive players in practice
I wanted to see Buddy Howell take a few snaps to see how he does. I know we’re not the Patriots but they use like 5 guys as running backs in the same game. lol
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
I wanted to see Buddy Howell take a few snaps to see how he does. I know we’re not the Patriots but they use like 5 guys as running backs in the same game. lol
BO'bs got enough on his mind keeping our three passing plays & two run plays straight. He don't need to be calculating how to split carries among 3 RBs.

3x2x3... the possible combinations is just too magnanimous.
 

austins23

Hall of Fame
Agree one hundred percent. That was some lame play calling right at the moment we should have gone for the jugular. I'd love to know BOB's reasoning there, I often get the sense he doesn't have the feel for the critical moments in the game. He needs to be watching from a far, less involved in the minutiae so he can develop this sense. Instead of calling 'Current RB up the middle' he needs to be telling the play caller, 'find me a quick strike to seal this momentum changer.'
The Texans went 3 and out meekly after that INT, then the Eagles went 60 yards for a FG to tie it at 16.
Texans next two possessions, punt, fumble. Eagles next two, Touchdowns....
Those 3 craptastic play calls after the INT were huge!
Damn I’m still mad about that!
 

honored82

Waterboy
The 3rd quarter was really bad. We scored 0 points. They scored 10. At least a FG in the 3rd quarter, after that INT, and the missed PAT, would have forced the eagles to get a TD in the last 2 mins. That would not have been much to ask for from the defense.
 

powda

The bridge between stupid and useless is short.
Maybe I missed it but I haven't seen anyone complain about OB using 2 timeouts with 4 minutes to go. Not only did he use them with that much time in the game but he did it on 1st and 2nd down. Stupid.

Luckily (I guess) the defense bailed him out and forced the punt. Turns out that left to much time on the clock after we scored. His timeouts gave the eagles all the time they needed to come back.
 

NitroGSXR

Super Sic #58
How did the timeouts help? Don't use them and the Eagles get the ball with a minute instead of 2:04.
Seems to me that we set up for a four minute drill. Unfortunately we scored a lot quicker than we had planned for. Either way... we still had our D as a fail safe. They got us this time though. It happens.
 

Texas Jake

Rookie
Maybe I missed it but I haven't seen anyone complain about OB using 2 timeouts with 4 minutes to go. Not only did he use them with that much time in the game but he did it on 1st and 2nd down. Stupid.

Luckily (I guess) the defense bailed him out and forced the punt. Turns out that left to much time on the clock after we scored. His timeouts gave the eagles all the time they needed to come back.
Yeah, I was surprised to see him using them that early. I think he wanted to make sure we had enough time to get the ball down field and score. Unfortunately it didn't take much time. I can understand that line of thinking, but it is not the decision I would have made.
 

infantrycak

Hall of Fame
Seems to me that we set up for a four minute drill. Unfortunately we scored a lot quicker than we had planned for.
A four minute drill doesn't invole using timeouts early. You're trying to burn time. Could called the exact same plays without the timeouts and the D wouldn't have had to hold as long. That's always a good thing but doubly so when the opposing O has veen playing pitch & catch all day.
 

Texansphan

Football connoisseur
Seems to me that we set up for a four minute drill. Unfortunately we scored a lot quicker than we had planned for. Either way... we still had our D as a fail safe. They got us this time though. It happens.
There were many factors that factored into the Eagles victory. Many have been brought up in this thread.
It was unfortunate two defenders crashed into each other allowing Ertz to get that 1st down in the 4th quarter on 4th down. That one was huge but the Eagles had their merry way with our D in the first quarter as well with many 1st down conversions on 3rd and 4th down. Too many as it turned out.
 

Max

Veteran
Seems to me that we set up for a four minute drill. Unfortunately we scored a lot quicker than we had planned for. Either way... we still had our D as a fail safe. They got us this time though. It happens.
You're counting on a 3 and out when you start calling time outs on defense or else they're wasted. He shouldn't have started using them on the first series. You paint yourself in a corner if they get the first down. Save the timeouts for if they start converting 1st downs and you're running out of clock. Or better yet, if you get the 3 and out, you get the ball back with 2 minutes on the clock, all of your time outs and most likely don't leave enough time on the clock for them to score again.
 

santo

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Maybe I missed it but I haven't seen anyone complain about OB using 2 timeouts with 4 minutes to go. Not only did he use them with that much time in the game but he did it on 1st and 2nd down. Stupid.

Luckily (I guess) the defense bailed him out and forced the punt. Turns out that left to much time on the clock after we scored. His timeouts gave the eagles all the time they needed to come back.
The last timeout to ice the kicker was called too early. The kicker wasn’t even setup. lol
 

austins23

Hall of Fame
The 3rd quarter was really bad. We scored 0 points. They scored 10. At least a FG in the 3rd quarter, after that INT, and the missed PAT, would have forced the eagles to get a TD in the last 2 mins. That would not have been much to ask for from the defense.
See two posts above this one
 

NitroGSXR

Super Sic #58
A four minute drill doesn't invole using timeouts early. You're trying to burn time. Could called the exact same plays without the timeouts and the D wouldn't have had to hold as long. That's always a good thing but doubly so when the opposing O has veen playing pitch & catch all day.
The thing is... We called those timeouts while on defense. We can’t stop the clock except by using timeouts.

The way I understand it... a four minute drill is a four minute time frame to drive down the field. Our D with those timeouts gave our offense those four minutes by pitching a quick 3 and out.

I just think there are other more pressing concerns regarding the choices of our coach than that.
 

powda

The bridge between stupid and useless is short.
The thing is... We called those timeouts while on defense. We can’t stop the clock except by using timeouts.

The way I understand it... a four minute drill is a four minute time frame to drive down the field. Our D with those timeouts gave our offense those four minutes by pitching a quick 3 and out.

I just think there are other more pressing concerns regarding the choices of our coach than that.
Not using those timeouts changes the entire scope of their last drive. Not only are they pressed for time - their coaches make different calls with less time. Yes, they had their own timeouts and maybe they still win...but OB most definitely made a difference by calling them.

The only sense I can make of it is that OB wanted 2 chances to score?
 

Rich Schmidt

Myopicone
I see both sides, but what if it takes three first downs instead of a long TD to Smith, then the clock management was perfect. We can disect either side of this. I tend to agree to have waited, but the TO management is not what led to the loss, The defense gave up 5 benjamins of passing and an absurd 3rd and 4th down conversion rate

Whoever had the ball at the end wins. So we could complain to DW4 for being too good
 
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