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Houston Texans @ Cleveland Browns. 11/16. Noon. CBS. **Official Gameday Thread**

don't worry honey, i'll protect you from the perpetual sorrow.

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c l e v e l a n d r o c k s!
 
Has Fitz ever hit 6 different receivers?

Fitz hit 6 or more receivers in 5 of his 9 starts. He actually hit 7 in 2 games and 8 in another. He spread the ball around. That was never the issue with him. His inefficiency and lack of downfield success were the problems.

I think just the tempo, the shots down the field, & hitting the TEs in the middle make this game better than any Fitzpatrick win.

Yes, the up tempo run game and Mallett's efficiency certainly made the offense look more effective. I literally said in my original post that it was probably better than any start Fitz has had this year. However, we only hit 1 pass over the middle to a TE. It went for a TD, but that was not something we all of a sudden exploited. 25 of Mallett's 29 targets went to our 3 WR's. I don't say that as a bad thing, but the TE's were not a bigger part of the game plan than they have been in other games this year.
 
Fitz hit 6 or more receivers in 5 of his 9 starts. He actually hit 7 in 2 games and 8 in another. He spread the ball around. That was never the issue with him. His inefficiency and lack of downfield success were the problems.



Yes, the up tempo run game and Mallett's efficiency certainly made the offense look more effective. I literally said in my original post that it was probably better than any start Fitz has had this year. However, we only hit 1 pass over the middle to a TE. It went for a TD, but that was not something we all of a sudden exploited. 25 of Mallett's 29 targets went to our 3 WR's. I don't say that as a bad thing, but the TE's were not a bigger part of the game plan than they have been in other games this year.

graham caught three passes in a row leading to that score.
 
graham caught three passes in a row leading to that score.

Technically two, as one was negated by penalty, and one of those was an out route. We completed one pass to the TE over the middle. Also, those were the only times he was targeted all game. Like I said, it was not a bigger part of the game plan compared to any other week.
 
except for the roughing the kicker calls, we hardly had any penalties today.

This is true, but I felt that the Texans were very lucky to get away with a couple, one on Bouye and the other on that hit Cushing put on Hoyer. I definitely felt that both of those were more blatant than the hit Watt made on the punter the 2nd time that led to Cleveland's TD.
 
84 offensive plays, our highest number all season...

Before this week we were tied for 25th at 61.9.

IND, PHI, NO, NE at the top.
 
Technically two, as one was negated by penalty, and one of those was an out route. We completed one pass to the TE over the middle. Also, those were the only times he was targeted all game. Like I said, it was not a bigger part of the game plan compared to any other week.

It was.

And if we are going with technically, jj watt was a TE that we split out on the fade.

Mallet looked much better than anything we've had at qb in a long time...and it was game one. He'll with get better or he won't. If he does, te's and everyone else will continue to benefit.
 
Props to O'Brien for sticking with the running game, even on 3rd and 4, opening up doubt in the enemy defense as to when and where we might run again. Hell of a way to open up the passing game. While I'm at it, getting the deep pass in the arsenal opened up the running game a little bit too. It all worked together quite nicely and I think what Mallett brings to the table made some of that possible.

I can't believe I just said that about a Texans HC.
 
Two:
Code:
1st and 10 at CLE 34	(:50) (Shotgun) 
R.Mallett pass short [B]middle[/B] to G.Graham to CLV 20 for 14 yards (C.Robertson).	 	 
1st and 10 at CLE 20	(:28) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 
R.Mallett pass short [B]middle[/B] to G.Graham for 20 yards, TOUCHDOWN

0:0:40-on: http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-med...ghlights/cbc50837-d847-4b9d-92dc-000680347993

Then I misremembered and the out route was the play that was negated by penalty. Still though, we are getting caught up in semantics, I think my point still remains that the TE position (with 3 total targets) was no more a focus today than it has been all season.
 
It was.

And if we are going with technically, jj watt was a TE that we split out on the fade.

Mallet looked much better than anything we've had at qb in a long time...and it was game one. He'll with get better or he won't. If he does, te's and everyone else will continue to benefit.

I never said anything to the contrary. All I stated was that the TE position was not a focus yet again. The numbers bear that out. Johnson/Hopkins/Johnson got 25 of the 29 targets. Graham got 2, Martin got 1, and Watt got 1. The 30th pass was a throwaway and didn't target.

Mallett definitely looked good, but I'm curious/anxious to see how he performs when we don't run for 200+ yards. It was a great start and something to build on. His pocket movement and quick release were light years better than what we've seen the last 2 years.
 
Mallet 1-0
Fitzpatrick 4-5
Keenum 0-8
Schaub 8-8

Improvement at the QB position. Imagine that...
 
Not that it should be a huge concern, but Lechler struggled a bit yesterday. I don't know if he had one good punt the entire game
 
...I think my point still remains that the TE position (with 3 total targets) was no more a focus today than it has been all season.

Seems like the staff sees us as having just one pass catching TE option? Maybe when CJ gets his blocking technique down he'll get to see the rest of the TE playbook? I'm still seeing him chasing guys who have gotten by him.
 
Not that it should be a huge concern, but Lechler struggled a bit yesterday. I don't know if he had one good punt the entire game

I noticed that too and meant to mention my concerns. I think he's playing hurt but I can't remember what exactly is wrong.
 
Seems like the staff sees us as having just one pass catching TE option? Maybe when CJ gets his blocking technique down he'll get to see the rest of the TE playbook? I'm still seeing him chasing guys who have gotten by him.

CJ and Griffin have both stayed in to block quite a bit. Hopefully if the OL can gel (they had good protection yesterday) then we will see more usage over the middle. CJ has had problems in protection and with drops though. Would really like to see him get it together because he has the potential to be our poor man's version of Gronk.

Damaris Johnson has really been our only weapon in the middle of the field this year with Andre occasionally working in the intermediate game and Hopkins hitting routes down the deep seam. Would really like to see us open up the middle more as it will give Andre more 1v1's outside and Hopkins more room to work downfield.
 
Not that it should be a huge concern, but Lechler struggled a bit yesterday. I don't know if he had one good punt the entire game
I felt like he was more effective than usual. He usually outkicks the coverage, and that is just begging for a long runback. Better to punt shorter like he did yesterday.
 
Second biggest win in franchise history. -- John McClain.

Behind 19-10?


I don't know about that. 19-10 & the first time we beat the Colts were bigger in my mind. Then the win vs New England for our first winning season, the Win vs Atlanta to secure our first play-off spot.. our first play off win, our second play off win.....
 
Behind 19-10?


I don't know about that. 19-10 & the first time we beat the Colts were bigger in my mind. Then the win vs New England for our first winning season, the Win vs Atlanta to secure our first play-off spot.. our first play off win, our second play off win.....

That was against Cincy. :cowboy1:

It will only be top 5 win if Mallet turns out to be something special.
 
Second biggest win in franchise history. -- John McClain.

I think he said in the regular season, at least on 610 earlier today. The biggest being the one vs CIN that clinched the first playoff berth in 2011.

I think this only makes sense if Mallett turns out to be the man. Although I can't come up with one that I think is more important off the top of my head.
 
Game day is over. I didn't see a "Takeaways from the Browns Game" thread & thought it was too late to start one. I did see this article that had some good pictures to give us something to talk about.

First thing I want to talk about.

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On the DL, starting at the bottom, that's Clowney, Mohamed, Jamison, Mercilus, & Watt. At LB depth, we have Swag & Rolle....

I thought this was interesting because... there's no Cushing & we've got our three pass rushers on the field at the same time Watt, Merci, & Clowney. But only rush four....... Watt, Jamison, Mohamed, & Clowney

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Mohamed gets early leverage on his one on one match-up.

What I liked most about the play though, is that Mercilus actually gets deep enough to make that a difficult throw for the QB.

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A better QB probably could have made that throw.... or maybe Mohamed flashes early enough that Hoyer throws it earlier than he wants (which is actually more plausible). But as you can see Merci is deeper than the first down marker.

Generally speaking I rarely see our LBs get that kind of depth that fast (watching on TV it was relatively quick). At the very least, it's comforting to know they're working with Merci on more than just his pass rushing.
 
This next one.... I'm not suggesting I know what the call was, or what any of the guys was supposed to do, but I do know this is a play action, bootleg team & we should have been prepared.

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From time to time, Kubiak would say how he would script the first fifteen plays to get a feel for how the defense is going to play certain looks. I'm wondering if the Browns saw something to tell them we were ripe for the play-action boot.

Even before I knew what it was, I would have liked to see Brooks shoot upfield a yard or two to prevent teams from doing this.

I know a lot of folks blamed Swag for biting on the play action, but there are things we could have done better up front to stop him from doing that. #1 would be stopping the run with those guys up front to allow our DBs to play back... but yeah, if he sees a free receiver coming into his zone, he needs to be smarter than what he's shown.
 
The point of the article was to pose the question "Is it time to start Manziel?" So the author's bias is to show how badly Hoyer was playing. Bing a Texans' fan, I don't care about that.
But I am wondering what takeaway you want to convey to us.

(repped for the find by the way. I seldom go to bleacher report articles)
 
But I am wondering what takeaway you want to convey to us.

Mercilus is being asked to do a lot more than just rush the passer. Plus that was an example of our three pass rushers on the field at the same time... Watt, Merci, & Clowney (first time I noticed it).

& that you'd think we would be better prepared against a play-action boot team.


I figured we could use the pictures from the article.... didn't really want to discuss the article at all.
 
Mercilus is being asked to do a lot more than just rush the passer. Plus that was an example of our three pass rushers on the field at the same time... Watt, Merci, & Clowney (first time I noticed it).

& that you'd think we would be better prepared against a play-action boot team.


I figured we could use the pictures from the article.... didn't really want to discuss the article at all.

depends on what keys RAC stresses/teaches vs. the ones Wade used to teach doesn't it?
although I'll give you the guys who have been here a couple of years should be used to seeing it.
...but we have this one safety who can't help but bite on the run fake. ...dude with dreads who's name escapes me right now :)
 
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