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Its Time

Beastlyman2003

Beastlyman2003

Waterboy
Its time for Domanick Davis to come on out, and show the league how he can tear stuff up! He has the ability to get in the runnings for the Pro Bowl next year if Wade and Bruener get some push w/ the rest of the line. What ya'll think?
 
He is going for 2000 yards like he said (but I would be happy with 1400 and at least 8 wins). :D
 
From what I understand, many in the Houston area said they have seen him on TV and noticed the dude has bulked up so I imagine tackling him will be even harder.
 
V Man said:
He is going for 2000 yards like he said (but I would be happy with 1400 and at least 8 wins). :D
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And if he doesn't....he's going to get a lot of heat from Houston. Houston is expecting a lot out of this guy that if he doesn't, he'll get critcized too much for it. I speak for those that claim to be "Texan fans" yet criticize them more than not. 9 out of 10 people I talk Texans to, I swear, talk bad about them ...as if we had a Super Bowl team our past years and the slightest improvement this team does isn't good enough. Their concept of the game is totally bogus.

As long as DD is consistent I'll be happy. He did tremendously great last year without starting the first 6 games last season, without Bruener also. He's starting this year and with the addition of Breuner to make holes for him I wouldn't be surprised if he made the 2,000 yrd mark. Come on September!
 
Beastlyman2003 said:
Its time for Domanick Davis to come on out, and show the league how he can tear stuff up! He has the ability to get in the runnings for the Pro Bowl next year if Wade and Bruener get some push w/ the rest of the line. What ya'll think?
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I made this point in another thread (I am pretty sure it was the probowl thread), but Davis has to get 2000 yards to get to the probowl. Its that simple. He has to compete with LT, Ricky Williams, Corey Dillion, Priest Holmes, Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis, Edge and Fred Taylor. LT got snubbed last year and he had like 1500 yards and a 100 catches.

El Tejano said:
From what I understand, many in the Houston area said they have seen him on TV and noticed the dude has bulked up so I imagine tackling him will be even harder.
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I dont care if he bulked up, I want him to add some speed. He is very quick, but doesnt have the 2nd gear to pull away for a 50 yrd TD.
 
Fiddy said:
I made this point in another thread (I am pretty sure it was the probowl thread), but Davis has to get 2000 yards to get to the probowl. Its that simple. He has to compete with LT, Ricky Williams, Corey Dillion, Priest Holmes, Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis, Edge and Fred Taylor. LT got snubbed last year and he had like 1500 yards and a 100 catches.

I dont care if he bulked up, I want him to add some speed. He is very quick, but doesnt have the 2nd gear to pull away for a 50 yrd TD.
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I agree that DD is a long shot--IMO going into the season, the easiest 3 RB's to see going to the pro-bowl are Lewis, Holmes and Tomlinson. Dillon went to the Patriots--not sure I see him grinding out 1500 yards in their offense. Portis is going to a new team and the new team is going to a whole new system--probably some adjustment period for both. Ricky only averaged 3.5 ypc last year and the Dolphins' whole O-line is new. Taylor seems to have a hard time finding the end-zone--with 50% (110) more carries, he had 2 less TD's. If healthy, I would expect DD to beat out Henry and Edge--his stats from last year projected over the season would have been significantly better. Still seems like one of the toughest positions to break into the pro-bowl.

More speed would be nice, but solid running and consistancy, i.e. not getting injured, is more important IMO. By the way DD did have a run over 50 yds last year--it was 51--to bad it didn't start at the 49. As another aside--Holmes' longest run was 31 yds. IMO Capers has good definitions for big plays--15 yards for runs, 20 yards for passes.
 
infantrycak said:
...Portis is going to a new team and the new team is going to a whole new system--probably some adjustment period for both...

More speed would be nice, but solid running and consistancy, i.e. not getting injured, is more important IMO.

By the way DD did have a run over 50 yds last year--it was 51--to bad it didn't start at the 49. As another aside--Holmes' longest run was 31 yds. IMO Capers has good definitions for big plays--15 yards for runs, 20 yards for passes.
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Portis is in the NFC, so he doesnt have to worry about him.

I do share the feeling that consistancy and not getting injured is more important. I was just saying that DD can get through the line as quick as anyone I can remember, but once he is past the line he is easily caught from behind. With a little more speed we could see some of his 15 yards runs, turn into 30 yard runs.

That 51 yard run was against the Bengals, I remember, but wasnt a break-away. He got caught from behind by one of the Bengals DBs. Thats where the speed would help. If it was Tony Hollings, it would have been a TD. Thats the difference between DD and Tony Hollings, DD can get through the hole quicker, but once past the line it is near impossible to catch Hollings (when his knee was full strength, I am hoping it is full strength this year), but then again maybe Hollings doesnt get through the hole in time. DD will be a steady back, Hollings will be the homerun back.
 
Cool board.

Thanks SteelBlue

You guys are forgetting Hollings, I've read were people think he may emerge as a starter. I think DD will go maybe 1300, It has a lot to do with the effectiveness of our passing game.

If Hollings emerges it would be a wonderful problem, Rookie of the year or the other great back.
 
I just hope this isnt history repeating itself... Back with the Oilers, there were a lot of "One hit wonders" at running back like Gary Brown, Rodney Thomas, Lorenzo White, etc, etc... good one year, **** the rest
 
DD is going for 2000. Probably not going to happen, but hay go for it. He probably gets about 1500. But think about what we had in year 1. Pro bowl would be hard, but if he got close to his 2000 and added in the receiving game like last year, wouldnt be a reach. YOU GO DD. YOU DA MAN. :woot:
 
Beastlyman2003 said:
Its time for Domanick Davis to come on out, and show the league how he can tear stuff up! ... What ya'll think?
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I think he won Pepsi Rookie of the Year last year.

Davis hasn't shown me that he's durable enough to withstand the pounding week in and week out.

Last year for example:

Training camp - broken hand - out 4 weeks
Week 3 - inactive - hip injury
Week 9 - chest/rib injury - had to leave game and did not return
Week 14 - inactive ankle/thigh injuries

Do any of you realize that 2000 yards is 400 carries at 5 yards per? If you get 320 carries out of the guy and he stays healthy it will be a major accomplishment. There were only 8 RBs in the league last year who had over 320 carries (20 per game avg.)

I have a feeling we'll see a lot of Hollings this year on third downs and in certain situations. If one guy gets 1500 and the other gets 500, that would be great. 125 rushing yards per game puts you in the top 10 in the league.

I stood next to DD back in February and there's no apparent bulk up - although I had nothing to compare it against. He's not a very big guy.
 
Following up on aj's comments, it would behove the Texans not to overrun DD even if he is playing fantastically for two reasons (1) to minimize the shear abuse of too many plays which increases the chance of injury and that he will be gone at a critical time and (2) to let Hollings develop so that wehn DD inevitably has injuries (as all RB's do) he isn't running in to take over having basically watched the games from the bench. It doesn't bother me a bit if the Texans have 2000 rushing yards split between two backs 1500/500, 1250/750 or 1000/1000--and the more towards the latter it is probably the more seemlessly the team will continue when one goes down.
 
Much as I'd love to see DD rack up 2000, it doesn't seem very likely and that is PERFECTLY FINE. If he finishes with 1200-1500, AJ's over 1000 yards receiving, and the Texans are piling up TDs and wins, none of us will really complain!

We haven't seen enough of Hollings to really KNOW. But I think it'll be easy for him to work into the lineup this year because the rest of the RB competition of last year is over.

My nightmare scenario, of course, is that Hollings' knee blows out again and DD has a year full of nagging injuries.
 
Usually people who get 2000 rushing in a season have little of no passing game, thats why they get so many carries. J. Lewis had a rokie QB and subpar WRs. He got the ball like every play.

B. Sanders(the best RB of all time) was basically the only weapon on his team his whole career. He got a lot of carries.

With the solid mix of run and pass our offense likes to run, it would be almost impossible for DD to get 2000 yards unless he averaged like 7 YARDS PER CARRY for the season and thats basically impossible. :bag:
 
I very much dislike "running-back-by-committee". I hope we do NOT do that. Pick the best guy, with the best combo of present performance and future potential, and give him the green light. Let him run with full confidence...not looking over his shoulder.
 
caspian said:
I very much dislike "running-back-by-committee". I hope we do NOT do that. Pick the best guy, with the best combo of present performance and future potential, and give him the green light. Let him run with full confidence...not looking over his shoulder.
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I don't like "running-back-by-committee" where it refers to a team with a bunch of mediocre backs that they keep subing in with the only real hope being they will be fresh and maybe every once in a while one will hit a groove. On the other hand spelling backs and getting inexperienced backs time is good conservation of assets.

As a contrary example look at Ricky Williams last year. The Dolphins ran him 76 times in weeks 2 & 3 last year. Even though they had a week 4 bye, the next week he had a 1.8 ypc and it was another 7 weeks until he broke 4 ypc--in that time he also had a 3.0 ypc week and 3 sub-3 ypc weeks. They are wearing a great back out.
 
There's a lot of room between Ricky Williams (who, incidentally, is also asked to play as a "pound the ball between the tackles" style) and a Hearst/Barlow combo.

The greatest backs usually play the game start to finish with appropriate breathers and there are plenty of examples. That's what I would want for either DD or Hollings.

If you agree, then we're on the same page. But it's true that if I were to err on one side or the other, I would err on the Ricky Williams extreme.
 
caspian said:
There's a lot of room between Ricky Williams (who, incidentally, is also asked to play as a "pound the ball between the tackles" style) and a Hearst/Barlow combo.
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True Ricky is a pounder, which probably means he needs more of a breather than speed/shifty backs or his career may decline early.

The greatest backs usually play the game start to finish with appropriate breathers and there are plenty of examples. That's what I would want for either DD or Hollings.
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Truthfully I am not concerned with having someone recognized as the greatest back, I am concerned with having the Texans recognized as having a great running game. With that in mind, maintaining the health of the backs and developing the back-ups is a priority over the national acclaim for any individual player IMO.
 
I would be primarily concerned with developing our best 22 players to their full potential. That is, afterall, what a real coach is suppose to do.

Maximize your players' potentials and the wins, the awards, the money, the respect...the "running game" will follow as a by-product.
 
caspian said:
I would be primarily concerned with developing our best 22 players to their full potential. That is, afterall, what a real coach is suppose to do.

Maximize your players' potentials and the wins, the awards, the money, the respect...the "running game" will follow as a by-product.
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Here is where our thinking parts ways. IMO the team is 53 players and the best coach is the one that maximizes the use of all 53 to get the best win/loss record at the end of the season regardless of the individual accolades for any individual player. As an example, it is better for a team to have two 1100 yard rushers than it is for a team to have one 1600 yard pro-bowler and a 250 yard scrub. No doubt though, it is fun to watch your players go for national aclaim--not against it, so long as it is in the best interest of the team, not just the player.
 
There's also something to be said for a 'change of pace' back. In 2002, it seemed like whichever back was brought in after the starter (Allen or Wells) tended to be more successful in their first series. I don't think it should be overdone, but hollings speed to the outside might surprise a few LBs after DD's slash-and-bounce style.

It doesn't look likely that we'll bring Mack back, but I liked the idea of bringing him back for short yardage and the occasional change of pace.
 
It's been said before and I'll say it again. Consistency is the biggest need from the running game. You need to be confident you're going to get 4 yards whenever you call a running play. Let David Carr and Andre Johnson stretch the field and bust the big plays. When we're up in the fourth quarter this year I want to be able to see us run for some first downs and kill some clock.

Our offense as a whole needs to be more consistent, but the fastest way to improve that awful 3rd down conversion percentage is a solid, consistent running game.
 
I also believe RBs have to get in a groove in order to start taking over the game. I do believe Davis should carry the majority of the load but there also need to be some times where Hollings comes in to give Davis a breather and so that we are not as predictable throughout the game.
 
I think that what is in the best interest of the individual players, if properly measured, is in the best interest of the team. I'm all for maximizing the potential for all 53 players, but there are logistical obstacles to accomplishing that (time, human error, etc.) The ultimate "tragedy" to me is a kid who never reaches his/her potential.

Regardless, I respect your position...we're not far off.
 
I agree that most Rbs' have to get into a groove and get better as the game goes on, but I couldn't help but see visions of #34 last year. The Oilers depended on Earl way too much even though he punished the last man to get to him as much as the first. I'm not saying I see the TEXANS doing the same thing with D.D. but if Hollings can be effective enough to give DD a rest, that would go far in helping Davis get closer to the 2000 yd. mark. Even though he didn't get a lot of carries, I was impressed with Baxter too.
 
I kind of wish we were going to sign Mack because he really didn't have as much tendency to cough up the ball like Hollings. Does anyone think we may just sign a veteran after June 1st?
 
Hollings is still a rookie in my opinion. I look at this as his first real year. He will be 2 years removed from the big injury. DD will be strong as well.

If winning a SB means 2 backs getting 1000 yards each, then thats what I would want. If one back running 1600 yards does the job, then that is what I want. The interesting question might be how 2 different RB's get 1000 yards each. Would they alternate starts? Would they each be featured in one half of the game?

I would think that letting one run the most in one half, and letting the other provide a breather then switching roles in the next half would be productive. It would allow one to concentrate, and the other to stay inthe game.
 
Texman said:
I agree that most Rbs' have to get into a groove and get better as the game goes on, but I couldn't help but see visions of #34 last year. The Oilers depended on Earl way too much even though he punished the last man to get to him as much as the first. I'm not saying I see the TEXANS doing the same thing with D.D. but if Hollings can be effective enough to give DD a rest, that would go far in helping Davis get closer to the 2000 yd. mark. Even though he didn't get a lot of carries, I was impressed with Baxter too.
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the same thing happened with eddie george...
 
The Texans under Capers seem to like to have diverse gameday packages they use against different teams. Sometimes we see multiple TE sets against one team and more 3wr sets against another. I think that we will use Dom and Tony in the same manner.

One team will have a certain style of defense that will lend itself to certain matchup problems with each back. Hollings gives us blazing speed and a mismatch in the open field. Davis gives us a slasher who breaks arm tackles with ease. I think that they will be rotated two ways; down and distance, and then one back will be in more packages depending on the nature of the defense we are facing.
 
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