Preseason Game 1 Thread: Chiefs @ Texans

[Brandon420tx]

I dont see Anderson making the team after tonight...

I still do, he looked good as a reciever, and great on the kickoff return. On the punt return one of the KC players almost ran right into him, shifting at the last second, I thought he had hit him because of the "Pop" noise I heard, but I was wrong, that guy might have hit the ball though, either way, Anderson might just need work on punt receptions.

Edit: Vinny beat me to it.

 

[MrMeToo]

I didn't watch the game. Can somebody inform me what Mario Williams did. I just saw some ESPNnews highlights of the saints game, and Reggie Bush looked great. I hate to bring up Reggie, but he did an amazing play.

 

[DRAMA]

I believe that the Texans 2nd penalty didn't occur until the 4th qtr....

...that's always a good sign.

 

[HomeBred_Texan]

I didn't watch the game. Can somebody inform me what Mario Williams did. I just saw some ESPNnews highlights of the saints game, and Reggie Bush looked great. I hate to bring up Reggie, but he did an amazing play.

Mario played both positions, DE and tackle. He basically didn't do anything but take up OL's. No sacks...

2 big things I loved about the game. I just got home.

1) No sacks in 1 st quarter. Carr threw some nice passes and some bad ones.

2) The Cheerleaders are still HOT!!!!!

 

[Paragon Blue]

Do you guys think that Armstrong can still make the team? he had some good catches.

 

[Sarg01]

Do you guys think that Armstrong can still make the team? he had some good catches.

Yes, but so did Moulds, Walters, Anderson, Schifino ...

 

[TK_Gamer]

Do you guys think that Armstrong can still make the team? he had some good catches.

I dont this was sink or swim time but he better work on punt returns for the next chance he gets. I think so far shiffino looked stronger than him as far as hands go.

 

[bayoudreamn]

Do you guys think that Armstrong can still make the team? he had some good catches.

He didn't impress me tonight, but it's only the 1st game. There's time to make an impression.

 

[thunderkyss]

I saw somewhere that he broke one for 40+ yards!
But in all honesty...it WAS against the Titans D.

and they still couldn't punch it into the endzone.

 

[CloakNNNdagger]

Mario played both positions, DE and tackle. He basically didn't do anything but take up OL's. No sacks...

2 big things I loved about the game. I just got home.

1) No sacks in 1 st quarter. Carr threw some nice passes and some bad ones.

2) The Cheerleaders are still HOT!!!!!

Just got back from the game........

The OL actually looked pretty good in their new zone blocking formations. It especially worked well with Carr and Rosenfels fading to the opposite side. It also did well to keep the D honest, not really knowing pass vs run. This actually set up the one cut and run. However, what I noticed was that the OL seemed to be "overpowered" and not very successful when there was short yardage on a pretty obvious run play such as 4th and 1. In these situations, the movement of the zone blocking "shift" was not used and therefore not an advantage, since a straight north-south run blocking was utilized. A hole didn't seem to open up for the RB in this situation.

 

[Vinny]

However, what I noticed was that the OL seemed to be "overpowered" and not very successful when there was short yardage on a pretty obvious run play such as 4th and 1. In these situations, the movement of the zone blocking "shift" was not used and therefore not an advantage, since a straight north-south run blocking was utilized. A hole didn't seem to open up for the RB in this situation.

astute observation about zone blocking schemes Cloak. Zone blocking teams are notorious for struggling in short yardage/goal line situations running in conventional smash mouth situations. We will be pretty hefty on the left side if we end up with Pitts next to Spencer though. These are some pretty big men that have the feet of mere 300 pounders (how ridiculous does that sound?).

 

[WILLIEG]

I just came back as well. Looking at our offense compared to last year is like night in day since putting the zone blocking in. Wand actually held his own against the pass, however, he did seem to be giving a liitle more ground than I like. Weary an Winston were did a great job. McKinney should be very worried about Weary. Carr was a little off tonight. He made to many mistakes if you want the truth. Another thing about him that really worries me is how he keeps staring down his target reciever. it didn't appear to me that he was going through his reads very well. he was real lucky he didn't get picked off not once but twice. Anyways, Ludy was very impressive and seems lie a very good back. I really don't se e all the hype in Taylor like everyone has been discussing around the MB. He fumbled and then was taken out and replaced w/ Lundy again. Rhodes scored a TD but it was only because of the great block of Spencer. He actually was very immpressive and damm BIG. spencer is diffently going to push Wand to either get better or move out of that starting spot sometime during the season. O. Daniels has a great pair of hands with catching almost everything that came his except for 1 or 2 drops. He just needs to get deeper in his routes to pick up 1st downs. M. Williams looked alright but he was getting doubled a lot and never got into a rythym. Ryans looked like a rookie andd made many mistakes. Although i will admit the kid can hit. A lot of his mistakes came from the interior of the D-line being dominateed in the 1st quarter. The second unit of DT's was very impressive or maybe because they were going against second units themselves. A. Malone, E. Cochran, and even T. Johnson looked really well in their pass rush and at stopping the run. L. Sanders played CB pretty well. Peek was also good on pass rushes but not so good on playing the run. Walters caught the ball whenever it was thrown his way (good hands). D. Armstrong caught a lot of balls thrown his way. D. Lewis also looked very impressive. i would say ther isn't to much diference in them as far as recieving skills, but Lewis is a faster WR. Lewis even returne punts but didn't have as good a night as that kid D. Anderson. That was until he droped a ball and KC came up with it. In his defense, a player from KC throw his arm into the sight of the ball partially blocking Anderson's vision. Other than that i'm sure he would have caught the ball. The team looked great and I'm looking forward to seeing them in action again. If GK can keep this up we just might have a winning year.

 

[bayoudreamn]

astute observation about zone blocking schemes Cloak. Zone blocking teams are notorious for struggling in short yardage/goal line situations running in conventional smash mouth situations. We will be pretty hefty on the left side if we end up with Pitts next to Spencer though. These are some pretty big men that have the feet of mere 300 pounders (how ridiculous does that sound?).

Interesting dialogue. So if short yardage is "notoriously" a zb problem....what do you guys think the solution will be?

 

[Vinny]

Interesting dialogue. So if short yardage is "notoriously" a zb problem....what do you guys think the solution will be?

top notch play calling and good QB play. The bootlegs and the waggles and misdirection has to come off crisply to keep everyone honest. Zone blocking is more of a finesse scheme with traditionally smaller linemen so it bogs down when the field shrinks.

 

[bayoudreamn]

I just came back as well. Looking at our offense compared to last year is like night in day since putting the zone blocking in. Wand actually held his own against the pass, however, he did seem to be giving a liitle more ground than I like. Weary an Winston were did a great job. McKinney should be very worried about Weary. Carr was a little off tonight. He made to many mistakes if you want the truth. Another thing about him that really worries me is how he keeps staring down his target reciever. it didn't appear to me that he was going through his reads very well. he was real lucky he didn't get picked off not once but twice. Anyways, Ludy was very impressive and seems lie a very good back. I really don't se e all the hype in Taylor like everyone has been discussing around the MB. He fumbled and then was taken out and replaced w/ Lundy again. Rhodes scored a TD but it was only because of the great block of Spencer. He actually was very immpressive and damm BIG. spencer is diffently going to push Wand to either get better or move out of that starting spot sometime during the season. O. Daniels has a great pair of hands with catching almost everything that came his except for 1 or 2 drops. He just needs to get deeper in his routes to pick up 1st downs. M. Williams looked alright but he was getting doubled a lot and never got into a rythym. Ryans looked like a rookie andd made many mistakes. Although i will admit the kid can hit. A lot of his mistakes came from the interior of the D-line being dominateed in the 1st quarter. The second unit of DT's was very impressive or maybe because they were going against second units themselves. A. Malone, E. Cochran, and even T. Johnson looked really well in their pass rush and at stopping the run. L. Sanders played CB pretty well. Peek was also good on pass rushes but not so good on playing the run. Walters caught the ball whenever it was thrown his way (good hands). D. Armstrong caught a lot of balls thrown his way. D. Lewis also looked very impressive. i would say ther isn't to much diference in them as far as recieving skills, but Lewis is a faster WR. Lewis even returne punts but didn't have as good a night as that kid D. Anderson. That was until he droped a ball and KC came up with it. In his defense, a player from KC throw his arm into the sight of the ball partially blocking Anderson's vision. Other than that i'm sure he would have caught the ball. The team looked great and I'm looking forward to seeing them in action again. If GK can keep this up we just might have a winning year.

No one has complained about a no call on that return for interference. I watched for Anderson's signal in the replay and he did waive for fair catch. I thought that defender was too close and I'm not sure he didn't make contact. The announcers didn't make a point of it and I've only seen one reference to that possibility in a post here.

 

[bayoudreamn]

top notch play calling and good QB play. The bootlegs and the waggles and misdirection has to come off crisply to keep everyone honest. Zone blocking is more of a finesse scheme with traditionally smaller linemen so it bogs down when the field shrinks.

That's putting alot of pressure on one player. hmmm.....this topic might be an interesting one to revisit from time to time the next several weeks.

 

[WILLIEG]

No one has complained about a no call on that return for interference. I watched for Anderson's signal in the replay and he did waive for fair catch. I thought that defender was too close and I'm not sure he didn't make contact. The announcers didn't make a point of it and I've only seen one reference to that possibility in a post here.

Yeah, I noticed that as well but it's pre season and the Refs aren't going to catch everything.

 

[Vinny]

That's putting alot of pressure on one player. hmmm.....this topic might be an interesting one to revisit from time to time the next several weeks.

Football is a huge chess game. You give something to get something. You gear to the pass and teams run at you. If you are a smash mouth football team you may do better at the goal line but you may visit that part of the field less times...the push and pull and the strategy of the battle with 22 players flying around the field at once in organized chaos is what makes this a great game.

 

[Hulk75]

I think one of the most important things that happened tonight is that we WON the football game. You know these guys wanted this game bad, preseason or not.

 

[TexansLucky13]

Yeah, I noticed that as well but it's pre season and the Refs aren't going to catch everything.

If the refs are anything like they were last year, they will be missing a lot....

I was there today. I have to say it was one of the most exciting days of my Texans fanship. We needed this win. We needed this win.

My five key strong points for tonights game:

1) Above average pass blocking. When is the last time we had a game where we took no sacks? Really? Excellent pass blocking by our line.

2) DL showed its quality. No, Mario didn't get a sack. But we raked up five, anyways..... and it had a lot to do with our line having depth. I'm happy that we have guys like Seth Payne who give the game everything they can even when they are not starters.

3) Running game. Lundy with 58 yards. Taylor with 50+ yards. Finished the game with a grand total of 173. I call this an "Ode to Zone Blocking" and the one cut system. Kubiak has brought some hardcore running tactics with him from a well known Broncos team.

4) Pass rush. We had Printers running for his life on every other play. We forced him to make bad decisions and make plays on the run. Our pass defense is now complimented by an above average pass rush. The sky is the limit here.

5) Special Teams. Yea, we suffered a turnover due to a lowsy punt catching attempt. But our ST showed that we have depth beyond that of our injured Pro Bowler Mathis. Congrats on setting a good pace for the preseason, and onward!

Three areas that need improvement:

1) CBs and Safety. Our secondary needs improvement. There were times when there were gaps that should not have existed, and situations where our CBs needed to play closer man to man (ie. the long pass by Printers down the left side). I know that the majority of our secondary did not play for even most of the first quarter, but still.... we need more depth.

2) Rush defense. The Chiefs (as expected) tore a sizeable whole in our line when rushing. Our 2nd and 3rd teams did not allow as much rushing yardage, but we definitely have to take a look and create some rush D.

3) Rush blocking. Yea, we had an excellent running game. But our 1st team O-line needs to work more with the zone blocking and get focused. The first five times we attempted to run, we were met with between 1-4 yard gains. We can improve that.

All in all we had an excellent game for a preseason opener. I could not have drawn it up any more perfectly.

Game highlight..... BENNIE JOPPRU CATCH. Been waiting for that for some long years now.... maybe he can step up and be a relatively useful weapon for this rising team!

 

[BigDTexansFan]

I saw somewhere that he broke one for 40+ yards!
But in all honesty...it WAS against the Titans D.

if you watch highlight one of players blocking for him pushed guy from behind down, which if NFL officials were calling penalities (guess they like most of teams working way towards being ready for season) would have called run back for illegal block to back and that would have been just a darn that could have been a great play call for ESPN.

 

[Texans34Life]

Does anyone have a screen cap of the game put into highlights that we can download?

 

[WWX]

Tomorrow will be my chance to actually watch the game. From the few highlights and miniscule NFL Network coverage, along with stats and live internet updates, I know what happened. The ESPN crew strait dogged Mario and praised that N.O. player but I value their opinions as much as roadkill. And ESPN, NFL Network, praised L. Johnson even though Lundy made more yards per carry in the first quarter – game. Point is this system looks good. Carr needs to show more poise, calm down, and watch the entire field. Our D will come along strongly this year. IMO we can make the playoffs even with our crazy schedule. YEA!!!!

 

[Texans34Life]

Does anyone have a screen cap of the game put into highlights that we can download?

I can answer my own question for highlights to the game:

http://www.houstontexans.com/insider/home.php?section=Texans Insider

 

[WWX]

I can answer my own question for highlights to the game:

http://www.houstontexans.com/insider/home.php?section=Texans Insider

nice highlights can’t wait to analyze the entire game.

 

[Sportsfan]

My five key strong points for tonights game:

1) Above average pass blocking. When is the last time we had a game where we took no sacks? Really? Excellent pass blocking by our line.

2) DL showed its quality. No, Mario didn't get a sack. But we raked up five, anyways..... and it had a lot to do with our line having depth. I'm happy that we have guys like Seth Payne who give the game everything they can even when they are not starters.

3) Running game. Lundy with 58 yards. Taylor with 50+ yards. Finished the game with a grand total of 173. I call this an "Ode to Zone Blocking" and the one cut system. Kubiak has brought some hardcore running tactics with him from a well known Broncos team.

4) Pass rush. We had Printers running for his life on every other play. We forced him to make bad decisions and make plays on the run. Our pass defense is now complimented by an above average pass rush. The sky is the limit here.

5) Special Teams. Yea, we suffered a turnover due to a lowsy punt catching attempt. But our ST showed that we have depth beyond that of our injured Pro Bowler Mathis. Congrats on setting a good pace for the preseason, and onward!

Three areas that need improvement:

1) CBs and Safety. Our secondary needs improvement. There were times when there were gaps that should not have existed, and situations where our CBs needed to play closer man to man (ie. the long pass by Printers down the left side). I know that the majority of our secondary did not play for even most of the first quarter, but still.... we need more depth.

2) Rush defense. The Chiefs (as expected) tore a sizeable whole in our line when rushing. Our 2nd and 3rd teams did not allow as much rushing yardage, but we definitely have to take a look and create some rush D.

3) Rush blocking. Yea, we had an excellent running game. But our 1st team O-line needs to work more with the zone blocking and get focused. The first five times we attempted to run, we were met with between 1-4 yard gains. We can improve that.

All in all we had an excellent game for a preseason opener. I could not have drawn it up any more perfectly.

Game highlight..... BENNIE JOPPRU CATCH. Been waiting for that for some long years now.... maybe he can step up and be a relatively useful weapon for this rising team!

Excellent post Lucky13, i pretty much agree w/it all, except the game hightlight for me was watching Lundy run all over.

 

[Doug]

The game is fixing to start on NFL Network!!

 

[football freak]

Rosenfals I still think will have Carr on the bench at some point this season unless Carr gets over being so gunshy after the first four years of torture. Lundy did what he was supposed to do last night. Imagine a full game from these guys after three more weeks of learning the system.