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Send in the Clowns

Wolf

100% Texan
September 12, 2005
Send in the Clowns
by Keith Weiland
HoustonProFootball.com

This is the time when I’m supposed to insert a joke at the expense of the Texans. Kick a man when he’s down. Knee him in the groin. Take away his lunch money. Tongue his girlfriend.

I just can’t. The Texans fail to engender any emotion from this particular fan. Their 22-7 loss to Bills on Sunday was gutless, hopeless, demoralizing, and completely devoid of passion.

But the players are still human, right? If you prick them, do they not bleed?

Of course they will. It’s just that these guys have been behaviorally modified to approach each game like a professional on a routine business trip. The Texans, like any organization, are taking on the persona of their leader, head coach Dom Capers.

The man is unflappable. His schedule is executed with military precision. I bet he even flosses every day. Capers never lets his emotions get the best of him and advises his team of the same.

But that’s just the problem, isn’t it? Capers won’t get the best of his players until he lets them play with some emotion.

http://www.houstonprofootball.com/scout/scout116.html
 
from the article and they have a picture of the boss (as capers) from the movie office space.

Ahhhh... we have sort of a problem here, David. Hmmm, yeeaaaahhh... Ahhh... I'm going to have to ask you to come in on Sunday, too. That would be great."

too funny :tv:
 
PICTURE_scout116.gif

"Ahhhh... we have sort of a problem here, David.
Hmmm, yeeaaaahhh... Ahhh... I'm going to have
to ask you to come in on Sunday, too.
That would be great."
 
I don't see this as a total meltdown. The defense gave the offense numerous chances to get back into the game in the second half and the total ineptness of the offense prevented that from happening. Two if the Bills drives in the first half started deep in Houston territory but the defense only allowed them in the endzone once. That's what I'm hanging my hat on. It's all there is.
 
Vinny said:
PICTURE_scout116.gif

"Ahhhh... we have sort of a problem here, David.
Hmmm, yeeaaaahhh... Ahhh... I'm going to have
to ask you to come in on Sunday, too.
That would be great."


thanks for doing the pic vinny.. I didn't know how.. that is hillarious just thinking about that guy talking.. and match that with Capers look that you normally see


I got tears coming out of my eyes and my stomach is hurting!!!
 
aj. said:
I don't see this as a total meltdown. The defense gave the offense numerous chances to get back into the game in the second half and the total ineptness of the offense prevented that from happening. Two if the Bills drives in the first half started deep in Houston territory but the defense only allowed them in the endzone once. That's what I'm hanging my hat on. It's all there is.
I think the defense had made some great adjustments at the half and Losman didn't look the same in the second half while Pbuc turned up his game a notch (I've noticed he has gotten bashed over and over here by some, but he never gave up a TD) as well. The Texas - OU game had a similar deal where the defense kept the offense in the game against a team with an outstanding D...the big difference was that Young made some plays and our guys didn't.
 
same website and their game day review.

http://www.houstonprofootball.com/game/

Part of what went wrong

Confidence
Confidence is a powerful force when you have it. A devastating debility when it is lost. There was a swagger on opening night in 2002, when a young team shocked the world by the score of 19-10. It was nowhere to be found on the Texans sideline in this initial game of the season. The QB distrusts his teammates. The offensive coordinator has no faith in the QB. The defensive coordinator does not believe the players he has coached will execute the blitzes he has designed. And a head coach thinks that a fourth-and-three conversion by his offense is less likely than a miracle comeback with less than two minutes left on the clock. Maybe it was naiveté rather than confidence that filled the air that evening against the Dallas Cowboys. That innocence has been lost.

Part of what went right

Defense Regroups in Second Half
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio made halftime adjustments that kept J.P. Losman off balance and the Bills out of the endzone. The major improvement came from giving more help to Philip (Don’t call me Showtime) Buchanon. Seth Payne turned a poor first half around with six total tackles.
 
heh-heh...Office Space...I needed the laugh. Thanks! :thumbup

I agree with Vinny's assessment. The D kept us in the game, but the O never arrived.
 
aj. said:
I don't see this as a total meltdown. The defense gave the offense numerous chances to get back into the game in the second half and the total ineptness of the offense prevented that from happening. Two if the Bills drives in the first half started deep in Houston territory but the defense only allowed them in the endzone once. That's what I'm hanging my hat on. It's all there is.
I agree,if it wasnt for our defense the score would have been 55-7.Maybe our defense can score some points this weekend.I recall last year Capers making comments something to the effect "Our goal is to keep it close in the fourth quarter" Maybe we should try to score in quarters 1 thru 3 then put the game away in the fourth :hmmm:
 
I think you are giving the D too much credit. keep in mind that the Bills had one of the worst scoring offenses in the red zone.

They marched down the field repeatedly, they just didnt score a TD when they got within the 20.

Our D provided NO pass rush, and while Pbuc didnt give up a TD, he did give up a slew of yards. Did he even get a defensed pass?

Our defense did NOT play good.. they played average at best. And our biggest problem.. the pass rush.. is STILL our biggest problem. It seems we made NO progress in that department over the offseason.. despite going up against one of the worst lines from last year.
 
I think the defense had made some great adjustments at the half and Losman didn't look the same in the second half while Pbuc turned up his game a notch (I've noticed he has gotten bashed over and over here by some, but he never gave up a TD) as well. The Texas - OU game had a similar deal where the defense kept the offense in the game against a team with an outstanding D...the big difference was that Young made some plays and our guys didn't.

Glad I am not the only one that thinks PBuch did not play as horrible as some are claiming on here...PBuch had 2 great plays in the first half that were negated by penalties...
 
texan279 said:
Glad I am not the only one that thinks PBuch did not play as horrible as some are claiming on here...PBuch had 2 great plays in the first half that were negated by penalties...

I agree. I feel that many here did not watch the whole game. Maybe I am a geek, but I do not take any plays off when I watch the Texans.
 
I think a few start to scream 'pbuc sucks' and the rest of the herd just chimes in as a mob of bashing the current player of the moment. The only TD the Bills scored yesterday was off a trick play - A Tackle eligible. If you read this board long enough you would figure pbuc gave up 4 TD's and the defense was abused all game.
 
texan279 said:
Glad I am not the only one that thinks PBuch did not play as horrible as some are claiming on here...PBuch had 2 great plays in the first half that were negated by penalties...
I thought he did fine with the lack of pass rush we had. He was picked on because they avoided Dunta. Fans seem to forget that Dunta wasn't the all-everything CB at first last year. He blew a lot of plays. Buchanon does has a lot of room to improve though.
 
The play I remember best is when he dropped McGahee for a 5 yard loss and we were called for offsides I think...He also had another tackle for a loss that was negated due to penalty...But no, some want Glenn back because he had one INT yesterday that was tipped into his hands and was all over Sportscenter...
 
Vinny said:
I think the defense had made some great adjustments at the half and Losman didn't look the same in the second half while Pbuc turned up his game a notch (I've noticed he has gotten bashed over and over here by some, but he never gave up a TD) as well. The Texas - OU game had a similar deal where the defense kept the offense in the game against a team with an outstanding D...the big difference was that Young made some plays and our guys didn't.

Similiar, but yet not even close. The Texas Longhorns Defense won that game. They made big play after big play, from sacks to big hits when they really needed them. OSU was in FG range when they got the ball off turnovers and either went backwards or didn't get a first down. Not everytime, but most. V. Young contributed to the win, but at the same time made a couple very stupid plays. The difference between him and DC is when VInce makes a mistake, he bounces right back with all the confidence in the world. Nothing seemes to bother this kid. DC may have been a lot like that too, prior to sack after sack after sack.
 
I dont want Glenn back and I think Pbuc has a lot of potential.

But im not going to sugarcoat the fact that they moved the ball downfield repeatedly by just tossing it to his side.
 
But im not going to sugarcoat the fact that they moved the ball downfield repeatedly by just tossing it to his side.

Well it's not hard when there is no pass rush and Losman has about 5 seconds in the pocket...It's hard to cover a WR one on one for that long in the NFL. Not only that, from what I remember he did not give up any big plays, though I may be wrong...
 
I don't see why they didn't give him help early on to begin with since he'd been picked on most of the preseason too. On top of that we had Brown starting the game at SS. If you had the choice as a QB to throw to the side with DRob and Coleman covering or the side with PBuch and Brown covering who would you pick on?

On a side note I thought the defense played well against the run early in the game, but after being out on the field so long they got worn out in the second half and allowed more yards as the game went on. I was also impressed with the goal line play where Brown was aggressive and met the RB in the hole and stopped him for no gain or a short loss. TJ looked to force the play to the outside, and Brown did his job well.
 
HoustonHarley said:
Similiar, but yet not even close. The Texas Longhorns Defense won that game. They made big play after big play, from sacks to big hits when they really needed them. OSU was in FG range when they got the ball off turnovers and either went backwards or didn't get a first down. Not everytime, but most. V. Young contributed to the win, but at the same time made a couple very stupid plays. The difference between him and DC is when VInce makes a mistake, he bounces right back with all the confidence in the world. Nothing seemes to bother this kid. DC may have been a lot like that too, prior to sack after sack after sack.
Their defense can't win that game without clutch play from the offense. We had no clutch play from our offense...at all. I don't buy Carr is 'ruined'. I see that over and over here but I think he causes most of his own problems. Rob Johnson was the same type QB. As soon as Flutie replaced him the sacks dropped off and the Bills had the same line. Nothing changed except for the veteran QB that replaced the young sack prone qb that couldnt read defenses and never had a good feel for the pass rush.
 
I thought about that and Losman made a nice pass in the 1st quarter for about a 30ish yard gain on the WR that Pbuc was playing .. it was a perfect pass ..pbuc burned.

Later in the game Drob was on someone and it was a play over the middle near the goal line and Losman led him too far.. incomplete.. At the time I thought how a difference that makes Drob could have been burned as easy as pbuc was. or viceversa on that.
 
I don't agree and no I'm not part of the herd. Buchanan played badly in the first half and made a few plays in the second half after they made adjustments to help him. Exactly who was he going against that required him to have help. It's not going to get any easier throughout the year. The bills went after him early and often for a reason.
 
I agree about the pass rush.. its not JUST Pbuc.. its the whole defense not functioning properly.

At this point.. Pbuc IS part of the problem though. If you throw pass after pass after pass after pass to his side.. eventually.. i expect him to do something about it. Get an Int.. or get close to an Int.. or at least knock a couple down.. make them WORRY about throwing it to your side so that they cant just keep throwing it there and kill us with field goals.

But our defense played mediocre imo. People keep saying "they played great, they kept the game close".. so? How many drives did they have before we got a three and out? They didnt STOP anyone until they got in field goal range. That isnt a great defensive move IMO. The only time we were ever able to stop their offense was when the field was shortened enough to give us a big advantage. Good defenses dont do that.
 
Vinny said:
Their defense can't win that game without clutch play from the offense. I don't buy Carr is 'ruined'. I see that over and over here but I think he causes most of his own problems. Rob Johnson was the same type QB. As soon as Flutie replaced him the sacks dropped off and the Bills had the same line. Nothing changed except for the veteran QB that replaced the young sack prone qb that couldnt read defenses and never had a good feel for the pass rush.

I dont' think Carr is ruined either but Unless we get the reincarnation of Mathews Munchak and Steinkuhler on the line, it is going to take him some time to be comfortable in the pocket and trust his linemen..

I am believe that you could compare Carr to a baseball pitcher.. if you are scared to throw it over the plate and don't trust your catcher.. it is a long season.
 
Grid said:
But im not going to sugarcoat the fact that they moved the ball downfield repeatedly by just tossing it to his side.
I'm not sugar-coating it either. I just feel like he has been ragged on with very little cause.

-He had a preseason rep of being a poor tackler: He looked like most CBs on Sunday.
-He had a rep of giving up big plays: He gave up none.

He did give up a few yards but most of that was because he was playing off the receivers and we had no pressure on Losman. Neither were his fault IMO.
 
Patrick Ramsey is reportedly asking for a trade from the Redskins (about time), but perhaps he and Carr could start a support group for frequently sacked and pounded QBs kind of like AA, but BB for Battered and Bruised.
 
Grid said:
I agree about the pass rush.. its not JUST Pbuc.. its the whole defense not functioning properly.

At this point.. Pbuc IS part of the problem though. If you throw pass after pass after pass after pass to his side.. eventually.. i expect him to do something about it. Get an Int.. or get close to an Int.. or at least knock a couple down.. make them WORRY about throwing it to your side so that they cant just keep throwing it there and kill us with field goals.

But our defense played mediocre imo. People keep saying "they played great, they kept the game close".. so? How many drives did they have before we got a three and out? They didnt STOP anyone until they got in field goal range. That isnt a great defensive move IMO. The only time we were ever able to stop their offense was when the field was shortened enough to give us a big advantage. Good defenses dont do that.

I agree with Grid here and I'll throw this tidbit in. The Bills first punt wasn't until sometime in the 3rd quarter.
 
from what I saw....the defense made adjustments and the offense did not. Who gets the credit for the defense, and who gets the blame for the offense?
 
vtech9 said:
from what I saw....the defense made adjustments and the offense did not. Who gets the credit for the defense, and who gets the blame for the offense?

The offensive line and Matt Stevens are usually default answers. :cool:
 
Vinny said:
Their defense can't win that game without clutch play from the offense. We had no clutch play from our offense...at all. I don't buy Carr is 'ruined'. I see that over and over here but I think he causes most of his own problems. Rob Johnson was the same type QB. As soon as Flutie replaced him the sacks dropped off and the Bills had the same line. Nothing changed except for the veteran QB that replaced the young sack prone qb that couldnt read defenses and never had a good feel for the pass rush.


That's possible of course. We need some more information to really get close to being positive that it's really just a "Carr sucks at some important aspects of his job" thing.

To begin with the best possible answer would be letting Banks start for a few games. I'd like to see how many times he gets sacked behind this line and compare it to the number of times David goes down. I wish could come up with some numbers from 2003 when Banks started two or three games in a row. Maybe someone else in here can get that.

I'd also like to know if Carr got sacked a lot at Fresno State. It wouldn't really tell us anything if he didn't because it could just be a question of Carr adapting to the speed of the NFL game. Maybe he can handle it in the WAC but can't in the NFL. If he did get sacked a lot and held on to the ball then that's a no brainer.

Isn't Chris Palmer the guy who helped to develop the QB legend that was Rob Johnson? Just curious.

It's possible that Carr wasn't ruined but rather can't cut it in the NFL. I personally don't buy it but admit it's possible. I think it's far more likely that the conditions of his first three seasons have adversely affected his development. Maybe we could find a team that's given up 161 sacks in three years and see how their starting QB plays. Might be hard to do though. I don't think there are too many teams getting their passers beaten like that.
 
Hervoyel said:
I'd also like to know if Carr got sacked a lot at Fresno State. It wouldn't really tell us anything if he didn't because it could just be a question of Carr adapting to the speed of the NFL game. Maybe he can handle it in the WAC but can't in the NFL. If he did get sacked a lot and held on to the ball then that's a no brainer.
Here is a blurb on his negatives from his original profile at NFL.com

Negatives: While he shows accuracy on his long passes, his arm strength is adequate, as he tends to arc his deep attempts … Holds the ball too long, inviting the sack, rather than dumping it off or throwing it away … Makes proper checks, but does not have a variety of throws … Needs to improve his pass drop, as he does a lot of three-step motion and will hold the ball a little too long, taking the sack rather than throwing it away.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2002/profiles/carr_david.htm
 
Well, that certainly sounds like Carr is not the perfect QB to work with our offensive lines "shortcomings". It looks like his weaknesses play right into what we don't do particularly well to begin with.
 
Grid said:
I think you are giving the D too much credit. keep in mind that the Bills had one of the worst scoring offenses in the red zone.

They marched down the field repeatedly, they just didnt score a TD when they got within the 20.

Our D provided NO pass rush, and while Pbuc didnt give up a TD, he did give up a slew of yards. Did he even get a defensed pass?

Our defense did NOT play good.. they played average at best. And our biggest problem.. the pass rush.. is STILL our biggest problem. It seems we made NO progress in that department over the offseason.. despite going up against one of the worst lines from last year.
In total aggreement, no progress at all in any phase of this team since last year, if anything we have regressed some. I know some are saying, 'its only game one,' but let's get real, this was a butt kicking plan and simple. I aggree with one member who said this team took on the persona of the head coach Capers. He is totally unaffected by this loss and all the others in preseason, when he should be P o-ed out of his mind. At some point you have to 'get mad', show some passion. Get your troops riled up'. They looked broken out there to me, just listless. Capers has to take control of this team before 'he loses them.' The defense feels frustrated, and yet they have not played 'great either'. Average is a good term, no pass rush, and when they did get in' they missed the QB, were we playing Mike Vick? Losman elluded every blizter who came in, and then went on to complete a pass for first downs over and over. Palmer needs to come down from the box, and down to earth. You see your quaterback getting killed, you don't call long routes? Simple to everyone else. Not him, he's stubborn. I don't mind being conservative if you are trying to win and being smart. None of the play calls were smart, a good coach adapts his philosphy to his players, not forcing the players to adapt to the system. We do not have the personnel to have long drops, reverses, misdirections, we can't hold any blocks? Snap the ball quickly, catch the def off guard and don't ask your lineman to stand there for 20 sec while you're deciding on a play. If Carr makes bad decisions then he's got alot of help in making them. Yes he's looked poor, but there's enough blame for everyone. We're not seeing the recievers break their routes off early, we're not seeing the TE and RB not picking up the blitzes are we. No we see the QB lookin, lookin, lookin, SACK.
David's taking alot of the blame but it needs to be spread around. He doesn't suck, he's in a sucky system that doesn't protect his weaknesses, and doesn't exemplify his strengths. Problem number one isn't the o line, its the Offensive coordinator. Problem number two is the o line. :drool:
 
Vinny said:
I think the defense had made some great adjustments at the half and Losman didn't look the same in the second half while Pbuc turned up his game a notch (I've noticed he has gotten bashed over and over here by some, but he never gave up a TD) as well. The Texas - OU game had a similar deal where the defense kept the offense in the game against a team with an outstanding D...the big difference was that Young made some plays and our guys didn't.


I agree Vinny. I was telling the guys at work that our D held them to 4 FG's. We were still in the game! We were behind by just 12 pts. I feel the D make good adjustments.

bobby 119C :texflag:
 
The Texans Need To Draft Better...they Blew It Again When They Passed On Brandon Jacobs Rookie Rb For The Giants...and Again Last Year They Needed A Pass Rusher And Passed On Marquise Hill..the Pats Have Hill And He Is On The Bench Behind Seymour..could Be Starting Here....the Texans Have No Attitude And No Leader On The Field On Either Side Of The Ball. I Hate To Mention The Cowboys, But That Team Belongs To Roy Williams And It Seems Like The Whole Team Takes On His Mentality. It Was A Big Mistake To Release Sharper And Glenn To Save Money..the Same Money They Used To Overpay Morlon Greenwood. Greenwood Is Average At Best But Not A Sharper By Any Stretch Of The Imagination. This Was Only The First Game...if The Texans Take It On The Chin This Sunday With The Steelers Coming In..maybe They Will Get Mad Enough To Play Ball...i Hate To Say It But The Only Player On The Field In Buffalo Was Rookie..c.c. Brown.....my Dad And Brother Are Seasons Tickets Owners For The Panthers And They Laugh About It And Really Have Me Starting To Believe..."y'all Will Never Be A Serious Contender Until You Get Rid Of Capers".
 
sorry guys. I had to bump this the picture with the caption that vinny put up was too funny
 
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