Some more excuses:

[gtexan02]

Hey I thought I'd post some interesting things that should continue to make us feel pretty good going into our bye week.

Before today we played:
-Eagles
-Colts
-Redskins

We had given up an average of 480+ yards every game, and ranked dead laast by a LARGE margin in total defense because of it. I was the first to jump on the "Texans D is the worst ever" bandwagon, but today was proof again that maybe we weren't that bad, and that the teams were that good.

1 - Eagles are currently top rated offensive team, Indy is #5, and Washington is #11.

2 - The Jaguars, who shut out the Steelers and played Indy well, allowed 481 total yards to the Redkskins!

I'm not saying we are an elite defensive unit, but I thought I'd throw these stats out there -
What does it show?
We, along with some of the best defenses in the NFL (Jax) get smoked by top tier offensive teams.
What happens when we play a more mediocre offense? See todays box score. We held the Dolphins to 289 total yards, and 156 of those came on their last 2 drives of the day! Without those "prevent defense" (I assume) last second drives, they would have had a total of 133 total yards! Crazy!

 

[Ibar_Harry]

Hey I thought I'd post some interesting things that should continue to make us feel pretty good going into our bye week.

Before today we played:
-Eagles
-Colts
-Redskins

We had given up an average of 480+ yards every game, and ranked dead laast by a LARGE margin in total defense because of it. I was the first to jump on the "Texans D is the worst ever" bandwagon, but today was proof again that maybe we weren't that bad, and that the teams were that good.

1 - Eagles are currently top rated offensive team, Indy is #5, and Washington is #11.

2 - The Jaguars, who shut out the Steelers and played Indy well, allowed 481 total yards to the Redkskins!

I'm not saying we are an elite defensive unit, but I thought I'd throw these stats out there -
What does it show?
We, along with some of the best defenses in the NFL (Jax) get smoked by top tier offensive teams.
What happens when we play a more mediocre offense? See todays box score. We held the Dolphins to 289 total yards, and 156 of those came on their last 2 drives of the day! Without those "prevent defense" (I assume) last second drives, they would have had a total of 133 total yards! Crazy!

Probably 3 of the best coaches in the league, if you want to add that to your list.

 

[Maddict5]

the giants were as bad as us v philly and indy and are in mutiny.......oops!!


seriously though i liked seeing the skins torch the jags and thought the same thing-

worried by the jags passing game though...reggie williams looked real good in that game

 

[Jwwillis]

10-01-2006, 11:01 PM #13
Desides
Seasoned Veteran

Join Date: Aug 2006
Age: 22
Posts: 362 Agreed with the contents of your post, but right now, it's ringing a little hollow. We really should've won this game. Culpepper played better, especially in the second half. Our defense was clearly focused. But then Booker slips and falls and doesn't make a catch, and Welker slips and falls and doesn't make the two-point conversion, and we lose a game to the friggin' Texans.

I want to tell myself that we played like winners despite the loss, but... it was the friggin' Texans.

I really believe that our season is over. The schedule only gets harder--much harder--from here. New England, Chicago, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Indy... if we can't beat the friggin' Texans, how can we beat the teams we play down the stretch? How can we even hope to beat the damned Jets, who forced Indy and New England into some very close games?
__________________
Wanting to start Harrington over Culpepper is like wanting Wannstedt back.

 

[Mr teX]

Probably 3 of the best coaches in the league, if you want to add that to your list.[/QUOT

Good point, I knew Philly & Indy would be up there offensively, Washington i thought was decent, But i'm not going to lie & say that I expected they would put up 36 on that Jags defense.

 

[gtexan02]

Indy is leading the league in points per game at nearly 30! wow

 

[Meloy]

Take the win and look for positives but do not ignore the weaknesses. Our tackling was ridiculous. Even the announcers commented on it. This game should not have been this close, if we had just brought some guys down.

 

[Osso]

We really should've won this game. Culpepper played better, especially in the second half. Our defense was clearly focused. But then Booker slips and falls and doesn't make a catch, and Welker slips and falls and doesn't make the two-point conversion, and we lose a game to the friggin' Texans.

Erm....Had they made those catchs you would have scored faster...Had you made the conversion the score would have been tied with 2 minutes left. To say you "should" have won is

 

[DBCooper]

I hope the "Friggin" Texans can make more opposing fans mad.

 

[Double Barrel]

I'm not sure if our defense has 'improved' as much as Miami just sucks right now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm truly happy to see our D show up yesterday, but they gave up too many yards and points in the 4th when we were up 17-6. It all came down to one play, and if that 2 point conversion had been successful, there is no telling how OT would have turned out. It could have been as simple as who won the toss, because I have very little confidence that we can consistently stop even the most floundering of offenses right now.

We've got two really tough opponents ahead of us with Dallas and Jacksonville. It will be interesting to see if our defense gels and puts up a fight against these two proven teams.

 

[Maddict5]

and if that 2 point conversion had been successful, there is no telling how OT would have turned out. It could have been as simple as who won the toss, because I have very little confidence that we can consistently stop even the most floundering of offenses right now.

We've got two really tough opponents ahead of us with Dallas and Jacksonville. It will be interesting to see if our defense gels and puts up a fight against these two proven teams.

what??? if they had scored we would've still probably gotten a fg before the game ends....i mean there time left and we have timeouts and an aggressive coach like kubiak would have gotten us in fg range easy

 

[TexanFanInCC]

Hey I thought I'd post some interesting things that should continue to make us feel pretty good going into our bye week.

Before today we played:
-Eagles
-Colts
-Redskins

We had given up an average of 480+ yards every game, and ranked dead laast by a LARGE margin in total defense because of it. I was the first to jump on the "Texans D is the worst ever" bandwagon, but today was proof again that maybe we weren't that bad, and that the teams were that good.

1 - Eagles are currently top rated offensive team, Indy is #5, and Washington is #11.

2 - The Jaguars, who shut out the Steelers and played Indy well, allowed 481 total yards to the Redkskins!

I'm not saying we are an elite defensive unit, but I thought I'd throw these stats out there -
What does it show?
We, along with some of the best defenses in the NFL (Jax) get smoked by top tier offensive teams.
What happens when we play a more mediocre offense? See todays box score. We held the Dolphins to 289 total yards, and 156 of those came on their last 2 drives of the day! Without those "prevent defense" (I assume) last second drives, they would have had a total of 133 total yards! Crazy!

you beat me to it. maybe the skins offense is really THAT DAMN GOOD! of course philly and indy are who they are. makes ya think a bit...

 

[Double Barrel]

what??? if they had scored we would've still probably gotten a fg before the game ends....i mean there time left and we have timeouts and an aggressive coach like kubiak would have gotten us in fg range easy

Perhaps...it's all speculation at this point. But when we were in the first two minute warning, Kubiak decided to take the tie into halftime in order to avoid running a two minute drill. Who's to say that he had confidence in running it at the end of the game?

Remember, Miami's D was ranked 7th coming into the game.

THE POINT was that our defense should never have put us in that spot to begin with, because we had an 11 point lead in the 4th. Some defenses like to protect leads instead of allowing a potential 2 point conversion tie the game.

 

[hollywood_texan]

I'm not sure if our defense has 'improved' as much as Miami just sucks right now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm truly happy to see our D show up yesterday, but they gave up too many yards and points in the 4th when we were up 17-6. It all came down to one play, and if that 2 point conversion had been successful, there is no telling how OT would have turned out. It could have been as simple as who won the toss, because I have very little confidence that we can consistently stop even the most floundering of offenses right now.

We've got two really tough opponents ahead of us with Dallas and Jacksonville. It will be interesting to see if our defense gels and puts up a fight against these two proven teams.

This surprises me that the defense is getting some heat here. Clearly, they could have played better, but what about the offense?

The defense held the Dolphins to 3 points in the first half and to a total of 6 points in through the third quarter. What else can you expect in the NFL? Maybe a shut-out? Stats are stats, scoreboard is what counts.

Meanwhile, the offense can only put together one field through 3 quarters of play. The offense doesn't run the two minute drill with 1:54 left in the first half on it's own 20. Also, the offense can only get one first down at 5:41 left in the game with an 8 point lead. The result was Miami got the ball back with 3:40 left in the game with a chance to tie it up. Clearly, the offense should have kept the ball to run out the clock or score at least a field goal to put the game pretty much out of reach.

The offense didn't do the defense any favors this game.

The Texans won this game because the defense played a lot better. Meanwhile, the offense played the same as always, about 17 points, a little over 200 yards passing, and 90 yards rushing. That is what they have been averaging since 2004 pretty much every game. A good sign though was that the offense scored two touchdowns late in the game, which is not so common for them.

DB, you need to be just as critical of the offense too!

That is my point.

 

[El Tejano]

The defense did what they could to give away the game but the bottom line is they won a game that they should've lost and most likely would've any other time.

The good that comes from this is what it feels like to win. Hopefully our team is going into this bye with a renewed confidence and gel together, and heal over the next two weeks because a win over Dallas can forgive the previous 3 losses.

 

[Double Barrel]

This surprises me that the defense is getting some heat here. Clearly, they could have played better, but what about the offense?

The defense held the Dolphins to 3 points in the first half and to a total of 6 points in through the third quarter. What else can you expect in the NFL? Maybe a shut-out? Stats are stats, scoreboard is what counts.

Meanwhile, the offense can only put together one field through 3 quarters of play. The offense doesn't run the two minute drill with 1:54 left in the first half on it's own 20. Also, the offense can only get one first down at 5:41 left in the game with an 8 point lead. The result was Miami got the ball back with 3:40 left in the game with a chance to tie it up. Clearly, the offense should have kept the ball to run out the clock or score at least a field goal to put the game pretty much out of reach.

The offense didn't do the defense any favors this game.

The Texans won this game because the defense played a lot better. Meanwhile, the offense played the same as always, about 17 points, a little over 200 yards passing, and 90 yards rushing. That is what they have been averaging since 2004 pretty much every game. A good sign though was that the offense scored two touchdowns late in the game, which is not so common for them.

DB, you need to be just as critical of the offense too!

That is my point.

Fair enough, but the offense was playing the 7th ranked defense in the NFL! They scored enough to win, and that's their job. (scoreboard!)

Miami's offense, however, is anemic at best, and still made up a two score deficit in the 4th quarter. I'm not about to proclaim our D is ready for the Cowboys or Jaguars after barely escaping a sad Miami offense (ready for the Titans....maybe).

Critical analysis of the offense is definitely in order, but this thread is specifically about DEFENSE. Check the offensive minded threads and you'll find my criticism of them, too.

ps. check the time of possession. Our offense definitely did the defense a big favor by being on the field longer than they were!

 

[infantrycak]

Meanwhile, the offense played the same as always, about 17 points, a little over 200 yards passing, and 90 yards rushing. That is what they have been averaging since 2004 pretty much every game.

Ummm, no. The Texans passing O averaged 139 yds per game in 2005. That is not close to the same as 200 ypg.

2005 the rushing game averaged 113 yds at a 4.2 ypc clip. That is dramatically better than the 76 ypg at a 3.2 ypc clip of this season.

Those are both big changes--one good, one bad.