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Takeaways from the Patriots game.

usernameJJ

Waterboy
My biggest takeaway is that OB finally got the monkey off his back. It seemed to me that before the game Bellicheck and OB exchanged brains. Was it just me or did Bellicheck do some very OB things last night? Right before halftime not going for it there. What do you gain by punting?
 

ObsiWan

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
NFL network said someone named Takiesha(?) reported that Nuk, Watson and maybe others drew up that trick play on a sheet of paper and gave it to OB.
I saw a post-game clip of O'Brien saying the players brought that play to him. If I find that clip I'll post it.
 

Uncle Rico

Ur apology should be as loud as Ur disrespect was
My biggest takeaway is that OB finally got the monkey off his back. It seemed to me that before the game Bellicheck and OB exchanged brains. Was it just me or did Bellicheck do some very OB things last night? Right before halftime not going for it there. What do you gain by punting?
Bill Belichek respects Deshaun Watson more than some of the Texan "fans" here!! He said it before the game how you cant give him too much time to make plays, and you could see that thought play out in this specific instance.
 

Mr teX

Hall of Fame
Ahhhhh nothing like a week off hunting and fishing to recharge the batteries yeah!? Top it off with an asswhipping of the evil empire?? How good was that? I savored the victory more after catching up on all the "awesome" posts I missed last week. You guys were busy!! Seems like the Deshaun Hate Squad will have to suck it up another week. Maybe he will figure out how to read blitzes at some point? LOL.

It was good to see a proactive attack, even if littered with the usual inside runs and screens. In order for Deshaun Watson to "read the blitz and find the open guy" there needs to be .. open guys. If you dont attack a defense in multiple levels via the passing game then its just 4 dudes running down the field and then trying to get open. Last night I saw a more concerted effort in using natural rubs and bunch formations - mind you, OBriens bunch or stack leaves alot to be desired, but at least its there. Lets work on the shallow exit route from that trip set as we go. Tight End inclusion was nice to see again after a few week absence, funny what that does to offensive rhythm huh? Duke Johnson is this teams best running back, it was nice to see him treated as such. Hyde is just a battering ram, and should be the short down/distance guy IMO. Duke can be a 3 down back, and opens up so many more plays for this offense. Bringing him in every other series or solely on passing downs is poor use of the talent.

All of Deshauns scoring plays last night came from a moving pocket. Hmmm. Maybe we should use that more. Like. Every week. Be that team that gets known for the "moving pocket" plays or whatever you want. It puts Deshaun at the apex of his skill set. Having him stand in the pocket and "deliver the ball" with the way this OL has been playing is just dumb.

On that note .. WHAT THE !@#$ HAPPENED TO THE OFFENSIVE LINE!?!? Holy crap they were playing so good a few weeks ago, and now its like last year all over again, and thats WITH TUNSIL, SHARPING AND MARTIN in there!!! Dont get me started on Tunsil. Im convinced that dude is out there playing high on marijuana thats the only logical explanation when a guy CONTINUALLY is jumping offsides. How many more penalties last night? His run blocking is pathetic for a supposed "all pro" type guy, and the penalty problem? Does not equal a 100M contract from me, and even more painful giving away 2 1st round picks for that is heartbreaking. But yeah "he's a really good pass blocker". Tough scene, hope they can play better.

ROMEO CRENNEL. My man. TT's red headed step child. Composed another masterpiece last night. Triple B in effect all night. Took away Edelman early and Tommy Boy didnt know what to do! RAC drew up some EXOTIC fronts, and brought some DBS on new blitz packages I had not seen yet. Just an awesome display of coordination, knew what they wanted to do, and took it away. LBs came in dressed as a SWAT team and they took down the bad guys, they were thumping!! LOL @ "Martin is only .5 sacks away from JD Clowney blah blah" its funny (shows a shortsighted view on team value but I LIKE IT LOL) it was good for him to get out there and do the only thing he does well and get after the QB. Give him the Elephant and tell him to go Bobby Boucher at the snap of the ball. It keeps him out of the run game where he's a liability on the edge. Good game from him. DJ Reader is a pro bowl NT and had another great game last night 2 gapping the living hell out of the Pats.

Special teams did their jobs and it was a solid ALL 3 PHASES win.

So in the spirit of "team building" that has been going on around here for the last week regardless on who you "hate" I give you guys this!:

The overwhelming majority of DW4's passes were completed with him just standing in the pocket. What you saw last night was him delivering the ball on time & taking what the defense gives him...which is what many of us have been saying he needs to do more often period. Only 1 of those scoring plays was what you would've called a designed moving pocket, the TD to Fells...& we've seen that play alot this year. The other 2 TD passes he threw was just him moving in the pocket naturally the way he should move when he gets pressure from the outside. That is to say, whether or not he was moving or not had 0 to do with how successful those plays were; pretty sure both of those TD passes he threw he would've stood pat in the pocket if he hadn't been pressured.

The trick play was a nice wrinkle, but i could easily see folks like you criticizing BoB for it if it went awry or if DW4 or Nuk got hurt.
 

BattleBull

Practice Squad
They are not the '85 Bears
They’ve beat up on a lot of bad teams. Their schedule has been a joke, the only two teams they played this season(Us and Baltimore) lit them up. Dallas is bad. Philly is horrible. Washington, Miami, Cleveland aren’t good. Buffalo they played early and we’re still putting it together.

I expect the Chiefs will put up a good number of points next week as well.
 

Bugman7star

All Pro
My takeaway is that the offense needs to continue doing what they did last night. NE's defense statistics-wise was among the best in the league and we had their number for most of the game with good execution and play-calling. We clearly have play makers on offense if we spread the ball around. Keep doing that and stay healthy. Also, please get rid of all prevent defense schemes. That has (New Orleans) and will cost us close games. We have a chance to make a run if we do that.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
The only Deshaun "haters" who should be eating crow right now are the ones who said he'll never get it.

This game, imo, shows he is starting to get it. & however badas5 his stats are now, however high he ranks now, is nothing compared to what we are going to see in the future.
 

CPTTexan

Waterboy
Brady missed multiple targets in the game imo he wasn’t accurate. it’s ok to admit he’s on the decline
My only issue with this thought, is that this has been said for a good 4 or 5 years running now and every year he just keeps being the usual Tom Brady. There have definitely been struggles this year, but that is less on him and more on his terrible receivers outside Edelman. Sure, at some point he will truly decline, but I think he will walk away before that shows on the field.
 

CPTTexan

Waterboy
To all the people who said Watson has to make more check down passes and look for the quick short pass:

You were right. When he does that, it helps the offense perform like it did last night.

There were a few quick passes he made to keep momentum and the offense moving.
To be fair...I think a lot of us have said he needs to look for those check downs and quick short passes more often. That just seems like smart football compared to long drawn out plays on the regular.
 

Omerta

Waterboy
Question their competition if you like. The stats backed up the hype. Don't undercut this victory.
I don't think it undercuts the victory at all. Or at least I didn't mean for it to. You guys went out there and you blew out a good defense, that's pretty hard to do. They're not historic, but there's certainly a good defense.

I think what makes it more impressive, is it's not a battle of X's and O's. This year when you're playing the Patriots, you have to have your mind right. The media is hyping them up as if they're the second coming of the Ravens or bears historic defenses, and to his credit bill is going to come out and throw some crazy stuff at you to see what you do. If you let it get in your head it's going to be a long day.

I think what impressed me about the Texans, as they saw some of that funky stuff, and they didn't Wilt. Normally Bill belichick comes out straight up man to man coverage, just gets after you. This time he was rolling coverages, he was playing quarter quarter half defenses, he was playing covered two, his version of a tampa-2, he was playing man, he was throwing everything he could have at you guys. You guys should be proud because you have a championship mindset. That's far more important than out scheming somebody, is coming in and saying do your very worst, and we're still going to come in and punch you in the mouth.

don't get me wrong the Texans put together some great schemes, and some great play-calling. But they just looked the NFL's Boogeyman in the eyes and punched him right in the mouth. That is far more important to me, as a fan of a team. If I'm going to lose, fine, everybody's going to lose. but if you lose because you're scared and you beat yourself, that's when I get sick to my stomach.

The Texans didn't do that, it doesn't undercut the victory at all, it makes it more impressive because they beat him with a mindset, and not a blackboard.
 
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dream_team

Hall of Fame
To all the people who said Watson has to make more check down passes and look for the quick short pass:

You were right. When he does that, it helps the offense perform like it did last night.

There were a few quick passes he made to keep momentum and the offense moving.
To me, it's not about "taking more short passes"... it's about taking what the defense gives. BUT, at the same time, you want to play to your offense's strengths. If Will Fuller is single-covered, with no safety help, and there's no blitz... I want to see DW take advantage of that situation. Trust that the protection will hold up and screw the check-down.
 

Uncle Rico

Ur apology should be as loud as Ur disrespect was
The only Deshaun "haters" who should be eating crow right now are the ones who said he'll never get it.

This game, imo, shows he is starting to get it. & however badas5 his stats are now, however high he ranks now, is nothing compared to what we are going to see in the future.
LOL @ "starting to get it" ... okay TK ... okay.
 

Uncle Rico

Ur apology should be as loud as Ur disrespect was
Question their competition if you like. The stats backed up the hype. Don't undercut this victory.
Pats had only given up 4 pass TDs all year, and that was including the "vaunted" BAL offense. Texans put up 3 in one game on them. They are a hell of a defense dont let pundits fool you, they got caught up last night being too cocky about their abilities running out Cover 0 and jailhouse blitz stuff trying to mimic what BAL and IND did to confuse Watson and he just carved them up - Pats ran into a team that has TRUE receiving threats and you cant cover them all!
 

TexansBull

Hall of Fame
To me, it's not about "taking more short passes"... it's about taking what the defense gives. BUT, at the same time, you want to play to your offense's strengths. If Will Fuller is single-covered, with no safety help, and there's no blitz... I want to see DW take advantage of that situation. Trust that the protection will hold up and screw the check-down.
I hear what you are saying and I agree if the situation presents itself.

It all comes down to timing and execution.

But you can’t always swing for the fences and force it. Sometimes you have to take dink and dunk to set up those big plays.

Like you said, it’s about what the defense is giving you.
 

Double Barrel

Texans Talk Admin
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Honestly my takeaway is I’m a bad fan.

Has written this off as a L before the game kicked off.
Nah, man, not a 'bad fan.' Being cynical doesn't make you bad. They've conditioned us to be this way.

Last night was a step in the right direction. I give them all props - from coaching on down - to finally rising up in a prime time game and beating a great opponent.

Now, go out and treat the rest of the regular season games like they treated last night. Own their destiny. Earn respect.

The Patriots have two tough games ahead of them, vs. the Chiefs and Bills. 2nd seed is potentially up for grabs if the Texans can finish with 12 wins.
 

Uncle Rico

Ur apology should be as loud as Ur disrespect was
O'Brien didn't seem to do much of the slow developing iso route stuff, maybe because Fuller was back
confusing because Kenny Stills ran a 4.38 combine 40 while Will Fuller ran a 4.32

Seems like you always have at least one solid burner out there, and then when you have both of these guys it should really cause more mismatches. I loved watching Fuller operate out of the slot more than usual last night, and if it was me I'd be drawing up slot stacks with Stills and Fuller and using that speed in unison. I think Fuller has better hands than Stills so confidence and rapport may be an issue with Watson, but not sure why the 4 fly attack OBrien employs is as bad as it is at times other than that it takes about 3 seconds for them to make a break (usually) if you throw in those shallow 3-5 yard drags and curls it gives Watson the layer necessary to keep the defense honest and the offense in rhythm and on time - then you go a step further and make it your purpose to include Duke Johnson in the passing game and you make the best defense in football look silly. Add NUK to the equation and this offense should be the best passing attack in the league. Maybe one day Deshaun will be able to identify the blitz properly and we can all the see the glorious offensive stratagem that OBrien has envisioned his whole time here. :kitten:
 

NastyNate

I go kerplunk
Why was Clark starting at RT? Thank god they pulled him in the 1st quarter, Roderic Johnson was the much better option and showed it the remainder of the game. We really need help at OLB. Martin showed flashes, Mingo kept getting stonewalled and Mercilus was always away from the play. I'll give Obrien his due, excellent game and a hell of a win. I'm still not buying into him until we actually perform in January.
 

Speedy

Former Yeller Dweller
My only issue with this thought, is that this has been said for a good 4 or 5 years running now and every year he just keeps being the usual Tom Brady. There have definitely been struggles this year, but that is less on him and more on his terrible receivers outside Edelman. Sure, at some point he will truly decline, but I think he will walk away before that shows on the field.
Normally I'd agree with you on this, but Brady's completion percentage is the lowest it's been since 2013, his Y/A is the lowest since 2002, and his TD percentage is the lowest it's ever been. Now maybe it is because his receivers are trash, but there is definitely a decline happening. Could be age, could be trash receivers, could be both. Peyton Manning fell off pretty quickly. When Father Time comes calling, not much you can do about it.
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
DeAndre Hopkins-to-Deshaun Watson TD has interesting origin


The final Texans touchdown in Sunday night's 28-22 win over New England was truly a collaborative effort.
In the boxscore, it'll go down as a 6-yard scoring pass from DeAndre Hopkins to Deshaun Watson.
But really, that duo, along with head coach Bill O'Brien, offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, backup quarterback AJ McCarron, a host of other Texans, and the Chicago Bears deserve some credit for the score.
"I think they drew that one up in the dirt over the bye week, and they brought it in and had it on a piece of notebook paper and handed it to me," O'Brien joked afterwards. "Nah, we've been working on that for awhile. It was all about the timing. Where we could get the ball so we could run a play like that. And the timing was right."

Leading the Patriots 21-9, early in final quarter, the Texans faced a 1st-and-goal at the New England 6-yard line. Watson took the snap, handed off to running back Duke Johnson, who quickly handed it to Hopkins. The All-Pro receiver went right along the line of scrimmage and then flipped it forward to Watson. The signal-caller caught it, dove and stretched for the score, and after the Ka'imi Fairbairn extra point, led 28-9 with 9:58 left in the game.

It was the first completed pass in three attempts for Hopkins' career, and he said a play that was run with ease in practice over the last month was made a lot tougher by the Patriots defense.

"They played it very well," Hopkins said. "They were patient. So I knew I had to kind of tuck the ball and wait for them to commit to throw it to Deshaun. I knew once I threw it to him, he was going to be in."

Watson said he and McCarron saw the Bears run a similar type of play a month or so ago, and showed it to Kelly. They also let Hopkins know about it, and he was all for trying it, too. Ultimately, the Texans knew they'd be able to use it only in a certain situation. That situation came to be on Sunday evening inside NRG Stadium.
"We kept working on it and we knew it was the perfect time where once we get inside that 5 it was going to come," Watson said. "So it was good."

It was the first NFL reception for Watson, and he joined Arian Foster as the only players in franchise history to throw, catch and run for a touchdown. He and Chicago Bear quarterback Jim McMahon (Week 4, 1985) are the only players in NFL history to throw three touchdowns and also catch a score in a game.
 

maverick512000

Hall of Fame
They were up in points and completely dominating the Pats on both sides of the ball so, while it was a high risk, high reward type of play, even if it had gone pear shaped it still likely wouldn’t have had to bad of an affect. Plus Hop finally got to throw a TD pass lol.
 

Texansphan

Football connoisseur
The only Deshaun "haters" who should be eating crow right now are the ones who said he'll never get it.

This game, imo, shows he is starting to get it. & however badas5 his stats are now, however high he ranks now, is nothing compared to what we are going to see in the future.
Absolutely this.
 

ObsiWan

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
My only issue with this thought, is that this has been said for a good 4 or 5 years running now and every year he just keeps being the usual Tom Brady. There have definitely been struggles this year, but that is less on him and more on his terrible receivers outside Edelman. Sure, at some point he will truly decline, but I think he will walk away before that shows on the field.
Brady is still slinging it - he leads the league in number of attempts. However, he's #29th in completion percentage. Not sure if that means he's missing more often or if his current receiving corps can't catch.
Some of both most likely.
 

dream_team

Hall of Fame
Why was Clark starting at RT? Thank god they pulled him in the 1st quarter, Roderic Johnson was the much better option and showed it the remainder of the game. We really need help at OLB. Martin showed flashes, Mingo kept getting stonewalled and Mercilus was always away from the play. I'll give Obrien his due, excellent game and a hell of a win. I'm still not buying into him until we actually perform in January.
Clark and Johnson platoon'd, with Clark getting 61% of the snaps. Did he have a bad game? I didn't notice TBH. The only times I got pissed at the line, it was directed at Tunsil & Max, so I assumed the RTs did their job.
 

Uncle Rico

Ur apology should be as loud as Ur disrespect was
Always selling O'Brien short. He masterminded 4 passing TDs last night. Watson threw three & caught 1

3+1=4
Ummm actually no he didnt "mastermind" anything. That trick play came about because the players recognized it earlier in the year (Chicago- offensive whiz coach) and wanted to include it in the playbook/gameplan for the week. If you want to give OBrien a cookie for "allowing" them to run it. Okay give him macadamia nut.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Ummm actually no he didnt "mastermind" anything. That trick play came about because the players recognized it earlier in the year (Chicago- offensive whiz coach) and wanted to include it in the playbook/gameplan for the week. If you want to give OBrien a cookie for "allowing" them to run it. Okay give him macadamia nut.
It's still 4 passing TDs
 

DocBar

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
My biggest takeaway is still that this team is so Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This was the game I was expecting to see against the Ravens. This game plan would've beaten the Ravens.
I'll give credit where credit is due, OB had this team ready to go and called a very good game. Well done. Please do that for the next 8 games.
 

Earl34

Hall of Fame
I wasn't at the game, but watching on TV, whenever the camera showed the bench, it seems that Watson and the WRs were communicating with each other. I saw Watson showing the WRs something on the tablet and either O'Brien or someone from the coaching staff seemed to be talking to Watson more than usual.

Did anyone else notice how engaged the offense were with each other and the coaches when they came off the field?
 

DocBar

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
DeAndre Hopkins-to-Deshaun Watson TD has interesting origin

The final Texans touchdown in Sunday night's 28-22 win over New England was truly a collaborative effort.
In the boxscore, it'll go down as a 6-yard scoring pass from DeAndre Hopkins to Deshaun Watson.
But really, that duo, along with head coach Bill O'Brien, offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, backup quarterback AJ McCarron, a host of other Texans, and the Chicago Bears deserve some credit for the score.
"I think they drew that one up in the dirt over the bye week, and they brought it in and had it on a piece of notebook paper and handed it to me," O'Brien joked afterwards. "Nah, we've been working on that for awhile. It was all about the timing. Where we could get the ball so we could run a play like that. And the timing was right."

Leading the Patriots 21-9, early in final quarter, the Texans faced a 1st-and-goal at the New England 6-yard line. Watson took the snap, handed off to running back Duke Johnson, who quickly handed it to Hopkins. The All-Pro receiver went right along the line of scrimmage and then flipped it forward to Watson. The signal-caller caught it, dove and stretched for the score, and after the Ka'imi Fairbairn extra point, led 28-9 with 9:58 left in the game.

It was the first completed pass in three attempts for Hopkins' career, and he said a play that was run with ease in practice over the last month was made a lot tougher by the Patriots defense.

"They played it very well," Hopkins said. "They were patient. So I knew I had to kind of tuck the ball and wait for them to commit to throw it to Deshaun. I knew once I threw it to him, he was going to be in."

Watson said he and McCarron saw the Bears run a similar type of play a month or so ago, and showed it to Kelly. They also let Hopkins know about it, and he was all for trying it, too. Ultimately, the Texans knew they'd be able to use it only in a certain situation. That situation came to be on Sunday evening inside NRG Stadium.
"We kept working on it and we knew it was the perfect time where once we get inside that 5 it was going to come," Watson said. "So it was good."

It was the first NFL reception for Watson, and he joined Arian Foster as the only players in franchise history to throw, catch and run for a touchdown. He and Chicago Bear quarterback Jim McMahon (Week 4, 1985) are the only players in NFL history to throw three touchdowns and also catch a score in a game.
Didn't Nick Foles do that in the SB or was that pass for 3 touchdowns and catch a touchdown?
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
How Texans borrowed from an AFC rival on touchdown vs. Patriots
Dec. 2, 2019


The Texans borrowed a wrinkle from the Ravens' playbook, executing Baltimore's version of a three tight end formation for a touchdown in Sunday's win over the Patriots.

When the Patriots lost to the Ravens earlier this season, they struggled like most defenses to contain versatile quarterback Lamar Jackson.

The Ravens used a pistol formation with three tight ends and did damage with a read-option play during which Jackson handed it off to running back Mark Ingram for a first down. They call the two tight ends in the backfield brawny look a bully formation.

During a 28-22 win Sunday night, tight ends Jordan Akins and Darren Fells lined up in the backfield split across from quarterback Deshaun Watson with running back Carlos Hyde lined up behind him. Watson faked a handoff to Hyde and kept the football as both Akins and Fells bolted into the secondary on the left side. Fells was left completely uncovered on a 13-yard touchdown catch. Tight end Jordan Thomas was lined up as a traditional in-line blocker on the right side.

Earlier in the game, the Texans lined up in the pistol with three tight ends and ran the ball for a short gain. By running the ball earlier, the Texans made the Patriots respect the possibility of a running play.


THE REST OF THE STORY
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
I wonder, if we didn't play prevent defense there at the end, would Brady have scored sooner, leaving more time on the clock to get a 2nd posession without having to resort to an onside kick.
 
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