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Takeaways from the Saints game.

Texansphan

Football connoisseur
That was a great game of football - ultimately taken away by a 58 yard FG.
Brees is a genius - no shame to be beaten by him in his house.
Personally, I am surprised we actually had a chance to win that one - I was thinking it would be a 34-17 scoreline.
Most teams have new personnel and need time to adjust and get some cohesion going but some of our guys only arrived in the last few weeks or even days.
Yeah, we can nitpick some mistakes but was a really close game in a LOUD, hostile environment.
I am excited for the rest of the season.
Watson is the real deal - now we gotta look after him.
Carlos Hyde looked like he was gonna bust one to the house.
Stills is a weapon.
Tunsil needs some work on this playbook. Looked confused on a couple plays.
If we can bottle that first half and improve on it, we will win a lot of games.
I'll open it up.
 

Rich Schmidt

Myopicone
Agree with your takes

Aaron Colvin ain't gonna cut it, BOB the GM needs to find someone
Pass rush not good enough
Oline has to gel pass blocking
Safety play was weaker than I expected as was run D
No major injuries
We got beat by a top team in their house on a 58 yarder as time expired. Let's see what happens
 

eriadoc

Texan-American
The Texans were terrible. Constantly in 3rd and long. Giving up big plays left and right They were also brilliant. Watson was 8/8 on 3rd down at one point. Key INT by Mercilus, big sack.

In the end, consistency is going to win more often than boom-or-bust, but as long as Watson is upright, they have a shot.
 

Mr teX

Hall of Fame
Liked the way the offense looked, still gotta shore up some things on the o-line, but i think most of the rational posters here knew that would be the case. Got a new piece there & it was the 1st game. Fully expect them to get better as the season goes on.

The defense..I thought they did ok all things considering they were in an extremely hostile enviornment. Gotta remember that's a HOFer over there in Brees & he's gonna get his. Merci proved that he's very much capable of rushing the passer...had a crucial int and sack...couple of nice run stops...Think we're gonna be ok there. Kamara's a special back. probably the best we'll face all season. Carlos Watkins needs to start over Blackson imo. Watt was catching hell over there on the other side. but he still had a couple of nice rushes that flushed Brees.

The 1 sore spot was Colvin. They clearly zeroed in on him in the 2nd half. He's gonna have to be better going forward, but coming into this season, i thought he would be gone after this year anyway so. Roby acquitted himself nicely. Again, considering who he was playing against, he did ok.

The most important thing imo is that the offense looks legit. The new weapons integrated nicely & they're only going to get better from here...especially when Coutee gets back. Really was pleasantly surprised by Hyde...wasn't expecting much from him, but dude runs hard. Duke seems like he's still trying to see where he fits in the offense, but he had a couple of nice plays.

Playcalling was fine, the Saints defense just realized they couldn't sit back & started blitzing him more in the 2nd half.
 

frethack

Rookie
Tunsil looked lost at times but was overall very good for a week of study. There is a lot to build on.

The line as a whole cant give up 6 sacks. DW4 won't make it.

Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde both balled out for only being here a short time.

Our WR core is stacked and we have a LOT of weapons in the passing game.

Were we playing TEs tonight?

Deshaun Watson is the TRUTH. The lights were bright and he brought us to the brink of victory.

The pass rush is anemic. I think we used to have another stud on the line somewhere, right? The back end would look better if the front end could get pressure. The Saints oline is VERY good...imagine if Watson had that line.

Watson is on pace for 96 sacks...and 64 total TDs lol



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 

KarlK

Waterboy
Tunsil looked lost at times but was overall very good for a week of study. There is a lot to build on.

The line as a whole cant give up 6 sacks. DW4 won't make it.

Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde both balled out for only being here a short time.

Our WR core is stacked and we have a LOT of weapons in the passing game.

Were we playing TEs tonight?

Deshaun Watson is the TRUTH. The lights were bright and he brought us to the brink of victory.

The pass rush is anemic. I think we used to have another stud on the line somewhere, right? The back end would look better if the front end could get pressure. The Saints oline is VERY good...imagine if Watson had that line.

Watson is on pace for 96 sacks...and 64 total TDs lol



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
Imagine if Watson didn't have Hopkins to throw to....all this excitement? It all goes away; better hope Nuk doesn't get injured this year.
 

xtruroyaltyx

Hall of Fame
It was JJ’s lack of productivity tonight that concerns me the most.
Looks like he's going to ha e a tough year.

Look for him to come out like a mad man next game.

Last comment on clowney:
when my brother was with the cardinals a couple years ago and they were about to play the Texans in pre season (Watt was out I think) they made a big effort to double or triple him every play.

Their offensive coaches put a huge emphasis on stopping him.


The guys presence is going to be missed. Especially against the run. I dont even know if the other olb opposite mercilus even suited up tonight.
 

Mangler

Toro de España
The offense was the bright side tonight! The RBs balled out, Tunsil looks to be our franchise LT, especially once he gets the playbook down, a bunch of weapons at wideout. Hell, even O’Brien called a decent game for the most part. He had his fair share of OB moments, but this looked the most prepared our team has ever looked under his guidance on Week 1.

Lots to be optimistic about. The scary part is our secondary, and Crennel’s prevent/soft ass coverage.
 

KarlK

Waterboy
No doubt in my mind Watson can be top tier if he gets protection. I dunno how much more we could've asked for from him tonight.
lol.....he was pretty quiet for the first 59 minutes before the 2 completions against the prevent.
 

dream_team

Hall of Fame
Despite the loss, a very encouraging game. Everyone knew the Saints were the better team, so not sure why people are angry the better team won in their house by making a 58 yard FG with four seconds left???

The direction of the offense is heading up!!! The new additions were productive! Fuller is still fast. Hop is still Hop (but what's up with the three drops?). There's still some issues recognizing blitzes. Don't know if that's on DW4, the OL, or coaching? But overall, was happy, even with the play calling.

On defense, it is tough to shut that offense down. Brees is the hardest QB to sack. Kamara may be the best all-around back in the game. Holding them to 3 points in the first half was a miracle. With that being said, Colvin was horrible. I feel Crennel played a lot of zone because Colvin was getting eaten alive man-to-man. They're going to need to figure something out here.

This game was simply a case of, whoever had the ball last was going to win. In this case, we scored too fast. Not saying that's a fault of the Texans, just that's how it turned out.
 
It was JJ’s lack of productivity tonight that concerns me the most.
Me too, and I have Doc's last update echoing in my head:

"J WATT---GROIN........SUSTAINED IN 1 GREEN BAY PRACTICE.........HAS ALREADY UNDERGONE BILATERAL REPAIRS OF SEVERE ADDUCTOR TEAR SURGERY WITH PARTIAL BILATERAL RECTUS MUSCLE TEARS............ALONG WITH 2 PREVIOUS BACK SURGERIES AND THE TIBIAL PLATEAU FRACTURE WITH ITS 2 SUBSEQUENT SURGERIES, HIS CORE HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY COMPROMISED, ESPECIALLY WHEN REQUIRING TWISTING MOVEMENTS AND STRENGTH AGAINST DIRECT HEAVY RESISTANCE..........THIS LAST MINIMIZED "TIGHTENING GROIN" IS NOT A GREAT SIGN"

Further, without Clowney going forward, it's a whole lot easier for opposing offenses to put a little extra help on Watt this year. I'll be shocked if he has anything close to a 16-sack / dominating season this year...and I just hope he can be both productive and healthy.
 

colt45

Practice Squad
Watt looked slow, couldn't beat one on one multiple times, looked like his motor was a bit low..concerning
D line was a bit toothless, slow off the ball, easily beaten
Gave up way too many big plays
Expected more out of Tunsil, he was OK not mortgage the future great. He has a long way to go.
Had trouble setting protection probably on Watson
Sacked 6 times..
Down by 3 on the Saints 40 and you go backwards..awful
Surprised by Hyde and Johnson, they looked good
Watson and the WRs look great
Offense on 3rd down was incredible
O'Brien looked lost, losing two time outs at once? Just challenge then you win or just lose 1 timeout..
Lost this one by a Clowney..
 

DBCooper

Outlaw
Contributor's Club
Loved me some Hyde.

Watson played well, the oline still sucks.

Not sure about the defense because this was brees and Payton.

Will someone please tell whoever is calling the plays that #25 is not a powerback!
 
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Marcus

Windmill cancer survivor
Contributor's Club
I expected us to get blown out, but I suspect that had a lot to do with all the negativity. I was pleasantly surprised. Watson has to stay upright. We’ll be in every game if he does. The running game was productive. That was a surprise. I think the O line will get better and better.

JJ is a shell of his former self. How could he not be?

For us to win, our offense has to outscore the other offense. Our pass rush is anemic, which will hang the secondary out to dry.

Lastly, I’ve seen better from Romeo Crennel.
 

Speedy

Former Yeller Dweller
The run game was a big and pleasant surprise.

Will Fuller had the big catch early but was a non factor the rest of the game....unless he wasn’t. Maybe his deep threat is the reason the run game was popping in the 2nd level. Will have to look at the film.

Other than that, pretty much the same worries I had before came to fruition. Suspect pass rush and secondary. And the OL was not good and are going to get Watson killed.
 

KarlK

Waterboy
The run game was a big and pleasant surprise.

Will Fuller had the big catch early but was a non factor the rest of the game....unless he wasn’t. Maybe his deep threat is the reason the run game was popping in the 2nd level. Will have to look at the film.

Other than that, pretty much the same worries I had before came to fruition. Suspect pass rush and secondary. And the OL was not good and are going to get Watson killed.
That's pretty much his story. Pray that Hopkins never gets injured. Only complete WR on the roster. Watson's play will plummet if Nuk isn't out there.
 

deucetx

Rookie
My takeaways would be:

1. Colvin still can't cover. This hasn't changed from last season so not surprising.
2. Crennel coaches way too scared and with little creativity (stunts, blitzes, etc.). Bend and not break against veteran quarterbacks won't work. They eat us up underneath and move chains
3. What's a pass rush?
4. Hyde and Johnson definitely showed out and are solid additions for when in the year we obtained them.
5. This offensive line needs work and time to gel. There is a chance of improvement since communication and familiarity with how the man next to you will block goes a long way.
6. Tied to point #5. This is where offensive line coaching comes into play. If it doesn't Watson is in for another year of playing with a lot of damn pain and we know he will.
7. Watson is freaking great
8. The receiving corps is quicker than we usually have around here and better as long as they stay healthy *knocks on wood*
9. While writing this Colvin got beat yet again
10. Oh and can we freaking wrap up on a darn tackle already!
 

deucetx

Rookie
lol.....he was pretty quiet for the first 59 minutes before the 2 completions against the prevent.
You're right...

If you take away our offensive touchdowns
The conversion on 3rd and long we found ourselves in multiple times
His mobility getting us yards or stretching out pass plays when the protection broke down which was often
Running the offense and making obvious protection and audible calls at the line
And even your own point that he converted 2 deep passes against a defensive pass formation meant to prevent exactly that.

Yeah. He was really quiet if you remove all of that. Of course if you remove all of that we also get blown out the building instead of losing with 2 seconds left. Take your pick.
 

IDEXAN

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Absolutely zero pass rush. Watt was getting handled by Ramczyk most of the night.

We're really going to miss Clowney. You cannot beat teams like the Saints, Pats, etc. without a consistent pass rush.
We missed Clowney big-time last night. Still totally confused about O-Briens need to dump him so quickly with such relatively little in return ?
O'Brien and the coaching staff in general know more than anybody how valuable JD has been to our defense. With just a little more pressure on the Saints passing
game last night in certain situations we win last nights game.
 

KarlK

Waterboy
My takeaways would be:

1. Colvin still can't cover. This hasn't changed from last season so not surprising.
2. Crennel coaches way too scared and with little creativity (stunts, blitzes, etc.). Bend and not break against veteran quarterbacks won't work. They eat us up underneath and move chains
3. What's a pass rush?
4. Hyde and Johnson definitely showed out and are solid additions for when in the year we obtained them.
5. This offensive line needs work and time to gel. There is a chance of improvement since communication and familiarity with how the man next to you will block goes a long way.
6. Tied to point #5. This is where offensive line coaching comes into play. If it doesn't Watson is in for another year of playing with a lot of damn pain and we know he will.
7. Watson is freaking great
8. The receiving corps is quicker than we usually have around here and better as long as they stay healthy *knocks on wood*
9. While writing this Colvin got beat yet again
10. Oh and can we freaking wrap up on a darn tackle already!
75% of the qbs in the NFL did the same thing this week. Nothing special at all. He still holds onto the ball to long, still takes too long to make a decision to throw. He needs to thank his lucky stars Hopkins is his teammate.
 

mws

Rookie
In my opinion the offense played a pretty good game.

Watson
CMP 20 ATT 30 CMP% 66.7 YDS 268 AVG 8.9 LNG 54 TD 3 INT 1 RTG 114.3

Rushing
Hyde ATT 10 YDS 83 AVG 8.3 LNG 20
Johnson ATT 9 YDS 57 AVG 6.3 LNG 32

Receiving
Hopkins REC 8 TGTS 13 YDS 111 AVG 13.9 TD 2 LNG 38
Fuller REC 2 TGTS 3 YDS 69 AVG 34.5 TD 0 LNG 54
Stills REC 3 TGTS 3 YDS 37 AVG 12.3 TD 1 LNG 37

Our bend don't break defense let us down. How many times did we rush with just 3 and still could not cover?

Sorry can't get this to line up correctly.
 
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HuttoKarl

Veteran
ESPN does have Houston at 14 on their power rankings after last night's game...I guess that's okay for a losing effort. I saw enough to not go into freakout mode, but man...coaching is kind of pathetic.
 

Toro Bravo

Rookie
The Good;
1. Deshaun Watson is great. Unfortunately, he still holds the ball too long which results in sacks.
2. Our running game looked good. Hyde averaged 8.3 ypc and Johnson 6.3 ypc.
3. We played a lot better than I expected against one of the best teams in one of the most hostile environments.

The Bad;
1. Aaron Colvin needs to be replaced by a warm body. Put in Lonnie Johnson and let him learn OTJ.
2. Seantrel Henderson is terrible at RT. Make Sharping the RT and let him learn.
3. Romeo Crennel's defense. No pass rush and bad secondary coverage is not conducive to winning games.

The Ugly:
1. Playing prevent defense when Brees doesn't throw deep and they only need 9 yards to be in field goal range.
2. BOB losing 2 TO's on 1 play. He is still the worst "in game" coach in the NFL (the challenge was good and the refs got it wrong).
3. Tackling ability, or lack there of. Alvin Kamara is a great RB but we made him look like he had a Teflon uniform. Wrap the F up!

The Stupid:
1. TRADING CLOWEY FOR A BAG A MAJIC BEANS AND STILL HAVING TO PAY $7M OF HIS SALARY!!!! We sure could have used him.
 

ROO

Tweak the offense already!
Was an interesting game for sure. Figured the Texans would get blown out of the Superdome, but they didn't, am now feeling better about the season. Coaching decisions, as usual, not up to par.

When there were 30 seconds left and the Texans were kicking off... would it have been better to not kick it out of the endzone? Make the Saints field the ball and run which would have taken perhaps 5 or 6 seconds off the clock?

On the second to last play, realizing that a field goal beats you, what was up with the 2 deep deep safeties? Okay, if you are going to play that, at least disguise it a bit, put the safeties in their normal spots and then have them retreat at the snap? At least make Brees have to think, don't show him what you are doing before the snap.

Too many first down incomplete passes, and then run up the middle for minimal gain on second, leaving third and long.

Is there any reason that the Texans cannot run a screen pass sometimes? (Not a wide receiver screen) Honestly, I can't remember an O'Brien team ever running an actual screen pass.

Was impressed with Hyde, he was motivated last night.
 

deucetx

Rookie
Starting to wonder what are folks seeing or holding onto old rhetoric. Watson actually DID NOT hold the ball too long last night with the sacks. Each sack he was pressured within 2-3 seconds of the snap. You expect your line to hold a block to at least 3 seconds for any pass patterns of middle or deep range which was not the case. You add that to the fact we had multiple 3rd and longs and you need your receivers to have the time to get open to convert. He was even pressured at one time by a 3 man rush within 3 seconds. Here are all six sacks.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000001053210/Watch-all-six-Saints-sacks-vs-Texans-Week-1
 
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