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Takeaways from the WC WIN!

Texansphan

Football connoisseur
I'll be straight up and say I had called it just after the half as the Texans were sleepwalking.
But I am stoked that we clawed back to a fine win.
Without JJ out there today, we lose that game - he was the spark.
Watson was magical after they woke up and Mercilus had a couple of key huge plays.
Another thing that must be stated in large bolded font is that we cannot play like we did in the first 2 quarters going forward. Why can't we play with intensity for the whole 60 minutes?
Congrats Texans on a fine come from behind win.
I'll open it up.
 

txtx

Waterboy
I'm hoping that 1st half was the last half we ever see the unprepared, unmotivated Texans in the playoffs. Had it been a better offense than the Bills', we woulda been done. I'm hoping the team and coaches have turned the page on laying eggs in front of the home crowd, can play looser, with more confidence and fire for 60 minutes.

Other items...
-Watson and Watt are superheros and deserve better game plans. Watson was 6/8 at the half.
-The Clowney trade "throw-in" Martin played well too, maybe as well as Mercilus today.
-Our D is the worst of all the playoff teams. Our tackling is sub-professional at times. Give up 92 yards to Allen,
hopefully we don't have to face Jackson in Baltimore again.
-Although Buffalo's rush is great, our OL is still bad (7 sacks today, 49 in the reg. season) after trading two #1 picks and drafting 2 linemen early. The special teams benefitted greatly from a new coach, so we still need an upgrade over Mike Devlin--he couldn't even coach Tunsil out of penalties through an entire season.
-Taiwan Asti Eric Jones, RB34! Greatest signing this year!
 
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welsh texan

You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one
99 4 10
We’ve seen the script time and again the last few seasons, and even more so in the playoffs, where we turn up with nothing we are doing working.

First half the O did hardly anything of value. The D made a few nearly plays but as usual were fragile to the big play.

The whole sorry debacle was summed up by those three star players numbered above, Watt left sprawling on the floor play after play, Hopkins zero yards on 3 targets. Watson running into needless sacks.

Then second half, led by JJ’s big sack, the offensive drive that that sets up Watson and Hopkins began to take over. Allen looked like a deer in the headlights from that point on.

Cant overcome that slow start too often during the playoffs so will need to be better from the outset next week, but most of us will admit to writing the season off at halftime and we are still in the hunt.
 

Cerberus

Hall of Fame
For those of you that are familiar with me from the Spin Zone, you know that I’m a Raider fan. With that said, it is my opinion that BOB is not the HC the Texans need to take them to the next level. Or put it this way, how many here think Houston is a legitimate SB contender? BOB is not terrible, but the Texans need a better HC.
 

txtx

Waterboy
For those of you that are familiar with me from the Spin Zone, you know that I’m a Raider fan. With that said, it is my opinion that BOB is not the HC the Texans need to take them to the next level. Or put it this way, how many here think Houston is a legitimate SB contender? BOB is not terrible, but the Texans need a better HC.
I think you'll find most Texans fans agree. He is holding Watson back with his ideas on offense and play calling (see the 1st half), and does not motivate his players consistently (see the 1st half). "Waiting for a spark" is not how a pro team should play, IMO.
 

IDEXAN

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
For those of you that are familiar with me from the Spin Zone, you know that I’m a Raider fan. With that said, it is my opinion that BOB is not the HC the Texans need to take them to the next level. Or put it this way, how many here think Houston is a legitimate SB contender? BOB is not terrible, but the Texans need a better HC.
Hey stranger haven't seen you over on the other side for a couple days now. You are a Raiders fan,and why would you do that ?
With but a few exceptions here most agree with your take about O'Brien but he's not going anywhere in the near future so we are stuck with him for the time being.
Yea I too think the Texans need some upgrades on the D before we are ready to compete at the highest level in this league.
 
I've been saying on twitter for a while to #letdeshaunthrow. This whole conservative play calling crap is so bad. Take Deshaun's strengths and play to it instead of forcing this system on him. Is it any surprise that the offense woke up when they finally let him run? The play action bootleg pass is always open but they rarely run it. Get Deshaun out of the pocket and he's a cheat code. Bill doesn't input the cheat code until desperation time. It drives me crazy.
 

banned1976

sleeper mode
For those of you that are familiar with me from the Spin Zone, you know that I’m a Raider fan. With that said, it is my opinion that BOB is not the HC the Texans need to take them to the next level. Or put it this way, how many here think Houston is a legitimate SB contender? BOB is not terrible, but the Texans need a better HC.
The Texans with BoB are a confusing team to follow. As “just a fan” there appears to be a nuanced undercurrent between the players and the coaching staff I simply can’t see. The team can look completely lethargic, which to me is a fail on the coaching staff, and then they wake up...fall asleep again. The offense sometimes looks like someone who’s been driving an automatic transmission all their life trying to learn how to drive a stick, only now they’re trying to learn on the autobahn.

They’re tough to watch. It’s frustrating.
 

txtx

Waterboy
I've been saying on twitter for a while to #letdeshaunthrow. This whole conservative play calling crap is so bad. Take Deshaun's strengths and play to it instead of forcing this system on him. Is it any surprise that the offense woke up when they finally let him run? The play action bootleg pass is always open but they rarely run it. Get Deshaun out of the pocket and he's a cheat code. Bill doesn't input the cheat code until desperation time. It drives me crazy.
And even when O'Brien builds up the play action by running early like today...he throws it away with an empty backfield and no one to play action to. I think O'Brien could win a Super Bowl as a HC if he concentrated on his strengths of motivating the whole team and not designing offenses week to week or calling plays.
 

txtx

Waterboy
My take? We can’t say we’re not being entertained.
I was not entertained but disgusted the 1st half, just like I was not entertained when they lost to Denver, throwing away any playoff seeding advantage gained in beating KC and New England.
 

Earl34

Hall of Fame
And even when O'Brien builds up the play action by running early like today...he throws it away with an empty backfield and no one to play action to. I think O'Brien could win a Super Bowl as a HC if he concentrated on his strengths of motivating the whole team and not designing offenses week to week or calling plays.
Agree 100%. Watching the Titans' and Patriots and they have run more play action from 21 personnel, I formations and heavy sets in this game than I have seen from the Texans all season. The need to always go empty backfield or shotgun just seems random and out of sync. No one can get in rhythm. Even trying to run out the clock, we're in shotgun. It's frustrating.
 

Texansballer74

The Marine
I'm hoping that 1st half was the last half we ever see the unprepared, unmotivated Texans in the playoffs. [/B]Had it been a better offense than the Bills', we woulda been done. I'm hoping the team and coaches have turned the page on laying eggs in front of the home crowd, can play looser, with more confidence and fire for 60 minutes.

Other items...
-Watson and Watt are superheros and deserve better game plans. Watson was 6/8 at the half.
-The Clowney trade "throw-in" Martin played well too, maybe as well as Mercilus today.
-Our D is the worst of all the playoff teams. Our tackling is sub-professional at times. Give up 92 yards to Allen,
hopefully we don't have to face Jackson in Baltimore again.
-Although Buffalo's rush is great, our OL is still bad (7 sacks today, 49 in the reg. season) after trading two #1 picks and drafting 2 linemen early. The special teams benefitted greatly from a new coach, so we still need an upgrade over Mike Devlin--he couldn't even coach Tunsil out of penalties through an entire season.
-Taiwan Asti Eric Jones, RB34! Greatest signing this year!

Unfortunately the bolded part is our identity.
 

JB

Innocent Bystander
Contributor's Club
That’s not what I remembered. MCKinney and Mercilus stood out to me as being MIA for much of the game. Except when Whitney was looking foolish in the 1st half
Cunningham did nothing first half... McKinney was just bad all game
 

maverick512000

Hall of Fame
My take away is that it was a hard fought win between two evenly matched teams but neither team played well enough to be a true threat long term.

Watson, for all his faults, showed that having that “clutch” ability Jordan talks about makes up for a lot of faults. Jordan didn’t make every dunk or win every game but you knew that when it was all on the line you could put the game in his hands and have a fighting chance. I think that’s what Dabo meant when he compared Jordan and Watson.

Johnson and Hyde are looking like a real RBs duel threat. Hyde in particular is making a great case to resign him.

Stills may not be able to do everything Fuller can on the field but the best ability is availability and he’s playing well enough to be number 2 if we move on from Fuller.

Martin was a throw away in the Clowney trade who made a big play when it was needed most. Doesn’t make it a good trade but it dull the pain a bit.

Defense just plays better when Watt is on the field. Doesn’t matter if he himself doesn’t have the best game, still got a key sack, just his presence there seems to make them play at the next level.

Overall it was a win in the playoffs and that’s never a bad thing, but there are a lot of lessons to learn and I hope they don’t celebrate to hard because this was a slug fest that was won with a miracle play by Watson. Awesome to watch but not what you want to depend on to win the game. BoB still needs to stop being his own worst enemy.

Titans knocking off the Pats means we play the Chiefs which is great because I don’t want Texans and Ravens to play till the AFCC, which is win-win in my book, and we’ve beaten the Chiefs before.
 

dream_team

Hall of Fame
The Bills came out with a great offensive game plan. They kept the game simple for Allen and took advantage of the team's strengths. The Texans' tackling on defense was horrible.

The OL was losing in the trenches and DW wasn't handling the pressure well. I wasn't a fan that BOB wasn't trying something "new" to try to get the offense going... like play with more tempo or attack the edges with Duke.

The Watt sack felt like it ignited the whole team. I don't think we win w/o him.

I feel we slightly benefited from the officiating today. Cool, I'll take it.

Hargreaves is a frustrating player to watch.
 
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