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Texans: State of the Union

H

HardKnockTexan

Rookie
There is something very interesting going on here with our Texans. Something that I havent seen in profesional football.... ever maybe. With the exception of at the most 3 players, all of the starters of ofense and defense will be returning, along with the majority of the backups. With the way that freeagency has dominated the NFL latley, players comming and going, the Texans have found a way to keep their team intact. Now will this lead to more wins? I'm not sure. But what I do know is that the more players play together, the better the team becomes. Take highschool football for example. Freshman year, there may be 1 player in school that can play with the big boy seniors, the rest of the team is very sub par. 3 years later, all these former freshman are now seniors, have been playing together the whole time and now gel and play as a solid unit. I really do like what the Texans are doing here. Now they do need to adress a few key areas. They need to find someone to take the heat off of Andre Johnson. They need to find a way to protect David Carr for atleast 5 seconds. They need to find a way to put more pressure on the QB. They need to find a way to lower the YPC for oposing teams running games. They need to find a way to stop the other team from converting on 3rd and long.
I believe with the addition of Greenwood at linebacker and the possibility of Peek starting at the outside will address a few of those issues. I also think that with the five bigboys in the trenches now playing together for 2 to 3 years will show that they can pull together as a unit and protect their Leader. I also think that with a solid draft, especially on day 1, after week 4, Andre Johnson will start to see a lot less double coverage (I'm pulling for a reciever in round 1). Now, they did loose Sharper, who was solid against the run, but as many of you know, it seemed that if the other team ran the ball on first down, it was an automatic 4 yards. So Sharper wasnt the run stoper in the middle they needed. I dont know if Greenwood will be either. It's 9 days untill the draft and I will be glued to ESPN the whole time. This is gonna be a great season for the Texans...
 
rack 'em. HKT, that was pha-nomminal.

Seriously, good post and with the schedule release, I just got hyped up a little more today.
 
All the positive posts share several things in common, including all the
major obstacles/problems the Texans must over come to be a winning team-
let alone a playoff team. This post correctly states 5 of the most common--
however, what this post fails to address/answer (as do the other positive
posts) is first how we are going to solve these problems and second what
will happen if these problems persist. For me, this is where effective coach-
ing enters the picture. First, it's east to identify the problem. Second, what
can be done to solve these problems or--at the very least--improve upon
them. Third, providing the teaching/guidance/motivation to achieve desired
results is crucial to the process.

The bottom line is that 'everybody' knows what the Texans problesms are
and what the likely win/loss result will be if these problems continue. That
is the easy part---what we don't know is what Casserly/Capers/Coaches
have in mind to solve/minimize these problems. Winning/successful Coaches
don't spend interview times telling the fans what they already know,i.e.,
"...we turned the ball over today,we had no protection, we had no pass
rush,etc.,etc.." Instead, these Coaches spend that time talking about the
postive results that led to victory---here's hoping that Capers is able to
give us positive post game results instead of lamenting on what we already
know this year... :thumbup
 
I believe I did give some solutions to the problems that the Texans are facing.
Problem: Carr preasured too quickly
Solution: An offensive line that has been playing together for 3 years now and has had a full year and offseason to learn the new zone blocking schemes.
Problem: Andre Johnson facing constant doubleteams.
Solution: Drafting a speedy wideout on day one, preferably round 1 imo. Armstrong stepping up, Gaffney stepping up, Bradford taking his game to a new level, he seems to have something to prove now.

Now there are other problems the Texans have that I stated that I did not give solutions to, but will try to now.
Problem: Stoping the run on first down.
Solution: A healthy Seth Payne occupying 2 offensive linemen. Smarter, faster linebackers that read the run quicker.
Problem: Giving up the 3rd and long.
Solution: Defensive line holding their gap assignments. Linebackers making faster reads. Stronger blitz packages. Smart saftey work.

Now all of this is far easier said than done. Each year they have progressed in every area and I see no reason why this trend wont continue. I am very biased though and I believe in my team and their system they have in place. Coaching is a crutial part of the game that the fans dont get to see. We see the plays called and the execution, or lack there of, of each play. But its more of the weekday practices that matter. Palmer gets heat every week about his play calling but I believe the plays he calls are conservative due to the performance that he sees during the weekly practices. He's going to use a lot of swing passes out of the backfield because AJ is always doubled and no other reciever can get open. When the Texans get a solid #2 reciever I believe we'll see a wide open game. Take the Rockets for example. Everyone bashed Van Gundy about playing a slow, low scoring game, which he did for a long time. He gets to Houston and gets the players he wants and what happens? They start to average nearly 100 ppg. The Texans are 1 player away from taking it to the next level. A solid #2 reciever will do amazing things for their offense. Their defense will prove all these naysayers wrong. They will be faster, smarter and more intense. I am a Texans fan and even if we went 0-16 last year you'd still be seeing me being optomistic. But I also believe my posts are realistic. This is the year!
 
rhc564 said:
All the positive posts share several things in common, including all the
major obstacles/problems the Texans must over come to be a winning team-
let alone a playoff team. This post correctly states 5 of the most common--
however, what this post fails to address/answer (as do the other positive
posts) is first how we are going to solve these problems and second what
will happen if these problems persist.
Click to expand...

Funny, it seems to me the persistent negative posts identify the same 5 most common problems and.....don't supply any solutions either. OK that is too extreme, some of them do suggest some solutions--we could disregard the cap entirely, the concept of developing players and run after every free agent available. That would work perfectly--and then we could be like the Redskins with their 7 common problems.
 
Another advantage to keeping your own players is after this year when the Texans finally break through to being in the hunt for the playoffs players from other teams will want to come here. It's the best facility in the league. Houston has the best fans in the league (sold out every home game). Houston offers a great owner that treats the players well. Houston could have easily held on to Sharper and Foreman for now and released them later. That would have hurt their ability to get the most out of a new contract with another team plus if the Texans waited long enough it could have made finding a job much harder. Houston also has no state income tax (ok, it's all of Texas), but that's a big perk for players.
 
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