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Week 3: Carolina at Houston

TheRealJoker

Hall of Fame
Turning the page to Panthers…game is Thursday. WD40 aint playing, a new QB isn’t going to show up. Its Davis Mills and Jeff Driskel week… maybe with some wildcat samplings from all of our RBs.

Hopefully Justin Reid, Tunsil, Nico Collins and Amendola (am I missing anyone else? Ouch…) are healthy enough to play.

Not as confident in this team’s ability to win or be competitive late into the game without Tyrod at QB but I still think this team will be fighting until the end. The leaders are starting to appear (Ingram, Cooks, Kirksey, Reid, Britt) and hopefully they can keep the team focused and fighting while Tyrod hopefully makes a quick recovery.

It would be a nice surprise if Davis Mills can improve just enough to QB this team to a W this week.
 

TheRealJoker

Hall of Fame
I think the line will move up from 4 without Tyrod.
Agreed. Tim Kelly and the rest of the offensive coaches will be earning their money on a short week with Mills/Driskel at QB.

The Saints only ran 39 plays on offense against the Panthers today. Could be discombulated from all the Covid absences in the coaching staff. Could be big win hangover too. But the Panthers looked good either way.
 

TheRealJoker

Hall of Fame
The coaches have to find a package Mills is comfortable with. Really, it's not like the Texans have been running a high risk, complicated offense thus far. Quick passes, run the ball, keep it simple for Mills.
Agreed, easy quick reads. Running attack waking up this week would help make things easier for the rook.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Cooks got 14 of the team’s 29 passing targets today. Part of that is due to Nico and Amendola leaving the game early but the team needs to figure out how to get Mills comfortable with someone other than Cooks this week. Hopefully Nico is healthy.
He’s basically got two days.
 

76Texan

Hall of Fame
The coaches have to find a package Mills is comfortable with. Really, it's not like the Texans have been running a high risk, complicated offense thus far. Quick passes, run the ball, keep it simple for Mills.
I'm afraid teams will be jumping all over the short routes now.
 

TheRealJoker

Hall of Fame
Some similarities between this upcoming game and WD40’s first start. Both Thursday night games. The Texans in 2017 had all 3 TEs out with concussions as well as Will Fuller and starting OG Jeff Allen out. First start on a short week with a depleted offense the Texans won 13-9 against the Bengals.

Hopefully this team gets a few injured players back from today’s game so Mills has a bit more to work with for his first start.
 

steelbtexan

King of the W. B. Club
Contributor's Club
I thought the Texans are all about spreading the weatlh now that Watson isn't playing?
@steelbtexan
:ahhaha:
Can you spell the word anomily?

You freaking people are insufferable.

Let's see how the season plays out before making these kinds of posts.

I'm glad you like the way the offense looked with the Pervert running it and those 4 win seasons. Did you notice that they lost today, or were you so wrapped up in comparing stats that you failed to notice this?
 

76Texan

Hall of Fame
Can you spell the word anomily?

You freaking people are insufferable.

Let's see how the season plays out before making these kinds of posts.

I'm glad you like the way the offense looked with the Pervert running it and those 4 win seasons. Did you notice that they lost today, or were you so wrapped up in comparing stats that you failed to notice this?
Were they losing in the first half?
 

Texansballer74

The Marine
To help the youngster out we will have to establish a dominant smash you in the mouth running game. Kelly won’t be able to run a lot of misdirection plays because Mills isn’t ready for it. And they only have two days of practice.

On the defensive side we have to tackle 100 times better. And we have to swarm to the ball and gang tackle. McCaffrey is dual threat running back so we will have to keep a spy on him at all times. Pressure pressure and more pressure on the quarterback is a must.

We will have to clean up all the mistakes. Coach can’t be scared to left them hang. Be aggressive and trust your team to get those short yards on 4th down.

The Panthers looks very solid on both sides of the ball. So we will have to play darn near perfect to beat them. Unfortunately I don’t see us winning this one.

Panthers 30
Texans 17
 

sandman

Brexit Advisor
To help the youngster out we will have to establish a dominant smash you in the mouth running game. Kelly won’t be able to run a lot of misdirection plays because Mills isn’t ready for it. And they only have two days of practice.

On the defensive side we have to tackle 100 times better. And we have to swarm to the ball and gang tackle. McCaffrey is dual threat running back so we will have to keep a spy on him at all times. Pressure pressure and more pressure on the quarterback is a must.

We will have to clean up all the mistakes. Coach can’t be scared to left them hang. Be aggressive and trust your team to get those short yards on 4th down.

The Panthers looks very solid on both sides of the ball. So we will have to play darn near perfect to beat them. Unfortunately I don’t see us winning this one.

Panthers 30
Texans 17
Is this based on the Mills factor, because even with TT out in the second half, this team played a close and tight game with a Browns team that is better than the Panthers on both sides of the ball.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
To help the youngster out we will have to establish a dominant smash you in the mouth running game.
I hope Ingram is explaining to those 5 guys how he could have blown the game open if one or more of them could have held his block a little longer, or pushed his man 4” wider, or at least made contact with that guy on the second level.

I know they haven’t had that time to gel, but we don’t have the luxury to wait & what we need is more meanness than more gelling.

Is this based on the Mills factor, because even with TT out in the second half, this team played a close and tight game with a Browns team that is better than the Panthers on both sides of the ball.
I think Mills was getting a little more comfortable.
 

76Texan

Hall of Fame
To help the youngster out we will have to establish a dominant smash you in the mouth running game. Kelly won’t be able to run a lot of misdirection plays because Mills isn’t ready for it. And they only have two days of practice.

On the defensive side we have to tackle 100 times better. And we have to swarm to the ball and gang tackle. McCaffrey is dual threat running back so we will have to keep a spy on him at all times. Pressure pressure and more pressure on the quarterback is a must.

We will have to clean up all the mistakes. Coach can’t be scared to left them hang. Be aggressive and trust your team to get those short yards on 4th down.

The Panthers looks very solid on both sides of the ball. So we will have to play darn near perfect to beat them. Unfortunately I don’t see us winning this one.

Panthers 30
Texans 17
I don't know if the Texans can smash anybody. They don't seem to be able to get a lot of push.
It's not a bad unit, but far from dominant in any facet of the game.
They need to stay healthy, too.
 

TheRealJoker

Hall of Fame
I don't know if the Texans can smash anybody. They don't seem to be able to get a lot of push.
It's not a bad unit, but far from dominant in any facet of the game.
They need to stay healthy, too.
You may be right. They don’t have the personnel to drive people 5 yards off the LOS. Maybe Cannon if/when he gets into his New England playing shape.

But they do have good enough OL to execute and open up holes when they get more reps under their belt. Hopefully they stay healthy and we can see that happen.

Also, @CloakNNNdagger any update on Lane Taylor? Is he practicing fully yet? He might be a wild card to insert into the starting lineup at some point.
 

Speedy

Former Yeller Dweller
Is this based on the Mills factor, because even with TT out in the second half, this team played a close and tight game with a Browns team that is better than the Panthers on both sides of the ball.
Texans went from averaging 7.2 yards per play in the 1st half to 3.7 YPP in the 2nd. They went from 0 point differential in the 1st half to -10 in the 2nd. They went from completing 91% of their passes in the 1st half to 44% in the 2nd.

Yeah, yeah, I get it's the dude's 1st game ever, but it's not going to get much easier for him with Texans RBs averaging 3.0 YPC, and a Panthers defense that has allowed 46.5 yards per game at 2.7 YPC through 2 weeks and already has 10 sacks.
 

Rich Schmidt

Myopicone
I did not watch the game, but Carolina beat NO who had EIGHT coaches out. As we see with the Texans, coaching matters. So Carolina is a solid team, but this week may not be the one to judge their level. That being said, we are rightly the underdog this week, again. It is winnable. I thought Thursday night games were overwhelmingly won by the home team, but see that they are only 38-34 straight up. Heal up boys, we need some receivers! Any word on Terrance Mitchell's concussion evaluation? If it was one, doubt he clears protocol by Thursday
 

Dejaview

All Pro
David Culley: We’ll have to see if Deshaun Watson plays this week

interestin!
I saw that quote also but I took it in a different context. It seemed to just be another way for DC to deflect any DW question from discussion. Perhaps a different angle is that NC may be looking to bring in some other QB to back up Mills. What does DW have to gain from that? If he says no doesn’t he start losing game money? If he says yes he’s got one hell of a come to Haysus meeting with the Texans, their fans and the NFL.
 

sandman

Brexit Advisor
I did not watch the game, but Carolina beat NO who had EIGHT coaches out. As we see with the Texans, coaching matters. So Carolina is a solid team, but this week may not be the one to judge their level. That being said, we are rightly the underdog this week, again. It is winnable. I thought Thursday night games were overwhelmingly won by the home team, but see that they are only 38-34 straight up. Heal up boys, we need some receivers! Any word on Terrance Mitchell's concussion evaluation? If it was one, doubt he clears protocol by Thursday
I think it was their backup QB who was in charge of player substitutions.
 

sandman

Brexit Advisor
Texans went from averaging 7.2 yards per play in the 1st half to 3.7 YPP in the 2nd. They went from 0 point differential in the 1st half to -10 in the 2nd. They went from completing 91% of their passes in the 1st half to 44% in the 2nd.

Yeah, yeah, I get it's the dude's 1st game ever, but it's not going to get much easier for him with Texans RBs averaging 3.0 YPC, and a Panthers defense that has allowed 46.5 yards per game at 2.7 YPC through 2 weeks and already has 10 sacks.
And yet, with 6 minutes left in the game they were only down 3 points on the road in the hostile Dawg Pound. Game getting away from them in the second half? Didn't happen. Garrett and Clowney having a field day with the OL? Didn't happen. In both games this season - in which the Texans were the underdogs - the running game hasn't shown up and yet they managed a blow out win and played the Browns close until the end.

Not saying the Panthers aren't a decent team. I am saying their first game of the season was against the Jets with a Rookie QB and their second was against the Saints who had players doing coaching duties during the game. Carolina has also played both their games at home. They have been very fortuitous so far this season in terms of everything breaking their way.

All that to say, do I think the Panthers win on Thursday, but I don't think the scoring margin will be more than the 10 points from the Browns game. Even with Mills at QB. Which was the intent of my question to Texansballer74 who had it at 13.
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
David Culley: We’ll have to see if Deshaun Watson plays this week

interestin!
Won't happen for so many reasons. But if the Panthers can be made to be distracted and to think that there is even an inkling of a chance (and I don't believe that even they believe that Watson will be under center), Mills and Watson have diametrically opposite styles of play...........and dual preparation would be very difficult, especially in a short week.
 

Lucky

Ride, Captain, Ride!
Staff member
Not saying the Panthers aren't a decent team. I am saying their first game of the season was against the Jets with a Rookie QB and their second was against the Saints who had players doing coaching duties during the game. Carolina has also played both their games at home. They have been very fortuitous so far this season in terms of everything breaking their way.
I agree with all of this. Everything pointed at a Texans victory with a healthy Taylor. Now, it looks like a low scoring slugfest, with a lot of punting. The Panthers and Texans played to a 16-10 score a couple of seasons ago. We could be looking at a carbon copy game.
 

thunderkyss

Just win baby!!!
Staff member
Contributor's Club
Christian McAffery ran 24 times for 72 yards. He caught 5 balls for 65 Yards.

I didn't watch the game, but that shows a commitment to running the ball.
 
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