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Week one vs Colts Game Notes

7

76Texan

Hall of Fame
I might as well start some game threads in order to see what really went down.
I don't have as much time as I would like, so I will just post some notes here and there.
Anybody who is interested can add their own obervations.

........

1st Qtr

Colts got the ball first.
Two consecutive QB Hits by Mario and a good play by Demeco (breaking up a pass to Clark) stopped the Colts cold.
The Texans started out the year with a 3 and out for the D.
Fool's gold!

.........
 
Texans first drive was stalled at the Colts 7

Two consecutive side bars by the Colts defenders (Bethea on O.D. and Haden on Jacoby) were not called by the refs.

Defender running behind receiver, putting a hand on the receiver's waist or wrapping his arm around the receiver's waist to (a) pull the receiver back slightly away from the ball, (b) to use the receiver's body as a stronghold so he can strech his other hand/arm around the back of the receiver to deflect the ball.

Imagine yourself lunging forward tryng to deflect a pass; in the effort to extend one arm forward, you will find your other arm trailing behind you. When you see a DB extending both arms forward, it's almost always to cheat in this fashion.

There are different reasons why I want to bring this up:
1. The Texans got the short end on penalty calls and non-calls over what I believe to be tolerable for the season.
2. This can make Schaub look inaccurate, and the receivers look incapable.
3. These calls prevented us from scoring a TD on this particular drive.

Texans settled for a FG to lead 3-0

.....
 
From their 20, the Colts gained 24 yds on 4 plays.

On the 5th play (1st and 10), Jackson was stretching his zone back to follow the outside receiver but can still make the read as the slot receiver ran a wheel route to the outside.
Jackson broke off his man to stop Collie to a short 5-yd gain.
............

On the next play, KJ was backpedaling away from the slot receiver Garcon.
Garcon would run straight forward and pushed off on Jackson to gain seperation to the inside on a quick up and in route (this was about 10 yards from the LOS and should have been offensive PI - pass interference on garon - but no call was made.)

The contact (between receiver and DB) probably threw Manning's timing off just a tad.
Incompleted pass.
Jackson was right there anyway;
and Wilson was just a few yards behind in the deep middle.
....

On third and 5, Wayne left Quin in the dirt with a quick in-and-out move but the pass went off his fingertips.
Manning was pressured by Smith and Barwin.
Your best CB was the first to fall down, but nobody called it out.

Punt time.
 
Texans started their drive from the 16

53-yd pass interference against the CB Haden on Walter.
With plenty of time, Schaub's pass was short and late; Walter had to stop to wait for the ball.
This gave Haden time to come back and climb all over him.
A decent pass and that would have been an 84-yd TD for Walter.
At any rate, the worse CB on the field so far is Haden.
And it goes to show that without deep safety help, a CB's job is very diificult.
(The safety had stepped up trying to help on AJ.)

As you tallied the numbers for statistical purposes, this won't show up as Haden giving up an 84-yd TD pass.
Just as I didn't show that Haden could have given up a TD to JJ earlier.
Just as I didn't show that Quin was burned by Wayne earlier.

After a sack and a short pass to Foster, Schaub and JJ misconnected as the receiver turned inside while Schaub threw to the outside on third and ten.
It would have been enough for a frist down.
As it was, the Texans had to settle for another FG.
 
Colts ball on their 27.

Mario stopped Addai on a one-yd run.

On second down, Barwin came in from the OLB position to put pressure on Manning.
The pass sailed high and out of bound as Pollard tried for an unsuccessful INT.

On 3rd and 9, Manning completed a 22-yd pass to Wayne in the soft spot between four defenders in a 5-3 zone.
(Dlies at LB, McCain at RCB, Pollard the deep outside 1/3 right safety, and Quin as the middle 1/3 safety.)
Quin also got called for a 15-yd penalty leading his helmet into Wayne's .

After a few plays, the Colts faced 3rd and 13 on the Texans 38.
Okoye collapsed the pocket, forcing an inaccurate throw by Manning.

On this play, I'm pretty sure Jackson's critics claimed that he got lucky since it looks like Jackson allowed the receiver to run free.; to that I disagree.

The Texans dropped Demeco back deep in the middle together with the two safeties on each side in a 3-deep, 4-underneath zone.
Wilson's job was the outside deep third and there was only one vertical threat which was the receiver Gonzalez.
The slot receiver was Demeco's responsibility (as the middle safety).
Wilson lingered way too long and broke very very late on the ball.
The fault here, if it was a completion, would have lied with Wilsom.
Lucky for him, Okoye was good with the pressure.

Cotls punted again.
 
Here, I want to note that if Wilson can't defend a third of the field against one single vertical threat, how would he look defending one half of the field, and how would he look defending the entire width of the field, especially with more than one vertical threat!?! :wadepalm:
 
Texans started at their 20 and gained 13yds on 4 straight runs by Foster.

Early in the second quarter, on 2nd and 9, the RCB Powers followed JJ across the field and terribly missed an attempt at a tackle near the side line.
JJ turned a short 3-yd catch into a 23--yd gain.

AJ then exploited the 4-3 zone for a 22-yd catch.
The RCB Powers would have been the critics' choice for failing to cover a receiver while what happened was simply the result of an offense attacking the dead spot in the zone.

On the next play, RCB Powers followed Walter across the field, but it looks like the Colts made a quick D-call to change from man to a 3-4 zone coverage.
The middle safety Bethea bought the shoulder fake by Schaub (looking toward JJ on the left) and had no chance when Schaub went back to the right for Walter in the seam for a 22-yd TD pass.
Again, I imagine a lot of people would blame the CB Powers here.
But as I see it, the FS Bethea was at fault in the middle of the 3-deep zone.

Texans led 13-0
 
The Colts got the ball back at their 24 and dink/dunk their way to the Texans 45 in 5 plays.

On 3rd and 2, Garcon dropped the ball on a quick/short slant route.
The Texans were in man coverage, but McCain (most inside) simply stayed put and got in the way of Jackson.
If McCain wanted to switch, he needed to jump quickly on the slant route; if he decided to stay in man, he should have turned back and quickly followed his receiver.
(Whether there was any communication between the two, we don't know).
It was a difficult route to defend anyway.
And no, Jackson did not have problem running with the receiver; it was his own teammate (McCain) that got in the way, unintentionally, of course!

It would have been a short gain for a first down, nothing drastic!
As it was, the Colts had to punt again.
 
Did I just get drunk and pass out in the hot tub and wake up in week one?

Just in case that has happened, Hey Texans fans we still suck and lose more games at home than we win!
 
The Texans gained 7 and 10 yards on the ground with Foster, only to have Schaub thowing the ball into double coverage for an INT.

(8:31 in the second) On first and 10, the Texans went with a double TE formation in the straight I.
Andre was the lone receiver in the left slot.

The Colts brought 9 in the box.
The Texans faked hard on the run, with AJ the only receiver running a deep crossing route across the middle, right toward the lone safety Bullitt.

I have no idea what kind of play call that was.
You can check out the low-light on nfl.com, or maybe not!

The only way that play can work is for the safety to completely abandonning his post and come up in run support oe simply stay back more than 30 yds deep and do not react (like Wilson); otherwise, Schaub would have to just throw the ball away.

Bullitt ran the ball back to the Houston 37, but the refs marked the ball at the 35, WTH?
 
The Colts dink and dunk to the 14-yd line before Manning threw a TD to Wayne.
Pollard vacated his spot in the 3-deep zone to chase the route and was beat by Wayne's in and out move.

Manning completed 6 of 7 quick passes.
Okoye put Manning on his back once as he dumped the ball off to Addai for 3 yards.
He got to Manning again on the TD pass, but a hair too late.
Had Pollard held his spot in the zone, Manning would either have to throw the ball away or got sacked.

Jackson had good coverage on one incompletion to Garcon.
He also had his first bad moment in the game on another incompletion as Garcon beat him by a couple of steps, but the ball was just a tad high.
He needed to make a clean catch to keep both feet in bound; any slight bobble would have him carried out of the end zone due to momentum.

The Texans had one-on-one coverage as they sent 5 to rush the passer and Wilson played centerfielder.
Strangely, they didn't guard the passing lane as Mario went around the RT and Smith closely behind. The area bewtween the C and the side line was completely clear of obstruction. With 2 receivers and the TE facing single coverage on this side, Manning and a clear vision can spell doom for any defense.
Either Smith messed up his assignment or it was a badly designed pass rush scheme.

This is what would happen throughout the season.
The Texans pass rush actually brought quite a bit more pressure than the opponents can bring to Schaub, but they would come undone in this fashion at times.
Or mobile guys like McNabb and Vick would elude the pressure.

Now I want to elaborate a bit about what I mean by "the pass rush" needs to tie with the coverage.
Guarding the passing lanes is one of them, especially when you're in man coverage.
I don't want to defend Jackson here.
I just want to point out that in such a scheme; you want the CBs (Jackson and Quin) to play aggressively on the WRs.
With Pollard playing back (even though he was supposed to be in one-on-one with the TE), I would say the SS (Pollard) can show coverage on the TE but jumped back quickly to help the CBs on the deep routes. A slant by the TE will be defended by the FS Wilson.
 
The Texans went 3 and out on their next possession with JJ dropping a pass, Foster losing two yards on a run, and Schaub getting sacked.


The Colts got the ball back with 3:50 to go at their 35.

Mario got a sack as an OLB, standing up way outside the TE.
No, he didn't always take a false step (wake up, Wade; you fell asleep watching film, LOL!)
Smith got credit for 1/2 a sack as he joined in with Mario when the RG came off the double-team to take on the blitzing Demeco.

On third and ten, Mario got to Manning again playing the OLB position (Wade is still snoring, LOL!) just as he dumped the ball off to Addai who gained 8 yds.
The Texans rushed 5 and dropped back into a 4-2 zone with the 4 underneath defenders stretching to follow the 4 receivers; that left Addai all alone (Quin reacted back quickly but missed a tackle.) I guess the Texans took a chance there (leaving Addai alone) around midfield; which is a good spot for taking a little risk.
 
With 58 secs left, the Colts had first and ten at the Texans 32.
Manning completed a pass to Garcon for 26 yds (with Pollard putting on a hit 1 yard or two before the receiver went down.)

I'm pretty sure the good folks at Football Outsiders charged this one to Jackson, and I would disagree for the following reasons:

- The Texans dropped in a 5-2 zone; the underneath zone is 22 yards max; anything beyond that is the deep zone, which belongs to the safety.

- The Texans had Jackson play inside leverage to turn the receiver in while Quin ran inside the TE; both combine to funnel the 2 receiving threats toward the safety Pollard.

- Pollard had stayed very long inside to make sure that the QB wouldn't dare throwing into double coverage; however, he should break off the bracket a fraction of a second sooner (we're talking 1/10 of a second here, because that's what this game is all about, that's what seperates a good safety from a mediocre one.)
It was a great one-handed catch by Garcon; if only the hit would come a hair sooner, there was no way he could have hang on to the ball.

- Jackson would trail slightly behind the receiver, looking back at the QB to maybe steal one underneath, either on a pass to the receiver or the TE.
 
On first and goal at the 6, Jackson came off his man quickly to stop Addai for a short one-yd gain yo the outside.

People tend to underestimate the CB in run support, but that could have been a TD easily.
Foster was on the way to a banner day (so far it hasn't shown since he was only 10 for 40 yards in the first half).
And what do you think guys like Chris Johnson make a living on?


On 2nd and 5, Cody sniffed out the shovel pass to minimize Addai to a 3-yd gain.


On 3rd and 2, Jackson blanketed Garcon and beat him to the spot to avert any chance of a catch.

The Colts had to settle for a FG to trail by 3 at halftime.
A TD would have put them ahead and killed all the momentum the Texans had built so far.
 
The Texans started the second half with a 15-play drive that consumed 8 minutes, ending with a TD run by Foster.

There were only 2 passes on this drive.

An "incompletion" to Jacoby in which Powers was all over the receiver's back (the announcer confirmed it and replay clearly showed it) but no PI was called.
It would have given the Texans a first down on the Colts 8-yd line.

The Texans achieved the result on the next play, nevertheless, on a completion to AJ for 6yds to the same spot.

On this play, the Colts were in 2 deep 5 under man coverage.
The CB (either Haden or Powers) lost AJ to a slant; the safety Bethea did his job but couldn't stop the third down conversion.


The Colts CBs weren't really terrible in run support, but didn't help.

That is except for one play in which Haden lost the edge and allowed Foster to scamper to the outside for 13 yds before Bethea can stop him.

Texans led 20-10 with 7 mins to go in the third.
 
The Colts then went 46 yards on 12 plays, but had to punt the ball again.

Jackson showed his all-around skills on a couple of plays.

On a 9yd-completion to Clark in the short curl (the inside 1/4 zone), Jackson was dropping into his outside 1/4 zone, but read the play quickly and came back inside to tackle the TE, limiting him to a 6-yd gain.

As Diles joined in (this area was Diles' responsibility), Jackson tried to pry the ball out of Clark's hand. He was unsuccessful, but demonstrated the smart.

...........

.....

On the 17-yd cut back run by Addai, Quin (at nickel back) lost back-side containment as he got blocked in by the slot receive - all the way to the hashmarks on the other side, choking off Demeco's pursuit lane.

Jackson did very well holding up his receiver inside the hashmarks on the back side, turning Addai in, and denying him the freedom to run wild.
Wilson had to do a whole lot better reading the play.

As both receivers were clearly blocking the 2 DBs, he needed to come up sooner to support the run.
He could have stopped Addain short of the first down.
Instead, he came up late and let Addai run right over him.

Pollard came over but also missed the tackle up high.

Jackson got off his man to save the safeties (as Diles and Jamison also arrived).
Had Jackson been washed away like Quin, this has all the marks of a TD run for the Colts.
 
On 1st and 10 at the Texans 33, Smith deflected a pass when he decided to guard the passing lane.
I keep insisting that this is as important as pressure on the QB.

On second and ten, Pollard made a mistake vacating his deep 1/2 zone but was lucky when Manning's pass sailed high over Clark (Diles covering);
Manning felt pressure by Nading (outside) and Demeco (inside) and threw the ball a tad earlier than he wanted to.

After the Colts got flagged for delay of game, Mario and Nading beat the OTs on either side to sack Manning and push the Colts out of FG range.

Punt.
 
The Texans then took the ball from their 20 to the Indy 42.

AJ beat Haden on a quick 6-yd slant; it isn't easy to stop these routes when the QB and the receiver get on the same page; therefore, I hardly ever jump on the CB's case unless it's a critical situation (in the red zone or on third down coversion when they need to take risk to make a play (a PI of 5-yd or thereabout is more than worth the risk.)


On third and 4, Schaub got lazy and didn't step into his throw (he basically threw from his back foot) and send the ball a meager 30 yards downfield. (The announcer confirmed this.)

AJ had beaten the RCB Tryon easily by simply stepping outside and run down the side line.
The short throw slowed AJ down and turned him completely around and he just couldn't pull in the pass.
That was a sure TD as I've seen one.


But Tryon would become EllisUnit's shut down CB as he got credited for a pass defended in the official score card.
( LOL! What great thing stats can do for you!) :wadepalm:


In the first quarter, the Colts were in a 5-2 zone; and Tryon had given Walter almost a 10-yd cushion from the start.
Schaub completed a quick pass to Walter for 7 yards.
But now, he "managed" to cut down the completion allowed percentage by a whole 50%. :lol:

Texans had to punt the ball with 12:38 to go in the 4th.
 
Nice breakdown. Do you put blame on coaching or lack of talent for our breakdowns in coverage?
 
DocBar said:
Nice breakdown. Do you put blame on coaching or lack of talent for our breakdowns in coverage?
Click to expand...

Coaching:
Too many different schemes and techniques for the young CBs to learn and practice.

Talent:
Wilson had lost a step.
I don't know how many concussions he had, but it looks like he was affected that way from time to time.
Pollard has the physicality, but lack lateral and hip flexibility as well as football IQ.
 
The Colts got the ball back at their 19 .

Manning threw the ball quickly into the dead spot of the 4-3 zone for a 17-yd completion to Wayne (don't blame McCain, Manning was just too smart.)

The two CBs dropped back with Wilson as Pollard came down on the TE.
Pollard could disguise his intention better to make Manning hold the ball a hair longer.
(Diles already had the inside on the TE; Pollard didn't have to jump so quickly.)
This would have allowed Mario and Nading, both of whom had beaten the OTs to the inside, to combine for another sack.
Mario actually had a hand on Manning's non-throwing arm.

Here, again, the pass rush was not coordinated well with the coverage.

The Texans had Demeco and Diles taking away any slant route to the inside; they didn't need to guard the middle passing lane; yet they had Okoye and Smith attacking the A gaps, both converging on the Center.

With both DEs rushing the edges, the Texans gave Manning clear vision where he wanted.
 
On the next play, Manning threw a quick strike to Clark for 7, with Mario decking him again just after the pass.

Diles dropped into the curl but had no idea where the TE was.
Even if he did, he probably wouldn't be able to cover anyway as Manning found Clark twice more after that for 9 and 5 yds.
...

On 2nd and 5, Jackson played the quick-in route by Garcon well.
He jumped ahead of the receiver to bat the ball away.
 
On third and 5, the Texans dropped into a 5-2 zone.

Manning completed a pass to Collie for 32 yds;
Pollard forced a fumble; Quin recovered.

Jackson had the receiver pinned to the side line while Quin trailed the slot receiver by a couple of steps.

Wilson didn't put himself in a good spot and broke late on the ball.

Good thing, Pollard showed one of his great moments, coming over to knock the slot out of Collie.

To Wilson's credit, when he finally arrived, he nearly had a helmet on the ball.
It looked more like Pollard poking the ball though.

Quin picked up the fumble.

Without Pollard, the Colts would have a first down at the Texans 9-yd line or closer.
Who would the fans blame the catch on?

People who normally critcize the CB ought to blame Quin.
But to me, clearly, it was Wilson's responsibility.
 
The Texans made short work of the Colts run Defense, covering 91 yards on just 4 runs with the CBs so occupied by the receivers, they were of no help.

Foster capped the drive with a 25-yd TD run.

Texans led 27-10 with 8:41 to play.
 
I'm gonna finish this just as well.

.....

The Texans started to go with their prevent defense, rushing only four.
They were able to put pressure on Manning (as they had all game long);
however, Manning continued to find the spots in the zone quickly at the start of the drive.
He completed 6 straight passes, none longer than 8 yards.

Then, on first and ten, Quin nearly pulled in an INT as Nading pushed the RT into Manning, forcing a bad throw.
(I don't think it was Quin's fault for not securing the ball; Garcon just made a good play coming back to poke the ball out before Quin had the chance to tuck it away.)

On second down, Okoye and Mitchell both pushed the pocket well, forcing Manning to hurry an incompleted pass to the RB.

On third and ten, Pollard dropped a little too deep and allowed a 17-yd completion to Wayne (McCain released the vertical route to switch to the TE entering his outside zone.)

On first and ten, Mario and Okoye combined to put pressure on Manning forcing him to dump off the ball to the RB. Demeco timed it well and broke off the pass.

A quick pass to the RB who lined up near the side line gained 7 yds (Demeco in 5-under man coverage) on second down.

........

Then on third and 3 at the Texans 10, Manning threw a TD pass to Clark on a post route.
I had no idea what the Texans D was doing from the 5-2 zone (specifically Diles and Pollard).

The middle hole was Demeco's area; he took care of that.

The outside flat was Jackson's; he took care of that in staying with the outside receiver in his zone.

Diles lined up accross the Center and dropped to his spot in the curl.
Diles needed to trust Demeco to take care of the RB and minded his own zone.

If the Texans wanted Diles to play run first, then Pollard had to be aware of the TE from the start so Diles can help Demeco keying on the RB.

Instead, Pollard took a couple of shuffle steps to the outside and couldn't recover.
(A couple of backpedal steps here would have been better.)

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010091203/2010/REG1/colts@texans#tab:watch

..
It wasn't that big of a deal as the Texans still led 27-17 with just 3:49 to play.
 
Walter secured the ball on the ensuing onside kick to give the Texans the ball at the Colts 41.

It took the Texans 7 plays to put the ball in end zone with the running game.
None of the Colts CBs gave any help in run rupport.

Most telling was Haden's getting cleared way to the outside on Foster's TD run.

No, he can't not take on Vonta.
But having no responsibilty in the pass (no receiver on him) as an outside force man, Haden just have got to jump ahead to the line (instead of retreating) to try to get past Leach, or at least to cut down the FB for pursuit (other defenders) to have any chance to arrive.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010091203/2010/REG1/colts@texans#tab:watch

Again, let's not underestimate the CB's role in the running game!
With less than 2 minutes to go, the Texans led 34-17.
It's garbage time!
 
After a 4-yd quick pass to Clark, Manning found Collie for a 74-yd TD to pad his stats and made the Texans look bad.

The Texans dropped 8 into coverage.
Quin was the middle safety in the 5-3 zone.

Instead of making sure to put a hit/tackle on Collie, Quin went for the ball.
That was a huge mistake.
You just don't do that as the defender of last resort.

Let's hope Quin doesn't make it a habit if he was to be moved to FS.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010091203/2010/REG1/colts@texans#tab:watch
 
For the game, Schaub completed only 9 of 17 passes; you would think the Colts CBs played a good game.
There's nothing further from the truth than that.

Here's a breakdown of the 8 incompletions:
- The INT by the safety Bethea.
- 3 PIs that weren't called (2 on the CBs and one on the safety); these passes were defended by the zebras, not the Colts.
- 1 pass attempt in which Jacoby went zig and Schaub went zag
- 1 that was slightly low to Leach who was open.
- 1 pass that Schaub left short to AJ that would have been at least a very long gain (if not a TD)
- 1 pass that Jacoby dropped

Also, there was that 53-yd PI commited on the long attempt to Walter.

The Colts CBs did not succesfully defend any pass.
 
In this game here, you may have noticed that the Texans played mainly cover 2, tampa 2 or cover 3.

They wanted to keep everything in front of the coverage.
If Manning completed some passes in the dead spots of the zone, so be it.

They played mostly zone underneath, with a few instances in man-under.
Nevertheless, each DB mainly stayed with one guy:

McCain was on Wayne, Jackson on Garcon (and Gonzales), and Quin (as the nickel) on Collie.

The lines for the receivers (from hte NFL official gamebook) are as foolowed:
Wayne, targeted 10 times, 7 receptions for 99 yards and 1 TD, longs of 22, 19, 17, and 14 (the TD).
Collie, targeted 12 times, 11 receptions for 163 yds and 1 TD, longs of 73 (the TD) and 32 (catch and fumble).
Garcon, targeted 10 times, 3 receptions for 43 yds, long of 26
Gonzales, targeted 3 times, 1 reception for 12 yds.

All other passes were under 10 yds.

Like I said, the Texans were mostly in zone, so there were catches made by the receiver passing from one zone to another.
Chew on them a little and see if you can match some of them up to the plays I had describe in the thread.

Give me your opinion as to how each of the CB and safety did.
 
I'm going back to the beginning of the game; this way, the pictures can provide more informations.

1st Qtr

Colts got the ball first.
Two consecutive QB Hits by Mario and a good play by Demeco (breaking up a pass to Clark) stopped the Colts cold.
The Texans started out the year with a 3 and out for the D.
Fool's gold!


1-MariobeattheRTtotheinside.png



1-LDE Mario beat the RT to the inside
 
Last edited:
Texans first drive was stalled at the Colts 7

Two consecutive side bars by the Colts defenders (Bethea on O.D. and Haden on Jacoby) were not called by the refs.

Defender running behind receiver, putting a hand on the receiver's waist or wrapping his arm around the receiver's waist to (a) pull the receiver back slightly away from the ball, (b) to use the receiver's body as a stronghold so he can strech his other hand/arm around the back of the receiver to deflect the ball.

Imagine yourself lunging forward tryng to deflect a pass; in the effort to extend one arm forward, you will find your other arm trailing behind you. When you see a DB extending both arms forward, it's almost always to cheat in this fashion.

There are different reasons why I want to bring this up:
1. The Texans got the short end on penalty calls and non-calls over what I believe to be tolerable for the season.
2. This can make Schaub look inaccurate, and the receivers look incapable.
3. These calls prevented us from scoring a TD on this particular drive.

Texans settled for a FG to lead 3-0
 
In order to assign "blames" and mis-tackles, I imagine I will have to be more specific. I will try to do this until I find it too time-consuming.
At any rate, Manning attempted a lot of passes in this game, so it may be worth it.


Indianapolis Colts at 15:00, (1st play from scrimmage 14:54)

1-10-IND 20 (14:54) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass short right to J.Addai to IND 21 for 1 yard (Z.Diles) [M.Williams].
Good tackle by Diles on a screen pass to Addai as Mario hurried the throw.

2-9-IND 21 (14:18) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass short middle to D.Clark to IND 29 for 8 yards (D.Ryans) [M.Williams].
Another hurry by Mario.
Clark was jammed and defended well by Demeco.
Manning and Clark simply clicked too well.
(Quin fell down - hey, I just had to record it, LOL)

3-1-IND 29 (13:32) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short middle to D.Clark (D.Ryans).
Texans zone coverage was right for the routes.
Excellent job by Demeco as Clark could have had the first down.
Basically, this drive was stopped due to Marion and Demeco.

(13:26) P.McAfee punts 41 yards to HST 30, Center-J.Snow. J.Jones to IND 31 for 39 yards (J.Tryon). (The punt
hangtime was 3.3 seconds.)
 
76Texan said:
Texans first drive was stalled at the Colts 7

Two consecutive side bars by the Colts defenders (Bethea on O.D. and Haden on Jacoby) were not called by the refs.

Defender running behind receiver, putting a hand on the receiver's waist or wrapping his arm around the receiver's waist to (a) pull the receiver back slightly away from the ball, (b) to use the receiver's body as a stronghold so he can strech his other hand/arm around the back of the receiver to deflect the ball.

Imagine yourself lunging forward tryng to deflect a pass; in the effort to extend one arm forward, you will find your other arm trailing behind you. When you see a DB extending both arms forward, it's almost always to cheat in this fashion.

There are different reasons why I want to bring this up:
1. The Texans got the short end on penalty calls and non-calls over what I believe to be tolerable for the season.
2. This can make Schaub look inaccurate, and the receivers look incapable.
3. These calls prevented us from scoring a TD on this particular drive.

Texans settled for a FG to lead 3-0
Click to expand...

Jacoby made a few guys miss on the 39-yd return to the Colts 31 to give the Texans excellent field position.

Too bad, the zebras killed the drive and the Texans had to settle for the FG.
 
Houston Texans at 13:12

1-10-IND 31 (13:12) M.Schaub pass short left to K.Walter to IND 24 for 7 yards (J.Tryon).
Pretty good coverage by Tryon in off-man, but not the best angle as Walter stretched for an extra 3 yards.
(Good coverage in my book, but if this was Jackson, I can hear the critics said "too much of a cushion/poor angle").

2-3-IND 24 (12:33) M.Schaub pass incomplete short middle to V.Leach [D.Muir].
Schaub was hurried a bit. Pass slightly behind.

3-3-IND 24 (12:28) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass short middle to J.Jones to IND 18 for 6 yards (J.Powers, A.Bethea).
Powers was in man coverage but was late in following his man for some reason.
 
1-10-IND 18 (11:48) A.Foster left tackle to IND 12 for 6 yards (J.Powers).

2-4-IND 12 (11:09) A.Foster right tackle to IND 8 for 4 yards (F.Moala, P.Wheeler). R2

1-8-IND 8 (10:25) A.Foster left guard to IND 7 for 1 yard (K.Dawson).

2-7-IND 7 (9:45) M.Schaub pass incomplete short middle to O.Daniels (A.Bethea).
Timeout #1 by HST at 09:41.

3-7-IND 7 (9:41) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass incomplete short middle to J.Jones (K.Hayden).

4-7-IND 7 (9:35) N.Rackers 25 yard field goal is GOOD, NULLIFIED by Penalty, Center-J.Weeks, Holder-M.Turk.
PENALTY on HST-R.Butler, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at IND 7 - No Play.
4-12-IND 12 (9:35) N.Rackers 30 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-J.Weeks, Holder-M.Turk.

Two non-called PI.
Jacoby probably should have caught the pass, but it's tough with a guy pulling on your waist.
 
76Texan said:
From their 20, the Colts gained 24 yds on 4 plays.

On the 5th play (1st and 10), Jackson was stretching his zone back to follow the outside receiver but can still make the read as the slot receiver ran a wheel route to the outside.
Jackson broke off his man to stop Collie to a short 5-yd gain.
............

On the next play, KJ was backpedaling away from the slot receiver Garcon.
Garcon would run straight forward and pushed off on Jackson to gain seperation to the inside on a quick up and in route (this was about 10 yards from the LOS and should have been offensive PI - pass interference on garon - but no call was made.)

The contact (between receiver and DB) probably threw Manning's timing off just a tad.
Incompleted pass.
Jackson was right there anyway;
and Wilson was just a few yards behind in the deep middle.
....

On third and 5, Wayne left Quin in the dirt with a quick in-and-out move but the pass went off his fingertips.
Manning was pressured by Smith and Barwin.
Your best CB was the first to fall down, but nobody called it out.

Punt time.
Click to expand...

This is for reference so I can continue with the break down.
 
Indianapolis Colts at 9:32, (1st play from scrimmage 9:25)

1-10-IND 20 (9:25) J.Addai left guard to IND 25 for 5 yards (Z.Diles).
RDE Mario shut down play side, but LDE Smith penetrated and partially lost back side containment as Addain cut back to the right (notice the playbook originally said that the run was supposed to be off LG).
Demeco filled the alley but missed the tackle.
He did slow down the runner enough for Diles, however.

2-5-IND 25 (8:49) P.Manning pass short middle to A.Collie to IND 32 for 7 yards (D.Ryans, McCain).

Texans in zone.
Quin was doing the shuffle in the slot but facing toward the side line (this is weird, I might have to post a screen shot later) and was picked off by Clark.
One good reason to ditch the shuffle.

Collie ran a slant toward the middle into Demeco's zone where Demeco made the tackle.
 
1-10-IND 32 (8:20) J.Addai up the middle to IND 32 for no gain (M.Williams).
Mario threw Clark aside to make the tackle.
Good job by Smith penetrating the middle to force Addai wide (Barwin contained the other edge).

2-10-IND 32 (7:32) P.Manning pass short left to R.Wayne to IND 44 for 12 yards (D.Ryans).

Manning exploited the 3 deep zone.
McCain was in the shuffle and couldn't react back quick enough from his outside deep 1/3

(A pix here will probabably help.)
 
1-10-IND 44 (7:03) P.Manning pass short right to A.Collie to 50 for 6 yards (K.Jackson, E.Wilson).
Quin bought the run fake and vacated his man/area of responsibility.
Good job by Jackson to come off his man to react back for the tackle.
I wonder he got charged for a completion allowed???
If not, who do they charge this completion to?
This one was on Quin.

2-5-50 (6:21) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short middle to P.Garcon.
Hard to tell what kind of coverage the Texans were in.
Cover one Robber with Demeco as the floater or Cover 2 (but with Jackson dropping back into 2-deep with Wilson).
This could be interesting with some photos for discussion.

3-5-50 (6:16) (Shotgun) P.Manning pass incomplete short left to R.Wayne.
Wayne left Quin in the dirt with a quick in-and-out move but the pass went off his fingertips.
Note - Quin "fell down" again.
Manning was pressured by RDT Smith and RDE Barwin.


(6:10) P.McAfee punts 34 yards to HST 16, Center-J.Snow, fair catch by J.Jones. (The punt hangtime was 3.4
seconds.)
 
Houston Texans at 6:02
1-10-HST 16 (6:02) M.Schaub pass incomplete deep middle to K.Walter.
PENALTY on IND-K.Hayden, Defensive Pass Interference, 53 yards, enforced at HST 16 - No Play.

53-yd pass interference against the CB Hayden on Walter.
With plenty of time, Schaub's pass was short and late; Walter had to stop to wait for the ball.
This gave Hayden time to come back and climb all over him.
A decent pass and it would have been an 84-yd TD for Walter.
At any rate, the worse CB on the field so far is Hayden.
And it goes to show that without deep safety help, a CB's job is very diificult.
(The safety had stepped up trying to help on AJ.)

As you talliy the numbers for statistical purposes, this won't show up as Hayden giving up an 84-yd TD pass.
Just as it didn't show that Hayden could have given up a TD to JJ earlier.

This play is just like the 2-receiver route in the Charger game which I described such that the defense can use a drop kick call to defend.

Walter ran the post route from the right (covered by the LCB Hayden);
AJ ran a slant from the left (the RCB Powers was on him).
The deep middle safety stepped up on the slant route.
The RCB Powers ran back toward the deep middle to take his place, but was late.
A screen shot would show both Hayden and Powers following Walter to the deep middle.

In the Chargers game, Wilson also stepped up on the slant route.
Quin, unlike Powers, dropped (more or less) straight back and was covering air as Ariyotutu caught the ball for a TD.

I might come back to this play when and if I have time to get to that game.
There were several similar plays like this 2-receiver route that we encounterrd throughout the season.
 
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