Keep Texans Talk Google Ad Free!
Venmo Tip Jar | Paypal Tip Jar
Thanks for your support! 🍺😎👍

Your Game Summary

Rich Schmidt

Rich Schmidt

Myopicone
special teams and Tyler Ervin, kicking game solid, coverage good, got a turnover, actually won ST today
Honey badger and Kareem brought it today
Watt started to feel it in the second half, good to see he may not be done
Lamar Miller and the run blocking, Blue as well, some solid running when BOB called runs in the right formations

You can ask if Clowney played, dude needed more prep or is not right. Missed the pre-season and shows
Vincynt Smith, could not even get lined up, I suspect wrong routes too, watch #10 tell him on many plays what to do, if you want to be a pro, get head in the playbook, contest the ball on the INT too
Receivers need to catch the contested balls, lots of drops that were in the hands
DW4, looked rusty, would not pull the trigger, the long WTF interception, game looked fast for him. Hope this gets fixed quick, I was sure we had our future here
BOB, ROmo would have called a better game and taken the TO on the Gronk non catch. He did scheme some guys open though
And the biggest can of suck for the day..
Kevin Johnson, two concussions in three weeks, he will be out a while. His play may have cost him his spot anyway, easily the weakest secondary link
 
Aside from O'Brien, the biggest issue is a long-term one for me ... we don't use our d-line to their full potential. I wasn't paying complete attention, but can anyone point to Mercilus as an outside rush linebacker in passing situations? We hammered Clowney into the biggest tackle we'll face all season with Watt doing nothing (though getting a fair amount of double-teams) until he realized that it's in his best interest to sit down every now and then. So, solutions? Common sense? If a winded Watt is doing nothing but getting double teamed, and Clowney is accomplishing nothing trying to bull a monster, with Mercilus floating around as an extra ... I wonder what we could do if the names were removed from their jerseys. A quick rush linebacker against a slow monster, an inside tackle using his hands against double teams, a bull against a weak link ... hmmmm.
 
Pass rush was not as good as it needs to be. I suspect because Mercilus/Clowney are still not 100% and Watt working off the rust (looked like his old self in second half like you said. We knew coming into this season that the pass rush would have to be as advertised for the secondary to look good. Watt/Clowney/Mercilus need to get it together or this defense will not be elite.

DW4 had his worst game as a Texan. Yes, the pass blocking needs to improve but that didn't stop him last season. He routinely missed open throws and made poor reads trying to force big plays after the RPO miscommunication to start the game. It seemed partially due to rust, partially trying to push to get the big win in New England and starting out so poorly. Needs to settle down and take what the defense gives him. I also think a lot of the issue was the weapons he had at his disposal. He really needs Fuller back. Vyncint Smith and Sammie Coates were pressed into extended snaps and do not yet know their assignments. And DW4 is not yet a finished product himself that can compensate for the inexperienced talent at the skill positions.

Running game looked much better than expected. I am interested to see how much of that had to do with the Pats gameplan focused around stopping DW4 and how much is our improved run blocking on the OL.

I suspect Henderson and K Jo will be sent to IR and Slade/Chachere will be elevated from the practice squad.
 
Odd, how do I feel better with UDFA Chachere versus first round pick KJo. I think you are right. Will be interesting to see what they do with tackles with a week to prep. Think Davenport should stay at LT and progress there, moving the kid around will not help. Rankin seemed to help the running game, we seem to have some combos that work. I know NE invited this, but in the past we could not run against a used condom
 
To summarize this with my only assessment.

Bill O'Brien is not NFL ready. This stage is just to big for him. He still trying to learn how to play checkers while some coaches are playing chest.
 
Rich Schmidt said:
special teams and Tyler Ervin, kicking game solid, coverage good, got a turnover, actually won ST today
Honey badger and Kareem brought it today
Watt started to feel it in the second half, good to see he may not be done
Lamar Miller and the run blocking, Blue as well, some solid running when BOB called runs in the right formations

You can ask if Clowney played, dude needed more prep or is not right. Missed the pre-season and shows
Vincynt Smith, could not even get lined up, I suspect wrong routes too, watch #10 tell him on many plays what to do, if you want to be a pro, get head in the playbook, contest the ball on the INT too
Receivers need to catch the contested balls, lots of drops that were in the hands
DW4, looked rusty, would not pull the trigger, the long WTF interception, game looked fast for him. Hope this gets fixed quick, I was sure we had our future here
BOB, ROmo would have called a better game and taken the TO on the Gronk non catch. He did scheme some guys open though
And the biggest can of suck for the day..
Kevin Johnson, two concussions in three weeks, he will be out a while. His play may have cost him his spot anyway, easily the weakest secondary link
Click to expand...
Texans are notoriously slow starters - even deep into the season and it was on display today.
You can't afford to do that in this league. Every week is an opportunity to advance your team so each game is precious.
Having said that, it must be a daunting task to play the Pats in Foxboro and even harder to pull off a win.
Texans weren't disgraced, but they certainly need a find a way to knock that rust off in a hurry. Sharper play in the first half could very likely have changed the outcome of this game.
I have been waiting for teams to figure Watson out and the best in the business did that today basically shutting down our passing game with great coverage in the secondary.
I give us a much better chance against lesser teams but you cannot take any team lightly.
Our oline was not that bad - definitely an improvement over last season but unfortunately Henderson may be out for some time and we will need to bring up a replacement for KJohnson - who looked bad today.
Miller, Blue and Ervin all had good games.
 
Rich Schmidt said:
Odd, how do I feel better with UDFA Chachere versus first round pick KJo. I think you are right. Will be interesting to see what they do with tackles with a week to prep. Think Davenport should stay at LT and progress there, moving the kid around will not help. Rankin seemed to help the running game, we seem to have some combos that work. I know NE invited this, but in the past we could not run against a used condom
Click to expand...

Rankin was a LT in college and injured all of training camp/preseason. Also it was his right foot that I believe was fractured in rookie minicamp which makes it tougher on the right side.

Davenport at least has experience on that side from last season. And they are both young/need to progress. I could see them putting Lamm at RT and Davenport back to left because Lamm "knows the system".... but i'd much prefer leaving it Rankin LT and Davenport RT. That is the more talented OL tandem.
 
Lamm might be getting some playing time this year if Davenport doesn't play better. It was that bad today. And I don't buy the excuse that it's because he was playing the right side when he's accustomed to the left. Getting beat is getting beat.
 
Max said:
Lamm might be getting some playing time this year if Davenport doesn't play better. It was that bad today. And I don't buy the excuse that it's because he was playing the right side when he's accustomed to the left. Getting beat is getting beat.
Click to expand...


That man didn't get any reps on the right side. Terrible coaching
 
For me it was all about the offense. Too many slow developing passing plays with Watson taking 5-7 step drops in the first half. When your young QB is struggling, you get him in rhythm with slants hooks, screens to get the ball out of his hands. O'Brien failed Watson.

Several times, Romo mentioned instead of lining up in 3-4 wide sets, to line up in a conventional offense and run the ball. With Fuller out, I would have liked to see more play action out of the two TE sets. Especially after they started running the ball successfully.

I think the lack of snaps between Watson and the WRs during the preseason really showed today and that's on O'Brien.
 
Max said:
Lamm might be getting some playing time this year if Davenport doesn't play better. It was that bad today. And I don't buy the excuse that it's because he was playing the right side when he's accustomed to the left. Getting beat is getting beat.
Click to expand...

Then why was Jeff Allen a competent NFL OL playing RG and a turnstile playing LG? Two different positions. Playing RT and LT is not the same thing...
 
TheRealJoker said:
Then why was Jeff Allen a competent NFL OL playing RG and a turnstile playing LG? Two different positions. Playing RT and LT is not the same thing...
Click to expand...

Yeah, but you were dyslexic on your first sentence
 
Probably Tyler Ervin's best game as a Texan, and ST as a whole looked good.
Rookie TE's flashed, and to be fair, on Ryan Griffin's targets it was DW's fault for totally missing him with bad throws.
The OL gave up a lot of pressure, but NE's pass-rush is much, much improved compared to last year.
I'm so glad we got Honey Badger, he (and KJax) balled out.
And most important one.. OB is hopeless as a head coach.
 
Wait, Watt did nothing? You might want to go rewatch the tape. Clowney have up edge contain every part. He got smashed around. Watt actually impacted the game...

Deshaun was a product of the play calling against a trash line.

I agree with the other parts
 
welsh texan said:
Is Romo available to coach though? He's on a Madden trajectory up on the gantry which youd think is a damn good wage guaranteed for life vs taking a 2 year contract with a ball club?
Click to expand...
I wonder can Webster come in and play better than Johnson at CB or do we need to move Kareem back down?

Kareem played a really good game at S, but Reid also looked great when he hit the field.
 
TheRealJoker said:
Then why was Jeff Allen a competent NFL OL playing RG and a turnstile playing LG? Two different positions. Playing RT and LT is not the same thing...
Click to expand...

Because Jeff Allen got hurt and sucked. If he's out of the NFL, (I dont know if he caught on with another team.) Then the 4 OL that were replaced are all out of the NFL.

BTW, Davenport wasn't good at LT either. Look at how many times Watson instinctively moved to his right to avoid pressure with Davenport playing LT. This was really Davenport's 1st start, so I will cut him some slack, but much improvement is needed for him to be a competent OT regardless of which OT position he plays. (Yes I know he started a couple of meaningless games last yr.)

In short Davenport looks like the guy I think he is.
 
Last edited:
Watt looked dominant as he got back into game shape. He looked like an All Pro in the second half, constantly beating his man around the edge and applying some consistent pressure on Brady.

A lot of our guys didn't play much in the preseason. That's too bad because we need our guys to play! Only way to improve is to take more snaps, get back into a flow.

We basically used Week 1 as a preseason game. And it cost us a 27-20 loss. A game we may have otherwise won if our guys had been more prepared and ready to play. That type of regret, that type of situation of not being well conditioned to play a full 60 minute game. That squarely falls on the head coach.

I'm watching the film now. Clowney looks so awful.
Looks like a dude that didn't play much in the preseason.
Guy looks like he's still enjoying his off-season vacation.

When guys aren't ready to play. I blame the coaching...
Jimmy Johnson once said, "fatigue makes a coward of all of us."
Football rewards the guys who are in the best shape and ready to play.

All those BS excuses of Clowney not playing in the preseason.
He clearly needed the reps. It made no sense "not to play him!"
 
O'Brien's brain fart to sit his starters for most of the Pre-Season Games....created a Pre Season type of curve through the first half and mostly through the second half. This gaff could require a couple of more games to get straightened out...provided no one else is injured.

Watson was trying to do too much himself and far too often, looking for the perfect completion. Some of those end zone shots should've been dialed back to just getting the first down, then exploiting the Pats with a deeper effort.

I think the Texans have 2 very good young TE's in Aikens and Thomas.....O'Brien screwed up by not using them more during this game. Both could have provided mismatches.

I was pleasantly surprised with the OL even after Henderson went down. They were opening some nice running lanes between the tackles. The OT's got beat more than I would have liked but not sure if this alignment was the group truly prepared to play together. They could look better with some games under their belts. Will be curious to see which FA OT Gaine goes after this week.

Miller and Blue put a smile on my face. I liked the way Blue was hitting the hole and going forward. He may need some more touches in the next game.

The defense looked rusty as well but the front seven started to look like themselves in the second half.

After Johnson clears the concussion protocol, the Texans need to cut him. A blown pick. Honey Badger was on his arse on the sideline for blown coverage. Time to write this pick off if his concussions don't do it first. The safeties looked good for the majority of the game.

ST's looked like totally different squad on the field. Very refreshing! The kicking game was solid.

O'Brien and his clock management / challenge skills have surfaced right out of the gate. Was he under the impression that he could take his 3 TO's not used in the first half and use them in the second? Pitiful he didn't challenge the Gronk catch....even if he wasn't sure, the way the Brady was trying to get the play off might've signaled that they weren't sure about the catch either. Throw the flag O'Brien, you've got 3 TO"s!!! His play calling down the stretch and before the half was a bit puzzling based on just about every play called leaving them in 2nd and long. Play calling becomes far too predictable. Oh, and running the same damn running play 3 times in a row isn't exactly going to catch the Pats defense off-guard...they were just laughing at far of a hole O'Brien was willing to dig his offense into.

Final observation.....what would it take -"financially"- for Gaine to hire Tony Romo out of the booth and onto the sideline as the Texans, Offensive Coordinator?
 
Last edited:
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...ton-texans-loss-new-england-patriots-put-l-me


Boiled down to execution by players and coaches. New England was better in the few plays that swayed the outcome. As bad as it feels we didn't get run off the field despite playing poorly and without key offensive players. Defense was super rusty and was giving up inconceivable cushions to Brady. Kevin Johnson was a huge liability this game, hate to single him out but it is what it is.

All in all could be wayyy worse .. Nathan Peterman could be our QB.
 
My summary? Texans suck. They always suck against good teams and they'll continue to suck against good teams for as long as they stay on the Right-Track Express.

I'm not doing this again. Been doing this for 16 seasons and I'm out of faith and have no more inclination to spend my Sunday's watching them crawl around trying to find their way. You won't see me in another game thread because I ain't watching that **** anymore. I genuinely wish we'd never gotten this team because it's a shallow, plastic, meaningless copy of other better franchises. Hell it's a sham compared to the what the Oiler's were and they weren't much to be proud of either. 32nd out of 32 teams fits the Texans perfectly. It perfectly summarizes their bland, vanilla, fake as **** identity. Colors? Red White and Blue because every simpleton in the country loves him some Red White and Blue. Name? Generic term for residents of this state. What's a Texan? Anyone who comes here looking for work. Literally any asshole with a change of address card can be a Texan.

We had a team with a name and an identity that reflected the city and we let it leave and now we have this bland substitute owned and operated by this carpetbagging bastard who saw a good financial opportunity and who couldn't run a football team to save his life. He just runs a good carnival 8 weeks a year at the stadium we built him so he could charge us to park there, sell us beer, and watch his show.

No identity, no integrity, no quality. Just a dog and pony show to sell you beer and merchandise. I've bagged and set on the curb every single thing I own with a Texans logo on it and I'll never give them another penny as long as I live. I watched my dad spend his Sundays watching first the Oiler's and then the Texans play hoping to see his team in a Super Bowl someday and he went to his grave watching 7-9 Texans football while talking about next season.

Bad teams stay bad. Good teams stay good. If you ended up with the Texans as your team well then I have bad news for you. You're going to be following a loser for a long, long time. Bob McNair may be old but Cal is fit as a fiddle and that fat little bastard isn't going to change a thing about this franchise. We think they're wandering around lost but the truth is they're right where they want to be. Profitable.

**** the Texans.
 
Watson's SUMMARY

My energy was low and I take full responsibility for us coming out with no energy. It's my job to make sure we are ready to go.

I played terrible, I was thinking too much.

Bwhahaha paraphrased a lot of it. But it is so funny some are trying to say it was because of the ACL. Great observation
 
steelbtexan said:
Because Jeff Allen got hurt and sucked. If he's out of the NFL, (I dont know if he caught on with another team.) Then the 4 OL that were replaced are all out of the NFL.

BTW, Davenport wasn't good at LT either. Look at how many times Watson instinctively moved to his right to avoid pressure with Davenport playing LT. This was really Davenport's 1st start, so I will cut him some slack, but much improvement is needed for him to be a competent OT regardless of which OT position he plays. (Yes I know he started a couple of meaningless games last yr.)

In short Davenport looks like the guy I think he is.
Click to expand...
Don't right-handed QBs usually feel more comfortable moving to their right with the intent of possibly passing just as lefties are normally more comfortable moving to their left ?
 
It'll be great when the regular season starts.

Oh wait, it started yesterday?

BoB needed to give everyone more reps in the preseason. Brady got more preseason snaps than DeShaun Watson and Brady started playing before Watson was born (or close to it)

I think the entire team will get better when they are: a) playing anyone that's not the best team in football b) had more reps on the field.

The only long term concerns I have are:
1) Kevin Johnson is a massive liability in coverage. He seems to have regressed from last year.
2) 4 out of our 5 starters on the oline from last year are out of football. We replaced them with guys that are likely going to be in the same boat next year. Our o line is unacceptable and will likely lead to a lot of scrambling by DeShaun Watson
 
The line looked bad, better than last years first game but still bad. I wont out it all entirely in them Watson held the ball way to long on a lot of plays leading him to take unnecessary hits. the whole offense looked out of sync, which when you play 5 total series in the preseason is to be expected. I kind of get not wanting to play your starters to much in the preseason with so many coming off of injury, but when you have the Pat's week 1 you have to do a better job evaluating your team in practices and realize how out of sync they are so they get more playing time. That to me was OBs biggest failure regarding this game to me, not having his team ready to play week 1 again. Patriots were rushing 5 or 6 all game to keep Watson in the pocket, Obrien never really made adjustments to it.

Watson looked rusty, looked like he wasn't trusting his eyes, hopefully he works that out with more game reps, he seemed to get more comfortable as the season progressed last year that's all we can hope for at this point.

I thought the defense outside of Kjo looked pretty decent considering the lack of support from the offense most of the game. Still think Patterson should have got a 15 yarder for the play that knocked kjo out under the new rules. He lowered his crown into the side of Kjos head, but I dont think you will see it called on the ball carrier to much this year
 
IDEXAN said:
Don't right-handed QBs usually feel more comfortable moving to their right with the intent of possibly passing just as lefties are normally more comfortable moving to their left ?
Click to expand...

Yes, they do.

They also usually dont move unless they have too move

If they are moving around when they dont have too then that's an issue the coaches have to coach out of Watson. I didn't think this was the case in yesterday's game. Pressure was consistently coming from the left side when Davenport was at LT. Rankins looked better at LT than Davenport did. IMHO
 
steelbtexan said:
Yes, they do.

They also usually dont move unless they have too move

If they are moving around when they dont have too then that's an issue the coaches have to coach out of Watson. I didn't think this was the case in yesterday's game. Pressure was consistently coming from the left side when Davenport was at LT. Rankins looked better at LT than Davenport did. IMHO
Click to expand...

yea line play seemed to improve after we made that switch. Watson looked uneasy in the pocket a lot even when protection was good he wasn't trusting his eyes. The whole offense looked like a team that hasnt played together much. O'Brien again didnt have this team ready to go week 1
 
Shishkabob said:
yea line play seemed to improve after we made that switch. Watson looked uneasy in the pocket a lot even when protection was good he wasn't trusting his eyes. The whole offense looked like a team that hasn't played together much. O'Brien again didn't have this team ready to go week 1
Click to expand...

Agreed, the lack of playing the starters in the preseason greatly contributes to this and this is BOB's biggest mistake. I wish he would've learned from BB how to get his team ready for the regular season. Instead we get to watch his team play like crap for the 1st 3-4 weeks of the season every yr.
 
steelbtexan said:
Agreed, the lack of playing the starters in the preseason greatly contributes to this and this is BOB's biggest mistake. I wish he would've learned from BB how to get his team ready for the regular season. Instead we get to watch his team play like crap for the 1st 3-4 weeks of the season every yr.
Click to expand...

5 years in and we are still waiting on Obrien to out coach a team with a good HC. I hope Gaine brought his buddy into have a serious discussion after OB flipped out on McClain for something that is his job, that apparently he thinks it isnt
 
steelbtexan said:
Yes, they do.

They also usually dont move unless they have too move

If they are moving around when they dont have too then that's an issue the coaches have to coach out of Watson. I didn't think this was the case in yesterday's game. Pressure was consistently coming from the left side when Davenport was at LT. Rankins looked better at LT than Davenport did. IMHO
Click to expand...
Rankins was the LT on the Miss St. team last year and its the position that Davenport played through out his time in college so it would seem we've got two LTs on our OLine.
Both LT & RT are important but obviously LT is the more important position (DW4s back), so what to do ?
 
Shishkabob said:
5 years in and we are still waiting on Obrien to out coach a team with a good HC. I hope Gaine brought his buddy into have a serious discussion after OB flipped out on McClain for something that is his job, that apparently he thinks it isnt
Click to expand...

What did BOB say to McClain?
 
IDEXAN said:
Rankins was the LT on the Miss St. team last year and its the position that Davenport played through out his time in college so it would seem we've got two LTs on our OLine.
Both LT & RT are important but obviously LT is the more important position (DW4s back), so what to do ?
Click to expand...

Play the one that performs best at LT.

I'm worried about the depth on the OL and wonder who they're going to bring in. Of course I was worried about the OL, OT's in particular before Henderson got hurt.
 
steelbtexan said:
What did BOB say to McClain?
Click to expand...

McClain asked why he didnt call the timeout after gronks catch/no catch right before half so the officials could have a chance to get the replay in to review it since it was under 2 minutes. He acted like a baby and said it's not his job to make the officials jobs easier. Brady and the pats are the best in the biz at getting up and getting a play off before officials can determine if it's worth reviewing, I dont get OBs logic here
 
TheRealJoker said:
Then why was Jeff Allen a competent NFL OL playing RG and a turnstile playing LG? Two different positions. Playing RT and LT is not the same thing...
Click to expand...
He was beat once on the left side on the play that took Henderson out and Watson could have been hurt as well. He was beat 8 times on the right side (one a running play) -- in 1 on 1 blocks where he engaged the defender but just got beat. It wasn't like he didn't know the play or who he was supposed to block -- he just got beat. That's almost 25% of the passing plays that he allowed pressure. If he had moved from RT to LT and was getting beat by a quick edge, I would be right there with you and say he was out of position. But he moved from LT to RT, knew the plays, engaged the correct defender and just flat out got beat way too many times.
 
Shishkabob said:
McClain asked why he didnt call the timeout after gronks catch/no catch right before half so the officials could have a chance to get the replay in to review it since it was under 2 minutes. He acted like a baby and said it's not his job to make the officials jobs easier. Brady and the pats are the best in the biz at getting up and getting a play off before officials can determine if it's worth reviewing, I dont get OBs logic here
Click to expand...

BOB was simply wrong and uses bully tactics to get the press off his back. Not in this case, but BOB needs to get an OC so he doesn't screw up these situations. If I was BOB I would hire an analytics guy to tell me when to challenge calls/use timeouts etc...

It wouldn't have to be a guy with a football background. But we know this isn't going happen with BOB's control freak like nature. I mean he wont even hire an OC.

BB doesn't operate like this.
 
Max said:
He was beat once on the left side on the play that took Henderson out and Watson could have been hurt as well. He was beat 8 times on the right side (one a running play) -- in 1 on 1 blocks where he engaged the defender but just got beat. It wasn't like he didn't know the play or who he was supposed to block -- he just got beat. That's almost 25% of the passing plays that he allowed pressure. If he had moved from RT to LT and was getting beat by a quick edge, I would be right there with you and say he was out of position. But he moved from LT to RT, knew the plays, engaged the correct defender and just flat out got beat way too many times.
Click to expand...

Because he's not good/strong enough.

Like I said I'm willing to cut him some slack because this was really his 1st start and I've got a feeling the Pats defense is going to be a top 5 defense this yr. With Rankins coming off of injury I think LT is where he needs to play. BTW, Is Henderson expected to play again this yr?
 
steelbtexan said:
Because he's not good/strong enough.

Like I said I'm willing to cut him some slack because this was really his 1st start and I've got a feeling the Pats defense is going to be a top 5 defense this yr.
Click to expand...
I'm all for cutting guys some slack. My real point is that he should be getting the same amount of slack as Lamm gets for having a couple of bad series against the 2nd best pass rushing team last year. I haven't seen anything that says that Davenport is better than Lamm right now other than measurables, but nothing on the field. If Davenport keeps this up, Lamm may get a shot to get on the field again.
 
steelbtexan said:
BOB was simply wrong and uses bully tactics to get the press off his back. Not in this case, but BOB needs to get an OC so he doesn't screw up these situations. If I was BOB I would hire an analytics guy to tell me when to challenge calls/use timeouts etc...

It wouldn't have to be a guy with a football background. But we know this isn't going happen with BOB's control freak like nature. I mean he wont even hire an OC.

BB doesn't operate like this.
Click to expand...

I honestly think the plan is to have Sean Ryan take over as OC next year. I know he was getting looks at OC this offseason by some teams. I think they are going to do kind of what they did with Vrabel the year he interviewed for the SF DC job. Gave him a pay raise, but still keep him as the positional coach for that year, and promote the following offseason.

I still don't know if that will fix his management issues, they continued when Godsey was calling plays I don't see how it will change now, but maybe someone up in the booth will help. Maybe we can talk Lechler into that since he has had to tell OB when to challenge before lol. Anyone think Gaine will have the stones to fire his buddy if it comes to it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top