IntheBullseye.com - Official Texans vs. Cowboys Game Thread, 10/7/2018

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Official Texans vs. Cowboys Game Thread, 10/7/2018

The 1-3 Texans will host the 2-2 Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football this weekend. For the Texans, it is an excellent opportunity to say, "we're not done, yet" because if they take another loss, it may very well be over.

The Cowboys have beaten the Lions and the Giants - lost to the Panthers and Seahawks. Although 30th in the league in passing offense, the Cowboys rank 4th in rushing offense so, expect to see a heavy dose of Ezekiel Elliot. Cowboys are 3-1 all time vs. the Texans. Both teams are 1-3 ATS this season.

Some will say "it's a long season" to dismiss the Texan's poor start but at some point, you've got to get going. Sunday night, the Texans can make a statement as to where they fit in going forward....

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TV = NBC (channel 2 local), 7:20 pm CST, October 7, 2018

Announcers = Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth

The line = Texans by 3 to 3½

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Other Sunday viewing in the Houston area:

CBS (early) = Jacksonville @ Kansas City, Jim Nantz, Tony Romo

FOX (early) = NY Giants @ Carolina, Kenny Albert, Charles Davis

FOX (late) = Minnesota @ Philadelphia, Joe Buck, Troy Aikman

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Other prime time:

TNF = Indianapolis @ New England (FOX/NFLN)

MNF = Washington @ New Orleans (ESPN)

Sean Pendergast - NFL Week 5: Cowboys-Texans — Four Things To Watch For:

Quote:

Much like presidential elections, the Olympics, the World Cup, and my getting on a workout kick, the Texans playing the Cowboys in the regular season is something we only get once every four years. To that end, for just the third time in the history of both franchises, the Texans will host the Cowboys at NRG Stadium. I don't know if the scarcity of the matchup is good or bad, as it certainly amps up the juice for Sunday's game, but seeing the two teams play each season would add some spice to the schedule, for sure.

Regardless, we in the media tried our best to pull something from the Texans players this week that would feed a "War for the Texas Supremacy" narrative. To the players' credit, they really weren't having any of it. Right now, the Texans aren't some sort of Lone Star State juggernaut trying to defend their patch of Mother Texas. They're just a 1-3 football team trying to get their second win of the year, opponent be damned.

The Texans came into this season with high hopes of competing for an AFC title, and now, according to Bovada, the Texans are a +500 shot (risk $100 to win $500) just to make the playoffs! So, yes, they have work to do, and it starts with beating the Cowboys this Sunday night in prime time (on NBC on TV and SportsRadio 610 on the radio, tune into the pregame and postgame for more of, well, ME!)

Let's quick look at four things to watch for....

4. Watt and Clowney Show, Episode 2
Unfortunately for the Texans, one other thing that took four years to happen was J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney being dominant in the same game, something we were promised with far more regular frequency when Clowney was drafted in 2014. Against the Colts last week, the two put up a slew of crooked numbers in the box score, both getting multiple sacks, tackles for loss, and Clowney scoring a touchdown. As a result, Clowney was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week and Watt was named AFC Defensive Player of the Month. Whatever Romeo Crennel was doing to unleash the inner, two headed beast in these two, he needs to do more of it, because....

3. Texans secondary
....this area of the team has been scary — the BAD kind of scary — the last two weeks. Despite Watt and Clowney performing at herculean levels in Indy last week, Andrew Luck STILL threw for over 460 yards. Eli Manning completed 86 percent — EIGHTY SIX! — of his passes the week before in the Giants' win at NRG Stadium. The narrative on BOTH of these guys coming into each of those games was that they each might be shot, Eli because he is old and Luck because he's damaged goods. The biggest issues in the secondary have been scheme (what's up with these ten yard cushions) and depth. Kevin Johnson and Aaron Colvin weren't playing all that well to begin with, but now both are out long-term and your corners are Johnathan Joseph (87 years old) and two guys who weren't even on the team in Week 1 in Shareece Wright and Kayvon Webster, who both have awesome cornerback names that sound like my son made them up on MADDEN, but they might not be able to cover anybody. Fortunately, Dak Prescott and this receiving corps should be a step down from previous weeks, but still...yikes.

More at link.

I've never even heard of Kayvon Webster.

Jags, Titans and Colts (on TNF) all lose. Golden opportunity for the Texans to gain ground in the AFC South.....

Cowboys take the opening kickoff down and kick a 27-yard FG.

Cowboys 3, Texans 0

10:03 left in the 1st qtr.

Texans miss a FG and the Cowboys come down and get another FG. 43-yarder by Maher.

Cowboys 6, Texans 0

3:10 left in the 1st qtr.

Texans put a few plays together and score a TD. Finish it with a little pass to Coutee for 1 yard and the TD.

Texans 7, Cowboys 6

13:40 left in the half.

Fairbairn with a 20-yard FG.

Texans 10, Cowboys 6

6 minutes left in the half.

Watson is getting the ball out much quicker. And he even threw one away in the red zone. If he can do that on lost plays he and the Texans will realize their potential.

I would be very hard on any front office who couldn't come up with a better starting RB than Alfred Blue, but man is he a great backup. So solid and dependable. You know he's going to run hard, wear on a defense, pick up tough yards, block, catch the ball, and never do anything dumb. For like 5 years, every time he starts he looks better than the guy we have in front of him.

Texans had 4th and goal from the 6-inch line with 10 seconds left... Watson can't find a receiver and gets stopped short trying to run it in.

Halftime and the score remains:

Texans 10, Cowboys 6

Blue is better than Miller and it is not close. Sad as that is.

What the hell ever happened to that other guy?

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuck (Post 47693)

Blue is better than Miller and it is not close. Sad as that is.

What the hell ever happened to that other guy?

He really is. Miller is a high priced FA RB who doesn't like contact and makes up for it by not having game breaking speed. He's softer Blue.

Again, Blue shouldn't ever be the best RB on the team when RBs are so easy to get. You can find RBs everywhere. There are about 100 talented young RBs and we don't have any of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrett (Post 47694)

Foreman is the guy I was thinking of. He might be good. We may never know for sure.

After a Dhop fumble, the Cowboys move the ball and score on a 3-yard pass to Hurns.

Cowboys 13, Texans 10

11:52 left in the 3rd qtr.

Fairbairn with the 21-yard FG makes it a tie game.

Texans 13, Cowboys 13

5:02 left in the 3rd qtr.

I think we just found a coach who's dumber about challenges.

And finally the dream scenario of the last 3 years. Watt and Mercilous around the edges make the QB step up into Clowney tearing down the middle for a sack.

I think the Texans have a better chance of scoring a touchdown when their defense is on the field.

Where's the bomb to Fuller?

Texans bad play in the red zone continues - settle for a Fairbairn 19-yard FG.

Texans 16, Cowboys 13

8:31 left in the game.

Cowboys answer with a 48-yard FG by Maher.

Texans 16, Cowboys 16

5:39 left in the game.

Roughing the passer in the NFL really is overtly racist. I get when running QBs don't get calls in running or semi-running situations. But Watson just sat in the pocket and got drilled in the face. I've seen that exact call half a dozen times this year. I saw that call repeatedly last year before the new emphasis. Watson gets drilled on calls that white QBs routinely get, and it's disappointing to see. It's full Cam Newton treatment.

Fairbairn connects on a 36-yard FG to give the Texans the win in OT.

Final score:

Texans 19, Cowboys 16

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrett (Post 47704)

Watson gets drilled on calls that white QBs routinely get, and it's disappointing to see. It's full Cam Newton treatment.

I coulda sworn I saw Watson take a helmet-to-helmet hit and of course no flag.

For the second straight week, O'Brien matched wits with a more witless head coach than him. Burning TOs, strange playcalling… but Garrett's decision to punt on 4th and short in Texans territory in OT was not 'playing to win the game'.

That said, I could exceed the character limit detailing all of O'Brien' questionable decisions in this game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith (Post 47706)

Compare the way flags fly on Kirk Cousins and Deshaun Watson. And I'm not talking about Watson going head first to try to score. Just sitting in the pocket getting 2 handed whacks to the face. The guy gets hit late. Hit in the head. Hit out of bounds. And never a call.

I agree on O'Brien. He's been slightly smarter than the opposing dummy 2 straight weeks.

As for the Cowboys punt, that's a good decision. Their offense was atrocious all game. Our offense failed to score TDs while theirs just failed. If you convert and get another first down you are in FG range and not much has changed. We still get the ball with a chance to tie or win. If you don't convert you are completely giving away the game. By punting they put us on the 10 yard line with 4 minutes left and they have 2 timeouts. Punting and getting a stop gives you more than enough time to win.

Love beating the Cowboys....

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Obviously, something needs to be done about the red zone execution. Texans were 1/6 in the red zone. Why is it always a run up the middle or a pass into high traffic? Run off tackle, pitch out, roll-out - many unused options.....

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Some extreme adjustments need to be taken to keep Watson alive for the rest of the season. He'll never make it at this rate....

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I'm seeing an early line of the Texans favored by 8½ to 10 pt favorite over the Bills next week which is just silly. Every Texan game so far has been decided by 7 pts or less.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arky (Post 47708)

Almost all of the punishment Watson took tonight was on plays he decided to scramble and then put his shoulder down. Very few hits in the pocket. The OL was actually not bad tonight. The best adjustment Watson can make is to slide, run out of bounds, throw the ball away, etc... Just tell him to watch Russell Wilson game tape for how to finish a QB run. That guy is a master of making the defense chase him for 50 yards of zig zagging only to escape the hit in the end with one of the many options open to QBs who want to escape hits.

First blush, the OL wasn't bad, but I wouldn't say they were good, either. Some credit is owed to the Cowboys defense... they aren't bad. But the Texans seem to be increasing the shotgun snaps and deep drops in recognition of their subpar OL pass pro. Could be helping Watson improve his pocket vision as well. Regardless, I think it is contributing to the redzone offensive woes, kinda like the Oilers back in the red gun/run n' shoot days.

Wow talk about coming back from the dead.
After that 0-3 start I figured that was it for 2018, but now after two straight
wins and the rest of the division losing yesterday we are now just a game out of the division lead.
So expectations for a Super Bowl appearance now ? Hardly but atleast we've got something to play for in the upcoming weeks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nunusguy (Post 47711)

Yep. Wait a day or so after an ugly win and it's indistinguishable from any other win. Especially in the small sample sized 16 game NFL schedule. In December nobody cares how you won your games, and the Texans did exactly what they needed to in the last two weeks. If they don't fix some of the problems then those wins won't mean what they could, but they saved their season for now.