CBs [Faggins, Reeves to Start, Bennett to Nickel]
 

Faggins starts, Bennett gets the bench.

Meanwhile, Reeves is entrenched as a starter.

I am certainly relieved that the Texans coaching staff led by Gary Kubiak knows more than the average fan who foolishly believes that Reeves is terrible. Kubiak has the strength of vision to discount what fans in revolt and opposing offensive coordinators plainly believe - that Reeves is the weak link in the defensive secondary. Kubiak brilliantly realizes that Reeves would not be nearly the liability that he has proven to be if the opposing teams did not throw at him as often, so he is going to tempt the other teams with Petey Faggins who will surely prove irresistible to attacking quarterbacks.

Outstanding!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6052303.html

1st pick in the 2009 draft the Texans will take a CB.

Dunta Robinson, where art thou?

According to channel 2, he is set to practice this tuesday and play next week. He says he felt he could have played in game 2,

Glad to see Petey finally getting the recognition he deserves, he had a great preseason and has carried that into the opportunities he's gotten in the regular season.

What's curious to me is that Bennett had a great game against Indy, yet is relegated to the bench. When Dunta comes back Reeves will be the 4th best CB on the team - it should be interesting to see if they can justify starting our 4th best CB.

From what i have seen of Reeves he is exactly what the team paid for. A great cover guy that can rotate his hips and run and has a good burst to make up ground. His ball skills are lacking, but that can be taught and improved the others are harder to get. He does get beat some like any corner.

Faggins is decent corner and playing lights out, for him, right now. He has been good in run support and good in coverage.

Its hard to see on TV what Bennet has been doing on the other side, especially when he only gets thrown at when he is beat most of the time. Maybe they were rolling coverage to him over the top also to help, i dunno.

If Faggins is playing better than Bennet right now give it to him. It isnt going to hurt the team at all, and this move could be because the Fins have been so good at running the ball this season that they want that run support that Faggins is bringing.

Kubes has been rotating the CB's anyway. I don't think there's a big difference in how many snaps Faggins or Bennet sees. I think that Kubiak might just be making Faggins the "starter" to get Bennet's attention. Other than last week he hasn't been playing anywhere near the same level as his rookie year.

reeveshas played well. He was bad in the preseason, but he has played as well as any texans corner especially lately.

I'd like to see all our DB's tackle a little better and perhaps not get pulled out of position as easily as seems they do. but I agree Reeves has improved from preseason. I think Bennett got out of position and missed a few tackles, maybe he was gambling too much. and Petey played good, did he get hurt today? Molden made a good play near end of game.

Getting pulled out of position too much still smacks to me, of inadequate coaching, assuming the CB's have the ability and they supposedly do.

There's only so much a coach can do if the players don't execute. It could be bad coaching, but without being on the inside it's hard to say who's really to blame. I've heard numerous times what a great DB coach Hoke is, which was why Kubiak kept him around, but if you ask me we don't see long term development. Without knowing what the coaches are doing in practice and in meetings there's no real way to know.

The coaching staff deserves some heat this year, but I think all of us Texans fans had convinced ourselves that we were going to pretty damn good. Coaches are easier to replace so they catch the blame first, but we all knew that there were still holes in this roster going into this season.

the problem is that the coaches don't seem to be learining from their mistakes. the staff has been in place (for the most part) for three years. if we have good coaches the players shouldnt be still making the same boneheaded mistakes week after week. i still like kubiak and most of the coaches, but they are going to start wearing out their welcome if they can't fix some of the glaring problems.

It happens every game to even the best of CB's, or any player for that matter. Usually it is how they play afterwards, and how the rest of the team picks up the slack for it that really counts.

Look at the Denver\Oakland game, Hall got blown up all day and he is one of the better CB's in the leauge.

Hoke has done a great job IMO. He has taken mostly lesser talent, coached it up, replaced it with even lesser talent, coached it up and is putting his guys in to play the scheme and calls Smith makes. Last season we ended with 1 starter out of 4 in the secondary, and this season we have had a few injuries in the secondary to boot. DRob, CC Brown, Demps..

Well, let's DRob at least, is coming back. And I agree totally with you about coach Hoke. However I still think we are reacting a bit late. On another matter, Eugene Wilson got the int. in the Miami game, then proceeded to hold it in the wrong arm instead of covering with both, and ended up giving it right back to Miami. Stuff like that just makes me want to pull my hair out, what's left of it.

I'll say this - the secondary would look a lot better if the team had another pass rusher. Amobi might yet grow into what we all want but the team desperately needs some sort of push from the side opposite Mario, who, by the way, will, if healthy, in a year or two be the best defensive player in the NFL.

I certainly hope the Texans feel like they can take a CB or a psychopathic S with their first pick next draft, and I hope they end up in the right area where they have a decent range of choice.

If hard work and determination will get it done, Tim Bullman will eventually be a stud at RDE.

After Calvin Johnson undressed Petey on that 96 yard pass and reception for a TD, do you still stand by your post? Petey does not belong in the NFL. You leave him on an island like they did last Sunday on Johnson, and he will get beat 99% of the time.

dunta will need to be on the field a lot more this week with the receivers cinci has

Oh, and he's got some crazy inside of him as well. Throw in the term relentless and eventually his "Rudy" syndrom will pay off for us.

I agree with your accessment of Faggins. I can't believe he made the team in his third year. The first year I chalked up his coverage skills to being a rookie. The second year I just said to myself that we didn't have anyone in camp for third down and he was the extra body. We're still here with this guy and I'm certain that when we finally cut him he will begin bouncing from one team after another until he's out.

But yesterday's highlihght reel of him covering Johnson was showing just how poor our D coordinator is doing his job. It was perfect for us as fans. No safety behind Faggins showed that either Smith isn't properly preparing his defense (which would account for most of the high points this year against us) or he actually felt that Faggins could cover Johnson...which makes him an idiot.

Either way, we win because he exposed himself...and in a good way.

I agree. It is more than a talent issue. It is either scheme or preparation/coaching, and both fall first on Kubiak and then on Richard Smith. About being exposed, hopefully Kubiak sees that and cuts him loose before Smith gets him fired.

As for the excitement about Dunta, I would hold off. He looked very bad (understandably) in yesterday's game. I honestly don't see him being a big factor for us in the next few games. Hopefully I am wrong and Sunday was just rust, but I am not expecting last year's Dunta any time soon.

How was his speed? I could be wrong but I anticipate he will bever be as fast as was pre-major injury.

Modern medicine is falls just short of amazing so I hope I'm wrong.

I never really saw him run straight line.

On one blitz he saw a blocker slide out and just pulled up on his pass rush before ever making contact. Instead just standing in front of the right tackle. On the only tackles I saw him in for, he either missed completely or completely failed to wrap up. Contact gave him problems all around.

He was also beaten on the 3 and 19 conversion and a few others. I don't think he should have been out there in the 4th quarter.

I am a big fan of Dunta's. He is my favorite Texan. But I think he's a long way from giving us any kind of help.

Sounds like he's a little hesitant. You can only imagine his level of anxieties coming back from such an injury.

Hopefully, the D coordinator recognizes the need for a safety to be behind him in coverage. I don't have in confidence that Smith will make that recognition.

I agree that dunta was not dunta yesterday. but it still falls on the D. Coord. It is his job to identify the peices that he has and to put them in the right places. But he just gets more and more exposed every game. If they had even a decent qb yesterday we would have probably lost that on yesterday too. Leaving faggins one on one with CJ was just plain dumb. This guy is 6'5, 4.3 speed, and 40" vertical the makings of a superstar. I dont care if Furrey (or whatever his name was) had to beat us all day yesterday. CJ would not have ever been one on one yesterday.

Spencer Tillman did a breakdown of the play Williams smoked Faggins. Faggins bit on what he thought was a run play and the safety came up to cover someone coming out(either the TE or RB, can't remember). Williams just took off and was left uncovered. Faggins would have been beaten even if he didn't move on what he thought was a run play.

I saw it. The safety should've still assisted Faggins and a LB should've covered the guy coming out of the backfield. The fact that Faggins was left on an island covering Johnson proved to me that understanding the personnel of your opponents is not being accomplished in the preparation aspect by the coaching staff. Fire the D coordinator NOW!

I'm so frustrated I'm ready to go to a 5-5-1 defense. We would get burned but man could we do the one thing we never do...bring everybody on a blitz.

Do we even have blitz packages? Does the safety or corner do the QB boogie ever with this current scheme?

you guys are crazy. we had 2 sacks on sunday! how could you possibly ask for more? petey had a good shot at covering johnson on that play but it's not anyone's fault who has a name so let it go...:rolleyes:

i don't believe our personnel is as bad as their numbers suggest. i do believe that richard smith, the man in charge of setting up, preparing the players, and following through with a defensive scheme has a very, very limited idea of what he is doing. i don't think anyone expects anything out of this world from the defense but i think we all can see who is holding back who. when being 20th in defense is a marked improvement over the last 3 years, it's been time to change something for 2, and it's been really old for 1.

IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE AT DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, IMMEDIATELY

You complain because there was no deep help and that the coaching staff is idiots for not having safety help....and then you turn right around and complain about the lack of blitzing. You can't have it both ways. Did you ever think that the reason the Safety had to cover the TE/RB in man is because we were blitzing on that play? I honestly don't know if we were blitzing on that play or not, but my point is if your going to blitz you are going to end up in situations with either no deep help or a single safety deep. If the blitz doesn't get there quick you run the chance of getting burned, even with the best corners.

We did blitz last Sunday. Diles on multiple occasions that got us one sack. I saw a few others...although I really wasn't looking for it so I don't know how often we did....but it's not like we never blitz. Most of it has been pretty straight forward, but I've seen a few Zone blitzes as well earlier in the year....usually unsuccessful.

I have no love lost for Richard Smith (and slowly feeling that way about the coaching in general), but blitzing is one place where even I think it has more to do with execution. We have terrible blitzers, particularly at the positions you want blitzing (OLBs and Ss). Our outside linebackers and safeties, as a group, are about the worst blitzers I've ever seen. I wouldn't put any of them as even average.

I know I can't have it both ways that's why I said, "We would get burned but man could we do the one thing we never do...bring everybody on a blitz."

We weren't blitzing and we still got burned. That's my point. So obviously, we're gonna get burned so let's blitz. We seem to continually give up the big play because of bad play as opposed to aggressive play.

Not just complaining...observing.

OK, and I kind of drifted into a general statement on complaints I am hearing rather than a specific response to you. Same thing goes here.

Do I think Richard Smith will/should still be our D-Coordinator after this season...No. It seems like everyone I talk to says he doesn't blitz enough, but as soon as we give up a big play the coaches are idiots for not having deep help. Smith is blitzing more than I think some people give him credit for. It could be that the blitzes he uses are poorly designed, called at the wrong times, or that our players just can't execute them. It's probably a combination of all three.

I'm guilty of it too, but I think there is a lot of "I think the players on this team are pretty good...except for the players I have decided not to like such as Faggins and Travis Johnson, and since the players I like aren't getting it done the coaches must suck because there is no way my abilities as a talent scout are wrong" going on lately.

For the record, yes I think Petey Faggins sucks. What scares me is that no one has been able to beat him out and keep him off the field. He has actually had some decent games this year, but you would have to think that for as long as he has been here that someone would get him off the filed and keep him there.

what exactly did bennett do to get himself benched? i think he's been playing better than faggins for almost a whole year now. does he just need a bigger contract or what?

bennet made some big coverage mistakes earlier in the season. he was gettign beat a lot in the first couple of games.

He was terrible in the first couple of games. I still think your missing the point. Kubiak has no reason to have any loyalty to Faggins, but he did draft Bennet. Petey(1.7 mill) has a bigger cap number than Bennet (480K), but it's not like Petey has a huge contract that is keeping him on the field. In fact, it's probably more likely that Kubiak would show preference to Bennet who has a few more years on his contract. Faggins is in the last year of his deal, and you know the team would rather let him walk and go with the a couple of younger, faster, cheaper 3rd round picks.

That's what scares me the most. Bennet's a guy we were hoping could be the other half of a pretty good set of corners once Dunta was back or Molden was ready. Now he can't get Petey f'ing Faggins off the field. I know we like to blame the coaches for everything, but Kubiak's had no problem putting Faggins on the bench before.

There has to be a reason that Bennet is not the undisputed #1 corner on this team right. We don't know how Bennet is at practice , or maybe more importantly in the meeting room. I actually thought all of this was meant to serve as a wake up call to Bennet. The fact that he hasn't responded to it yet makes me nervous too. Petey left the door wide open to take his spot last weekend, now he has to take advantage of it.

Bennett made a huge play against Johnson late in the game at the goal line. He had deep coverage and was in position to find the ball at the last second and knock it away. Would have been a touchdown. Bennett made some other plays in the 4th qtr. Maybe the demotion motivated him. I sure hope so, cause Petey would have never been able to break up that TD pass.

Unrelated ( except for involving Bennett) those two unnecessary roughness calls late in the game were outrageous. One was called on Bennett. There was a pile-up on a running play. He came into the pile late and kind of flew over it, bounced across some backs and fell off on the other side. He never really hit anyone. He just hit the ground after the play was basically over. Stupid call. Not only did he not hit anyone, he had actually bounced over the pile before the whistle blew!

Demps got the other call, and it was just as bad. With a guy going out of bounds, he just kind of put his open hands on him to seal him from not going out of bounds. No push, no hit. A real chicken-shifter call.

i agree 100% on those personal fouls. completely ridiculous.

I hope it did too. He did make some nice plays Sunday, and the sooner he quits giving coaches reason to rotate corners the better.

The call on Bennett was a little silly. I know there is a rule against piling on, but that was just ridiculous. I really didn't see the Demps one, but I'll take the homer stance and say it was BS.

That was why I was so mad that they left Petey alone in deep coverage on Johnson. They knew he wouldn't be able to cover, and of course Detroit capitalized on it. When they tried to exploit Bennet, he was not only fast enough to keep up with Johnson, he was tall enough to reach up and bat the ball away. They need to get rid of Petey once and for all.

the contract bit was sort of a joke, i should've had emoticons!

i guess i just don't remember bennett being that bad. one thing for sure is that he's made more plays even coming off the bench than faggins has. off the field speculations aside, on the field bennett is our best shot at a deflection or interception and that has to count for something.

i didn't see the bennett one but demps got a 15 yard personal foul called on him for playing pattycake. for real. no homer-stance necessary on that one.