The Trenches

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by KJ3

do you think okam plays for okoye during running situations or just when okoye gets tired? or neither?

to me, they look like an ideal pair side by side if Okoye continues to fill out (Men's bodies don't stop thickening till their mid 20's)....if Okam can find a way to get in good enough shape to play more than spot mins and Okoye can continue to mature this may be a nice tandem to have in on first and 10.

[NBT]

I'm pretty much drooling at what might be. This is Okoye's "light comes on" 2nd year, and if Okam can gear himself up for it, yep, we oughta be fearsome in the DL. Now if Anthony Weaver can just get it together.......?

[edo783]

Originally Posted by Vinny

to me, they look like an ideal pair side by side if Okoye continues to fill out (Men's bodies don't stop thickening till their mid 20's)....if Okam can find a way to get in good enough shape to play more than spot mins and Okoye can continue to mature this may be a nice tandem to have in on first and 10.

Yup, there are real possibilities there. Okam IMO will come out on the long yardage downs or on most 3rd downs and TJ will come in for a little more pressure up the middle on the QB. He probably will be spelling Okoye at that position alongside Okam. Just seems like a logical fit for the talent to me.

[Joe Joe]

Originally Posted by edo783

Yup, there are real possibilities there. Okam IMO will come out on the long yardage downs or on most 3rd downs and TJ will come in for a little more pressure up the middle on the QB. He probably will be spelling Okoye at that position alongside Okam. Just seems like a logical fit for the talent to me.

Oddly enough for a big guy, Okam plays pretty good in passing situations as he is effective at not letting the Qb step up into pocket especially if he's not double teamed. Hopefully this will translate to the NFL. With Okam's motor issue, being a third down tackle may be the most effective way to get him to play hard on every down he is in there.

[Wolf]

Originally Posted by Vinny

to me, they look like an ideal pair side by side if Okoye continues to fill out (Men's bodies don't stop thickening till their mid 20's)....if Okam can find a way to get in good enough shape to play more than spot mins and Okoye can continue to mature this may be a nice tandem to have in on first and 10.

very true ...makes me excited about the Texan front line

[sescoyote]

Originally Posted by painekiller

According to Megan Manfull, our safety position is one of the deepest on the team, what you do not agree?

Oh, ok, she's the one person I'd look for when trying to scope a team. not. We need a game changer at this position, someone that is aggressive enough to make plays yet good enough to overcome gambles. We need someone to punish runners, blitz the QB and break up the pass. I don't see anyone at that position that can do this.

[Bigtinylittle]

I could be wrong, and I'm not really trying to start an argument on this, but I'm going to give my thoughts about free safety in general and free safety as the Texans view it.

First, blitzing. Yes, some teams occasionally blitz a free safety, and if he doesn't get anywhere near the qb and the qb has time to throw, then the cornerbacks will have no help at all and a touchdown will very possibly be the result. But guess what? The average fan is not going to notice that the free safety failed, and they are probably more likely to blame the cb who they see chasing the receiver down the field.

Second, if the free safety was in a position where he was supposed to be, but the cornerback gets beaten badly on a play, the safety is often going to be the man who has to come over and limit the result. But guess what? The average fan sees the safety coming over late and it looks like he must be slow. Even if he isn't. If a free safety is in the middle of the field and a cb gets beaten badly, the difference in speed between a free safety with average speed and one with better than average speed is just a couple of steps.

Third, in out system, and until it changes, the coaches do NOT like to blitz. They want the pressure to come from the front four. There are very few times a game when this isn't the case.

Demeco Ryans is by general agreement an all-pro caliber MLB. But guess what? In our system he rarely blitzes even though by most expert opinion he is very good at it. The average fan may criticize our system and want it changed, but it is the system the coaches believe in, apparently even Kubiak or he would get a DC who used a different system. My point? Even if we had a free safety who was very good at blitzing, and I'm not saying Demps isn't good at it, we probably would rarely use the free safety blitz.

Fourth, the average fan overvalues the free safety position. It's the one he sees at the end of the play. He doesn't see the linebacker or lineman knocked on his ass at the line of scrimmage. He doesn't see all the other stuff that goes wrong on the play. He just sees the free safety.

Summing up, I don't think Kubiak is worried at all about the free safety position this year. Sure he would like to have an all-pro at every position. What coach wouldn't? But he expects to get pretty solid play at the position and I think he will. And like Kubiak, I'll be content with that too.

I just think that fans way overrate the free safety position. It just isn't one of the key positions on the team. If it was, free safety salaries would be through the roof like QB salaries and LT salaries, etc. When was the last time a free safety was the overall number one pick in the draft?

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by Bigtinylittle

Third, in out system, and until it changes, the coaches do NOT like to blitz. They want the pressure to come from the front four. There are very few times a game when this isn't the case.

i'm okay with the thought of pressure coming from the line, coverage/man everywhere else. except when it doesn't work during a game for 3 quarters straight yet no change in the gameplan occurs. that's not professional, that's somewhere far below. expecting change based on nothing is silly.

maybe blitzing is just the easiest factor to jump on, but i think what we (the people who want to see our defense improve as much as the offense did) really want to see is a more aggressive set-up. CB's jamming hard LB's and DT's making the HBDraw a non-option, S's taking exception to WR's and TE's running routes over the middle. to me, defense is half ability, half attitude and we've got our share of ability but no one really stands in the way and says "f that, NOBODY is getting past me." make the opposing offense hurt some instead of hurting the fans to watch.

i think i read somewhere that we were either tops or top 3 or so in first downs given up. that's not aggressive at all...that's a very, very reactionary defense getting taken advantage of. less waiting for the action to come to us, more forcing the action on them!!

Demeco Ryans is by general agreement an all-pro caliber MLB. But guess what? In our system he rarely blitzes even though by most expert opinion he is very good at it. The average fan may criticize our system and want it changed, but it is the system the coaches believe in, apparently even Kubiak or he would get a DC who used a different system. My point? Even if we had a free safety who was very good at blitzing, and I'm not saying Demps isn't good at it, we probably would rarely use the free safety blitz.

Fourth, the average fan overvalues the free safety position. It's the one he sees at the end of the play. He doesn't see the linebacker or lineman knocked on his ass at the line of scrimmage. He doesn't see all the other stuff that goes wrong on the play. He just sees the free safety.

how many average fans post on message boards? i'd say very few. and if demeco is so widely regarded as an excellent blitzing option (we all saw the sack, FF, recovery and TD) NOT using that as a weapon is stupid too. if we aren't going to use his talents to make this defense and team better then we need to trade him away immediately because he is wasting his time here.

Summing up, I don't think Kubiak is worried at all about the free safety position this year. Sure he would like to have an all-pro at every position. What coach wouldn't? But he expects to get pretty solid play at the position and I think he will. And like Kubiak, I'll be content with that too.

I just think that fans way overrate the free safety position. It just isn't one of the key positions on the team. If it was, free safety salaries would be through the roof like QB salaries and LT salaries, etc. When was the last time a free safety was the overall number one pick in the draft?

every position is important and serves purposes. if free safety didn't matter then i would be in uniform right now. and the number one pick doesn't matter half the time anyway right alex smith, jamarcus russell, DAVID CARR, vick mexico, tim couch so your point there is pretty weak.

and if kubiak ISN'T worried about how the S are going to play this year he needs to be fired NOW! they were by far the worst group of the team last year and the two things they did to fix it was draft a 6th round guy who maybe makes the team and waited for a guy to be healthy again who is borderline between starter and depth.

i'm not trying to start an argument either, i just felt it needed to be said.

[kravix]

FS is overrated in our def because supposedly we employ LS RS instead of FS SS. The coaches have said that they want both safeties to play the pass and run equally well. You do catch the coaches refering to FS or SS at times.

Our safeties may have been the worst part of the secondary, but look at how many different players we had starting. Good safeties cannot make up completely for bad CB play, they have other resposibilites on the field also.

Late in the year once the secondary began to come together again and there was some stability back there, we did blitz more. When Demeco is hands down the best player in run support and pass support it is hard to blitz him with out giving up way too much of your def. I understand that blitzing always leaves a hole, but the hole that Demeco would have left last year was big enough for two players.

I dont know if we will ever see an extremly aggresive def with Kubiak.

[Bigtinylittle]

Something I noticed last year which surprised me is that the defense seemed to take a step backward compared to the last half of the previous year. I find that a bit puzzling. I was really expecting the defense to statistically outperform the offense last year and that didn't come anywhere close to happening.

Considering that Mario elevated his play greatly over his rookie year, it is even more puzzling. Injurywise, we lost our first and second string strong safeties for almost the whole year, we lost our premier cornerback for half the year, and Weaver was below par because of his shoulder. Also Ryans was apparently banged up pretty good toward the end of the season.Those injuries surely hurt us, but we obviously had injuries the year before too, yet we took a step backward. I have tried hard to understand why, and I really can't put my finger on it.

We definately took a step back against the run. Maybe Okoye was part of the problem. Maybe he wasn't holding up well at the point of attack. If that is the case, I hope he has done some bigtime work in the weight room to help remedy that.

Maybe Weaver was even worse than his statistics reveal. Maybe he really pulled us down badly last year.

I agree that we didn't seem agressive last year. But one thing I noticed was that when we blitzed, the other team's offense almost always seemed to be able to contain our rush. I guess it's a personnel problem, but maybe not. One thing is for sure: if you blitz and you still don't get pressure, you are in for a long afternoon.

In this year's draft, we added a cornerback who is supposed to be excellent at jamming recievers at the line. That's a good sign. We added an OLB who is supposed to be able to be a very solid blitzer. That's another good sign.

We added a 330 pounder at DT who is supposed to have very good speed for his size. That should help us in third and short situations, which we didn't play well in at all last year. I have a hunch that Okam's limitation is going to be endurance, but if we are using him mostly as a situational player, his endurance may not be a problem. That's another good sign.

I expect all three of those rookies to get playing time this season and I'm expecting them to make us more agressive.

I think one of the big keys is going to be Okoye. If he takes that big step up and becomes the player we drafted him to be, if Thompson or someone else can give us a bit of an edge presence opposite Mario, and if Robinson gan get back to his old self, I think we could have an above average NFL defense this year. And if our future drafts continue to be as good as our first two were, we could easily get to be an elite one.

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by kravix

Our safeties may have been the worst part of the secondary, but look at how many different players we had starting. Good safeties cannot make up completely for bad CB play, they have other resposibilites on the field also.

bad CB play is one thing, but how many times do we have to watch a TE roaming around the middle of the field with 10 yards of space in every direction around him? it happened a whole lot.

Late in the year once the secondary began to come together again and there was some stability back there, we did blitz more. When Demeco is hands down the best player in run support and pass support it is hard to blitz him with out giving up way too much of your def. I understand that blitzing always leaves a hole, but the hole that Demeco would have left last year was big enough for two players.

I dont know if we will ever see an extremly aggresive def with Kubiak.

i'm not looking for giants or eagles blitzing the crap out of crap blitzing. i'm not looking for any extremes (including the extreme we had of never changing anything). i would like to see a balance to every guy standing in the same place making the same reads and getting the same beatings. blitz demeco once a game because jeez...every time he did something good happens. vanilla defense proved itself to be very pourous, very weak, and unable to stop meager offenses (especially in crunchtime). come out blitzing 7 in the first quarter and hold that threat above the offenses' head the whole game. blitz a corner once a millenium. stack the line with 8 or 9 guys and have them all drop back. use something besides base 4-3...go nickel or dime every now and again. do something to make the offense feel like it can't call every play in the book.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by KJ3

i'm not looking for giants or eagles blitzing the crap out of crap blitzing. i'm not looking for any extremes (including the extreme we had of never changing anything).

Sad thing is I like the blitz on every play style defenses. I grew up with the Glanville, Buddy Ryan defenses dominating games. And it was fun football to watch.

Quit the opposite of the Landry's Bend but don't break defense. I find them extremely boring.

[KJ3]

i'm a fan of blitzing but not every play. that's too much gambling for my tastes. i like it more as a weapon in an arsenal than a necessity.

[kravix]

This seemed like a good spot for this.

This morning on 610 everyones favorite fishwrap writter said that Tim Bulman had been moved from DT to DE as a pass rusher and seemed to be doing great there.

This is a make or break year for Bulman. The main site has a video and transcript up about Bulman and him currently taking reps witht he first team at both positions.

[KJ3]

who is bulman?

[Xetuoh1836]

Originally Posted by KJ3

who is bulman?

KJ3, glad to help but, start doing your own leg work for this easy to find info:

http://www.houstontexans.com/team/pl...?player_id=261

Also this:

http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice...s_excited.html

Granted, it's from the bird cage liner but, it's easily found.

[KJ3]

sorry man, i'm at work. i usually have just enough time to get off a few replies but i'll try.

at 6'4'' 290 he sounds more like a DE than a DT anyway. interesting though how he turned down a ride-a-long trip with the texans. i probably wouldn't have done the same but then again...i'm no professional football player.

[NBT]

The thing I remember hearing from last year's TC on Bulman was that he had thighs like young tree trunks. If he also has the quickness to get off the ball and around the tackle, all to the good. We can always use someone like that who can also hold up against the run. If Bulman can cut it as a first and second down DE, that might spell fini for Weaver now that we have signed Colvin to do the passrushing.

Now to Richard Smith's (Kubiak's) defense. I like the excitement generated by a blitzing pass rush too. It makes for a more entertaining game, if the D can get to the passer. However, Kubiak has been conservative in spades with how he wants just the front four to rush. Maybe this year with the better overall defense, he will let up a little and let the D blitz a little more. I hope so.