Run defense improved?

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by barrett

Either way my point is that when your biggest hitting DB is your 5'8" 175 lb CB, you are not going to be able to model yourself after a Jim Johnson-esque defense.



I think you are spot on here. I think you'll see us bringing a 5th man from one of the 3 LB positions. I doubt we get all creative just because Frank Bush said we'd be more aggressive.

The Giants and Coach Spagnuolo modeled themselves after Johnson. I don't recall seeing a bunch of DBs blitzing the QB from them last year either. Corey Webster (1) and Aaron Ross (0) along with Michael Johnson (1) and Kenny Phillips (0) combined for a total of 2 sacks. Hell Dominique Barber had a sack for us last year. So, I think we can be aggressive with our LBs and be just fine.

I would not rule out blitzing Cushing and DeMeco in the A-Gap a lot more this season either.

All that being said, what will be the most important philosophical change will be unleashing the DL to get to the backfield. Okoye should post at least 6 sacks. Travis Johnson should get 3 more at a minimum (1 more than his career total). Shaun Cody could contribute 2. Antonio Smith 5 or more. Connor Barwin should get at least 4 as a rookie playing opposite of Mario. I'd project Mario with 15 this season. That's putting a lot of faith in Bill Kollar. Last year the Texans posted 25 sacks and the Bills only had a total of 24. However, I am projecting a total of 35 for our DL simply because of the unrealized talent we have. The NY Giants tallied 42 paced by Justin Tuck's 12 for the season. Jim Johnson's Eagles tallied a total of 48 sacks and was led by Darren Howard's 10 followed by Trent Cole's 9.

I will concede that Sacks are probably the most overrated stat that kept for a defense. However, if a team is generating pressure, getting TFLs, and doing the things I expect an "aggressive" defense to do, then they generally accrue more than 32 sacks in a 16 game season (i.e. 2 per game).

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Roy P

The Giants and Coach Spagnuolo modeled themselves after Johnson. I don't recall seeing a bunch of DBs blitzing the QB from them last year either. Corey Webster (1) and Aaron Ross (0) along with Michael Johnson (1) and Kenny Phillips (0) combined for a total of 2 sacks. Hell Dominique Barber had a sack for us last year. So, I think we can be aggressive with our LBs and be just fine.

I would not rule out blitzing Cushing and DeMeco in the A-Gap a lot more this season either.

All that being said, what will be the most important philosophical change will be unleashing the DL to get to the backfield. Okoye should post at least 6 sacks. Travis Johnson should get 3 more at a minimum (1 more than his career total). Shaun Cody could contribute 2. Antonio Smith 5 or more. Connor Barwin should get at least 4 as a rookie playing opposite of Mario. I'd project Mario with 15 this season. That's putting a lot of faith in Bill Kollar. Last year the Texans posted 25 sacks and the Bills only had a total of 24. However, I am projecting a total of 35 for our DL simply because of the unrealized talent we have. The NY Giants tallied 42 paced by Justin Tuck's 12 for the season. Jim Johnson's Eagles tallied a total of 48 sacks and was led by Darren Howard's 10 followed by Trent Cole's 9.

I will concede that Sacks are probably the most overrated stat that kept for a defense. However, if a team is generating pressure, getting TFLs, and doing the things I expect an "aggressive" defense to do, then they generally accrue more than 32 sacks in a 16 game season (i.e. 2 per game).

The giants may have a former Eagle for a coach, and there may be similarities, but the Giants don't blitz nearly as much as the Eagles. The Giants rely on the front 4. Probably because their personell matches that much better than what the Eagles tried to do with constant blitzing. This is why I said we can't blitz like the Eagles. Our personnell doesn't support that kind of philosophy. We have too much put into the DL and not enough athleticism at DB to make it work. Hopefully we can look like the Giants on defense though.

[NBT]

Originally Posted by Roy P

The Giants and Coach Spagnuolo modeled themselves after Johnson. I don't recall seeing a bunch of DBs blitzing the QB from them last year either. Corey Webster (1) and Aaron Ross (0) along with Michael Johnson (1) and Kenny Phillips (0) combined for a total of 2 sacks. Hell Dominique Barber had a sack for us last year. So, I think we can be aggressive with our LBs and be just fine.

I would not rule out blitzing Cushing and DeMeco in the A-Gap a lot more this season either.

All that being said, what will be the most important philosophical change will be unleashing the DL to get to the backfield. Okoye should post at least 6 sacks. Travis Johnson should get 3 more at a minimum (1 more than his career total). Shaun Cody could contribute 2. Antonio Smith 5 or more. Connor Barwin should get at least 4 as a rookie playing opposite of Mario. I'd project Mario with 15 this season. That's putting a lot of faith in Bill Kollar. Last year the Texans posted 25 sacks and the Bills only had a total of 24. However, I am projecting a total of 35 for our DL simply because of the unrealized talent we have. The NY Giants tallied 42 paced by Justin Tuck's 12 for the season. Jim Johnson's Eagles tallied a total of 48 sacks and was led by Darren Howard's 10 followed by Trent Cole's 9.

I will concede that Sacks are probably the most overrated stat that kept for a defense. However, if a team is generating pressure, getting TFLs, and doing the things I expect an "aggressive" defense to do, then they generally accrue more than 32 sacks in a 16 game season (i.e. 2 per game).

How about Bullard? Didn't he have 4 sacks in relief of Weaver last year? You can possibly factor him into the equation.

I don't see zero's version happening. Oh the defense will be somewhat conservative in the beginning. As I said, they will all have to get on the same page with each other, but by the first game of the season, I see a much more aggressive group getting after the QB, and stopping the run.

[Roy P]

Good info here...

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/St...?story_id=5276

Bentley: ...maybe we can even see Connor Barwin get in a zone-dog blitz scheme. Is that something you are considering?

Frank Bush: Absolutely. Because he is such a good athlete, there are things we can do with him, as far as dropping him out. You know, he did play tight end, so he’s got good hands and we can drop him into coverage or create packages where we send him from different angles and different situations. Even Antonio knows how to drop. We can create scenarios that people aren’t expecting.


Brooke Bentley: Keeping in line with that, another fan wants to know: “What are your plans for Zac Diles next season? Would he move to the weakside?”

Frank Bush: Zac is an integral part of what we want to do. We loved the way he played football last year. Unfortunately, he got injured, but we were really excited about the progress he was making and we are excited about where he is right now. Of course, he is going to have to compete with Brian Cushing and Xavier Adibi. But we do see him in the plans and we do see him moving around and doing some different things with him. We are excited about where he is, and hopefully, he can come back and contribute big time.

Brooke Bentley: Another fan writes: “Tim Bulman looked like a budding star last year in stretches. Does drafting Connor Barwin change things for Tim Bulman?”

Frank Bush: Tim is a budding star, and I don’t think it changes anything. I think it enhances what we do. Tim is a kid that plays with such a tremendous motor, and you always need those types on your football team. Hopefully, Connor can buy into some of the stuff Tim is selling and he can play with that same tempo. We like Timmy; we like the things he brings to the football team as well as the defense. With his attitude and the way he goes about it, we are excited about where he is right now.

Brooke Bentley: This fan wants to know: "Can you teach our defensive tackles this year to stop the run better technique-wise? Or is going to be a scheme change?"

Frank Bush: A little bit of both. We changed the scheme a little bit in the sense that those guys are going to attack more. By doing so, those guys will be able to attack the line of scrimmage and hopefully knock guards and centers back a little bit and we do get more penetration and knock guys back. Maybe we reset the line of scrimmage and knock the line of scrimmage back and therefore stop the running game a little bit better. Scheme-wise, we will do some things where we have more guys in the box and bring them from different angles and keep people guessing more. Therefore, they can’t just get a read on us and target us and block us a certain way. Up front, we are going to attack more so those kids can get off the ball and reset the line of scrimmage, and that will help the running game.

[nero THE zero]

Scheme-wise, we will do some things where we have more guys in the box and bring them from different angles and keep people guessing more.

Interesting.

[NBT]

So here is the way I see the LB's looking in 2009:
1st team:
SAM: Cushing
MIKE: DeMeco
Will: June

2nd team:
WILL: Adibi - (maybe play some SS?)
MIKE: Buster What's-his-Name
Backup all three: Diles

So there are the 6 LB's that Frank Bush mentioned keeping.

Comments?

[papabear]

Originally Posted by NBT

So here is the way I see the LB's looking in 2009:
1st team:
SAM: Cushing
MIKE: DeMeco
Will: June

2nd team:
WILL: Adibi - (maybe play some SS?)
MIKE: Buster What's-his-Name
Backup all three: Diles

So there are the 6 LB's that Frank Bush mentioned keeping.

Comments?

I'm not convinced that June will start at WILL. He'll push whoever is in that spot, but I think that Diles will be the main competition at WILL. Diles ability to back up all three spots will be nice to have on the bench.

June is capable of starting, but I don't think he was brought here as the de facto starter. He'll get a shot, but I think the Texans would prefer to see Adibi keep developing.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by papabear

I'm not convinced that June will start at WILL. He'll push whoever is in that spot, but I think that Diles will be the main competition at WILL. Diles ability to back up all three spots will be nice to have on the bench.

June is capable of starting, but I don't think he was brought here as the de facto starter. He'll get a shot, but I think the Texans would prefer to see Adibi keep developing.

I dunno but isn't Adibi the most athletic of the whole group, which is the kind of player a team wants at WIL ?

[nero THE zero]

Originally Posted by papabear

I'm not convinced that June will start at WILL. He'll push whoever is in that spot, but I think that Diles will be the main competition at WILL. Diles ability to back up all three spots will be nice to have on the bench.

June is capable of starting, but I don't think he was brought here as the de facto starter. He'll get a shot, but I think the Texans would prefer to see Adibi keep developing.

I can't imagine in the bizzarest of worlds that Diles is athletic enough to beat out June and Adibi.

He's a MLB who played at SLB because (1) he was blocked by a better player at MLB and (2) he was better than the other options at SLB.

We have now drafted someone who's better than him at SLB, so he'll likely back up both Cushing and Ryans and the loser of the WLB battle will be the back-up there.

We'll keep, IMO:
SLB - Cushing, Bentley
MLB - Ryans, Diles
WLB - June, Adibi

Which is a nice little group there.

[RunninRaven]

Word on the street is that Frank Bush likes where I'm at.