Official Texans vs. Raiders Game Thread, 10/04/2009

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by barrett

I was dead wrong on the Cushing pick. He has been great for a rookie so far. He is not necessarily a game changer so much as he is an attitude changer. I love how much he enjoys contact.

I am now willing to shut up about the Cushing pick. He seems to be pushing Demeco and Diles to play at higher level. With more intensity, and they seemed to attack the backfield yesterday much more than in the past.

But remember this was Oakland, who is a train wreak, maybe the worse team in the AFC. So next weeks game against the Cards is huge game. Believe it or not I had it as a win before the season started. And the Cards are playing down like most post Super Bowl runners up. So this is a can win game.

As for the announcers for the Oakland game, I learned that Keven Walters played for Kubiak in Denver. Wow!

[barrett]

Originally Posted by painekiller

I am now willing to shut up about the Cushing pick. He seems to be pushing Demeco and Diles to play at higher level. With more intensity, and they seemed to attack the backfield yesterday much more than in the past.

But remember this was Oakland, who is a train wreak, maybe the worse team in the AFC. So next weeks game against the Cards is huge game. Believe it or not I had it as a win before the season started. And the Cards are playing down like most post Super Bowl runners up. So this is a can win game.

As for the announcers for the Oakland game, I learned that Keven Walters played for Kubiak in Denver. Wow!

I agree with this.

But my change of heart on the Cushing pick is not about how well we played yesterday.

My issue with the pick was that a SLB in the 4-3 does not make enough big plays or have enough impact to justify the pick or the money that goes with it. I still feel this way. But what Cushing does do is change the attitude of the whole defense. When he was running around spiking guys heads off the turf yesterday, the rest of the Defense played far more aggressive. So while he may not be a game changer, he changes the demeanor of a team that has always been soft and non-physical.

Plus there was no Safety worth drafting in our slot. My bigger issue this offseason was that none of the other 7 picks or Free Agent dollars addressed the safety position at all. This means that Smith/Kubiak actually thought we were good enough to win at that position. Unbelievable.

Imagine if we had signed Brian Dawkins. He agreed to go to a team with far worse prospects than ours so I think we could have gotten him if we paid up (and he got half what Antonio Smith did). If you put him at safety I bet we have half as many big plays allowed and twice as many turnovers thus far (and a 3-1 record at least). But instead we trotted out a group of CFL guys and waited to look for help until 2 weeks after the season had started.

[Nconroe]

I think the whole defense, coaches and players, deserves lots of credit for playing the most dominant game I think I've seen them play. Perhaps have to say Oakland really played poorly as well, but Texans also played very well yesterday. I thought Pollaard, Quinn, and Cushings were the most visible in making a difference although almost all the guys had an excellent day on defense.

Special teams did well, including JJ's run for 95 yards.

And offense did all it needed, good thing SS got going for a few plays, and then apparently they practiced not running very well the second half.