Official Texans vs. Chargers Game Thread, 11/7/2010

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

The Texans are good enough to beat every team left on their schedule if they cut down on mistakes and get a few breaks.

And if ifs & buts were candy & nuts, oh what a Merry Christmas we'd have next month. Sorry 'bout that, couldn't help myself.
But have we really had fewer breaks than our competition ? And even with our injuries, our last 2 opponents we've lost to have had injuries just as significant as ours.
OK, so is Kareem just real clumsy and getting beat on the fake or juke, or is he that slow or is it both ? On both of those long TD passes to the undrafted
FA rookie (ouch !) WR, our first round pick was trailing by a good 10 feet when the receiver caught the pass. But that's all I could see on the TV screen, Kareem trailing way behind ?

[WMH]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

OK, so is Kareem just real clumsy and getting beat on the fake or juke, or is he that slow or is it both ? On both of those long TD passes to the undrafted
FA rookie (ouch !) WR, our first round pick was trailing by a good 10 feet when the receiver caught the pass. But that's all I could see on the TV screen, Kareem trailing way behind ?

For some reason, the dude can't keep his feet. I would say on 75% of his plays that he gets torched on, he slips. He bites on play action WAY too much, which is likely why he is having to reverse his field and causes his slips. Get him some longer cleats or tell him to not worry about the run game AT ALL or something....not gonna get any easier.

[Joshua]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

But have we really had fewer breaks than our competition ? And even with our injuries, our last 2 opponents we've lost to have had injuries just as significant as ours.

I've heard the injury argument a lot lately and quite frankly, I don't know what this is about. The Colts and San Diego had injury problems. Nobody gets through a season without injuries and our injury situation seems to be better than most. Aside from Demeco, I can't think of any serious injuries to any critical players. Schaub, Foster and the O-line has been basically fine. Andre was dinged up and missed a couple and still has a nagging injury, but nothing terribly serious. The defensive line hasn't suffered any injuries and the secondary has been pretty healthy as well. So, what other injuries are people talking about? Am I forgetting something?

[WMH]

Originally Posted by Joshua

I've heard the injury argument a lot lately and quite frankly, I don't know what this is about. The Colts and San Diego had injury problems. Nobody gets through a season without injuries and our injury situation seems to be better than most. Aside from Demeco, I can't think of any serious injuries to any critical players. Schaub, Foster and the O-line has been basically fine. Andre was dinged up and missed a couple and still has a nagging injury, but nothing terribly serious. The defensive line hasn't suffered any injuries and the secondary has been pretty healthy as well. So, what other injuries are people talking about? Am I forgetting something?

Losing Barwin certainly didn't help, but it ain't about the injuries. Shit happens every freaking year. That's a BS/weak arguement, IMO.

Look @ what Capers is doing with a bunch of no names @ GB.....

[chuck]

Gentlemen, I am well aware that the Texans have four division games remaining and that the division is indeed wide open. I am also aware based on what I have seen and what I know about the team that the team is very, very unlikely to take advantage of the opportunity that is miraculously still in front of them.

This is the worst NFL defense I have ever seen. Their arrogant decision not to resign Dunta is going to affect the franchise in a similar way to their decision to release Aaron Glenn. The Glenn decision led directly to the darkest days of the franchise. I'm not sure that the Texans are in danger of being a 1-15 team next year but the defense is definitely reeling and is the worst in the NFL.

The Texans move the ball well in between the 20s. They have a great deal of trouble getting into the end zone in the red zone. Friends, that is why they lost yesterday. Sure, they could have used better play from Jackson, a couple of guys paid to catch the ball could have caught the ball, apparently there were some questionable calls. But the team failed to score touchdowns, what, six times in the red zone? That is inexcusable. There is plenty of blame - dropped balls, bad play calls, strange officiating decisions - but at the end of the day a good team scores seven points when they are inside the ten yard line and the Texans just don't do that. With this defense you won't beat Carolina with that sort of red zone performance.

In short, the defense is not going to get any better and I simply do not see a Kubiak-led offense performing in the red zone.

[NBT]

Inconsistancy (sp?). That sums up the year in a nutshell. One game they are the #1 passing offense in the league, the next week they are horrible. They can't put two games together where they are good in all aspects of the game. KJ is an easy one to blame, but the pass rush has not been good enough to give him a chance. Yes, he bites on the double move way too much, but if a more consistant (there it is again) pass rush were available, would he be having this bad of a year? The coach gets his head handed to him because of his game plans or lack of same. Sadly it is about time for some more housecleaning. Are you listening Mr. McNair.

[coloradodude]

My last thoughts about yesterday.

I hate to lose to somebody like Phillip Rivers, it's childish on my part I know. I also hate to lose to a team owned by Jerry Jones. That one infuriated me.

Now we are gonna have to deal with a Bud Adams team that has gone out of its way to add Randy Moss. With barely a pass rush and no secondary, either 54 year old Kerry Collins or Mr Wonderlic himself, Capt 8, will be there to remind us why they moved out of Houston and went to the inbreeding capital of the South.

Because for some unknown reason, we still continue to suck.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by chuck

Gentlemen, I am well aware that the Texans have four division games remaining and that the division is indeed wide open. I am also aware based on what I have seen and what I know about the team that the team is very, very unlikely to take advantage of the opportunity that is miraculously still in front of them.

This is the worst NFL defense I have ever seen. Their arrogant decision not to resign Dunta is going to affect the franchise in a similar way to their decision to release Aaron Glenn. The Glenn decision led directly to the darkest days of the franchise. I'm not sure that the Texans are in danger of being a 1-15 team next year but the defense is definitely reeling and is the worst in the NFL.

The Texans move the ball well in between the 20s. They have a great deal of trouble getting into the end zone in the red zone. Friends, that is why they lost yesterday. Sure, they could have used better play from Jackson, a couple of guys paid to catch the ball could have caught the ball, apparently there were some questionable calls. But the team failed to score touchdowns, what, six times in the red zone? That is inexcusable. There is plenty of blame - dropped balls, bad play calls, strange officiating decisions - but at the end of the day a good team scores seven points when they are inside the ten yard line and the Texans just don't do that. With this defense you won't beat Carolina with that sort of red zone performance.

In short, the defense is not going to get any better and I simply do not see a Kubiak-led offense performing in the red zone.

I don't think things are as broken as they seem. This team is very close. I just don't think we'll get there.

The redzone has not been a problem this season. They showed a stat during sunday's game that we had 11 TDs and 3 FGs in 14 goal to go opportunities. Foster has largely solved the goalline issues (except when we don't run him). Struggling yesterday does not equal a problem (unless you mean a coaching problem).

The defense is an issue for sure. It is atrocious. I can't believe that our front office and coaching staff could watch our secondary everyday and then say, "Yeah, we're good to go and I'll stake my job and our playoff hopes on these guys."

But even with the defense in a better state, I still think we aren't a potential superbowl team. We have always added up to less than the sum of our parts under Kubiak. He is a well meaning and capable guy, just not a winner. I said he should have been fired last year since he has defined mediocrity. I bet when it is all said and done we are mediocre again this year and manage to win 7-9 games. I just hope McNair stops buying into the idea that we are close.

The NFL is a very talent leveled league and the head coach may be the single biggest factor in determining a team's success (unless your head coach plays QB like Peyton manning and then you can have a carboard cutout for a head coach and still win). We will never win big with Kubiak so the move can't be made soon enough in my opinion. Especially since we have enough talent to contend right now if someone can get it to show up on Sundays.

[Nconroe]

It is really a thin line between winning and loosing in the NFL these days isn't it. If we had a Troy Polamulu our coaches would likely look a whole lot better.

[Fonz the Boss]

Lets hire Wade Phillips for defensive coordinator and turn our D into a 3-4 D. Cushing, Ryans, Diles and Barwin can be our LBs. Smith and Williams will play DE and we can pick up a huge nose tackle in the draft because Okoye is not tough enough. Look at some of the top defenses in the league(Chargers, Jets, Steelers, Ravens, Green Bay)... they are all 3-4. Its a trend that we need to follow.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by Fonz the Boss

Lets hire Wade Phillips for defensive coordinator and turn our D into a 3-4 D. Cushing, Ryans, Diles and Barwin can be our LBs. Smith and Williams will play DE and we can pick up a huge nose tackle in the draft because Okoye is not tough enough. Look at some of the top defenses in the league(Chargers, Jets, Steelers, Ravens, Green Bay)... they are all 3-4. Its a trend that we need to follow.

Hey, painekiller, give Fonz his computer back. But before you do see if you can't get rid of that godawful sig file.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by barrett

I don't think things are as broken as they seem. This team is very close. I just don't think we'll get there.

Any offense that has Matt Schaub throwing to Andre Johnson and handing off to Arian Foster has the ability to be breathtakingly good. The defense... How much top-line talent is there on the defense? One player? Mario is the only player who would start anywhere he went. Demeco's pretty good but not a world beater. Everyone else (including Cushing this year) is at best average or more probably just plain bad.

I know how they got here, they got here by terrible talent evaluation and terrible personnel decisions. I don't know how you fix a defense with one serviceable player in time to cash in on the potential of the offense. Andre is not going to be the best WR in the league forever, and the shelf life of a good RB is shockingly short.

It's funny, isn't it? I and others here spend a great deal of time ripping Kubiak for his boneheaded play calling and mind-numbing game management. And deservedly so because he's terrible at both. But the real damage he's done to the franchise is in creating the worst defense in the history of organized football. Zierlein had an interesting note in his latest piece - a source indicated that despite Smith's claims to have the final word in personnel decisions Kubiak has overruled Smith on a number of recent defensive draft choices.