Official Texans vs. Titans Game Thread, 9/15/2013

[HPF Bob]

That's a rather unimpressive 2-0 but they are 2-0 and already lead the division. Now comes the BAL-SEA-SF gauntlet. I expect at least two losses. If they come out of that 4-1, they actually are in great shape.

Remember when everyone wondered which WR Smith would draft and the Smith chose Hopkins for his ability to win jump balls. You saw it several times today. The dude just goes up and gets it and he doesn't care what gets in his way. Hopkins got a post-game pat from McNair which as to feel good.

Duane Brown is either hiding an injury or the decline has come. Schaub was taking a beating and I think that's why he went back to throwing short on third downs instead of looking downfield.

Apparently, the "sugar huddle" idea was a one-game thing.

I still don't like seeing Keo on pass defense. The guy scares me the way Holliday did on kick returns.

Pollard can expect a fine from NFL HQ later this week. I hope the cumulative hits AJ takes don't keep him out later in the season.

As for Bullock...I give him one more week. He hasn't had any easy kicks so far.

[popanot]

I only see three good things that came out of today.

1. We got a win.
2. Nuk is the real deal.
3. Despite having his brain-fart, zero mobility and zero arm strength, Schaub has made the plays when necessary and brought us back to 2 tough, come from behind wins. That's gotta be a good thing, right?

As for Bullock, sure he hasn't had many easy kicks, but the good kickers make most of the difficult ones. He's as a shaky as a 90-yr old lady on speed. They need to bring someone in and let Bullock do kickoffs.

[BigBull]

Originally Posted by popanot

I only see three good things that came out of today.

1. We got a win.
2. Nuk is the real deal.
3. Despite having his brain-fart, zero mobility and zero arm strength, Schaub has made the plays when necessary and brought us back to 2 tough, come from behind wins. That's gotta be a good thing, right?

As for Bullock, sure he hasn't had many easy kicks, but the good kickers make most of the difficult ones. He's as a shaky as a 90-yr old lady on speed. They need to bring someone in and let Bullock do kickoffs.

^^This^^ It a shame with that leg strength that he has horrible accuracy.

[nunusguy]

Attended the game today, and how many gifts from the opposition do we need before we finally put it away ? Lucky to be 1-0 after last week, but really feel lucky to be 2-0 right now.
Cushing & JJ very strong for the defense & Hopkins had outstanding game and looks to be a fast starter for a rookie WR in this league, but Schaub is a worry. It's just that with him we start every game with 2 big handicaps at QB: dubious arm strength at best and 0 mobility.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

Attended the game today, and how many gifts from the opposition do we need before we finally put it away ? Lucky to be 1-0 after last week, but really feel lucky to be 2-0 right now.
Cushing & JJ very strong for the defense & Hopkins had outstanding game and looks to be a fast starter for a rookie WR in this league, but Schaub is a worry. It's just that with him we start every game with 2 big handicaps at QB: dubious arm strength at best and 0 mobility.

I don't think the arm strength hurts much if we still stretch the field like we did today. A quickly thrown deep ball that travels 30-40 yards stretches the field just as well as one that is held longer and thrown 50.

But the lack of mobility is something that will never change, cannot be gameplanned around, and is a constant the defense can plan for. If it is not a play action down and a boot doesn't happen, the defense knows exactly where Schaub is and where he is going to stay. Then you just send enough guys to get there and tell your back end to cover for 1 second and we have no option but to unload the ball before our guys even reach the first down sticks. We need YAC or we will see a heavy dose of that. And as good as AJ is (all-timer), he has never been a YAC guy. Neither is OD. And Foster was removed from the passing game for unknown reasons after 2011. That is what makes Hopkins (and even Martin) so valuable. If you try to man up on those guys and bring the house, pressure might force a quick and short throw, but they can catch it at 5 yards and convert a 3rd and 10. But Hopkins has to make teams pay like the 4th quarter or we will keep seeing it.

[Arky]

Early line - Texans favored by 1 at Baltimore....

[TheMatrix31]

You could have all the mobility in the world. If you have the OL Schaub did today, you'll fail too.

He didn't have the best game but after the Pick Six he really settled down. I love that he went back to the rookie after that and said "don't worry dude, I still trust you."

Cushing and Watt were absolutely animalistic. Lechler an unsung hero. Andre is Andre. And Foster needs to do what he did late throughout the entire game next week and beyond.

Titans D was real good today. Their DBs weren't letting us have anything early on. And they busted through our garbage OL to put tons of pressure on Schaub. Lots of plays didn't even get past the first down marker.

Bullock is garbage. In an ideal world, I'd get rid of him tomorrow. I do understand though that even kickers take time to adjust. It's just that, it's his only freakin' job. Scary as hell.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by TheMatrix31

Bullock is garbage. In an ideal world, I'd get rid of him tomorrow. I do understand though that even kickers take time to adjust. It's just that, it's his only freakin' job. Scary as hell.

All jokin aside, but did he maybe go out and get blasted last night because big, bad Nick Sabin came to town and beat his Aggies ? I dunno how many chances he got yesterday, but the only one he made was the one that didn't count when the Titans used a TO. He was just terrible, and the Texans already bring enough drama to game without his misfires. Does seem almost like any ole kicker off the street would be better than Kubiak's Aggie pal, for sfure that would have been the case yesterday.
But back to the mobility thing with Schaub, or complete lack thereof. Like others are sayin, the boot with Schaub at the helm is just an empty threat and we all know that either TJ or Keenum offer that element in their game.
Some times wonder why Kubiak made such a strong move and eventually an expensive trade for such an unlikely candidate as Schaub for his offense that puts so
much emphasis on boots ?

[barrett]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

All jokin aside, but did he maybe go out and get blasted last night because big, bad Nick Sabin came to town and beat his Aggies ? I dunno how many chances he got yesterday, but the only one he made was the one that didn't count when the Titans used a TO. He was just terrible, and the Texans already bring enough drama to game without his misfires. Does seem almost like any ole kicker off the street would be better than Kubiak's Aggie pal, for sfure that would have been the case yesterday.
But back to the mobility thing with Schaub, or complete lack thereof. Like others are sayin, the boot with Schaub at the helm is just an empty threat and we all know that either TJ or Keenum offer that element in their game.
Some times wonder why Kubiak made such a strong move and eventually an expensive trade for such an unlikely candidate as Schaub for his offense that puts so
much emphasis on boots ?

Are you under the impression that the boot in our offense is designed for the QB to run? Schaub runs the boot better than any QB in the NFL. His ball handling and ability to throw on the run have made that play one of the most productive for any team in the NFL the last 5 years. David Carr was far more mobile than TJ or Keenum and was awful with the boot. It is not a running play.

Schaub is slow but fits what Kubiak does very well. That is why we have been a top 10 offense for a half a decade with him at QB and every important piece other than AJ rotating.

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by Arky

Early line - Texans favored by 1 at Baltimore....

Surely that's based on how bad Baltimore looks. If Ray Rice is unavailable, that's a bonus for us.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Surely that's based on how bad Baltimore looks. If Ray Rice is unavailable, that's a bonus for us.

Or it's based on the fact that through 2 weeks it doesn't matter how bad Houston looks, they will win by at least 1.

Plus we took Baltimore apart last year and Flacco struggles desperately against our defense due to his inaccuracy. Honestly, if we don't get flagged for PI on more than 1 deep ball I don't see how they get to 20.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by barrett

Are you under the impression that the boot in our offense is designed for the QB to run? Schaub runs the boot better than any QB in the NFL. His ball handling and ability to throw on the run have made that play one of the most productive for any team in the NFL the last 5 years. David Carr was far more mobile than TJ or Keenum and was awful with the boot. It is not a running play.

Schaub is slow but fits what Kubiak does very well. That is why we have been a top 10 offense for a half a decade with him at QB and every important piece other than AJ rotating.

I remember Jake Plummer as Denver's QB when Kubiak was still there as their OC and Plummer could really run, and that skill made him effective in the bootlegs to a degree that a Matt Schaub just can't be notwithstanding Matt's ability as a ball handler and throwing while on the move. That's the same kind of athlete I yearn for the Texans to have at QB in this offense.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

I remember Jake Plummer as Denver's QB when Kubiak was still there as their OC and Plummer could really run, and that skill made him effective in the bootlegs to a degree that a Matt Schaub just can't be notwithstanding Matt's ability as a ball handler and throwing while on the move. That's the same kind of athlete I yearn for the Texans to have at QB in this offense.

I also yearn for a good athlete who does the good things Schaub already does. I don't think I would ever yearn for Jake Plummer-like qualities in a QB. Either way, Schaub is very well suited to this offense, despite how much it moves the QB and how poorly he moves. I think part of it is he is very effective with scripted or planned movement and worthless when it comes to improvisational movement. This stands out even more when half of the QBs in the NFL these days can move in that way. But the Titans had a great athlete with an arm yesterday and it got them 1 first down scramble and about a dozen off target passes.

I hope we either break through this year or fail in such a spectacular way that Schaub is shown the door and a real investment is made in a QB. Kubiak's #1 quality is probably his ability to tutor a QB and put them in position to succeed. He has flaws as a HC, but he gets more out of Schaub's limited ability than most around the league get from far more talented players. Just look at the year to year improvement of limited young guys like Yates and Keenum. I would love to watch Kubiak with a kid like EJ Manuel and a year to groom him.

Unfortunately, we are probably looking at 10-6/11-5 and the divisional round again. I guess all we can hope for is to be the Ravens and get invited to the dance enough that one day we stumble on a Super Bowl title through dumb luck.

[WMH]

Originally Posted by popanot

As for Bullock, sure he hasn't had many easy kicks, but the good kickers make most of the difficult ones. He's as a shaky as a 90-yr old lady on speed. They need to bring someone in and let Bullock do kickoffs.

Agree, but that isn't Kubiaks style, not to mention the roster spot is too valuable. Especially when you're carrying 3 QB's.

Thought this was interesting:

http://espn.go.com/blog/houston-texa...-texans-kicker

"Kicking is mental and there are times when early struggles never reverse. There are other times when they do. Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski only made one of his four 50-plus yard attempts his rookie year. Overall in his 14-year career Janikowski has made 56 percent of his field goals longer than 50 yards. In fact, Janikowski started his NFL career missing three of his first four field goal attempts."