Surprised we aren't last, but close..... Week 3: https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-week-3-nfl-offensive-line-rankings Spoiler 30. Starting Lineup: Left Tackle: Martinas Rankin, 48.5 Left Guard: Greg Mancz, 59.7 Center: Nick Martin, 58.1 Right Guard: Zach Fulton, 61.1 Right Tackle: Julie’n Davenport, 51.3 Maybe the only surprise about the Texans’ offensive line play this season is that there have been two teams that have stooped lower. They’ve tried giving their tackles a ton of help yet still have the second-worst pass-blocking efficiency of any offensive line in the league. Maybe the most concerning part, though, is that former second-round pick Nick Martin has so far not lived up to that billing in his third year with a 58.1 overall grade.
Maybe the most concerning part, though, is that former second-round pick Nick Martin has so far not lived up to that billing in his third year with a 58.1 overall grade. Been saying they need to move Martin to guard and start Mancz at center.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/09/26/d...mmqb&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social Why Deshaun Watson Isn’t at the Root of the Texans’ Problems Spoiler This time last year, Deshaun Watson was about to become what Patrick Mahomes is today. Houston’s then-new franchise QB posted a record 19 touchdowns in his first seven games, electrifying Football America with his mobility and aggressive downfield throwing. But in early November, Watson became what Jimmy Garoppolo now is: a franchise QB with a torn ACL. Now, Watson is trying to become what Carson Wentz is today: a franchise quarterback returning from an ACL injury whose team is winning. Watson’s Texans are one of three winless teams in the NFL right now. The crowd that was gaga over him a year ago is now saying something different: What’s wrong? The short answer? Nothing—or nothing that wasn’t previously wrong. Watson has looked swift on the run—an obvious concern following an ACL tear. He might not have the same rifle arm as Mahomes, but he delivers a better ball than his throwing motion and release suggest. Watson can make just about any throw, and he’s willing to attempt just about any. Since receiver Will Fuller returned in Week 2 after suffering a hamstring injury in the preseason, Watson has shown the same downfield aggression that impressed Texans coaches so much a year ago. And the 23-year-old still has plenty to improve. Though far more willing to play from the pocket than most mobile QBs, he needs to become mechanically tighter and more disciplined. He tends to cover too much ground when moving within the pocket, and he can be slow to move past reads that aren’t open. None of this is unusual for a young quarterback, and Watson is further along and more talented than most. The Texans’ greater problems reside in Watson’s surroundings. Behind Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins, Houston’s receiving corps are very thin, and even more alarming, the offensive tackles are slow and callow. Third-round rookie Martinas Rankin has good balance but heavy feet, making him vulnerable to agile pass rush moves. Right tackle Julie’n Davenport, who had three false starts and a costly holding foul last Sunday against the Giants, tends to play with loose, reactive hands, which compromises his power. Neither player is very experienced. Houston has amended its scheme to help the tackles and give receivers more time to get open. This began last season, when the Texans—playing with iffy tackles Chris Clark and Breno Giacomini—kept a sixth player in to help pass-block on 18.3% of Watson’s snaps. The team kept a seventh player in 14.9% of the time, and on 23.7% of the snaps, it had a player chip-block an edge rusher before releasing into his route. Head coach Bill O’Brien, who has one of football’s most manifold offensive minds, prefers to get all five eligible receivers out in routes. Eschewing this for so many “protection-first” plays probably felt like a being a newly diagnosed Celiac eating gluten-free pasta. It’s unappetizing, if not outright disgusting, but necessary. Trying to find a happy-medium, the Texans have scaled back from protection first just a bit this year, with the number of snaps involving six pass-blockers drpping to 12.5% and seven blockers dropping to 7.4%. But chip-blocks are up to 36.8%, showing that O’Brien—wisely—is not putting his offensive tackles on an island. For comparison, the Chiefs have used six or seven blockers on a combined 23.2% of Mahomes’s dropbacks. Interestingly they’ve also employed a lot of misdirection concepts, going play-action on 31.3% of Mahomes’s snaps and employing presnap motion 18.8% of the time. O’Brien and his staff masterfully built these misdirection tactics for Watson on the fly last season, but this year, the Texans have used presnap motion on just 5.1% of snaps—a decrease from 16.2% last year— and play-action snaps are down from 38.6% to 27.9%. Most telling, snaps with designed pocket movement, which really suits Watson, are down from 11.6% to 3.7%. It’s hard to understand why the Texans are drifting away from their tactics specifically tailored for Watson. (O'Brien, understandably, declined to elaborate when I asked.) The good news is there’s hope for the Texans turning things around overall, even if in a more traditional dropback offense. Watson’s receiving corps, while thin, is strong at the top. The run game is average, but O’Brien always commits to maximizing it. On defense, J.J. Watt looks like his old self, and there’s a litany of upper-shelf veterans around him. This team is two games back in a so-so AFC South. No need to panic just yet.
Good read. I've been on the same boat as the writer, especially that last 2 paragraphs. The coaching staff should read it.
https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-week-5-nfl-offensive-line-rankings Spoiler 31. Starting Lineup: Left Tackle: Martinas Rankin, 48.8 Left Guard: Senio Kelemete, 58.9 Center: Nick Martin, 60.8 Right Guard: Zach Fulton, 58.1 Right Tackle: Kendall Lamm, 60.3 Getting this far down on the list, the concept of highlighting the top performer on each offensive line can get difficult. 104 offensive linemen with at least 100 snaps so far this season have graded out higher than Nick Martin – the Texans’ highest-graded offensive lineman. That should tell you everything you need to know about why they’re ranked this low. Doubt this Week 5 ranking will change after today's fiasco.
Exactly. I've been a B.O.B. critic for the majority of his time in Houston, but I was impressed with the offense his staff threw together around Deshaun last year. Why he decided to go away from all the misdirection, motions, and play-fakes is mind-boggling to me - clearly working for KC, and the new scheme is clearly not tailored to Deshaun's strengths.
