What are you most surprised at good or bad so far?

Good- That Foster is looking better than ever.

Bad- Fitzpatrick is actually worse than I thought. Big downgrade from a healthy Schaub.

 

i'm surprised and confused ...
does bill have confidence in fitzy or not? Ryan seems to complete a lot of his passes on play action in the 20+yards category but rarely does he get those plays called in.

But when it's 3rd and 2 or backed up in your 15, you have fitzy go spread offense, no extra protection very well knowing that our pass blocking, because of new schemes, isn't the best.

 

Wow, what'd you expect from Fitzpatrick then? He's playing his best football right now. You expected him to improve dramatically?

 

The Good-The Turnovers have been a huge surprise. We still have plenty of issues in the secondary, but there are some bright spots to look forward to. A.J. Bouye and Andre Hal have some potential. Kareem isn't playing great but he isn't as awful as Texans fans make him out to be. People just try to look for a scapegoat. Swearinger really needs to step up. I'm all for trash talking if you can back it up, but his coverage skills are awful and he is becoming a liability with teams intentionally targeting his area of the field. Lewis has been good at times and so far is looking like a good pickup if he can iron out those coverage issues as well.

The Bad-Mental Mistakes. My god. The amount of mistakes that have been made by both the coaches and the players is mind boggling. We just find ways to lose games. I really hope B.O.B can get his crap together because if the Texans actually think they are still playoff bound with Fitzpatrick at the helm, this crap isn't going to cut it.

 

No, I just thought he was better.

I didn't realize this was it.

 

Fitzpatrick has exceeded my expectations, which were zero at the start of the season. He's been good enough for this team to be 4-3, 5-2... Not that they should be - but he hasn't lost any games with poor decision-making (other than maybe NY - and even then, he made some plays). Having said that… I still hope he breaks his arm and we get 8 games of Mallett….

Agreed on Foster; he's been great. It looks like Hopkins has taken a step in the right direction. And I've been pleased by JJ's performance, of course - we should always take a moment and bask in his greatness. And, frankly, I've been mostly pleased with the play of the CBs, which I think has been better than people are giving credit.

Also, the special teams have been great (onside kick aside).

I'm concerned about the OL, though I think they'll be better by season's end. Cushing's health is disappointing, and I'd be fine with them cutting DJ Swearinger later today. He's garbage.

And my biggest disappointment, by far, has been the '14 draft class, which has been a near unanimous whiff thus far, especially at the top where you would expect the first pick in each round would have found at least contributors.

It's highly likely the team is 4-4 at the halfway point, which isn’t too bad.

 

I expected the 14 draft class too suck.

Especially considering the fans loved it so much.

 

The good - wins

The bad - losses

 

If your answer for surprised isn't Newton you did it wrong.

 

This surprises you?

 

Good - Newton (except for the last game), Foster's return to form, Bullock,

Bad - Play calling, mental mistakes, Cushing falling off, Safety play, entire line not named Derek Newton, TE struggles.

 

Good Things- Foster, Watt, Blue, Hop, Dre, Fat Randy, and Whitney. O-Line has been decent.

Bad Things- Everything else

 

Good surprise - Arian Foster and J.J. Watt continuing to be superstars. We're lucky to have them both wearing Texans uniforms.

Bad surprise - Bill O'Brien's play-calling. More than anything else (and there's a ton of stuff), I feel like THIS has held us back tremendously. Our inability to pick up 3rd and manageable yardage has absolutely killed this offense, and I attribute a lot of that to bad play-calling. Our offensive line has been a major weakness, but we knew that going into the season. He should be able to compensate for that with more creative plays, but he's resorted to becoming incredibly predictable on 3rd downs instead. I'm hoping he either drops the idea of being the play-caller in games, or he gets better at this as he gets more experience.

 

Yeah I agree that the play calling has left a lot to be desired at times but I think if the O line was doing their job at least a quarter of the time then a lot would be different. The run blocking has been a lot better than the pass blocking, but neither have been acceptable. Even poor defenses are getting tons of pressure on the QB all the time the way the line has played.

 

I'm not surprised fans are complaining about the playcalling.

 

I'm surprised how good Crick has looked in spurts.

 

Well you shouldn't be, there's been reason to complain about it.

 

No. But I actually thought Fitzpatrick was going to be worse. Apart from the Giant's loss, he has played better than I expected. That's one good thing. Arian Foster and JJ Watt are still playing very well. I expected less out of Kendrick Lewis and Mercilus.

I expected less bone-head mistakes at the end of games to cause the team to lose. I expected more out of Alfred Blue, Clowney, and Garret Graham.

 

Mental Mistakes are the key to me. . . .those are the killers
Fumbles, iltimed penalties, missed coverages

Rocket River