Thoughts on the game: This is what i mean about the ability to dictate what you want to do and execute. The Pats and Belichick shows us once again why he is a HOF coach. What was the Patriots biggest weakness in this game?...the ability to cover Arian Foster and AJ one on one...based on that logic...schemes and plays should be driven to make that a reality...when the game was 3-0, the Texans didnt play what was given...they tried to play their game and that is running...so what did the Patriots do...dared Kubiak by leaving the outside receivers 1-1 and loading the box to take out Arian Foster from the game...this worked till the score was 17-3 NE..IN THE PLAYOFFS...and Foster said this so much...we have to play TEXANS FOOTBALL AND WE WILL BE GOOD...we were playing a guy that forces you to use a plan B...running plan A just wont work..bc he is already prepared his team to beat plan A.. Plan A was our run game and once again, Kubiak couldnt get Foster going. It wasnt because that was not a good choice...its bc Belichick already decided to force you to use your other options...In the first half of the game...our TE's just couldnt get any separation from their LB?? Why??? its not like their were really fast. But because we just didnt send them vertical more often...Watch NE next week and see how poorly their secondary plays...they are garbage in the 2ndary, but stellar up front...our offense and our team shouldve been attacking that all night long..till they adjusted...If they want to 1-1 cover AJ...get him the dang ball down the field..and let your beast make a play...he is the best in the game...bc he knows how to get separation and how to make a play on the ball.. Arian Foster always comes to play...and has another gear...in important moments of games...so does JJ Watt...and so does AJ...Matt has shown flashes but not enough and not consistent enough...Kudos to Manning, Foster for making this game more respectable...Texans will get better...but will they ever win it all with this cast...im starting to doubt its possible
No...the Pops comparison is extremely accurate...Belichick gets the most out of scrub players...and gets more out of them than anyone else...like seriously..this team other than Brady, Gronk and Wilfork have been the most consistent high powered team in this decade.. They even went 11-5 when Brady went out for the season....thats coaching guys and gals...good coaches get players to play their best...Look at Matt Cassell now...he is total garbage...
Honestly, aside from Schaub, Kubiak, Donny Jones and Barwin, I think the team had a decent game. Bad decisions offensively while the game was within reach are what stalled us. The defense played decently enough for us to win and even Manning on Kick Returns showed why they liked him over Martin for doing it in the playoffs with big returns. The problems are not things we can't correct and hopefully Kubiak will actually go about correcting them with smart offseason moves and experience for the younger players. The biggest concern seems to be Schaub. Time will tell with that one.
off season - offense needs to find a better way to sustain drives. when the run game isn't working, the offense more often than not stalls out. Kubes needs to do some different things - lining up 4/5 wide and spreading out defenses. The offensive line needs to be stabilized as well. The o-line dominated last season - this year, not so much. Defensively, we need better LB's outside of Cushing and some better edge rushers. Reed was relatively quiet this entire season.
The book is officially closed. See you next season Texans. Unfortunately, this off season will have a different feel to it. Sigh...
Go back and re-read the thread or watch the first half. The defense was unimpressive in certain facets but a defense can only do so much when you have a "good" quarterback against a "great" quarterback.
I was called out in the third quarter, so I didn't get to see the last part of the game. I was really hopeful at half time, but the Texans came out flat in the third and the Pats were more aggressive. I just don't understand the psyche of this team. I don't think the Pats are that superior talent wise, they just seemed like they wanted it more. Hard to figure. Just like the Vikings and the Colts did. If we are stuck with Schaub then he needs a better supporting cast, more playmakers. If we are stuck with Kubiak then we need some better assistant coaches. I don't know, though the record looks great, overall, this has been a rather frustrating season.
That is BS. The talent the Texans have around Schaub include a hall of fame WR and a superstar RB. The other receivers are good enough to start for other teams, even the former whipping boy of the team Jacoby Jones showed he could make plays when the ball is thrown toward him. If Schaub can't win with this, we either need a new OC capable of making plays he can work with or a new QB. I've liked Schaub since we traded for him, but I've noticed the passing offense regress for two seasons, so it is either the OC that is helping Kubiak design and coach the plays or it is the QB for failing to execute.
Here was the biggest problem offensively. In the first half, when the game was close, we COULD NOT RUN THE BALL. And when we did, it was only on first down. The Patriots had a plan for what they wanted to force us to do and we fell right into it. They wanted us to run on first down. They wanted to dare Schaub to beat them. So they load up against the run. First down, 3 yards or less (usually less). Now we have 2nd and long. Passing situation, New England switched to defending the pass. Second down, incomplete pass. Now it's third and long where we struggle. New England blitzes. Schaub had to get rid of the ball quickly and hit the check down receiver. Pass complete but it's short of the first down. Punt. This is exactly how our first 4 drives ended. Run for no gain. Incomplete pass. Can't convert 3rd and long. Exactly. New England was playing the run. When we ran it on first down, we got stuffed. When we passed it, we picked up big yards. We came out on the 2nd drive and passed it 3 times and got 3 consecutive first downs. Our first play on the 3rd drive was a 14 yard pass to Andre. On the 4th drive it was a 16 yard pass to Andre. But New England kept playing the run and we always obliged them by running on first down by no gain. An astute observer might've taken notice and kept passing it until they were finally forced to back off on the run defense, but not Kubes. It wasn't until our 6th drive that Foster was able to get some big yards. I have to go back and watch the tape, but I remember that Brooks was supposed to be playing RG most of this game and Ben Jones was in on that drive. For the most part, New England wanted to stuff the run on first down and force us into being one dimensional on 2nd and 3rd down and that's exactly what happened. Foster ran the ball 22 times. 15 of those carries were on first down. Only 2 were on 2nd down. 3 were on 3rd down and 2 were on 4th down. When we were still trying to be balanced, we never got in to situations where we could really run it on 2nd and 3rd down. One of 2 things needed to happen for us to be successful. 1) We needed to execute better and run it down their throat no matter what. The whole, you know what's coming but you can't stop us thing. That didn't really happen. A little on the TD drive in the 2nd, but not otherwise. Foster got half of his total yards on that drive and 40 of it was on 2 runs. 2) We needed to make them pay for loading up on the run by taking what they were giving us and passing it. We were killing them with first down passes. Schaub was 7-9 for 86 yards and 6 first downs when throwing it on first down in the first half. We needed to force them to respect the pass on first down to open up the run for Foster and we never really did it. Meaning, we passed it and were making them pay, but they stuck to their plan and played the run and we couldn't help but go back to running Foster right back into their trap. We never succeeded in forcing them out of their gameplan. New England had a defensive game plan and aside from the end of the 2nd quarter, they executed it really well. They went away from it when they got up 25 and we were forced to throw it more, but up until that point, we did almost exactly what they wanted us to do.
How depressing to not only have the season end....but looks like we lost Posey for the entire season next season......
These are the type of games where having a legit solid NT can make a difference. I know Wade's defense "works" without one, but why not have one guy to have some flexibility and variability.
Who cares. The guy did nothing all year. Sign a legit receiver in the off-season that can actually contribute or draft someone more NFL-ready. You're crying over a guy who caught 6 balls all year?
