They averaged 20 and our D allowed 21. TOTAL. Why is that a trainwreck to you? We give up 27 points on average, D allowed 21. 6 points better, just like you're saying the offense did 6 points better. They avg 104 yards on the ground, we held them to 63. They avg 230 yards in the air, we held them to 190 (despite a 290 avg given up). I get that not everyone sees it this way, but I don't come away from this game pissed at our defense. The kickoff cost us the game. Matt's horrendous decision and throw iced it.
I didn't say it was a trainwreck...I said it wasn't less than the Ravens scoring average, as Major was stating.
Before last night, the Ravens had scored 260 points in 12 games. 21 of those points came directly from the defense. So the Ravens offense had scored 239 points over 12 games. That averages out to less than 20 points per game. Last night they had 21 points in the first half.
Total for the 4 quarters plus OT. The hell bent spin, if you're determined to ignore the shut out and the defense forcing a punt in OT, is getting irritating.
Fine - I'm sorry I included the word "fully" I stand by what I've been saying all morning: I'm not mad at the D, and think they played well enough that we could win. The offense could have played better in the first half. Special Teams let everyone down. We lost to a better team, and it stings since we had a shot to win it.
OK fine. They also had 21 points in the first game. The offense only scored 7 in the first half, but we say they did fine because we look at the whole game. Why not say the same for the defense? Before the game, if I'd have told you that our historically bad defense would hold an opponent to 1 pt over their season average, would you have thought that to be acceptable?
Schaub has the second best accuracy among active Qbs behind Brees. Yeah, though I guess he's not accurate.
Eventually I let him fall on his ass. Either because that's the only thing that will help him grow the frick up, or because I'm freaking exhausted from constantly having to cover his ass and I just couldn't get it done one more time. But eventually, one way or another, everyone has to pull his weight or the thing falls apart. This "rule of 30" thing is freaking ridiculous.
Our pass defense is so historically bad, that even when situations SCREAM for run plays, opposing offensive coordinators just can't help themselves. Give the defense and Quin credit for making the play, but that third down call was dumb, dumb, dumb. Even a failed run almost certainly wins the game. But, again, they see that secondary, that lack of pass rush and... But you can't ignore the offense's role in this. They posted 16-, 10-, 15- and 12-play scoring drives in the second half. The Ravens ran 16 total offensive plays. They ran 39 in the first half. You know as well as I do that the longer the Texans' defense is on the field, the more likely it is they'll do something historically awful. When you can keep them on the sideline with a ball-control offense, better things happen. You just can't overlook how critical the offense's production was to the defense's best half of football this year. (Maybe second to the first half against the Colts in week 1 - but, again: ball-control offense.)
Again...I'm not trying to lay all of this on the defense. I was countering the notion that you could lay it on the offense when they scored 4 more than their season average and 11 more than the Ravens give up on average. When you score 28 points against the Ravens, you expect to win. The Ravens have been scoring 20 ppg all season long, and have won more games than they've lost. Aside from the Titans game, the only games the Texans have won is when they've scored 30 points. Last night they scored 28, and, once again, it wasn't enough to win. We can criticize the offense for being inconsistent...but I'm going to argue against the notion you can hang the loss on them.
Oh certainly. This was a game where everyone did acceptably well except special teams. They will always find a way to lose these games because that's who they are. If the defense/STs had only given up 21 pts, the offense probably doesn't score 28. If the defense had given up 35, the offense probably scores more. Whatever it is, it will always be just enough to lose.
Did anyone else catch the irony of Derrick Mason hopping into the end zone on 1 leg (because his shoe fell off)? Wasn't that play just a microcosm for the entire year? The Texans Defense. You can score on us even while hopping on 1 leg.
Just now figuring it out? Because the Ravens and Steelers have not been using essentially that strategy for years to have staunch defenses?
I do have to hand it to Frank Bush, he finally figured out that Pollard is worthless in coverage and sent him screaming at Flacco on every other down. Too little, too late.
Frank Bush thinks: Hey this is a guy who can come screaming off the LOS to block a field goal. Maybe he can blitz too? Better ponder this for 3 months first.
I didnt mean just this game, I meant for the entire season as well. Good points, taking this over to the "situational" offense thread...
I haven't read any of this thread. I'm still fuming over the loss. The game further exemplifies why Kubiak is an idiot. Once again, he outdumbed (some people say outsmarted, this time, that's not the case) himself. You can't throw the ball 62 times against the Ravens and not expect them to adjust. I know the passing game was killing it in the second half, but the Ravens were playing uninspired. For all they cared, they had the game in the bag. The last drive they played slightly better, but were just tired. Give them a little break, and look what happens. Being that close to your own end zone, in my opinion, you have to come out with 3 straight runs. You have to use the running game to gain back some field position. Clock time was not an issue. Actually, it's severely in your favor. First play, you come out and run that stretch play that sucked for the most part of the game. Second play, you spread everyone out and run the effective draw we had going. Third play, you either run off tackle again, do the draw, or throw a screen or deep playaction pass. No way do you come out throwing the ball two times in a row against a good defense, that deep in your territory. Especially after you've thrown it 60 times already. A good defense (i.e. not the Texans defense) will start to jump routes on plays that they've already seen. They'll jump routes and make picks. That's exactly what happened. Kubiak, you're an idiot. Bring me The Chin.
