Highly doubt that. AJ has been out more than half the season thus far, so it's not as if our numbers are inflated much by his presence. I thought Sunday's performance was very encouraging, offensively. You had 337 yards, and would've had 20 points if not for one of the worst calls in the history of football (I really don't think I'm exaggerating on that), all in Yates' first start and against a top 10 defense. Controlled the clock for over 35 minutes, went 9-for-18 on third downs. They're not a top 5 offense, of course, with AJ out. But I'd say they're middle of the pack, at worst, and should get better as Yates gets more reps. Definitely not bottom 10.
Good point, JerkyLover. Clearly, TJ isn't the type of QB that say, in a 10-10 tie in the fourth quarter, could lead an 85-yard touchdown drive to win the game, all without Andre Johnson. Oh, wait.
Go read my post jerky, We have 2 damn good running backs. The entire time AJ has been out teams have been stacking the box to stop our running attack and it couldn't be done. Im pretty sure Yates is capable of handing a football to someone.
Freshly minted user JerkyLover = moes' trolling pseudonym? Offense: Johnson directly accounted for 97 of Yates' 188 yards Sunday, and opened underneath routes up for OD most of the day. Foster's big gain off a swing pass (25+ yards after catch) was the only major pass that didn't include Andre. I'm not saying we're going to be limited to 3 FGs. But the offense is going to be grinding it out. Hopefully we can get after their corners with a pseudo-West Coast passing attack.
I agree. Just look at his history. With Dre playing, TJ leaned on him, which eventually led to the TD pass to Dreesen. When AJ went out, TJ was forced to spread the ball out more...which eventually led to the TD run by Foster. Wait...too small of a sample size. Well, dating back to his college years, he was on his way to breaking school records until star WR Greg Little was suspended the beginning of his senior year. TJ then...had his best season, throwing for 3400 yards and 19 TDs and 9 INTs Your analysis may be a little off.
Can anyone find an update on Dalton? NFL Network was the only place I could find anything and it was vague: Left game at the end of the 3rd with a "Hip" injury, and later the ticker updated it to a "Hamstring" injury. I listened to Coach Lewis's press conference yesterday and he didn't mention Dalton at all =( One thing he did say was that he expected to get Nate Clements back this week, they apparently are thin at CB right now. Weather in Cincy looks to be cold but clear, so that's good. Same forecast for Nashville (NO/TEN), and that's good b/c rainy weather would probably give the Titans a chance at winning that game.
Andre certainly makes things easier, but he's not a necessity. He was huge in the first three games of the season, for example, but the Texans then adjusted just fine without him. Of course Yates looks for Andre when he's in - it's not like he's Matt Leinart - but I don't think it's the only way the passing game can be effective. Just the most obvious/easiest. On the game-winning drive, TJ hit Walter on a 12-yard out to convert a 3rd down, and also found Jacoby wide open down the seam (about 20-25 yards downfield), but threw it behind him. The Texans had a very effective passing game for six weeks minus AJ, so I'm confident in their ability to find it again.
why worry about vegas, they know the majority of gamblers are uninformed, will read about the injuries and make their picks based on that
Texans 23 Bengals 13 Joseph goes down in the 1st quarter, Foster in the 2nd, and then we lose Neil Rackers for the year in the 4th.
21-17 texans defens holds strong cushing has a field day.. yates manages the game while tate/foster bust out for a combined 175 yards
By the way Yates proved he had an arm. That +40 yard pass he made throwing on the run that AJ dropped was probably more impressive than any pass I have seen Matt Schaub make all year.
That was impressive and on the money. If he has a good game Sunday, he will become the anointed one. Personally, I am not expecting much; hostile environment, noisy, pressure. Like I say, this is good test for the whole team, especially TJ.
Is Cincy really that hostile and noisy (compared to other places)? The routinely have trouble selling out and I certainly don't picture the Bengals when I think of tough places to play. The only winning team they've beaten is Tennessee. Pittsburgh manhandled them. We should win this game.
