Last night, i was thinking about this one dude, who in the 90's, in his 30s, with no history of success and prone to interceptions came out of nowhere. it's like if one night the gods of the underground spoke to him and said," hey chris chandler, for the next 2 years you will be awesome but I will come and collect in 2000, b****" that's my hope for ryan. let's get behind this guy and hope for the best, stranger things have happened. and when i say let's get behind him, I mean support him not like behind him in the 'hangout' sense.
I'm behind Fitz, I know he's not the greatest but he's our qb and our options behind him are clearly about as bad as can be. If our defense can be legit with the schedule the team should be able to hang in games. Fitz can do what is necessary to win games, he just needs to avoid terrible turnovers. My best hope is 9-10 wins, like that guy said earlier most important thing this preseason was health. Too many guys in my office let sports radio analysts poison their brain and just want to talk about how crappy the team is. Nothing worse than casuals who just let other people make opinions for them. What's the point of being a sports fan if you are just going to be negative all the time? Too many of those guys posting here too.
I'm negative about the Texans (because I suggest they'll only TRIPLE their win total from last year), but I'm not negative all the time. I had this team pegged for the Super Bowl just 2 short seasons ago...I was really wrong. Just because someone is negative about the outlook of the team doesn't mean they're less of a fan...frankly, at this point if you care much at all for Houston sports after the load of crap they've served up to us, you're probably what I'd call a fan.
Neither the offense or defense has played with all the starters at the same time yet. Niether have shown even a quarter of the playbook also. Both sides of the ball have been running a watered down playbook, saving the real stuff for the REAL season. Im not saying they will be even good, but don't bail on my guys yet
^ Seems they used this preseason more for evaluation of certain players. Training camp/practice must be where they are working out all the kinks
I was thinking something along the lines of that last night. It kinda seems like OB not to concerned with winning b/c preseason obviously. The play calling the whole preseason seems to be centered around him putting his players in situations to evaluate their weaknesses better.
People need to stop freaking out. If your really bought the BS McNair was selling about "re-tooling, not reloading" you only have yourself to blame. This season is about Hopkins, Cushing, Watt and all the young pieces that will be the core in 2015. We will get our franchise QB soon and build this club on solid ground.
You weren't "that" wrong. Had Cushing stayed healthy, their defense wouldn't have totally fallen apart (which was the biggest downfall of that 2012 team, much like Schaub going down was the downfall of the 2011 team). The last time this team looked like a "contender" was when they beat up a "bad" Ravens team at home in 2012... the same Ravens team that got healthy and went on to win the Super Bowl that year. It is really annoying that they didn't kick out Smith and start over with a fully new regime after last year... when they become contenders again, it will be largely with a "new" core as is.
Quotes from after the games: HEAD COACH BILL OBRIEN (Transcribed by Laci Theriot, Nida Chaudhry and Ellie Pardee) Spoiler (on the performance of the quarterbacks) “Again, like I said, halftime wasn’t very good, but again, I think it’s important to note that it is a team effort, whether it is a protection breakdown or maybe a wrong route. Obviously, the quarterback made some mistakes, but it is a team effort and no one out there on offense really did anything worthy of note, including the coaching, so both the players and coaches need to improve. At the same time, preseason is over. We begin the process of getting down to the 53 man roster here over the next couple days and we head into the regular season. It is what it is, and we are moving on.” on if he is comfortable with both Case Keenum and Tom Savage as quarterbacks) “We are comfortable with both guys. They put a lot of work in even though tonight was not a great night, it is a body of work and there has been some decent play from those guys, so we are comfortable. We will always do what is best for the team, that is something we will always do as long as we are here, but as it relates to those two guys, they have shown flashes of good things and some not so good things just like everybody else. Again, preseason is over and we are moving on to the regular season.” (on how hard it is to evaluate the offensive problems) “Yes, it is because you have 11 guys out there and you try to get those 11 guys to do the right thing, you know, and sometimes, if two or three guys don’t do the right thing and eight guys do, then that doesn’t really bode well for a successful play, especially in the passing game of the quarterback. We will have to look at the tape, we will have to evaluate it and see what happened, but it was not a good night offensively.” (on how important it is that everyone is healthy for the Redskins game) “It’s important. It’s important. We’re looking forward to Monday’s practice. We’re looking forward to tomorrow, getting some conditioning and lifting done. We’re looking forward to moving on to the regular season.” (on if Clowney is still on track to play after preseason) “He’s still on track for the opener.” (on if the three quarterbacks will be on the 53-man roster) “Again, I’ve said all along that these three guys have put a lot of work in. We will evaluate everything that they’ve done, really tonight. We’ll do it tonight and we’ll do it tomorrow. We’ll take a good look at it, we’ll meet as a staff on it and we’ll decide what to do, what’s best for the team. If keeping these three quarterbacks is what’s best for the team then that’s what we’ll do, but just coming in here off the field, it’s something that we can’t answer right now. We have to go upstairs and figure it out and watch some more tape and meet as a staff and go from there.” (on if T Will Yeatman was not ready to play tonight) “Right, not ready to play.” (on if he wasn’t ready to play because he was injured) “Not ready to play.” (on what he feels good about going into the season) “I feel good about the veteran leadership on this team. I feel good about both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, knowing their assignments, knowing what we do schematically. I feel good about, for the most part, our draft class, our rookies, where they are right now relative to being rookies. I feel that our role players, guys that we feel have really come on as far as special teams and offense and defense, whether it be a backup or a guy that’s on all the special teams. I feel good about some of our role players. And then there are some things that we really have to improve upon. That’s what we’ll continue to do starting tomorrow and Monday through Friday.” (on what improvements he thinks the team needs to make) “Situational football, I mean it happened again tonight at the end of the half. We got a chance to drive the ball in two minutes, start the drive with a good screen pass and then had a miscommunication on a route and one guy ran one route, the quarterback threw another route and we had an interception that led to a touchdown. I think offensively we were directly responsible for I think two touchdowns basically. So that’s not good. We have to fix that. That’s something that we’ll continue to try to do and do that throughout next week.” (on his comfort level with the outside linebackers) “What is the deal with the comfort level questions? I’m comfortable with the outside linebacker position.” (on comfort level with LB Whitney Mercilus) “I’m comfortable with Mercilus. I think that he’s playing with better knowledge of the scheme and he’s able to go out there and play without thinking. There’s a lot of communication and technique and things that he’s done in the past that are different than what he has to do now. For some guys, that may take a little longer than others and I think in the last two weeks you’ve seen a guy who has really learned it and got it down pretty well and made some good plays. He’s played well these last two weeks. I saw it out there tonight. I thought he made some good plays tonight.” (on S Shiloh Keo’s performance after missing a few games) “He looked like he was moving around and made some plays tonight. He made some tackles and looked like he was pretty active tonight. From where I was standing on the sideline, yeah, I think he made some plays. Again, just like everybody else, I’ll go back and watch the tape and figure it out from there, but it looked like he made some plays.” (on Defensive Coordinator Romeo Crennel going into the regular season) “I feel really good about Romeo. Our staff is a good, strong staff. Good communicators, good teachers, guys that have won a lot of football games; both at this level and at other levels. Romeo has done a really good job of coming in here and teaching the scheme and getting those guys to understand the scheme. The preseason I would say that every game that we’ve gone into, we’ve tried to keep the gameplan fairly basic so that our guys can go out and play. Now it’s time to become what we are, which is a gameplan offense and defense, meaning every week we come in and we look at what the opponent does and try to gameplan the opponent. That’ll be a big part of what we do this week and what we’ve seen in practice from Romeo. On offense, George Godsey doing a lot with the offense. Ligashesky with the special teams, I think there’s been improvement and I’m looking forward to get going in the regular season.” RUNNING BACK JONATHAN GRIMES (Transcribed by John Byczek) Spoiler (on running back corps getter) “I think the running backs understand the team concept and helping each other. That’s going to make yourself better; that’s going to make the whole team better. It’s really a team-first atmosphere.” (on what’s been different this year over last year) “It’s more opportunities really. Just trying to become more of a student of the game and always looking for room for improvement as far as pass protection, catching, running; everything a running back has to do. Even on special teams I try to step it up on that, too.” (on what it’s been like learning a new system) “It’s a really fun experience learning new plays and just learning different ways people look at attacking a football game. I’ve learned a lot this offseason about defenses, special teams, everything. It’s been a good experience.” CORNERBACK ANDRE HAL (Transcribed by John Byczek) Spoiler (on making a big play) “It’s exciting. You know, you just have to take advantage of all your opportunities.” (on how much he has progressed from the beginning of camp) “I just got more comfortable. I just learned the system and been more ready.” (on his pick-six) “Well, guy ran a hitch. I guess it went through his hands or something. I saw the ball, I grabbed it and I took off with it. I saw the end zone; I just wanted to score with it.” (on what he’s been focusing on) “Man, since day one I was trying to make the team. I tried to come in, compete with the other guys, learn from other guys, learn the defense as fast as I can so I can get on the field and compete.” (on what he’s been getting better at) “Better at? Just being more confident. More confident in my skills, more confident in my technique, just more confident with the playbook.” OUTSIDE LINEBACKER WHITNEY MERCILUS (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub) Spoiler (on his improved play) “It’s about being comfortable within the defense and not thinking a whole lot. I’m preparing throughout the week and practicing hard. It has paid off.” (on how it feels to be playing well) “It feels good. It just shows that I’m making progress.” (on proving himself to the new staff) “Yeah, I’m not a proven veteran in this league yet, so I need to keep on working my butt off. I’m still young. This is only year three for me, so I still have to show everybody I can play.” (on how he will be used during the regular season) “I have no idea. We will see exactly what happens during the season. I feel like there are some things that can be cooked up.” (on the difference between regular season and preseason) “People are going to start bringing out the top plays and all that. We need to start game planning and having more preparation built into the week. That’s pretty much the difference. Preseason is vanilla because you are just trying to see if you have guys who can play.” (on playing with his instincts) “In the past, I was thinking a whole lot. Once you know the defense inside and out, you can get comfortable about preparation and understanding your opponent. It helps out a lot. For me, it just clicked. I know this defense, so now I just go out there and play.” WIDE RECIEVER DEVIER POSEY (Transcribed by Trevor Caswell) Spoiler (on how things change now that pre-season is over) “Just coming in and understanding how important it is to prepare, understand coverages, down situations, and just try to make sure we’re prepared for Washington next Sunday. Just looking forward to the regular season getting going. Preseason is such a long time; you get excited for this time of year.” (on how far the team has come thus far) “That’s just the maturation of a preseason from the spring to the summer time. What we do with our free time, is a reflection of what you see and how much we’ve learned and how much we’ve grown in this offense. Just being able to be around these guys, they’re true professionals, they come in every day, they know their plays, we all lean on each other to get better each day.” (on what went wrong on Case Keenum’s interception) “I don’t know. We’ve just got to get on the same page, get out there tomorrow and do some corrections. We’ll fix it, I haven’t had a chance to see it and I’m pretty sure he hasn’t either, so we’ll get out here and we’ll get it right.” (on how the offense has progressed over the preseason) “As a unit, we’ve had good times and of course, we’ve had bad times just like all thirty-two teams in the pre-season. Just making sure that we go in and watch the film and correct it and we understand that this time it’s for real and we’ll put our best stuff out there.” (on being ready for game one) “Of course man. Anytime you go through four preseason games, you’re ready for that real one coming around, so just mentally and physically, I think we’ll get there.” QUARTERBACK TOM SAVAGE (Transcribed by Zach Mayer) Spoiler (on what happed on the interception he threw) “It’s just anticipation. I’ve just got to get the ball out quicker. I think it was the right read. It was just the ball has got to be out and that’s something I can definitely improve on.” (on how disappointed he is tonight coming off of last week’s win) “It was disappointing but obviously you’ve got to bounce back from it and keep on improving because unfortunately it’s probably not going to be the only pick I throw in my career so just got to keep getting better and learn from my mistakes and watch the film and see what happens.” (on if the offense was lacking rhythm) “No, it was just we weren’t really playing complementary football out there. We put the defense in some tough spots for sure, not converting on third downs, pick-six obviously doesn’t help because they’re playing a heck of a game at the beginning and it was just a tough outing.” (on how difficult it is for him to take a step backward in his performance) “I think it’s going to be a good adventure for me, I think. I think as a young player you’ve got to be able to handle these situations and trust me, it sucks to lose. Excuse my language but it’s just the tough feeling. As a competitor you want to go out and win. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing checkers or playing football. So it stings, but you’ve just got to keep improving.” (on the ups and downs of NFL life so far) “Yeah. I’m in a good spot here. I think the coaches do a really good job of helping me out and watching the film and critiquing what I’m doing wrong so I’ve just got to keep grinding, really, and keep improving. It’s a crappy feeling right now but it’ll get better.” (on when he hurt his knee in the game) “I don’t even remember. It’s just a little bruise.” GUARD/TACKLE XAVIER SU’A-FILO (Transcribed by Omar Majzoub and John Byczek) Spoiler (on what he learned tonight) “A lot. Playing tackle is a little different than guard. It was good to go against a few different rushers because things are different. I saw different angles and used my hands differently. I have to continue to build on it.” (on if playing tackle helps him at guard) “I think so. Overall, just seeing the scheme of the defense and seeing what rushers are where and what packages they are using. It just helps my awareness.” (on how much he expects to play in Week 1) “I’m not sure. That’s a great question. I just have to come ready next week and see what the coaches want me to do. I’ll see what they have for me and I’ll be prepared.” (on if it’s hard switching back and forth between guard and tackle) “It is sometimes. The mindset is the same, but you have to be a lot more patient at tackle as far as pass protection goes. Coaches do a good job of moving me around, so I really just need to continue to work on my technique and fundamentals.” (on if he is prepared for the regular season) “I think through camp I have learned a lot. I have been able to progress. It’s my first time, but I feel prepared and hopefully, I capitalize on it.” (on if Duane Brown helps him at left tackle) “No doubt. After every series he tells me to make sure I do certain things and look out for certain things. It’s just little pointers that I really appreciate from a veteran guy like him.” (on learning more throughout the regular season) “Here in this league you have to retain information quick and know information quick. You have to know the game plan and when your number is called, no matter where it is, you have to be ready to come in and do your job.” (on his experience playing left tackle) “I played a little bit in college. I also played a little against Arizona and got some good reps there. I would say I have played it a fair amount.” (on trying to comprehend everything going on) “I’m trying to get to the point where I can work on one or two things and concentrate on those and be consistent at them. I think that consistency for me is being able to get information quick and being able to adjust on the run and do it good.” (on difference between veterans and rookies) “I think as the regular season starts, I’m going to see a lot of different vets and how they operate. The preseason is over, we’ll be able to see how they prepare for a regular season opponent and I’ll be able to learn and piggyback off that and I think be able to just start to do things more professionally.” http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...vs-49ers/5b24c8d9-022f-43d8-a198-6b07ed008f64 49er quotes in the link.
Its not that easy though. Teams like the Browns, have spent most of their exsistence looking for a franchise QB. Hell, you can say the Texans, have never really had a true franchise QB. They don't just fall out of the sky. You almost have to luck into it. So many factors that play into all of this.
I think that comment was more along the lines of..."Hey, at least the Texans didnt lose this week" (when the Texans were on a bye). Having said that, I will continue to maintain that Fitz is not nearly as terrible as people on this board make him out to be.
