I'm like a broken record talking about this. They've put so many eggs in the basket of the defensive line...and they just don't generate any sort of consistent pressure. It's remarkable really when you consider how much they've invested there and how little the return has been.
Luck has looked terrible by any standards, he has almost twice as many turnovers as TD's (9 turnovers to 5 TD's) and the lowest QB rating in the league (65). I agree that the defense will need to pressure QB's more going forward, but the more Clowney plays, the better that'll get IMO.
If you don't think they were generating consistent pressure yesterday then you need to go back and watch. They hit the QB six times. The game where everyone saw the Chiefs harassing us they only hit us 4 times total. There is a reason Winston looked so bad yesterday. Clowney was in his kitchen a lot. The sacks didn't happen because Winston let go of the ball quickly all game long, most of the time for incompletions. They only completed 1 third down pass the entire game, largely because the pass rush was in his face. A couple of those hits "would have been" sacks had Winston not just dumped the ball ultra quick when he saw the guy. He got one of his receivers lit the heck up by throwing him a duck with Clowney in his face to avoid the sack.
Yesterday it was pretty good, but the first two games there wasn't that kind of pressure. That's why I think Clowney will be the difference maker.
The posters I was responding to were indicating that the pressure wasn't good enough yesterday. I know there were no sacks, but I'll accept 0 sacks if we get what were basically hurried, terrible throws that result in the opposing team converting only 1 third down and completing less than 50% of their passes. Sure, we'd prefer to see a sack party, but an incompletion party is fun even if it isn't sexy.
Oh I figured that's who you were talking to, actually the Texans' defense has been decent against the passing game despite JJo being terrible in the first 2 games. Nothing spectacular but they are in the 10-12 range overall, but they've been burned for TD's at a pretty high rate. I expect things to start looking better as JJo looks better and Clowney plays more. The defense isn't going to be anywhere near as good as we were hoping, but it should still be pretty good, especially once Foster gets back and we burn up more clock giving them time to rest.
Clowney isn't getting alot of sacks or TFLs yet, but he's consistently collapsing the pocket on his side and also occupying two blockers on every play
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Texans offense ran 93!! plays Mallett Clark Newton Jones Aboushi played in all of them.</p>— Jayson Braddock (@JaysonBraddock) <a href="https://twitter.com/JaysonBraddock/status/648490613722091520">September 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With 22 catches, 252 yards, three touchdowns, DeAndre Hopkins on pace for 117 catches, 1,344 yards, 17 touchdowns</p>— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronWilson_NFL/status/648494127101820928">September 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I never got the sense that Winston was anything other than a rookie QB making mistakes. I saw more than one missed third down completion where being hurried wasn't his issue at all. I'm happy they hit him 6 times...but that's not extraordinary. This team has invested so much in the defensive line, and there's a huge opportunity cost that comes along with that. They can't afford to be average to good for this team to be good. And I'd still say, after 3 games, that on the whole they do not generate a consistent pass rush...despite what you saw yesterday. Hopefully it will improve...and I am encouraged by how much better Clowney looks.
Holy crap was it nice to see an actual run game by the Texans. Good thing Mallet only knows how to throw bullets, if our WR's cant catch it at least no one else can catch it either(most of the time*)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ryan Mallett was 11 of 16 on passing plays he was blitzed. 68.8% completion with one INT. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Texans?src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/648512380414984193">September 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Aaron Wilson fails at simple math (probably used common core). If Hopkins has 3 TD catches in 3 games, then he is on pace for 16 TD catches..
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Johnathan Joseph was targeted 12 times. Only two completions for 24 yards. 18 was the long. Also had team high 5 pass deflections. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Texans?src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/648514044584849408">September 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">77 of Alfred Blue’s 139 yards came after contact. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Texans?src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/648514496713986048">September 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ryan Mallett was 11 of 16 on passing plays he was blitzed. 68.8% completion with one INT. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Texans?src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/648512380414984193">September 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Texans?src=hash">#Texans</a> averaged 5.63 yards a rush running behing Chris Clark and Oday Aboushi vs. the Bucs.</p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/648513192713256960">September 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So is Aboushi the answer to the offensive line woes or does it have more to do with how bad Tampa's D is?
He looked great yesterday. Starting to get really excited about his progress... as we saw with Mack last year, the sacks don't exactly come right away. The fact that he is causing disruption right now is a really good sign for future dominance.
No, OB called the plays last year. Decided to give it to Godsey this year so he could focus on HC things.
Tampa was ranked 14th against the rush last year, and 4th this year, even after losing to us... so who knows?
