Ive been saying since the start of the season that CJ needs weapons! He is missing Mixon and Tank. He needs a WR with SPEED. CJ hasn't looked the same since Tank went down and although Woody is playing well, we still need Mixon. I think if they had those two, they can make up for Caley's INEPTITUDE. Let's face it, CALEY IS HORRIBLE AND DEMECO IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE ANYTHING DURING THE SEASON! So, its up to the players to make the plays inspite of the poor play calling. The lack of screens last night were atrocious, the end around on 3rd down was BAFFLING and the CONTINUOUS runs on 1st down is sicking. BUT IF CJ HAD HIS WEAPONS, I THINK HE CAN RISE ABOVE CALEY'S POOR PLAY CALLING AND DEMECO'S STUBBORNNESS
CJ just needs improvement from his OC. His in game adjustments seem to be lacking. I think Higgins and Tank as your 2/3 is really really good.
I completely agree. The 54% pressure rate is insane. I wonder what the win/loss record is over the last 5 years or so for teams that get a 54% pressure rate. Having to overcome that is insane. That number needs to be 30% or below.
The entire NFL world: "Houston really needs better offensive coaching, schemes, up front consistency, experienced play-calling". Houston BBS: "CJ Stroud not smart and needs weapons" Seriously, we can't be this bad at seeing all the major deficiencies. The fact that they're able to make the occasional big play (usually out of some sort of scramble/busted protection) is based on their current level of athleticism. The line has improved from the total dog-**** it was to start the year, but there's still deficiencies such as last night when a team shifts strategies mid-game, and you see the extra 2 quarters it takes for the current personnel/staff to counter.
CJ is having to fight against.... - No OL - Crappy OC - No receivers to stretch the field - No RB (everyone knew we couldn't count on Mixon to carry the full load and stay healthy) - No TE - DeMeco (who is really a DC) and his Goddawful ingame management Etc..etc...etc... Our organization is full of Buffoons from top to bottom.
Which reminds me of his before the halftime Clock Management. This is the 2nd straight game they have mismanaged the clock and came accross with NO POINTS
If Mixon was alive, he wills the 2 yrd goal line TD run. 10-3 record, better because he is catching the Dare fumble vs the Rams. So dynamic yet so careless in the offseason. Price and Woody
This is the difference between relying on individual talents/players vs. having experienced coaching and an established system. The latter can plug/play and mitigate a talent gap better. The former isn't sustainable unless everybody stays healthy. The best contending teams have the best combination of both.
It makes no sense that the OC has not come up with a game plan to handle the entire team blitz from the Defense.. It's not like this is the first time he's seen this.. Teams have been doing this all year and if I was an OC and I played against the Texans.. I would be bringing 9 players everytime until they can prove to me that they can solve it.. This is like watching the waterboy movie... T_Man
I agree, but if CJ can just hit his open receivers, we are fine…He makes the difficult throws but blows the easy wide open throws, and he misses them by a mile sometimes…I just don’t understand Stroud sometimes…
I said this in another thread... Steve Spagnola is one of the greatest defensive coordinators of all-time and last night, he was tasked with saving the Chiefs season. It was a desperate haymaker of a performance and I don't think it's an indictment of Caley, per se. Spags emptied the tank. He had to. On a frigid night, at home, against an inexperienced OC with their season on the line... I don't think what happened is overly-concerning or replicable.
Stroud and the offense did a miraculous job of not making a stupid mistake or turnover as a result of all the extra pressure... but they were at one point completely dead in the water (as far as the offense adding more points goes). It took Andy Reid's decision to go for it, and the defense getting those stops, to set up the Texans in the field position where they could be slightly more aggressive... and even then, still took some miraculous scrambling Stroud evasions/throw/catch to move the ball. I don't want the end result (a much needed tough road win against a desperate team) to mask the deficiencies. The Broncos and Patriots have coaches well equipped to similar defensive adjustments as needed. Its also apparent that at least for this season, the Texans blueprint will be no turnovers, conservative clock-chewing game-plans (mixed with the occasional play-action deep ball as needed), and let the defense keep you in it. Seems like a "waste" with all the resources currently on the offensive side, but its been working and winning games against teams with good records.
It was a big win and has helped push this team firmly into the playoff picture which seemed impossible after the first few weeks. So credit to them for pulling it out. However, Hunt catches that pass on that little screen and the game may have been different. PI doesn't get called...Butker doesn't miss a FG, etc. etc. The defense played great, but they also got a lot of breaks. Putting your team in that situation week in and week out is dangerous.
This is the same team that started 0-3. Their Defense is Championship (generational?) quality. But the offense isn't anywhere near ready for primetime. They need an injection of talent on the line, at TE and RB and for some of the coaches to take a long look in the mirror this offseason. The good news is that they are absolutely capable of fixing these issues and bringing back the majority of the defense for next season.
No defense is dominant every single play... and you can nit-pick set plays for every team every week. If the refs don't call a minor "procedural" infraction in the first half, they score a TD with Schultz.... which gives them even more of an early cushion that likely gets built upon as the game goes on. On the flip side, if they don't cancel the replay-assist adjustment that drive also could have gone differently. The defense is as good as any unit in the league. The offense has all sorts of ongoing issues but at the very least they've cut down significantly on bad turnovers, the line is 'better' based solely on having familiarty now (but far from consistently competent). and Stroud can still make the athletic, on-the-run type throws that not everybody can. When he gets a little more consistent protection perhaps some of the built-in skittishness that's been unavoidably/understandably set-in over the last 1.5 years can also be mitigated to not miss the "easier" throws. Luckily the no-mistake conservative offense, elite defense model does have a proven track record of playoff/SB success... and the AFC is still very much wide open with Buffalo now being the defacto favorite (based solely on track record).
We definitely could use OL improvements but CJ has regressed since his rookie year. He misses guys that are wide open. We are winning because of our defense
