It didn't bother me that we lost to a great team on their field. The way we lost scared the hell out me. When it mattered late, the offense sputtered on 3 of it's last 4 possessions, and the defense was incapable of making a stop. The saints score on everybody, that i can stomach. But the way the offense fell apart late worries me. And as for the RB situation, i think Tate is a solid starter for most teams, but we got a guy thats better in Foster. Between the 20's they are about even, but in the redzone Foster might be the best in Football. Right now if Ward and Foster get healthy, we are extremely well off at RB. Although Slaton appears completely done as a RB. On his redzone carry it looked like he decided to run into the first Saint he saw, never mind the hole to his left. That one killed us, 2nd and goal from the 2, turned into 3rd and goal from the 4
Slaton at least succeeded before; he has that over Kareem. One is a has-been. The other isn't even a never-was; he's more of a WTF?????.
Do you think we employ the bootleg again like we did against Indy? I think Casey had his coming out party. He's going to be part of next week's gameplan for sure. Schaub's safety valve on playaction and Arian's leadblocker.
It's not falling apart late that worries me, it was falling apart early that killed us. If we converted 2 of those 4 fgs into TDs in the first half, then the two 3 and outs we had in the 4th quarter don't end up mattering.
Thats why Slaton is worse in my book...Its only been 3 years since his rookie season... Just glad it wasnt a contract year when Slaton ran for 1200..Otherwise we would have hell tryin to get rid of his azz now....
Foster has otherworldly vision and a better burst than Tate, while Tate is better between the tackles and in short yardage... but pass catching and pass protection are what truly separate Foster from Tate. We needed him so badly yesterday it wasn't even funny.
2 failed drives in the 2nd half is not as bad as 4 failed drives in the 1st. Do the math. You can't fail to convert touchdowns 4 times within the 15 yard line. That will kill you more than 2 turnovers anyday.
Red Zone efficiency isn't FG's plus TD's it's the percentage of TD's scored once in the red zone. Last year with Arian Foster the Texans were 5th at 62.26%. They were better on the road at 68%. In 2009, with a poor running game Texans were 13th at 52% (thought that number would be worse). In 2008 Texans were near the bottom at 26th.
They ran it quite a few times yesterday. It's just not as effective with Tate. Thinking about it more... I wish Kubiak - if the idea was to throw - had put Casey back there instead of Tate in the 4Q. He's absolutely a weapon I still don't think they've taken full advantage of - he can run short-yardage, catch out of the backfield, block. When fully healthy... this is a pick-your-poison offense. they can beat you a lot of different ways.
I'll believe it when I see it. Tate can run behind our offensive line. That is about it. Very disappointed in the little faith Kubiak had in the offensive line in the 4th quarter. 1 run play in two possessions with the lead early in the 4th.
Yeah. IIRC, the 3rd down completion early to AJ (where he bulldozed a Saint defender) was a bootleg. But it did seem they got away from it. Effective blitzing can wreak havoc in that regard. Bottom line: They need Foster healthy. With him, I think they win yesterday and are staring at 11+ wins. Without, I think this is a 9-10 win team that'll likely still win the division. He's that valuable.
They had 8 in the box, Schaub should have killed them, but he was off in that 4th quarter when he needed to be on.... DD
