Except for Foster playing hero ball on a 3rd and 17 with jukes and cutbacks against 8 defenders then fumbling away the ball deep almost costing Texans the game? Reggie Bush got benched for an early fumble in favor of 2nd year Daniel Thomas (really, it was dumb to do that on Bush) but just saying there's SOME risk with whoever's carrying the ball. Its more that you can say "At least it was ARIAN /Adrian Peterson doing that" rather than assigning more intense blame on the backup saying "Why's that BUM Forsett/Toby Gerhart even IN there?!" leaving room for 2nd guessing.
i don't think the o-line are holding the hole long enough for foster to hit it. forsett and tate have more success because they hit the hole as fast as they can. for foster, i think he's waiting for everything to develop then hit the opening. not the same o-line anymore and foster should stop trying to cut back so much
The right side of our o-line is garbage. Most of Fosters big gainers come on the left side of the line and teams understand this and have turned Foster into more of an east-west runner. Last year we could run Foster between the tackles on either side of the line and he was much more consistent. We overpaid for Foster, imo. He's a good back but he's not a guy who can create big yardage plays on his own the way that Lynch or Peterson can. We let half of our o-line walk away in the offseason so that we could pay for Fosters enormous contract. Getting Tate back will help our running game, because he brings a different dimension than Foster does and is more explosive runner. Without Tate, this running game is entirely different and very easy to forecast for opposing teams.
For the team running game, Cant say for sure, I do think Foster is running more "smooth" and polished, instead of running more hardcore. If he IS doing that, really its the smart thing to do. Can't keep running into brick walls just to prove a point. Its a reason he's nice in the passing game, has some fluidity to his form. But still a reason why it helps to have Tate in there for relief, for that trusty powerful uphill running. So a small part of it is Foster himself. After that, its what people have already said, Its mostly the approach of running CUZ YOU'RE WINNING for clock management. 1st half is establishing the run and play action, defense gets the ball back. 2nd half is 3 yards and cloud of dust. Marshall Faulk in the 1st half, Corey Dillion in the 2nd half. Then the O-line especially on the right side just isnt as good. All of that is still a reason to not run your star RB into the ground and do a little more time share. But perhaps its a situation where they key in so much on Foster that just his PRESENSE regardless of effectiveness actually opens it up for the TEAM. Which is something play-action benefits from.
You're basically being contradictory. If the Texans are going full running mode in the 2nd half, then it doesn't help the play-action. If the Texans are extending drives in the 4th quarter through a good mix of run and pass plays, it would be one thing. But they're not utilizing their biggest strength the later we go into the game. And it's not 3 yards and a cloud of dust. In fact, if the Texans really are averaging 3 ypc on those obvious running drives, I'd be incredibly happy. They usually just big fail instead.
The running game has been well above average. I think the Texans are #8 in rushing yards per. There's really no complaint to be had here. The offense is a whole lot more balanced. #6 in total offense even with the rushing attack's 'down' year. #1 in time of possesion. And tied for the best record in the league at 9-1. The Texans have a balanced attack with a stud RB, stud WR, stud TE, and SOLID supporting cast. They don't run as well as they have the last couple of years, but the sum of this offense's parts are greater than that of last year's. In spite of a SLIGHTLY degredated rushing attacking.
The Texans average only 3.9 yds per carry this year. That puts them at 19th in the league, which is below average. San Francisco averages 5.5 per carry.
SF is basically us last year when Yates was starting and Johnson was out. Except they play the level of defense we played against the Ravens almost every week.
No. SF is basically us this year on offense except better. On a per-drive basis, which would ignore number of possessions that may affect raw numbers, The Niners average more yards/drive, more points/drive, more td/drive, less TOs/drive than this year's Matt Schaub-led Texans. And this is with Alex Smith. It's not even comparable. As one poster above pointed out, they're averaging 5.5ypc. And they run out the clock just as much as us. Honestly, the Niners are the team that fans and talking heads think the Texans are on offense. They run the ball with authority, turn the ball over less, score efficiently, and actually do have an "average QB" back there rather than a very good one.
No. They were better on offense last year. This year, our gaudy point totals are a lot more product of our defense than last year. This year's defense has taken a big step up. While our offense took a step down.
I felt like Foster was conserving himself in the first half of the Jags game. It wasn't till in the 4th that I saw him running a lot harder. I feel like he's kind of coasting right now and will step it up in the playoffs.
if the offense took a step down this year, why the they averaging more yards per game in 2012 than in 2011. 2012 Yards per game: 384.2 2011 Yards per game: 372.1 if the offense took a step down why are they leading the NFL in time of possession? and right now they have more time of possession than last year?
Defense is forcing more turnovers, which means the offense gets the ball more...last year, we averaged less yards per pass attempt (even though TJ Yates played a good portion of the season) and per rush. We may be getting more yards this year, but our offense isnt nearly as efficient as it was last year. The defense is better...and the offense is worse.
Sorry, I thought it was assumed that we're comparing the Matt Schaub led Texans last year with this year's team. Sorry i wasn't clear. I do believe this team is better than the TJ Yates Texans of last year. So in that sense I agree with you. But we're not as good as the Texans offense last year with Matt Schaub. That team averaged 396yds/game. And more importantly, 158yds/game running, as compared to 137yds/game this yer. Oh, and they did it last year with Foster missing 40% of those 10 games. Turnovers? 9 to 11 in favor of last year through 10 games.
Yep, Foster looked better as the game progressed. He looked like the vintage Foster after the 1st qtr.
Today's game reminded me of Foster of the last two seasons. The OLine also helped here. If Foster can run like this in the postseason, I will take credit for my anti-jinx thread. :grin:
