The big problem was giving Foster so much money. The golden rule of this offense back to Denver was always, always remember that it is not the running back. It is the offensive line.
Foster is the best RB on the roster and one of the few players on the offense you can say shows up even though the team has dropped a whole ton on his plate, he deserved that money. The team is pretty deep at several spots, the only major problem areas have been. Linebacker: We aren't getting the production out of the OLBs that we should. With the ILBs, the loss of Cushing hurt the team badly, coupled with Sharpton (originally intended to be Ryans replacement if healty) being out most of the year and the injuries and age issues that have hit all the LBs that play interior and you have a wounded group. Safety: Our safeties were great, until Cushing and Demps went out. Then Quin started to have to cover TEs more, Nolan was ok but then Demps came back and he wasn't the same. Compared to last season when Demps would be in to assist or rest the other safeties, guys have gotten sloppier as the season progressed due to the work load. Offensive line: We need someone to step up at Right Guard and Newton to get back to playing better. He was making progress but seems to have hit the wall. If he can't step up in the big game(s) to come we will have to invest a draft pick at Right Tackle. Meanwhile, our backup tackles/guards like Harris and Garndier are trash and is Cody White or whatever still on the team? Tight End: Graham is good but Daniels in the second half of the season has taken a nose dive. Coupled with Casey only being a part time TE/FB and Graham is more of a pass catcher like Daniels so we are missing the blocking type like Dressen that can play multiple TE set downs block in pass and run plays. Personally, I think depending on if Barwin and/or Quin are lost to FA, we need to invest our top draft picks in Safety, ILB, Tight End and maybe OLB. Safety, OLB and ILB should not require explanation for anyone that has watched our defense. Tight End, I feel should be address because Daniels is slowing down and will need help, plus we might lose Casey to FA so we need someone that can ease Daniels' burden plus block better as a TE. A 4th rounder or lower on a offensive RT if Newton doesn't show himself well in the playoffs.
I want a top OL in 1st rd. that WILL start on right side Then best avail ILB, similar to that tackling machine..forgot his name...that the Jaguars got. I think Mercilus will get better from the OLB position in terms of rushing. Remember Watt went 5.5 to 20.5 from year one to year two....Reed or Barwin will only get better. Honestly, I like Reed better because he can cover and at least defense the run better...so we just need a real good inside force. We have to in the 5-2 scheme from the ILB position. We have to have elite there because that is where this scheme is weakest by design... Yes our worst mistake was not valuing Brisel and Winston's run blocking better, but I think one first rd. priority draft choice will fix that. Heck move up if need be...this is the a texans time to be doing the quality over quantity emphasis considering where they are at.
It would be interesting to see how he would perform with some more reps, but I'd rather not put all the eggs into that basket. Depending on what happens with Barwin, I would expect that the texans will be drafting an inside and outside LB.
Never thought about that, but considering Reeds strengths, probably something to examine more by the coaches.
Mario, Meco, and Winston sure are missed right now. Cutting Winston and Meco seemed like a good idea at the time but it sure is biting us in the ass, and Ofcourse we couldn't come close to a 100mill, but wow we would be so scary with Mario off the edge. The expectations of Barwin/reef were so high, even one analyst saying reed could be DPOY. Wow what an epic fail. Thank god my rockets are ballin.
Don't be too excited - Ball isn't jumping right back into his old spot right away. All the talk has pointed to him being limited to ST.
Just to clarify, we traded Demeco to Philly for a 4th round draft pick (which ended up being Ben Jones) and a switch of our 3rd rounders (we drafted Brandon Brooks, they drafted Nick Foles). I'll buy that Demeco wasn't an every down player in Wade's system and I'm happy that he got to go to a team (albeit a bad one) where he could excel as a 4-3 MLB. His 113 tackles were closer to what he did his first 4 years than the 64 he accumulated last year. That said, it left a hole that hasn't really been filled yet.
I agree that our inside linebacker play this season hasn't been as good as years past, but what are you basing all of this on. I'm using the eyeball test, but when it comes to defense we still had a pretty good run defense. Our problem has been coverage, Demeco and/or Cushing weren't going to be covering WR's. Losing those guys hurt, but IMO it hurt us more from a leadership perspective than it did statistically.
We don't have a MLB that can effectively cover TEs and RBs out of the backfield. When Demps and Keo are in the game at safety giving up bombs, it's because we move Quin to MLB because we don't have a LB that can cover well enough in the Dime package.
Solution: 1R. Lane Johnson - OT - Oklahoma 2R. Alec Ogletree – ILB – Georgia 3R. Bacarr Rambo – S – Georgia 4R. Marcus Davis – WR – Virginia Tech 5R. Zac Dysert – QB – Miami (OH)
