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watching the BAL/NE game right now...

Discussion in 'Houston Texans' started by asianballa23, Jan 20, 2013.

  1. Major

    Major Member

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    When you have 3 pro-bowlers on your O-Line out of 8 total pro-bowlers from the AFC - and more than any other team in the NFL - it's hard to say the line is the core of the problem. If the team needs 5 all-star lineman to make it's scheme work (not to mention a pro-bowl RB and WR), something is wrong with the scheme.
     
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  2. Nick

    Nick Member

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    They don't need 5 all-star lineman... but there's also no point in having 3 pro-bowl calibur guys if you're going to put 2 completely overmatched lineman on one entire side. Hell, as of their last playoff game, they were re-shuffling guys in who had even LESS game experience... in order to try to matchup against Wilfork.

    Most O-line's operate as a functional unit... especially this one. The unit was definitely not in sync all season, and it got WORSE as the season went on. We've seen what they can do when in-sync... you can't for one second admit that the running game was above average throughout this season; a far cry from the last two years where anybody we put back there was getting 4+ yards/carry.

    If it takes re-organizing the line (ie - move Smith to the right side to balance the inadequacies), or finding more competent guys that fit, so be it.

    When this team, as constructed, can't run the ball consistently... it sets up a chain of events that leads to the inconsistent offense we saw the last month of the season. We don't have playmakers on the passing game besides AJ80 that can simply take over a game despite the defense knowing what's coming. We never had a QB who was going to scamper and evade defenders to make spectacular houdini-ish plays. This is a run-first, play-action pass, ball-control offense.... that needs to be able to run first at any given down.

    Also, part of the reason we have "3 pro bowl" calibur lineman, along with an amazing/talented pro bowl RB (who was undrafted), is the system itself. If the Texans are going to stick with the system, they better damn well get it running at its max capacity again. Having a faulty 1/2 of an O-line is enough to get 10+ wins, but definitely not enough to get this team where it wants to be.
     
  3. ipaman

    ipaman Member

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    nothing to see here folks, the ravens are a better matchup against the pats when you include their history in big games and the leadership they have. playing on the road not an issue for these guys. also let's not act that the ravens aren't any good. yes we beat them but everybody has a bad game. look at their talent.

    QB - ADV BAL, Both Schaub and Flacco can be up and down but Flacco ran for a huge 3rd down and that his a huge factor over Schaub. Not to mention Flacco has the biggest arm in the NFL and uses it to throw the best deep ball in the NFL.

    RB - BAL ADV, not sure if rice/pierce is better than foster/tate/forestt but kubes refused to give the other guys carries so i have not choice to say their group is better.

    WR - BAL ADV, smith, boldin, jones, doss, >>> than johnson, walter, etc..

    TE - PUSH, pitta = daniels

    OL - ADV HOU, i almost want to say ADV Ravens after Wilfork was a non-factor and the ravens ran for 121 yards yesterday. but we do have the 3 pro-bowlers, so i think overall we are better. it's just a bad matchup for us since our OL is smaller/quicker and that doesn't work against the PATS.

    DEF - ADV BAL, not even close. We have JJ Watt and JJo but that rest of our guys are slightly above to below average. Even in their age, Reed, Lewis, Suggs, Ngata, Kruger, are some very good players. Leadership counts and they blow us away there too.

    ST - ADV BAL, tucker, jones, not even close.

    so not a big shocker that the ravens beat the pats. i think the better team won.

    i also think the texans were the 2nd best team in the AFC overall behind the ravens and if we would have avoided the pats (really bad matchup) we would have shown it.
     
  4. Major

    Major Member

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    So you think the Ravens are better than the Texans, and the Texans can't beat the Patriots, but the Texans are the 2nd best team in the AFC? :confused:
     
  5. Nick

    Nick Member

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    Strange... its probably more like the Pats are the best team in the AFC, as long as they don't have to play the Ravens. I don't see the Pats losing to the Texans or Broncos (as constructed) home or road.
     
  6. Major

    Major Member

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    That sounds more logical to me.
     
  7. Nick

    Nick Member

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    It also probably means that out of the 4 teams, the Texans... while they need to get better... don't have the impending downfall, strictly due to age, staring them in the face.

    Ravens - Lewis will retire, Reed may as well
    Broncos - Manning will be a year older
    Pats - Welker will be a cap casualty, and eventually all these extra games will catch up to Brady (although he's likely still got 3-4 elite years left).

    That being said... the Steelers probably bounce back and re-enter the "contender" realm next year, along with some other suprise team. The Colts likely regress a tad, but are certainly going to be frisky enough to win some games.

    I hate that football season is basically over...
     
  8. ipaman

    ipaman Member

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    yes overall i think the texans were the 2nd best team. the pats are an absolutely horrible matchup for our scheme but the rest of the body of work supports that the texans were a better team than the pats.

    as i said we beat the ravens but everyone has a stinker. the rout started when we had a pick six and it just snowballed from there. in fact our first 3 scores were Safety, TD, Pick Six. The defense had scored more than our offense deep in the 2nd quarter. also ray lewis did not play this game.

    let's not forget that the ravens fired their OC at the end of the season. that had a huge impact on the explosiveness of Flacco imho. with the new OC their offense was big play after big play.

    the broncos were paper tigers. they played nobody and the ravens proved that. if the texans had them we would have showed it too.
     
  9. Nick

    Nick Member

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    The Broncos beat the Ravens soundly in Baltimore.

    The Ravens also lost to a Charlie Batch-led team.

    They got healthier, and played better in the post-season... which is all that matters.... but I'm not buying that all they needed to do was fire Cameron to become the best team in the conference.
     
  10. Major

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    The Patriots offense scored 141 more points than the Texans. They defense allowed the same number of points, for a +226 differential for NE as opposed to +85 for the Texans. They had the same record as the Texans, won head-to-head, and had a better conference record. Their 4 losses came by a combined 11 points, while the Texans 4 losses were by a combined 75. What body of work shows that the Texans were better?
     
  11. DonkeyMagic

    DonkeyMagic Member
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    It's all about matchups and the one team in the AFC that the texans couldn't matchup with is NE. Sucks because I still think the texans could beat baltimore and/or Denver.

    Unfortunately, i'd be afraid that the niners would kill them in the superbowl.
     
  12. Nick

    Nick Member

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    And the one team the Pats seem to not matchup well with is the Ravens. They see right through all of Brady/J. Mcdaniels' shennanigans. Lewis/Reed can read plays at the line. The hurry up offense doesn't phase them. They were never intimidated.
     
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  13. Fyreball

    Fyreball Member

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    What was more frustrating to me than anything else from last night's game was watching how the Ravens continued to stay back, and only rush 4 lineman. Time and time again, they would drop back in coverage, and Brady would HATE having to read through his progressions. Wade's game plan was unimaginative, and downright stubborn against the Patriots. All week long, it was preached that Brady LOVES getting blitzed, and the Texans should sit back in coverage. For the first two possessions, it worked like a charm. Then all of a sudden, Wade gets impatient, starts sending 5 or 6 guys at Brady, and he completely takes apart the mismatches that Belichick's offensive sets provide.

    The almost feels like the Texans take the stance of "oh, you don't think we can beat the Pats with our game plan?? Well, we'll show you!" But the problem there is that we CAN'T beat them with our game plan. We have to be willing to step out of our skin a little bit, and beat the Patriots at their own game. I would say the Ravens defense is equally as aggressive as ours on a regular basis, but last night, they sat back, and forced Brady to beat them. If the Texans had simply done what people were telling them to do all week, we might have been talking about a different ending right now.
     
  14. ipaman

    ipaman Member

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    that explains why wade's defenses always regress (fail to adjust) and why he can never keep a job more than 2-3 years. after 30+ years you would think he would learn.
     
  15. DonkeyMagic

    DonkeyMagic Member
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    Exactly. Having those two guys be able to not only call the plays but call them accurately is just an incredible advantage for them.

    I know those guys are a rare breed, but you have to have a couple of guys on the field that you trust making the calls in a no-huddle situation. Texans didn't seem to have that ability.
     
  16. REEKO_HTOWN

    REEKO_HTOWN I'm Rich Biiiiaaatch!

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    Trust players to make changes on their own? That's just crazy.

    Signed,

    Kubiak
     
  17. Fyreball

    Fyreball Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  18. Nick

    Nick Member

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    You really underestimate how much decision making goes into Kubiak's offense once the team is at the line, and runs the play. There's a ton of different reads that Schaub is responsible for, at least 3 different routes that the WR's run based on how the defense is playing them, and at the end of the day... Schaub and the WR have to be in-sync on the right read, the right pattern, and the right throw.

    Sure, we all would love it if Schaub was like a wild ape up there, changing the play every single down... but there's a lot more to it than simply running a singular play that came in from the sideline.

    I also feel that Schaub audibilizes from pass/run and vice versa a little too much... often times it doesn't seem to work all that well (probably since this system requires too much coordination from every single player, O-line included, to make simple plays work).
     
  19. Nick

    Nick Member

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    I don't think they have the personnel to do that even if they tried.

    They had Quinn/Keo in-effect becoming MLB's, trying to cover TE's. Their outside guys (Barwin, Reed, Merciles) are all lacking in coverage ability. They didn't have any healthy reliable ILB's that had been with the team/Wade for more than a handful of weeks.

    I feel that Wade took a chance on executing what he knows his defense has some above average ability to do (rush the QB), rather than doing something they weren't all that comfortable at (dropping into coverage).
     
  20. ubigred

    ubigred Member

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    [/THREAD]
     

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