WR is a spot I would really like to see the Texans upgrade this upcoming offseason. With AJ soon to be gone, they need someone to go along with Nuk. I've heard good things about some of the young guys during OTAs, so maybe they already have that player and just don't know it yet. In the Texans history, they have never really had a legit #2 receiver. Kevin Walter was OK, but not really bona fied #2 IMO. Damn I miss the days of Givins, Duncan, Slaughter, and Jefferies with the Oilers. Now that was a damn good receiving corp.
I agree, I like the back and forth on the forums, and i really enjoy all the knowledge people have. Im relatively new to clutchfans (been reading long but just joined) and endjoy everyone's perspective and its nice to read along with so many houston fans. defiinitely gets me through the work day lol.
I heard Brian T Smith say on 790 last week that CJ was out there dropping balls. I think O'Brien/Smith went after CJ because he reminds him of Jesse James _ but he's no Jesse James. We'll see what O'Brien does with these TE's... But just looking at his play calling at Penn State it seemed he really favored the receivers in the passing game (other than Jesse). Mr Rocket River asked what type of system O'Brien was going to run _ I tend to believe we should look more at what he did at Penn State than at what he did in New England (when he was running a Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick installed system). I think you guys maybe jumping the gun as far as Nuk being a replacement for AJ... AJ is a stud and true #1 receivers are hard to find. Nuk looks like a solid #2. And I agree, it is premature to call Posey a bust. He was looking good during his rookie year (when Kubiak finally decided to play him) before he got hurt. And unlike Nuk _ in college Posey didn't have a great receiver on the field with him like Sammy Watkins. We'll see what happens... Just the same I believe getting another receiving option should be a priority once AJ is shown the door. This receiving core without AJ is at the bottom of the division talent wise.
Thats true, it will be hard to replace AJ, thats why I was thinking of maybe looking a at vet receiver next off season if any good ones are free agents. Im not sure what the draft will bring, but we may need a new QB or CB by then. I know BOB likes to "build through the draft, but I feel like thats the approach Kubiak took and he always kept going defensive and not always for what we needed until overwhelming need for WR came last year and he got Nuk. Technically Nuk didnt really have sammy watkins either. Sammy was a year younger (or 2) i believe and he got hurt the year before last so Nuk was mostly on his own for his final year. And the year before getting hurt Watkins was good, but not at the level he just ended on IMO
Hopefully the young DB's we have will step up. I actually like the youngsters they brought in. I think they had the opportunity to make the WR core stronger and be in a position to let go of AJ in this past draft with one of those 1st 3 picks. We'll just have to see how next year's draft pans out... Or maybe AJ will stay. Watkins was the best WR at Clemson the day he stepped on the field. He was voted a first team All American as a true freshman by the associated press (he's one of only 4 players to ever do that). He caught a weed case and was suspended a few games his sophomore year and that is what gave Nuk the opportunity to do what he did but Watkins was still on the field for the most part _ and Posey didn't have that advantage.
Yea, I feel like we could have at least picked up someone, no faith in Bonner but we'll see. Im hoping Posey and Nuk really pick it up. Ok thanks for clearing that up, i wasnt totally sure about why he was out for that one year. I still think Nuk will keep getting better, and I think Posey is gonna surprise us this year.. Especially when hes hungry after a recovery season, this should be his first season in 100% form. also, with all the Andre drama, he is getting more reps and looking to move up on the roster.
Nuk had a very productive year last season and hopefully the youngster gets better. Agreed without AJ we don't look all that great, but if Posey live up to his potential and Nuk continues to grow. Watch out NFL.
Anyway, moving on from that nonsense, <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Only Case Keenum had a higher Hit% (14.7%) on non-sacks than Luck (14.2%). Lowest was Andy Dalton (3.4%). Great OT play for CIncy.</p>— Scott Kacsmar (@FO_ScottKacsmar) <a href="https://twitter.com/FO_ScottKacsmar/statuses/481911628561408001">June 25, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> The O line really did him a disservice last year. Here's to hoping they do a better job for him or Fitz this year. Also, that's potentially really bad news for Luck.
Thats an interesting stat.. And as far as Luck goes, Im not sure what they did in the draft and off season, but they place us twice a year, he'll be lucky to get any passes off..
If a team needed a WR, RB, LB, OT, DB this was certainly the year to get one. This draft looked like a Kubiak draft to me and he is gone and Rick Smith is still here. Hmmmm They passed up a lot of talent in the 2nd and 3rd round for a guard and a blocking TE and neither one of them may start. It's going to be interesting when we look back on this draft next year. On the surface and just looking at the box score Nuk was productive and he did make a couple to a few plays. But with all that productivity how many games did you walk away from thinking, "Wow, Nuk was a GREAT pick"...??? Nuk has great hands but that is meaningless when the quarterback throws the ball his way 93 times and he only comes down with 52 of them. And can't blame all of the miscues on the quarterback... And then he only had 188 YAC which is pathetic considering he was facing 1 on 1 coverage a majority of the time and not being covered by the opposing team's best corner and getting double teamed _ AJ had those honors. When you compare Nuk's numbers to Keenan Allen's numbers considering Keenan didn't have another WR like AJ to take the heat off him _ what Nuk did isn't as impressive as some make it out to be. Plus the Texans threw the ball an excessive amount of times (they threw it more than the Patriots) so that skews Nuk's and Graham's numbers as well. But I'm not calling Nuk a scrub and hopefully he can take a step forward. I just don't see him as a replacement for AJ...
But isn't the commentary on him is that he held the ball too long? That even after defenses adjusted to him, he would look for the big play and miss the open guys underneath? A QB who holds on to the ball longer is going to get hit more. On top of that, teams realized that Case couldn't handle the blitz, so they started blitzing us more. When Schaub came into that Oakland game, they stopped blitzing because Schaub could hand the blitz. So with Case, you had a QB who was holding the ball too long and who struggled against the blitz, which only encouraged teams to blitz him more. It's really not surprising he got hit more often. Schaub played behind the same line, what was his Hit%? While it's not like the OLine was great, Case deserves some of the blame for getting hit too.
That might be what people are saying, but watch the games, he was being pressured a second or two after the snap, no QB can function well like that. Put Tom Brady under that kind of pressure and you won't get remarkably better results, especially because he can't really extend a play with his feet. The line was letting guys go right by them so all they had to do was pin their ears back and it killed the rookie. That said, there were obviously plays where he held on to the ball too long, but that angle is overplayed. The stat usually quoted is the average time from the snap to a pass being thrown, but if you factor in how many times he was running out of the pocket because it collapsed almost instantly it makes sense that it took longer.
I got sidetracked looking for the percentage break down but it may be on this site. http://wp.advancedfootballanalytics.com/teamOL.php I think you may find this chart interesting. Look at were they ranked Seattle's offensive line in pass protection. Russell doesn't get the "bad offensive line"excuse though... http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol
I remember talking to one guy during the season just after Keenum started showing his weaknesses and struggling.. I dont know how much of a factor this is but I thought it was an interesting take. They were saying that the O-line was used to the "Schaub count" they blocked for 3-4 seconds then gave up because he had always dumped the ball by then.. Keenum, on the other hand, looked through more reads and for the bigger plays and would use his feet to extend them, thus, when the O-line stopped blocking after 3 sec, he was overwhelmed immediately. This is not helped when Keenum cant pick up the blitz so they are blitzing at the same time, and yes I think Case should have looked for the quick under route more often than always the big play, but its not just that he held the ball too long, Schaub never held the ball, he may have been better at reading the blitz, but lets be honest, hes a dink n dump through and through, you dont really need an Oline for that. IMO
Well based on Remii's arguments we shouldn't be excited about this season at all. Every time a little bright light is shined, my boy covers it up with darkness. Fitz is garbage Right side of the line garbage Nuk and Grahams numbers ate skewed. I guess the only way we will win games is if the defense win them for us.
I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Texans... We'll find out if that light is sunshine or an oncoming train this season. But any improvement on two wins is an improvement. I would really be impressed with O'Brien if he can pull out 5-6 wins this season. If they win more than that _ GREAT...
6 wins will be VERY DEPRESSING No way this team wins less than 8 . .. unless they tanking Rocket River
