PLEASE GET WELL soon, Dunta Robinson

Yep - our CBs and OLBs are killing us right now. Can't contain the flats at all.

It's sad how often Ryans has to be making tackles on the sidelines.

 

Our OLBs are total junk. Neither of the starters are really starters. They can't cover the flats, can't accomplish outside containment, and generally are poor tacklers.

I realize that the OLB we got this year may end being a find..Adibi is his name..I think. He has speed, smarts , and can hit but he started slow due to an early injury and is not quite ready for the full workload.

This off-season needs list must have OLBs on it...draft OR free agency.

 

I'm coming to the realization that Mario and sometimes Demeco are the only real playmakers we have on defense. Even Fred Bennett doesn't look anywhere near as good as he did last season.

 

If Reeves had turn around and looked for the ball on that 4th and long late in the game, we would have won yesterday.

 

This is just silly. If he turns around and looks for the ball, how is he supposed to keep up with Matt Jones running full speed? You think he can backpedal as fast as Matt Jones can run?

Reeves had perfect coverage on that play. The only reason people are on him is either they don't understand cornerback play, or have a bias against him. If a corner is in single coverage against a receiver, there is nothing he can do if the quarterback makes a perfect throw -- back shoulder, opposite side of the CB in a tiny window. Announcers even talked about this.

Honestly, Reeves has looked better than Bennett for much of this year. Really disappoints me.

 

Look, Reeves has the speed, size and skills to play DB in this league except for one thing.....HE NEVER PICKS UP THE BALL VISUALLY IN FLIGHT UNTIL ITS ALREADY TO THE RECEIVER!

He would have had at least one more pick and a few more passes defended if he would just look for the ball ..IN THE AIR!

Some may say that this is a coaching issue but Reeves has had multiple DB coaches and Defensive Coordinators yet still has not grasped that concept.


As for our playmakers on defense..... Its the Mario & Demeco show all day long. I blame some of that on the bereft of talent we have at the defensive skill positions but mostly on the pathetic defensive formations and rotations. We are in prevent from snap number one. We hardly ever blitz and when we do , we get burned. Is that because of a poor blitz scheme or just blown assignments? Maybe some of both but mostly due to the non-aggressive, passive defensive calls.

 

Exactly.

 

I agree with you on that particular play but Reeves in general has a real problem picking up the ball in the air before it gets to the receiver. Now I know that you just can't stop a perfectly executed play but there were many other plays that Reeves was in position and not beat but just did not see the ball until it was already in the receiver's hands.


As for Bennett, we don't hear from him much because they don't throw to him often as Reeves. However, Bennett had played extremely poorly in Pitt and somewhat better against Ten. I would not be too concerned about Bennett just yet, he is fighting through the Sophomore Jinx..LOL

 

Unless his neck doesn't work, he can turn his head to the side and see the ball coming. DB's do it all the time.

 

Yeah, I agree on that. I just meant on that one particular play, there's not much more he could've done. In general, I agree -- I've noticed both Reeves and Bennett with that problem on a regular basis.

Oh, I'm sure he saw the ball. The problem is that you can't always be in a position to do something about it. If the ball is thrown perfectly -- back shoulder, opposite side, and a little low -- the defender's not going to be able to deflect it by sticking his arm out. Laws of physics. He has to reposition -- slow down, make a slight break and not interfere. Now, if the ball is thrown 30 to 50 yards down the field, he's got time to do that. Or if he's got immediate safety help, he doesn't have to play to the outside or inside -- he can play more straight up and be in a better position to immediately help.

But if he's in single coverage only 10 yards down the field (i.e., no reaction time because the ball doesn't stay in the air very long), there's not much you can do -- functioning neck or not -- on a ball thrown perfectly to the off side. It's why there was so much hand checking in the NFL, up until a few years ago (when the Colts whined and had the rules changed) -- because offenses have such inherent advantages.

 

Watch it again... He never even saw the ball coming.

 

I'm worried that when Dunta comes back, he's not going to help much until next season. Most players don't do to hot when they first come back from an ACL injury. Bennett and Reeves are both young, so at least they should theoretically be getting better every day.

 

I doubt that, but even if so, that's not the point... if he knew it was coming, he still wouldn't have been in a position to do something about it. (Well, unless he jumped it, and if he did that, then Jones would've just blown past him for a potential TD.) It's just too easy for NFL offenses to complete a 10-yard pass against single coverage, if your QB has pinpoint accuracy. Outside of the red zone, of course.

To counteract this, you need to be able to get some heat on the QB, to the point where even if you don't sack them, you rush them and make them move so that they can't make such a pinpoint throw. And umm, we suck at doing that, to say the least. That to me is a bigger issue than the secondary right now.

 

I'm going out on a limb to say the Texans have very little chance to make the postseason now. They are 0-3. They would have to go 10-6 or 10-3 the rest of the way. I highly doubt the Texans will go on some six game win streak.
Last year they were 8-8. Do you realized three of the wins at the end of the season were against sub par teams that had nothing to play for?
A lot of us called a 10-6 season. That's a two game improvement from last year which is a huge improvement in football.

 

I don't know, I really think he didn't see the ball at all -- he completely played off of Jones' reaction to the ball, not the ball itself (which he should've done regardless, but he didn't look like he knew the ball was coming). I also think Jones had the mismatch on just about everyone in our secondary when in single-coverage, so there wasn't much we could do about that. Garrard was throwing really well, so I give him some credit.

I think the secondary is a bigger issue -- Williams is doing his job to the best of his abilities, but it seems there's always two guys on him -- that means someone else has to make a play off of that. Ryans looks composed even after the defense breaks down, but other than that, I agree, we haven't pressured the QB enough. I hope Okoye starts really making plays (if he has I haven't noticed). But I don't know if our defensive issues are coaching or players, how many more picks are we gonna spend on our defense (though I'm not sure I'd object to spending more picks on defense)?