Chronic: Texans defense scary in a bad way

Good stuff from TC, as always. And her observations are usually spot on. I'm just tired of the explanations for why Faggins continues to see time on the field. If he's that good in practice, why isn't it translating to the field? There has to be a point in time where you say "ok, even though we personally like the guy, our talent level needs to be improved" I just hate that we are the team that keeps giving this guy chances. From all accounts, he's a great guy off the field, but it's time do something about his performances on the field. And Richard Smith is just atrocious. He needs to go. Now.

 

she kind of undoes her point by not at least mentioning the safety or LBs on the play - they were all out of position, jumping what they assumed was going to be a run and then (wrongly) reacting to underneath routes. faggins was left on an island with a physically superior WR. game over.

it should have never happened but it's hard to fault the texans - they all saw whatever his name is run out of the back of the end zone last week: there was no way to expect the lions would put the kid in the same situation this week. it was a gutsy call that caught the texans with their pants down; it'll happen from time to time, even with good teams.

but it's hard to really isolate individual players on a unit - it's all so interconnected. a lot of thise falls in smith's lap; he seems incapable of designing a scheme that covers up our weaknesses. i know there is a talent issue but i don't see players - especially younger players - getting better under smith. bennett, okoye and i know he's hurt, but even ryans has regressed a bit this year.

 

What? She didn't include a picture of her boobies.

The article was tired. Same old stuff we know.

 

Small point - neither safety came forward anticipating run - both immediately dropped back. But, yes, the deep safety came forward to help on the TE that ran an uncovered (way to go, confused LB corps!) 15 yard out. That was unbelieveable, especially since he came up as Calvin Johnson already had several steps on Faggins. "No one gets behind you" gets nailed into safeties starting in Pee Wee leagues......but apparently the exception is when your opponent's best receiver has beaten his defender and can break off untouched.

She makes a good point without making it - Faggins does not have the tools to be responsible for elite receivers on his own. It's like being mad at your buddy for being late, when he's never been on time for anything in his life. It's your fault for thinking something would magically change and not anticipating it. If you know Faggins doesn't have the size, footspeed, or sharp reactions to handle above average defenders....either tether safety/dimeback help to him or assign him man coverage to guys he can handle. Asking him to do a job he's not capable of is inane.

This situation of chiseling assignments in stone with disregard to matchups and adjustments is how the Eagles (Stallworth) and Bills (Evans) roasted us alive a couple years back. "No Dunta, we don't want you to switch over and take on their #1 receiver. I know he's racked up 100 yds this half, but THIS is your side of the field. We can't have you just switching sides whenever their top guy does......that would be chaos!!!"

 

yes, you're right - i mistyped. should have said: lining up for what they assumed was going to be a run. they had 8 in the box plus the RCB was on the line (there was not a WR on the near side). i suppose you could fault smith for the alignment but assuming run was the smart play. from there, the various players all individually fail to properly execute.

all 3 LBs let the TE get behind them while they converge (within a few yards of each other) on the FB at the line of scrimmage. seeing the TE running free, demps jumps him, leaving faggins on his island.

looking at it, olwhateverhisnameis had three reads eight in front of him: 1) look deep, if the safety bites on the TE, leaving CJ single-covered: hit 'em; or 2) if the safety drifts back, hit the TE; or 3) if the safety and LB drift back, hit the FB - all three are right in a row in his field of vision. easy enough.

great call and execution on detroit's side. understandable call and poor execution on houston's side.

could not agree more; i'm at a loss to even try and explain the thinking.

except that i do think smith is handcuffed by a lack of talent. he has mario, but mario can be contained. and maybe he's hurt but demeco seems to be out of position a lot this year - i wonder if he's not ultimately better off on the outside. i'm not sure jacksonville calls QB draws to demeco's spot if they worried about him. and the secondary is awful. its kind of like the offense prior to kubiak: so many parts are bad, how do you diagram anything to maximize what minimal talent you have?

 

anybody else tired of Kubiaks rhetoric of "its the coaches fault"

Once in a while its nice to hear a coach, get at his players/team in the media. I know they are young, but light a fire under them, see how they respond.

 

It IS the coaches fault. The Texans have the players they need to be successful in the secondary. They make bad calls, and don't put the players in the position to get the job done. A lot of this has to do with weak play from the linebackers, and Ryans would definitely fare much better at an outside spot. Bring in a couple linebackers who can cover a TE or find a receiver out of the backfield, and you open up your safeties to help. Then have Dunta follow the best WR at all times, and you get to avoid horrendous mismatches.

I'm very rarely someone who calls for a coach to get fired, but the Texans need someone else calling the shots for that defense. And someone who can manage the clock. And someone with a little ingenuity on offense. Come to think of it, maybe Bob McNair could throw insane amounts of money at Muschamp to be the defensive coordinator, and then even more money at Mike Leach to come be the offensive coordinator, then he could probably hire David Carr, my wife, or a concession vendor to be the head coach and have a winning team.

 

Where is all the talent in the secondary that you speak of?? I know Dunta is back but you can't expect him to be at the same level yet the guy is coming off an acl injury not to mention he had his hamstring tore off the friggin bone. Fred Bennett has taken a step back this year. Our safety play is not good, we have one guy starting who has been released from 2 diff teams,and journeymen types other than that. Petey Feaggins couldn't cover a deadman and he is what he is. It should tell you about the talent we have at cb that he makes this team year after year.

 

Dunta Robinson, Will Demps, and Fred Bennett are all good. Granted, Bennett has some rough edges, but he will be groomed into a great #2 CB. Not sure what having journeyman players has to do with anything, but the safeties haven't been the problem. Reeves' inability to locate a ball in the air, and Petey just plain sucking are the only problems. At the end of the season when Reeves is your nickel CB, I think a lot of people's opinions about our secondary will be different.

 

i disagree on all three counts - well, robinson's good but too many texan fans overrate him: he's not a shutdown, throw to the other side of the field corner; he's just not. teams WILL throw at him. demps plays the run well; he's not very good in coverage. though (start to take note how often demps is chasing down receivers. final count: a lot).

not sure what the deal is with bennett, but the team is obviously down on him as he can't crack a starting line-up that features reeves and faggins, who are both mediocre. (actually, reeves is surprisingly great in coverage - he just can't seem to cover AND locate the ball - a big disconnect.)

robinson is not a default starter but the other 3 are; maybe bennett steps up - if so, great. but they need to upgrade at least 3 of those positions (both safties and nickel) and i'm guessing they'd upgrade bennett, too, if the opportunity exists.

 

Maybe I missed something, but where is Molden? Saw him on special teams last week, but not in coverage.