It definitely reached 9, maybe 9.5 because I remember Lance saying on radio he was hoping it would hit 10 before the game.
You'll have to wait an extra week because we'll have the "[official] Texans v Playoff Bye" the week before. Now that's some good Kool-Aid.
The Dolphins allowed 516 passing yards yesterday. 516. Sure it was Brady, but 516? Really? Five hundred and sixteen. Just passing yards. Not counting any rushing yards. That's just embarrassing. Schaub to AJ all day. They wont be able to keep up.
99 of those were on one play where a DB had no safety help and missed a tackle. Take that off and it's 417. This is what the 2010 Texans gave up pretty routinely, and we still managed to be in most of our games last year. This won't be an easy win. I do expect a win, but I also expect that Miami won't be that bad defensively -- our offense is good, but if anyone's is better it is New England's.
I guess it didn't matter now, I put my bet Saturday after noon at -7.5 and saw it reach 8 a few hours later, i guess it kept going up closer to gametime. It wasn't close but if it was I'm glad I got it in when I did.
I didn't want to start a new thread, but I have a completely independent thought to make here. I would like to state how pleased I am that the best things I enjoyed about Houston morning sports radio are all conglomerated in the same place now on the same station and available on podcast each day. Yes, the Matt Jackson Adam Wexler Lance Zierlein experience is fantastic. I can't listen in the mornings due to work but have the ability in the afternoons to put headphones on and just listen to each whole show on podcast. They get the best interviews easily, and those are available by podcast separately also. What a great new system. I have absolutely no need for the other three channels anymore. This might change when the Rockets come back after the lockout, but for now their coverage of the Texans is unmatched. Lance's analysis is singular among all journalists; no one's more accurate in his predictions nor more connected to Texans players and NFL scouts.
I used to listen to 1560 in the morning, 610 at lunch, and 790 in the afternoons for Pallilo. When the Rockets were playing I'd listen to Matt and Adam over John and Lance. I thought Sean Pendergast got better once he had his solo show, but the national syndication and the Lance move did negatively impact that station. If you're a Houston listener it's impossible to ignore that fact.
Actually... they gave up 400+ passing yards just twice, and in the first two games of the year (both wins, ironically). After that, only 4 other QBs surpassed 300 and one of those (Garrard) only did so because a 52-yard Hail Mary was inexplicably completed and another (Sanchez) added an equally inexplicable 70 yards on an improbable game-winning drive. I point this out not to defend the Texans' pass defense (good lord, no) but to point out how difficult it is to pass for 400+ yards in a game. Even the worst pass defense in eons only gave it up twice.* * Granted, teams built early leads and coasted a lot last year; I have no doubt 14 of their 16 opponents *could* have routinely run up 400. The Patriots don't coast, obviously. I'm just sayin' - last night was really, really awful pass defense.
They didn't face a vanilla offense that shredded them. I'd definitely judge Arizona for surrendering 400 yards to a rookie. But last night was the West Coast Offense on PEDs. That hurry up with Welker, Branch, Gronkowski, and Hernandez was unreal to watch - this wasn't Kareem falls down or Pollard blows coverage. We aren't replicating that. Our system looks nothing like it. We aren't going to cause half their DBs to cramp up midway through the game. We have no excuses not to roll up 24-30 on them. Their line shouldn't give us fits. Their secondary won't shut down Andre. If we play our game (run setting up the boots), we'll work them down the field. But they aren't as bad as you might think. Last night was more about the Pats going into Beast mode than the Fins being exposed as garbage. It won't be a rout, but I'm hoping/expecting to see a solid victory.
Actually, I think this is an interesting point for this part of the discussion. How many 400+ yard passing games get that way because of hurry-up, no-huddle offenses run successfully when a team fell behind? For example, Matt Schaub is an above-average QB whose numbers in Week 1 from last year and this year look "OK". Better to run conservatively and eat up clock when well ahead in a game, no?
Didn't Henne have 400 yards last night too? You can't say that was on the Pats D or Henne being a pro-bowl QB. It was simply they were in the hurry up no huddle offense. 400 yard games are constantly put up by a QB who's trailing and needs to score quickly.
That was my suspicion -- but is it really "constantly"? Could, say, Curtis Painter put up 400 coming from behind? Did the Colts try to hurry-up Sunday, and how many yards did Moses put up?
Well I guess constantly was a bad choice of words. It's not uncommon for QBs who average 225 ypg to put up north of 350 when they're down a couple of scores in the middle of the 4th and need to hurry things up.
My point was that the Dolphins, no matter how bad their pass defense may look or be, are a much more capable team than the Colts and much like us last year, are very capable of beating superior opponents (which I consider us to be at this point). No need to go breaking down passing stats or getting into game management philosophy.
I'm not saying we'll replicate what the Pats did, but we wont have to in order win this game. They've shown how bad their pass D is. Schaub will get 350+, probably closer to 400. The Texans are the last team you want to get in a shootout with.
