The D overall had a great game. James just played pretty much average, which by comparison to the rest of the team, looked bad. He wasn't involved much (one assist). That blown coverage was pretty bad, though, and it cost us points. MJD makes LBs look foolish, but that wasn't an open field missed tackle... it was a "I have no idea what I'm doing where is the ball oh there it is oops touchdown " kind of play. ? James did virtually nothing to stop MJD. He spent most of his time covering TEs/HBs and rushing up the middle (fairly ineffectively). Cushing and Watt absolutely owned MJD today. Cushing in particular hounded him out of the backfield, and Watt blew up countless rushes behind the LOS.
I didn't even think it was that bad of a job in coverage. It was a good sell by MJD and an incredible adjustment by him to make the catch and TD.
shouldn't he at least have one?(not being a smart ass just curious as to how they do it.) http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...KS&conference=null&season=2012&seasonType=REG
http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/0ap1000000062614/Jones-Drew-5-yard-TD-catch Are you kidding? 1st of all, 2 guys break free immediately for the QB (meaning James need not give chase, which he does anyway), James' assignment is MJD and he completely bites on the fake (which was so obvious it was painful). When running back on coverage, he never once looked at MJD to notice the pass was incoming. He never even attempts to locate the ball or intervene. And because of his lack of attention and overpersute, MJD gets into the endzone easily, despite the very poorly thrown ball. I would've been a little more sympathetic if the pass was thrown well, put beyond James to the point where MJD just catches it in the endzone. People bite on fakes sometimes, that happens. But he completely flubbed the coverage after getting snookered on the fake, too.
The dashes mean he's tied with the guys that have 5. I dont know why they have "5" written for some and "- -" for others but you can see on the left he's tied for 5th overall in "PDef". If you click on his name he's credited for 5 "PDef" which coincides where they have him on that leader board.
I agree that is his job, but I don't know how you can contend he is fulfilling that role or how he had anything to do with MJD's performance today. He is at best a warm body on the field, and at worst a huge liability if he gets isolated one-on-one with a RB in a big game situation. In watching him out there he appears incredibly unathletic and a step slower than everybody else on the field. The only reason that his shortcomings have not been more prevalent is b/c (1) the front 3 (or 4, in some cases) have stuffed the run at the line, and (2) Cushing covers enough ground for both LB positions. Regarding his covering ability, the touchdown today was not the lone time he has been exposed. It happened last week against the Dolphins and a few occasions in the preseason. Today though, on the TD play in particular, he had no idea where the ball was. Had he not been completely lost in space, the ball was a floater, in the air forever, giving any competent cover LB time to recover...instead he ended up at least four yards from where it came down, in MJD's hands. I'm worried this will not the last time this will be discussed...yet, it will only get real consideration when it costs the team in a much bigger game than when it's just a harlmess TD vs. the hapless Jags.
Suddenly Kareem Jackson isn't our weakest link on defense anymore. Wade Phillips is worth his weight in gold, but his cronyism for Bradie James is gonna be questioned if it costs us TDs like today. Shiloh has been underwhelming on ST, that's seemingly another Wade call that kept Shiloh on the team. At least Alan Ball hasn't been burned yet in the 2 regular season games, although he had a lousy preseason.
Still don't get why your panties are in a bunch. The bad pass was a bleasing in disguise. Sure James was caught off guard but he still recovered fairly quickly and a " well thrown" fade would have been a difficult over the shoulder catch. And I'm by I means grading James' game as a whole. Just saying that that play, despite the flaws of the defense, it was greatly benefited by a "bad" QB throw and a great job by MJD
He had a subpar game, and that play in particular was quite poor on his part. I have no idea how people look at that and see someone doing anything "well". Chrisjent said it best, he's just a warm body out there. And I'm afraid this won't be the last time James disappears on the field, or worse, makes glaring mistakes in coverage. Where was Daryl Sharpton? Pup list?
Damn, it's going to be tough to defend our Super Bowl Championship next season. Texans have to go to the west coast three times. At San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.
What a great day ..... Texans win NE and Balt lost (two teams for Playoff bye week and home field) also Dallas lost
Kareem has been improving little by little. It seems that his one on one coverage isn't bad and has improved tremendously, but he often times is glued to the receiver and isn't looking at the ball to make a play on it.
On a larger scale, James is only on the team because Wade coached him in Dallas. That was the point, they could have thumbed though the rolodex of better available ILBs but Wade decides familiarity with the system is better than overall talent for what he needed in the ILB role that James filled.
I'm just talking about that one play and it certainly wasn't done well on either side, save MJD making something happen. And yeah, I'm a huge sharpton fan and hope he comes back soon.
