Dontcha think the reason we're #1 against the run is that it's just too easy to pass against us? Why bother running when your receivers are wide flipping open?
That was not always the case last year and this stat has run through a full year. I would be inclined to agree with you if it had just been for these first three games.
great point...after the first few games of looking absolutely awful vs the run, we ended up being one of the better teams in the league stopping it. hopefully that will happen to the pass defense this year!
I guarantee that it changes when Cushing is back. That's when Pollard's coverage responsibilities change to being able to stay back and not have to worry about the TE as much. Cushing can cover the TE or RB out of the backfield, freeing Pollard to go back to his ballhawking ways that made this defense so successful in the 2nd half last year.
I don't see Pollard as a ballhawk as much as I see him as a heavy hitter. Corners still have to do their job. I don't think Cushing is going to be able to make up for what I've seen so far from the corners, directly.
Cushing's return won't do much to fix their problems at cornerback or free safety. He will fix the Pollard problem you described because Pollard isn't quick enough to cover the TE or RB out of the backfield. But through 3 games, what I've noticed is that opposing receivers are not only getting open but are running away from our DBs with ease and getting Cushing back won't fix that.
i actually enjoy him....theres no one better at getting all riled up....especially during the NCAA tourney
Hard to believe that Texans are #1 vs the run....it seemed like Dallas was running draw plays for 6-8 yards at a clip all day long
This was pissing me off royally during the game. I mean you know they're gonna run it on first down. They kept doing it and it kept working.
With a loss and the return to the dreaded but familiar .500, the Texan's early season bubble will be completely deflated, therefore, they must not lose. We are Dallas last week.
He did, but once he came back and started again towards the end of the season, he did pretty good. Besides, at least Barber was able to take a pick to the house. Wilson just drops sure pick sixes.
Don't agree with this. While the NFL by and large has become "pass happy", any coach would rather run the ball for first downs if he thinks he can do it because: 1. Less risk of turnovers 2. More of a chance for positive yards on every play which would likely swing field position 3. Increase time of possession making your defense more rested 4. Your wear down the defense physically and mentally a bit more when you basically tell them "Your weak, we can push you around. We don't even have to throw the ball." ( I realize the last is a bit of an overstatement). 5. While throwing can take a crowd out of the game, destroying a team by running the ball does so a larger extent. How so? If your team is allowing tons of rushing yards, wouldn't you be angrier (and possibly more bored) than if they were allowing tons of passing yard? It is true that many teams now often times "throw to open up the pass" (which is what the Texans should be doing), but even then if you end up gashing them with the run, why would you start passing again. The only other scenario is when you are playing from behind (i.e. Game 1 vs. Colts), in which case you are simply trying to score quickly.
Eh. Not really. Indy didn't run the ball much because they were playing catchup, but Addai did get 4.4 yards per carry. Whether the Redskins were getting anything in the air or not, they couldn't do a damned thing on the ground. Dallas was very balanced (only 3 more passes than runs) and they were mediocre, 3.7 yards per carry. Barber got most of the load and he only got 3.2 ypc. You can say that they're not giving up many yards per game because teams are throwing more, but they're also only giving up 3 yards per carry which is good for 5th in the league. That leads me to believe that the run D is at least somewhat legitimate.
This is the key statistic...it doesnt matter if teams arent running much against us since we are weak against the pass. The fact of the matter is that when teams decide to run, they arent getting very far. We have a strong run defense, whether teams run 10 times against us or 30.
What is Brian Chapman's prediction? That's the only way we can know for sure exactly what will happen?
if the Good Guys win this weekend, they'll be 3/4ths of the way towards bc's projected season win total for them. i'm sure they've been following his predictions closely.
Run Defense: just like many arguing that our secondary has been strafed partially because we've faced such good passers....our run defense has looked good statistically because those teams absolutely did not bother trying to run on us. Chicken or the Egg argument, but we've only faced 54 carries (18 a game) this season. Most teams in the league rush at least 26 times a game. (20 out of 32 teams, Atlanta has gone to the run a ridiculous 40 times a game) Washington has gone to the run the least in the league (57 times, 19 runs/game). 17 against us. Dallas is #25 in rushing attempts (23/game). 27 against us. Indy #21 (25). 10 against us. Are they just scared of Houston's run D? I tend to agree more with the folks saying they licked their chops once they realized how easily they could throw on us. I'd also say we faced three teams that don't have half the faith in their ground game as they do their QBs. I hope our run D is strong. We have to go at TEN twice, PHI, NYJ, KC, and OAK...all of whom have been very effective on the ground this year.
agree....Dallas and Indy both had a reputation of passing a bunch more than they run before we played them. i don't know if we're seeing tremendous run defense (though it didn't seem that way vs. the cowboys..just seems like they stopped trying)....or just lack of interesting in establishing a running game by the teams we've faced so far.
