Texans Offense: It is called SITUATIONAL FAIL!

Anybody have any stats on the Texans' redzone offense?

 

So what other "KEY TIME" is there than redzone opportunities?

The offense isn't perfect, but if they are forced to score 30 and play from behind to win, EVERY SINGLE GAME, they're going to have their biggest weaknesses exposed.

Your blame-share is, quite frankly, stupid.

 

The Houston Texans are #5 in the NFL in red-zone success at 62.79%

NFL Redzone scoring %

 

That's pretty good. Why is Rocket River saying we can't score on the goal line?

 

It's on kubiak that the texans didn't run on first or second down, considering the bad field position they were in. They fell into the defense's hands, again.

On the offense, I like this offense and the zone scheme when it comes to running the ball. Would you rather have the Offense score 7 points each quarter for four quarters?

 

Play calling, it's not scoring TDs but its the Shaub sack to force them out of FG range, Kubes calling for a QB sneak from 2 yards out on a 4th down, running a pattern over the middle when you know time will run out before trying a FG and forgetting about Foster to often during key stretches.

People will point out how many carries Foster has or the yards Schaub puts up but its winning plays that this team lacks. Maybe a new coach can put these guys in positions to succeed instead of positions to fail.

 

LOL... This

Yes the offense can be better, but sheesh. Best RB in the league this season, excellent 3rd down conversion and red zone %, and a defense that is HISTORICALLY terrible. There is absolutely no excuse for the dropped balls last night, but we were playing the freakin RAVENS. What more can you ask from an offense than 28 pts?

 

I'm sorry - anything more than 10 for the defense is silly. They're abysmal. Historically abysmal. The offense is far from perfect. But they're not just consistently playing from behind, they're having to *enter games with the midset of being behind.* It's that bad. I'm not sure you understand how much a defense this bad changes EVERYTHING.

 

The offense isn't blameless by any stretch. But I think the defense magnifies a lot of their mistakes because, frankly, they simply can't afford any or they'll fall further behind. When a FG is considered a failed offensive possession because you know the other team isn't going to be settling for FGs...

And while the offense has consistently overcome the defense's shortcomings by mounting huge comebacks and hanging a lot of points on the board, other than last night (and the Washington game's second half), when has the defense stopped anyone and given the offense a chance? Or better yet: When has the defense held an opponent to under 24 points? The offense is constantly playing catch-up, catch-up, catch-up... we score, they score again, we score, they score again.......

 

You guys probably don't realize this, but all QBs get sacked out of FG range during a season, fail to convert on a sneak for a first down, throw an interception or two, etc. Look it up!

The difference between the Texans and other teams with good QBs, is the Texans get ZERO help out of Special Teams or Defense. They get bad field position all the time thanks to their ZERO kick return ability and their defense leaks like crazy.

Consider for a moment;

Most teams on offense have two goals
1: Score Points
2: If you can't score points, control field position

With the Texans the offense has to think to themselves on nearly every possession, "If we don't score on this drive it can cost us the game." They can't play field position battles generally because the defense generally has no problem giving up long drives and even if they don't, their special teams will hurt them anyway.

Imagine what it's like to be QBing this team knowing all of that. He makes bad decisions some times? Well of course he does, because in his mind if those plays don't get made and they give the ball back they lose the game.

 

Miss the game last night?

General point is correct - the offense has taken a step back this year, and it was ridiculously prone to miscues and going dormant for halves at a time last year (but it didn't matter! We were awesome at gaining passing yards!)

Ravens loss, like the Cowboys loss, the MNF Colts loss, the Chargers loss, and the Eagles loss.....all were largely determined by the offense shorting out.

We know how bad the defense is (and stunningly, they honestly have improved since the Jets debacle).....there's no margin for the offense giving us incomplete games or needing the first two quarters to warm up.

My only partial pass is that Johnson's nagging injury coupled with Daniels struggling to get on the field have really stripped away Schaub's weapons. I don't get why Walter has become so invisible (scheme theory), I don't get why having our best run game in franchise history is making the pass less effective, I don't get why Schaub's noodle arm has flared up and led him to have six sub-80 QB ratings this season (2 last year, 4 the year prior). I don't get why Kubiak's script to start the game remains the most pathetic in the NFL. I could swear he doesn't look at opponents until the game actually starts.

 

Your offense has to score 30 points to win in virtually every game you play. It's amazing...given that...that we even have 5 wins. There is only one team in the NFL that averages 30 ppg (the Pats). This defense has been on an historically bad pace. Historically bad.

With even an average defense, the offense if good enough to get you to the playoffs...without question. They are 9th in the league in points per game, averaging 24.3 ppg.

On the flip side, we are 30th in the league in points allowed per game, at 27.3.

Seriously, this isn't rocket science.

When you put up 28 points against the Ravens, that in and of itself is an accomplishment.

The Ravens were averaging scoring 20 points per game...they had 21 in the first half of last night's game. It set the tone for everything else. At that point, you get away from running the ball more...and you ask your QB to throw 60 passes so that you can engineer a comeback.

 

I don't think you can apply that to last night, though. The offense hung the defense out to dry, handing over midfield position to the Ravens over and over with their ineptitude. They didn't score points, they didn't get yardage. Schaub was poor, the recievers were poor, and Kubiak still doesn't get that when you have a back eating up 5 yards at a time, you can still give him carries when down a score or two. ESPECIALLY when your pass game is not happening.

It also can't excuse the pick 6. The defense GOT THE STOP. They pitched a shut out for well over two quarters. They kept the Ravens from getting into FG position.

I'm not saying that we've got a good D now...but they absolutely played well enough to win last night. The issue was, our offense gave us 70% and Schaub was struggling with his noodle arm all night.

Only other blame to be played firmly is on the atrocious showing by the kickoff team.

 

Defense was decent last night. OK, ****ty in the first half but great in the 2nd half (though Cam Cameron has been known for taking his foot of hte gas). But they only gave up 21 points which is actually an improvement. What killed us was that we allowed them to score on special teams and of course, when we were on offense.

With our offense, holding the other team to 21 points should be enough for us to win. But this are the Texans, if the defense manages to be decent, we'll find a way to surrender points in some other way.

 

Again - the defense pitched a shut out after that third TD. They also stepped up and forced the punt in OT (no small task). Not their fault special teams decided to chest bump instead of tackle to start the second or that Schaub went with the backfoot special instead his own 20 to end the game.

The defense has murdered us all season.....but they aren't the reason we lost last night.

 

The defense murdering us all season is in my mind what causes a lot of the offensive problems that materialized last night. Sure, they ended up pitching a shutout in the second half, but you haven't pitched a shutout until you have you know? It's not like the offense could say to themselves "Oh, we've pitched a shutout in the second half so we don't need to be stupid." The offense on this team lives with the constant fear that they MUST SCORE ON EVERY POSSESSION or they will lose the game.

 

I'm at a loss.... Sure, the offense played terrible in the first half. So did the defense. Go back and look at the stats I posted earlier about the Ravens' three - three(!) - first half TD drives. They did whatever they wanted. Long scoring drives in the second half, which everyone is ignoring, was a big reason the Texans' defense played so well in the second half - they only had to be out there for 10-15 plays!

50/50 blame last night. When was the last time the defense was that close in ratio? Week 2? If it's ultimately Schaub and the offense's fault, that doesn't forgive Jacksonville, New York or Philadelphia, nor does it erase Washington or Kansas City.