After the Rockets' disastrous start last season, we should've traded away T-Mac for picks and tanked to get Marvin Williams!
yeah, and unless they step up big time this year, i'd say 3 to 4 of those guys (gaffney, pitts, peek and whichever safety) would be replaced in a snap if better talent came available. to me, for all the talk about pitts over portis, the one casserly really blew was joppru over whitten. this is a different team, and carr's a lot further along, with a pass-catching TE. not sure which of palmer's family members billy miller soiled to land in the doghouse, but unless there's something i just don't know, his disappearence (and now release) confounds me.
Exactly, and I've mentioned as much just not too long ago here on this board. My mind went nearly haywire when they selected Joppru over Whitten. You know when you have a GM that, every year, speaks of not drafting for need and drafting the best available talent but yet seemingly does the exact opposite, it's mindboggling. Passing on the best TE prospect available to then go and draft another tight end that may have been thought to fill a better role was just one terrible move in a long line of bad moves. Especially considering the Texans are/were in no position to be drafting to fill roles. Another move that I think will come to be a terrible move was passing Derrick Johnson. Saying that DJ was too small to shed oncoming blockers but then go and overpay for the diminutive (maybe, emphasis on MAYBE, 6'0 235lb) Morlon Greenwood is asinine. Especially in the case of the Texans, you don't pass on playmakers. People can say what they will about Johnson and his believed faults, but it is my belief that you do not pass up on players that for some reason just make plays. I've said this before, but I've yet to see a linebacker come into this league in the last 10 or so years that possesses the instincts that rival those of Ray Lewis; but Johnson's got it.
Looks like there's a good chance I'll be eating some crow this year. That play where the loose ball was right in front of Carr and he was just looking at the officials for help was very telling. Jump on the damn ball, pretty boy. Bring on Ragone.
From reading the Sports page on Chron.com, Carr was playing like a redshirt freshman: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3349486 Carr, who scored the Texans' touchdown on a one-yard run, tried to force a ball to Andre Johnson while being chased by Buffalo pass rushers, and Vincent stepped in front of him. Later, Carr threw into triple coverage for Johnson, and Vincent made a leaping catch in the end zone. "He was staring down the receivers," said Vincent, a 14-year veteran. "Most of the time when you're losing and you're backed up, you're going to go to your bell cow, and that's No. 80 (Johnson). "Their running game wasn't happening. The timing was off. Eventually, to catch up, you have to throw the ball down the field." -------------------- "That's why I'm standing here baffled," Carr said. "We worked on some things in the offseason to prevent this from happening, but, obviously, it wasn't enough. We expected a tough defense, but I didn't expect this. Those guys were better than us. That's the best defense I've played against. -------------------- "That's the hardest thing I've had to do," Carr said. "It's the feeling of helplessness — what do we do?" ---------- Man, this is crap from Carr. Why doesn't he talk to Casserly to get him some real offensive linemen so he actually have time to see the field and throw the ball? Didn't even use Bradford or Gaffney. It was obvious that he was going to go to AJ. That is just f'n ridiculous.
My personal favorite was underthrowing a wide open AJ by 5 yards. We're lucky that Buffalo didn't challenge that TD. Maybe they were out of timeouts or something, but I think it would've been reversed had they asked for a review.
The only redeeming quality of the game was the red zone defense. That's it. Well, I also liked the going for it on 4th and goal, but that was erased by punting when down two scores with a little over six minutes left.
yeah, that was very frustrating. hard to understand. i could understand him kicking the field goal on the time he went for it more than i could understand him punting instead of going for it with 6 minutes on the clock. and you're right...red zone defense looked good. seems like when they HAVE to stop the run, they're able to...or can at least slow it down. but so many mistakes...so many goofy plays.
That 2nd and 3rd round pick for Phillip Buchanan is looking really great right now. He was getting destroyed in the first half until the Texans gave him some help. I'm beginning to see why many Raider fans were coming to the Texans message boards saying that we got screwed. Unless he gets better I'll use the nickname they had for him, P-Burnt. Victor Riley was getting PWNED by Schobel all day. I can't wait until we play Indy and see what Freeney can do. After listening to the post game interviews, and the expressions of the players on the field, it seems like the players have quit on this coaching staff. I think Palmer would go before Capers, but if they stink it up like this the rest of the year, both need to go.
Playing Madden 2006, I make the Texans defense look awesome. Love running the blitzes while I use Buchanon, Coleman or Dunta Robinson to watch the receiver routes. But that's all fantasy....
How's Carr not going to stare down his receivers? It's not like he has time to go through his progressions. And he did use Bradford and Gaffney. Bradford dropped a pass that hit him in the hands and Gaffney didn't even look for the ball and it hit him in the arm. But let's ignore those things and put all the blame on the quarterback who had on average less than two seconds to throw. If y'all think the passing offense is bad now, wait until you replace a mobile QB in Carr with statues like Ragone or Banks. We'll be lucky to break 30 yards and keep the sacks under 10. Carr's fine... has been and will be. As far as Buffalo challenging the touchdown, how was it even debatable? Carr had complete possession of the football and hit the inside of the pylon. That's a touchdown. It came loose afterward, which is irrelevant because once he has control and hits that pylon (part of the line), it's a touchdown and the play is over.
There were so many times when he had plenty of time to throw and then ended up throwing a horrible pass or took a sack when should've thrown the ball away. I'm normally the first to defend Carr, but he was horrendous yesterday and looking at the officials instead of jumping on the ball that was right in front of him is absolutely unacceptable. As is underthrowing a wide-open Andre Johnson by five yards, then sending the next pass 10 yards out of bounds. On the touchdown, rewatch it if you have it. His right foot hit out of bounds before the nylon was hit. Buffalo should've had the ball at the one-foot line.
On ESPN's Outside the Lines they did a special on the Bills coaching staff and the preperation that they put in before the game on Sunday. If Dom Capers gets fired I would love to see the Texans bring in Jerry Grey as the next head coach.
I'll agree with you on taking too many sacks. That's been my biggest criticism of Carr for years. I counted three times yesterday that he could see the rush but didn't throw it out of bounds and took the sack. That said, most were in third down situations so it really didn't matter... either way, it's a punt. But I disagree on the horrible passing. Obviously there were a couple of balls like the one to Andre that he underthrew, but that happens to every quarterback a couple of times each game. Peyton Manning overthrew a wide open Marvin Harrison for a touchdown last night. As long as it only happens two or three times, I accept it and move on. As for the interceptions, see my response in the other thread. Because the secondary doesn't have to blitz, he has to take a couple of chances into double coverage or Andre wouldn't have any chances to make plays. There's no doubt it was a bad decision not to jump on the ball. But, in the heat of the moment, it's possible he really believed that his arm was going forward before he lost the ball. And if that was true, it might look bad for him to jump on it because it would appear that he thought it was a fumble. I don't agree with that philosophy, but I have heard quarterbacks discuss it before and that may have been that went through his head. As for the touchdown, I thought it hit the pylon before he was out. But I only saw the three or four replays that CBS showed and I can't see it now, so I'll take your word for it.
