Tom Savage - Texans' fourth round (#135 overall) pick

But the point is that Fitzpatrick is nowhere near as bad as Dilfer so the idea that he needs the Raven's defense to be successful is silly.

Yeah, a game manager is typically meant to describe a low turnover quarterback that isn't asked to throw a lot but when he is can be counted on to make the right throws, move the ball and not give the other team the ball back.

Russell Wilson had a 2.2 interception rate last year. Dilfer's career rate is 4.4, literally double.

 

In this league, I think a guy like Fitzpatrick is gonna need a defense of that caliber to do what Dilfer did that have us still talking about Dilfer at all.

I'm surprised we're seriously having a discussion about how far Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to take this 2-14 team.

 

San Francisco has good safety play. I believe Carolina does too. I was speaking of safeties specifically not necessarily the entire secondary.

And we were discussing dominant defenses. I consider that to be teams with dominant defenses during the regular season as well. But I'll give you the Giants. I think Manning had something to do with Denver's success.

But we'll see if just a good pass rush will make the Texans secondary better.

 

would you rather have savage or cousins? Apparently the going price for cuz is either a 3rd or 4th rounder...
I thought looked real decent covering for rg3 last year.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/5/...browns-trade-kirk-cousins-washington-redskins

 

Whether you want do admit it or not, this is a rebuilding year. We are not going from last to first. Teams going from last to first doesn't happen every year. Ask Andre Johnson if there is such thing as a rebuilding year. Hell, he was here last time we went 2-14, came back with a new coach and started "rebuilding'.

I think its just as silly to anoint Fitzpatrick the starter just because he has a bigger body of work. The best and most fair way would be the open competition that BOB talked about. The best man starts.

 

Did you actually watch him last year? Or are you just going off what you heard 2 seasons ago?

He was horrid last year.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Football_League_teams_that_finished_last_before_first

It's happened 20 times in the past 15 years. That's quite often.

I'm not "anointing" Fitzpatrick the starter -- there's going to be a competition, as O'Brien has made clear. And there should be. But history shows that he's a decent NFL QB and Keenum has little in his background to indicate that he is. So if it's a fair fight, then odds are with Ryan.

And if you think the talent on the 2014 Texans is even remotely comparable to the 2006 Texans, I think you're being silly. That roster was eroded across the board. This one has quite a few potential strengths.

I don't know what kind of year this is. On paper, 2013 was a Super-Bowl-contending year, and the team ended up going 2-14 and netting the No. 1 pick in the draft. See how silly conclusions can be if you try to force them in May? It's not a matter of "not wanting to admit" -- it's simply acknowledging how wildly unpredictable the NFL landscape is. Right now, the Texans have enough talent (and a weak enough schedule) to be a viable team. That's all I know.

 

Well thats a bit different. Thats last to first in the division. Not exactly last to first in NFL overall. Which is what I thought you were implying. And only two teams on that list had 2 or fewer wins (or you can stretch it to 8 teams if you want to do 3 wins or fewer).

Also, never said 06 and '14 were compareable. Only brought it up to show that we have been in rebuilding mode before. So to say there is no such thing as rebuilding in the NFL, is a bit of a stretch. Thats really my only argument here.

And I agree, we don't truly know how good or bad we will be. Never thought we were contenders last year based on how we finished the season the year before, but didn't think we'd win only two games either. Are we postiive that this is a better team than we had last year? Thats just as unknown as our what our record could be. Sure we added some quality rookies but they are unproven at this point.

 

If you really think the "base line" for the Texans is 2 wins, I think you're being naive. Just look at Vegas, which typically has a good handle on the overall talent bases of teams, and has the over/under for Houston wins at 8.5. The Texans are a middle-of-the-pack group in overall talent that sunk to 2 wins because of the perfect storm of unexpected QB/coach meltdowns (including a stroke), injuries, quitting because of the aforementioned two issues, etc.

I was referring to worst-to-first within the division because that's what guarantees you a playoff spot. And honestly, if you're in the NFL playoffs, you have a shot. It's that random. That's why I have a hard time writing off the year by starting Keenum/Savage if it's not based on merit.

 

Im with you, Cat...

I look at it this way...we had terrible, terrible QBing last season. Bullock lost us 2 games, at least. We had injuries to Cushing, Manning, OD, and Foster. Our OLine was in shambles.

So much went wrong last season, yet we still managed to lose 9 games by 1 possession.

This season, Fitz will, without a doubt, upgrade the QB play from last season. Mix in the new rookies with vets that can hopefully stay off the injury list...throw in an easy schedule...and 9-10 wins is not far fetched. Could it be 6-7 wins? Sure. But, this team is not the bottom dweller that many believe.

And like you said, anything can happen in the playoffs.

 

I would rather take my chances with Savage. I haven't seen him play in the NFL but I've seen Cousins.

 

Not to digress, but after the first two wins where Bullock was not very good, he had the bad game against the Colts where he was 1-4 and they lost by 3, but in the only other close game where he missed a field goal, it was blocked in the second quarter. Hard to blame a 3 point loss on a 1st half blocked field goal.

 

lol what did you think he was talking about.. last place to super bowl champ?? smh.. worst to first happens all the time and that means a bad team turns into a playoff team often.. with the talent on this team theres enough reason to be optimistic.. the wheels fell off last seaosn and we ended up landing a great player. no reason to believe we cant bounce back we just have to figure something out regarding qb play..

 

he missed 3 attempts vs seattle.. we should expect our kicker to convert on atleast one of those. we lost in OT.. IIRC he missed the would be game winner in regulation..

 

He was a rookie though so I give him some slack. He started off the year poorly, but he finished strong. If he's still inconsistent, we might have a Rice kicker instead of a fat Aggie but I think he'll get squared away.

 

Not with the standard that other rookie kickers drafted below him have set.

If you're a kicker drafted prior to the last round, you're pretty much expected to be a finished/can't-miss product.

I did see some improvement... but over the last two years (pre-season 2012), he's had various inconsistencies that indicate he's not going to be one of the elite kickers in the league.

First of all, his kickoffs feature various distances... some he booms out of the end zone (which he should really do every time), others are being caught at the goal-line or barely making it in the end-zone thereby exposing this awful coverage unit. That tells me that he wasn't getting a full leg/foot on the ball consistently each time... which speaks volumes as to why he was so inconsistent from 50+ yards.

Kicking is more like golf than it is like football... except your kick should be more reproducible/consistent/accurate than your swing. Bullock's long-distance kicks (kickoffs included) were all over the place.

And this is all before considering whether or not "pressure" rattles him more-so than other kickers.

 

Losing by one possesion is fairly common in the NFL. Only 6 teams managed to average a PPG differential of more than 7 points.

But I'm glad you guys feel optimistic about the upcoming season. As a battered texans fan through the years, its hard for me to be positive about this season. They've gotten my hopes up and burned me so many times . Not too confident going in with the erratic play of Fitzpatrick or the inexperience play of Keenum. So I'm going into the season with low expectations but wishing for the best.

 

Prepare for the worst. Wish for the best.

 

PPG differential doesn't tell you how many one possession games an NFL team will average. You have to look at the variance.

 

It's common for average/good teams, not so common for bad ones.

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