I went to the game tonight and stayed for the whole thing. Thankfully I have Larry Johnson on my fantasy team so it wasn't so bad. Everyone in the stands was literally laughing at this team and at David Carr. All we did on offense was throw out routes just to play it safe. It was disgusting. We have problems EVERYWHERE except for on special teams, I will say though that I realized tonight that our o-line isn't our biggest problem. We only allowed one sack and it was more of a coverage sack than anything. I'm pretty sure the "who will we draft" debate is dead, even the guys on 610 were saying it after the game. Reggie Bush is a no brainer at this point. I'd say Leinart is a close second after what I just witnessed David Carr do tonight. 3...2...1.... (waiting on The Cat to somehow spin this KC loss on the O-line)
Don't get too comfortable with the O-line. KC's defense sucks. - T24th - Sacks - 27th - Interceptions - 25th - Total yards allowed (But, of course, the Texans are even worse.)
Look, they are masking the problems in the offensive line with the short drops and quick outs. That line is swiss cheese in a regular 5 or 7 step drop back and throw. We still need a stud LT. Trade the #1 pick for the #3-#5 and an additional first rounder. Draft a couple stud offensive lineman to go with Pitts and Mckinney and then go after some linebackers for the defense.
I can't believe the number of people on the Reggie Bush bandwagon. First of all, do you realize that Bush will have the Texans OL blocking for him in the NFL? That's like having Bush running behind the Kansas OL agains the UT defense. The guy could very well get killed. In addition, how much can Bush help this team, even assuming he'll be solid? We still can't pass protect. Carr still can't seem to make passes longer than 6 yards. Our defense still gets shreaded to pieces. Barry Sanders couldn't lead the Lions anywhere, and he had a more talented Detroit team around him than the Texans do around DD. The Texans simply need a huge upgrade in talent. I don't believe we have to get a OL in round 1. I'd be fine with trying to field a great defense first, and going for offense next year. Either way, trading down for more picks seems like the logical way to go. Of course, if we do stay at 1 or 2(assuming we continue to suck), the only player I'll be fine with is Leinart. This is for the same reason the Bengals drafted Palmer. A QB simply affects the game much more than a RB. So if the Texans are going to risk it, they might as well aim for a Pro-Bowl QB rather than a Pro-Bowl RB.
i wasnt sure why everyone was jockin reggie bush either, but after watchin last nights game i know why. damn that guy is a stud. i would love the texans to draft him, it wanst all his o-line that guy makes people miss and runs right past people.
forgot to mention darnell bing. that guy can play too. anyone have any idea when he is supposed to be drafted?
I've seen him going 1st round at least in most early mocks right now. Ranging from early 10 range to late 20s. Sure would be nice if the Raiders could draft him.
It's going to be damn funny when Reggie Bush decides to go back to school rather than be drafted by the Texans (or worse, pulls an "Eli Manning/John Elway"). Did I mention that D'Brickashaw is a senior?
Chris Mortenson has already said that Bush is looking at agents so I think it's 100% that he's coming out. I wouldn't be surprised if he pulls an Eli and doesn't want to go to the Texans though.
playmakers who don’t ever seem to make plays. perfect. and the OL is not the reason, either. I’m almost growing sick of hearing it. carr had all day last night… and long before the dolts on ESPN noticed, it was pretty obvious he was locking in on his receivers within two steps of his drop back. I watched every one of his pass attempts in slow-mo, and it was universal. that’s a problem. he overthrows, he gets his ball tipped at the LOS. I’ve always been on the carr bandwagon. not anymore. he needs to go, too. davis has been reliable, but he’s not a playmaker. the difference in him and LJ last night should have been a stark wake-up call as to just how pedestrian DD is. getting caught at the goal line on his screen pass… LJ wouldn’t have been caught. DD makes bad reads in traffic, lacks vision and doesn’t have gamebreaking speed. meanwhile, his meltdown last night aside, AJ is certainly a keeper, but I worry that he doesn’t get separation enough and can be too easily neutralized. great WRs get open, they make plays. he’s not great. but obviously has loads of potential. the OL played a nearly flawless game last night; carr had time; davis had lanes… and the playmakers generated 10 offensive points. the OL is a problem, but an upgrade in talent isn’t going to make carr better, davis better…. you saw last night – the OL isn’t the only problem. it was terrific last night and the team generated 10 offensive points. there were several times when carr had PLENTY of time to throw but he panicked and ran. he locked in on receivers within two steps of his drops. again, it is A problem, but d’brick doesn’t solve the many elements contributing to its poor play. you’re asking why the regime that traded five picks for babin and buchannon hasn’t fixed the problem? do we need to draw you a roadmap? they’re morons. the OL was solid last night and the results were about the same as usual. the problems go deeper – MUCH deeper – than a lack of talent on the OL. yep, the same “awful” line that’s helped a non-starter in college post back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. detroit went to an NFC championship game with sanders and to the playoffs three times in 10 years, posting five winning seasons – everyone assumes those teams were awful, but they really weren’t. and the reason they were good was sanders. but anyone who watched DD get caught from behind on his screen pass last night, or how elusive LJ was comparatively, can’t possibly still be convinced DD is the answer to anything.
Let's be fair for a second. The texans have abandoned allowing "playmakers" to make plays this season. 5 yard outs are not going to produce gamebreaking results 9 out of 10 times. They never once took any real shot down the field because the O-Line is so bad that they stuck to the 3 step drop and get the ball out ASAP mentality. Furthermore, about Carr staring down receivers last night, with the kind of gameplan the texans were utilizing, it was to be expected. It's not like the safeties of the opposing team or even the LB's had to worry about the ball ever coming their way. Plus with the kind of routes the texan receivers were running, the ball has to be out fast and that doesn't give Carr time to look off. The texans have tried 24 passes ALL YEAR down the middle of the field and deep. I will agree the failure on offense is a team effort. But right now David Carr has 2 real "threats" to pass the ball to every play. Davis and Johnson. There is no TE who can catch the ball, plus the TE's have to stay in to max protect. Jabar Gaffney would be a 4th WR on a good team and he is the 2nd WR here. Then there are other times where Davis has to stay in to help block and that limits Carr's options even more. In comparison look at KC. They have one of the best OL's in football. They also have a TE who provides an excellent safety blanket every play. They don't have a great WR, but the WR's they do have have time to get open because Trent Green can get all day in the pocket on a normal 5 or 7 step drop. In fact, the main difference between their offense and Houston's is they have an OL that allows the players they have to be successful. With all this said, I'm on board with taking either Bush or Ferguson. They need both O-Line help and more weapons for any QB, Carr or otherwise. I also think the two work hand in hand. Sometimes Carr takes sacks he shouldn't because the lack of threats on offense leads to "coverage sacks." They also need a TE who can catch the ball as a safety valve desperately. If they draft Bush and get a guy like a Marcus Pollard type, that gives Carr or any quarterback a reasonable amount of talent to play with.
So you are basing this on 1 game? Anybody that watches Texans football will know that the OL is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, problem. You think Carr wants to only take a 2-3 step drop? This was clearly designed by the coaches because of the lack of time Carr has in the pocket. If you are killing the league in the # of sacks you take with a 4-5 step drop, you change what you are doing. This clearly worked since Carr was only sacked once, but that doesn't mean it's a good tactic. QBs need much more time in the pocket to make their reads and make a pass. Yes, I'll agree that the OL played much better lastnight. But I'm not going to give them contract extensions just because of 1 game. Carr is on his way to a record sacked season, he must take some of the blame, but you need good protection if you want to be successful. BTW, the only touchdown the generated was on a short field because of an interception. I'm not trying to put down the offense, but it's not like we actually moved the ball 60-80 yards, it was more like 30.
i thought it was a punt return, but, yeah - i know. the offense is terrible and that's not based on one game. it's based on it and carr having been on a downward slide since midseason last year. we've reached a point where who's to blame is no longer relevant. what is relevant is that carr's been ruined; he's a mess. his throws last night were terrible, missing open guys, getting balls knocked down at the LOS... it was an awful performance. but arguing who's responsible is like trying to figure out how the dog got rabbies. what's the point? you still have to take it out back and put it out of its misery. you can rebuild the OL with five jonathan ogden's... if your QB is a trembling shell who can't complete even routine passes; if your running back contiually runs into defenders (or his own players); if your WRs can't get even a moment's separation; if you have no TE as a safety valve; if your coaches can't design a gameplan to take advantage of even a lone strength among your talent pool.... one good OL doesn't undo any of that. it's a failure across the board in ever facet of the offensive game. going into the draft thinking all you need in an OL is like putting a fresh coat of paint on a crackhouse.
You're right, Carr has been a mess as of late, I guess he caught a good case of Ramseyitis. But even though the OL did a good job of not giving up more than 1 sack, their DL got a lot of penetration that rushed a lot of things. And let's face it, when you've been sacked as many times as Carr has, you're gonna start looking out for yourself. I agree with most of your post, but a lot of the things you mentioned (WRs, TE, No good gameplan) has a lot to do with the OL, there isn't enough time for those things to happen. I'm not saying we should only concentrate on the OL because like you said, we have a lot of holes, but the OL is the backbone of the Offense. If you don't have a good OL, it doesn't matter if you have Tom Brady or Payton Manning back there. Either way, I guess the point is moot, we have a ton of holes on this team and I'm sure you'll agree that not one single player will be able to turn us into the team we want the Texans to be. I like your analogy, but for me...it's like having a broken window and all the heat is coming in, and instead of fixing the window, you buy a better a air conditioner.
Larry Johnson's comments following the game last night were very interesting to me. When asked what his 211 yards said his reply was, "It says a lot of things....................it says that I run behind the best offensive line in football" Wonder what Dominick would say about his line? Larry Johnson piled up 211 yards last night. If him and Dominick trade places the stats are reversed. Johnson is a good player, don't get me wrong, but he was one step away from going to prison about a year and a half ago. Between him and Priest Holmes, the Chiefs have rushed for over 1200 yards this season. Remember Priest Holmes??? He was Ricky Williams' sidekick at Texas. LJ was a middle to bottom of the first round draft pick. I don't think Priest even went in the first round. If so, it was late. The constant on that team is the offensive line. The constant on all great teams is the line play. Detroit had Barry running all over the place for years. But they couldn't pass protect to save their life and they weren't really that good at giving Barry lanes to run in. Barry was a superstar. But they never won anything because they didn't have good line play. The games they won was because of Herculian efforts by Barry. They became a decent team but never a real good team. All Barry's talent...........wasted on mediocrity. Now, compare Barry's career to Emmett Smith's career. Who was the better running back? There shouldn't even be a debate. Barry was hands down better than Emmett. Put Barry behind that Dallas line and he wins 4 to 6 Super Bowls. Put Emmett running behind Detroit's line, and he retires injured with about 8000 yards. And Emmett was a good player. But what made those Dallas teams great was those monstas up front. You could put Troy, Emmett, and Irvin all behind the Detroit line and all you get is a couple playoff appearances, not 3 Super Bowl rings. Winning football games starts up front with the offensive and defensive lines. You gotta have difference makers at the grunt positions and then go find skill players. Just look at Terrence Mathis. A good, skill player drafted in what, the 3rd round.......or was it the 5th round???? Tom Brady----6th round. Joe Montana----3rd round. Yeah, you can find plenty of high first round picks that were QBs, RBs, and WRs. But the teams that win games and go to the playoffs and win super bowls have good line play. That is the constant. This offseason, our offensive line has to be built. There has to be a drastic change in our line going into 2006-07. Otherwise, if we just draft Bush and keep fooling with mediocre lineman, we'll become the Detroit Lions of the 21st century, always competing but never winning anything of substance, having to fight and scratch our way to 8-10 wins every season and barely slip into the playoffs if we make it. That ain't what McNair invested a gazillion dollars to do. He wants to win rings. We gotta get the muscle up front.
I have to defer to your knowledge over mine, but I don't like this analogy--the O-Line is far more foundational than paint on a house. I don't think the Texans should think only o-line, but I certainly hope they think o-line first.
Dominick Davis isn't in Johnson's league. Davis is a decent NFL back, but Larry Johnson has more talent than Davis, and could be a top 5 NFL back if he started. Priest Holmes was undrafted if I'm not mistaken, but he's come on to be a GREAT NFL running back after sitting behind one of the best college backs ever. Certainly some of that is KC's great offensive line, but there are no great running backs who don't owe something to their OLs. But don't throw individual talent out the window. Priest Holmes is hugely talented, as is Larry Johnson. On the Texans, they'd both beat out Dominick Davis handily.
A backup running back at best who has popped the 1000 yard mark in his first 2 seasons and has a chance to bust it again even after missing some time. I guess that means that our OL is quite accomplished, since a backup running back at best is busting it for 1000 yards. Absurd. Bush looks to be a better back, but what's he gonna add? Is he gonna run for 2000 yards behind this OL because he is a top notch starter compared to our poor backup tailback? Come on man. Get real. With Bush on this team, we MAY have one more victory and a couple hundred more rushing yards. That's it. Look at our margin of defeat. What do defenses do to us? They pack it in the box and force us to throw it because they know we can't pass protect. Is Bush gonna run for 2000 against 7 in the box??? This is the NFL, where everyone is fast. Bush faces one, maybe two players a week who are NFL worthy and have NFL speed. We need pass protectors!!!
