Hit Me: Questions About The Houston Texans?
Howdy, Dawgs By Nature. It's Tim, one of your friendly neighborhood bloggers from SB Nation's site for all things Houston Texan, Battle Red Blog. As my squad is headed up to Cleveland this weekend, I figured I'd stop by to see if I could answer any questions for you.
A season that was supposed to be about gaining respectability for the NFL's newest franchise has gone completely off the tracks, so please pardon any bitterness and despair that bleed through my answers. I'm hanging on by a very thin thread. In an effort to streamline the process, here are some preemptive strikes to a few questions you might pose:
1. No, I do not expect the Texans to beat the Browns. The next time the Texans win a game on the road will be the first time since 11/04/07. That is not a joke.
2. Matt Schaub will not be playing, which means that you're assured of a game-ending interception by Sage Rosenfels in the unlikely event the Texans keep it close.
3. Brady Quinn, Braylon Edwards, and whoever else you trot out in the passing game are going to have big days. The Houston secondary gives the word "porous" a bad name.
So hit me, fans of the Pound. I'm here to field your queries in between sobbing fits.
This is a fan-created post. Dawgs By Nature assumes no responsibility for the content listed.
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Braylon’s going to have a big day? My friend, you must not have seen them much this year. This is the same B.E. who has been targeted 94 times, only to catch 35 of those targets. Sure, there were some good defensive plays and bad throws in that mix…. but the drops and poor routes ran are staggering.
As for a question… Matt Schaub was completely unproven when the Texans made a costly trade for him. I can’’t think of a higher price ever paid for a QB with little experience (other than trades for draft picks such as the Manning/Rivers deal). Ignoring the injuries that he’s endured in these almost two years, would you keep the 2007 1st round flip of #8 from #10, 2007 2nd round pick, and 2008 2nd round pick if you were GM and given a mulligan on the deal?
You know Selig? Ombudsman.
Re: Schaub
I think about that question every time Schaub gets hurt (which is to say I think about it at least every other week). My initial reaction to the deal was that we overpaid for an unproven commodity. When Schaub has been healthy, he’s looked like a top fifteen NFL QB far more often than not. Problem, as you noted, is that the guy’s been incredibly unlucky with regard to some of the shots he’s taken. Due to those injuries, I’d have to say the jury’s still out on whether we gave up too much for him, so I’d probably hold off on that mulligan right now. If 2009 sees more of the same, however, I’ll have no choice but to say that the deal didn’t work out like we apparently thought it would. On the other hand, if Schaub manages to stay on the field for 14-16 games next season, I have a feeling we might be feeling pretty good about the deal.
I know Braylon has displayed a charming refusal to catch the ball this year, but he hasn’t had the luxury of facing the Houston secondary. When he isn’t completely by himself on Sunday courtesy of the patented Texan eight (8) yard coverage cushion, I am confident enough balls will bounce off the stone hands of Petey Faggins and/or Jacques Reeves and into Braylon’s that he’ll easily enjoy a 100 yard day.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
Talk about asking for a muligan
What about your huge gaff of paying the big bucks for DA? Ha, just another Raven retread gone flat! Next year you can have Matt Stover and Chris McAlister from us!
Rexx
Did you happen to read the rest of this thread? This is how a civil, knowledgeable blogger goes about interacting with the fans of their upcoming opponent. I’d be willing to bet you didn’t.
I’m assuming you decided to troll back over here because your blog looks like this:

You know Selig? Ombudsman.
1. Can we have a turn hellicoptering Rosenfels?
2. You should just leave Braylon open. If you hit him, he catches it sometimes. This is not a question.
3. How sick is Andre Johnson? He seems like he has steadily gained a reputation but I don’t think a lot of people would put him in their top 3 at WR in the NFL. I might. Would you?
4. Is Mario Williams still good?
Answers
1. Of course. That is, if he isn’t busy presenting the ball to you through interception.
2. Oh, he’ll be open. Don’t you worry about that.
3. I’m admittedly biased, but I think ‘Dre is the best WR in all of football. He simply gets zero recognition because of where he plays.
4. No, he’s not good. Super Mario is amazing. There is nothing he cannot do. If anything, society is suffering because he’s focused on football instead of finding a way to end world hunger.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
I may or may not have a man crush on you due to number 4. Just saying.
by DisplacedBuckeye on Nov 20, 2008 3:21 PM EST up reply actions
Uh, Thanks?
I think?
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
Is Demeco Ryans still putting out?
Im a Bama fan and if Demeco wasn’t such a strange name for an Irish kid, it’d be mah boy’s middle name one day.
Naming my son Brodie Damon
Re: DeMeco
I’m Irish as well, so let me answer your question this way: There’s an excellent chance DeMeco is my still-to-be-conceived son’s first name.
Ryans has been hampered by an ankle injury for the last few weeks and actually looked a rung below the DeMeco that’s been spoiling us since arriving in ‘06. The past couple of games, however, he’s looked like the DeMeco of old, which is to say that he was sent to Houston from Mount Olympus.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
hes a good guy too
i might actually have to pick up a demeco jersey…
im not impressed with your performance
So just how good is Steve Slaton? I picked him up late for a couple of my fantasy teams and he’s making me look like a genius. Do you think he’ll be able to handle being the feature back and all the pounding that goes with that?
The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay
Re: Slaton
He’s been unbelievable, and there’s no question he’s the feature back in the Houston offense. The pounding is a legitimate concern, but Slaton’s been pretty good about avoiding the big hit. Ahman Green, when healthy, has done a very nice job spelling Slaton; as I don’t think Ahman’s going to be back next season, I’d look for the Texans to spend a late-round pick on a RB or commit relatively small dollars to a free agent in the hope of finding a mauling back for short yardage situations.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
Any guess on the productivity of Mario Williams? The man’s a beast, but I’m namely interested in seeing how he lines up against our own left tackle, Joe Thomas.
Bill Cowher = victory
Re: Mario
Tough to say. With Thomas being a force at LT, you’d think we’d move Mario around to the other side a bit, and in fact we did do that earlier in the year against different opponents. We seem to have gotten away from that the last couple of weeks.
Generally speaking, Super Mario can’t be stopped without help. The good news for you is that he is the only pass rushing threat we have. Everyone else couldn’t penetrate and get to Quinn if their lives depended on it.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
We really need better line backers and new blood at DE… We have a beast up front that can cause interceptions even when he’s triple teamed, and we still can’t get a reliable pass rush.
Bill Cowher = victory
basically the whole of our defense
needs to be reworked or replaced. the talent we do have is barely serviceable typically, awesome occasionally; in short: inconsistent.
it’s like tim couch is our new DC
im not impressed with your performance
I have a problem with what we did defensively in this game.
I think the DEs are good at what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to eat blockers and be able to stop the run to either side of them. They do this for the most part. My problem with what we did was if our DEs are supposed to two-gap…why the hell are we only sending 3 after the QB? In a 2-gap scheme, they aren’t responsible for getting to the QB. Rogers often does anyway when he is single- or double-teamed because he is simply a phenomenal player. Our DEs don’t have that type of versatility; they can’t be expected to be huge run stuffers by 2-gapping and then all of a sudden transform in to Glenn Dorsey and shoot gaps (“one-gapping”) like Pro Bowlers.
The 3-4 LBs are the ones who are supposed to be able to get to the QB….why aren’t we sending at least 1? They could even drop a DE in to coverage if they wanted 8 guys back there. Shaun Smith isn’t going to beat Peters to the QB.
I was thinking about this after and during the Bills game. Trying to make sense of it. I think there has been some acceptance by our coaching staff that we aren’t good at blitzing. Whether thats from one OLB or multiple guys.
Instead, we sat back in coverage with 8 guys. It kind of worked. Lots of zones and helping the corners with safetys and LBs. 3 picks and shutting down their #1 was a success. It didn’t matter that Edwards had all day (unless he checked down, and then its a fault of our tackling, not scheme). This coverage first idea is not sexy or intimidating, but it can be effective.
Now our run defense, that’s another matter.
You are right, it worked relatively well. I think a lot of it had to do with getting in Trent Edwards’ head early. Holding Lee Evans without a catch is an accomplishment to be proud of for sure.
I really liked the one play on the last drive where We dropped a whole bunch of guys in to coverage and then after ~3 seconds someone came down to cover Lynch in the flat. Knowing that the Bills were trying to read deep-to-short, checking down after all of the upfield options were taken we adjusted our coverage as the play unfolded.
I am really worried that a west-coast offense or a better QB would have picked us apart, though. I really would have liked to have seen a late blitz from an ILB. Rogers takes up 3 guys, and we send Leon Williams or Jackson up the middle through one of those huge gaps…I think we could have forced turnovers or at least some incompletions. I guess I only have a problem with this if we play every team this way. And someone needs to remind Corey Williams how to get to the QB.
Re: Blocking Rogers
If we had a big C, I’d hope for two. But Chris Myers is not a big guy, so I have little doubt Rogers is going to get triple attention.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
4. Three to block him and 1 to distract him with a turkey leg.
by woodsmeister on Nov 21, 2008 1:42 PM EST up reply actions
Thanks For The Questions, Folks
It was fun. Best of luck today, and here’s to a good game that sees no one getting hurt.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...
The only thing that got hurt was our feelings…
Who's the best special teamer in NFL history? Josh Cribbs!
http://goallineblitz.com/game/signup.pl?ref=7249169
by kardiackids2007 on Nov 23, 2008 4:11 PM EST reply actions

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