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Post-Game Breakdown: Houston v. Dallas

Due to a failed two-point conversion (that I'm betting even Wade Phillips would've rather seen converted if it meant getting to avoid overtime and the risk of injury to anyone on his squad), this year's Governor's Cup returns to Dallas. Make no mistake, though--if not for a couple of costly/timely turnovers by the opposition, this game would've gotten ugly. Here's the final box score.


Critiquing after preseason games is tough. As fans, we really have no idea how closely the coaches played it to the vest. If you're truly trying to win a football game, you play your best players as much as possible; you don't sit them after a half or three (3) quarters. With that in mind, I think we all need to take a deep breath and not completely lose our collective mind just yet. Three (3) preseason games is, however, enough of a sample size for us to note one fairly troubling pattern:


Your Houston Texans defense has not stopped the opposition with anything approaching regularity.


No need to panic yet, but Richard Smith & Co. are not exactly engendering confidence amongst the battle red masses. Save the hysteria until we see how the squad does at Pittsburgh and at home hosting Baltimore. A few other observations:


1. Keep those good thoughts coming for Harry Williams. Surgery was apparently successful yesterday, and all of our best should go to Williams and his family.

2. Still no pass rush. At all. And yes, I know: Super Mario was working against double and triple teams most of the evening. But you know what? That should, in theory, mean that other players were free to get to Tony Romo, who had all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted on Friday night. Dallas' OL is one of the best in the league, but to not disrupt the offense at all? Inexcusable, regardless of whether Richard Smith refused to unveil any of his plus packages or schemes.

3. If I was Rosevelt Colvin, I'd be rather worried that I was going to get Keenan McCardelled in a day or five. Colvin's done next to nothing in game action.

4. If Chris Brown makes this team, I'll be flabbergasted. The guy is a walking justification for the non-guaranteed contract system embraced by the NFL.

5. For reasons unknown to me, Kubes continues to insist that Ahman Green will be ready to play by Week One. If he in fact is deemed "healthy," he's going to start. And when Green inevitably pulls a hamstring during the national anthem, Steve Slaton will be your new No. 1 RB.

6. Good to see Andre Johnson back on the field, but it was pretty clear his timing was off. He was a complete non-factor.

7. The Schaub looked absolutely brutal for the first quarter of Friday night's game before transforming into the QB we saw dissect New Orleans a week ago. While the OL didn't surrender a sack, Schaub and Rosenfels were forced to deliver the ball earlier than they would've liked for the majority of the night.

8. Kevin Walter won't sneak up on opposing teams this year, but I think the guy's still going to improve on last year's numbers. He just has a knack for making the tough catch, and I think Schaub is very comfortable going to him in any situation.

9. Apostrophe Davis is what Jacoby Jones should be.

10. Nice to see Owen Daniels raising his game as the preseason has progressed. Honestly, can you give me another team's 3 WR/1 TE set that you'd rather have than 'Dre/Walter/Apostrophe/Daniels?

11. Aside from Super Mario's goal line strip (recovered by Frank Okam), the run defense was abysmal on Friday night. And the pass defense wasn't any better. I'm no expert, but you're going to have problems winning football games if you can't stop the other team on the ground or through the air. At this point in the analysis, I'm of the mind that we're going to see an awful lot of shootouts this season.

12. Jacques Reeves continues to implicitly encourage the NFL to replace the numbers on the back of his jersey with a bullseye.

13. DeMeco Ryans looked like DeMeco Ryans on Friday night.

14. Zac Diles is your starter at SLB. There should be no further debate, especially since that INT he snagged in the end zone almost made me spontaneously combust.

15. We're counting on Fred Bennett to be a No. 1, shutdown CB. It's only preseason, but he has not looked like one yet. Considering he's going to have The Human Torch or a rookie on the other side of the field from him, this terrifies me.

16. Kris Brown seems to get better every game. The guy is automatic.

I've rambled enough. What say you, BRB? Who's impressed you? Made you question the existence of a benevolent Creator? Share your takes in the Comments below.

0 recs  |  Comment 22 comments

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Comments

Display:

Postivie : Slayton, Brown. No need for much explanation. Looks like the trade back strategy in the draft is working out nicely. Although..I mean did you SEE J. Stewart on Sat? That guy looks like a stud.

 RE point number 7 : Schaub was absolutely rattled in the first quarter after taking a couple of hits. The o-line didn’t look ready for the pressure Dallas was bringing. It looked like our interior o-linemen were getting beat in pass protection all night. But I was very encouraged that he was able to regain his poise and get rid of the ball before the pressure got to him for the remainder of the game.

RE point number 11: Exactly, where the hell is everyone else? Mario was doubled the entire game but no one else can even get close to the QB? I don’t care if it is just vanilla , rush the front 4. I just don’t understand the lack of progress by the defense as a whole. If anything it looks like they are regressing. From my perspective it looked like some guys on D were just kind of standing around and not trying during the game. Even Mario said they didn’t watch film on Dallas. That’s fine as long as they start watching film on Pittsburgh like yesterday. I guess I’ll just pray that we look like we give a shit during Week 1.

- tyler

by bullpen116 on Aug 25, 2008 11:46 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

edit ** Positive: rookie D Brown**

forgot we have three Browns on the team now.
Although K Brown has been awesome.

C Brown can just go away please.

- tyler

by bullpen116 on Aug 25, 2008 11:50 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Good Point

About the D looking like it’s regressing.

Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Aug 25, 2008 12:20 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

edit the edit

We actually have 4 Browns on the team now, not 3.

Duane, CC, Kris, Chris

So you're saying that now I have to think of some witty Sig that will be applicable across all the SBN sites? Go TexanHornStros!

by Shake on Aug 25, 2008 12:41 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

I still think

we need a nickname for Duane Brown….

by 1Texan on Aug 25, 2008 2:37 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

So we should just get rid of the one that’s too big of a pussy to play football right?

- tyler

by bullpen116 on Aug 25, 2008 4:48 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Defense

If Kubiak doesn’t wake up his loyalty to Richard Smith is going to get him fired.

It's Our Time.... or something...

by bennprince on Aug 25, 2008 12:12 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: McCardelled

Best turn of phrase – evar.

Got Texans? Visit BattleRedBlog.com for the latest on your Houston Texans!

by SOLIS on Aug 25, 2008 12:28 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

—Slaton should start.
—D Brown has work to do but has been better than I thought. He did a decent job holding off D Ware, imo.
—I don’t understand our rationale for not blitzing more. We give up big pass plays anyway, so we might as well send a lb or two at the qb.
—Schaub is going to be very good this year.
—Despite not having any sacks, Mario was a beast: he blew up his block and flushed Romo on the interception, and of course he caused the fumble. He played the run well and he seemed to be the only Texan who was able to get into the Cowboys’ backfield.
—Slaton should start.

As far as the D goes, I’m hoping that Richard Smith is just holding off on implementing more blitzes until the regular season. I do recall Mario not looking so good in the preseason last year, and of course, he got better. I hope the same happens to our D in general. If not, we’re looking at a lot of high-scoring games this year.

—Slaton should start.

by tehGrindCrusher on Aug 25, 2008 12:38 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

big Frank

I watched most of the game again last night, and as far as I could tell……the fumble recovery play was the ONLY play where Okam was at NT with Mario in the game.

Not to over-inflate Matt’s ego any more that it already is, but that was one of the very few plays where Mario was 1-on-1 against the Run. So he may be onto something with the space-eating Punter Nose Tackle theory, and how it would greaty help Mario & Amobi.

Also, Okam’s recovery of that fumble was just badass. 8-9 players were piling up in the standard loose-ball-drill…..and Okam just kneeled down, reached in, and grabbed the football with one hand (after, of course, he ran a quick mental Chaos Theory calculation involving trajectory of the loose football and the earth’s rotational velocity).

So you're saying that now I have to think of some witty Sig that will be applicable across all the SBN sites? Go TexanHornStros!

by Shake on Aug 25, 2008 12:52 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

heh

that made me giggle like a school girl.

by bigfatdrunk on Aug 25, 2008 12:59 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

As I struggle to keep my ego in check...

I’ll not that my theory was not exactly groundbreaking. Which makes it all the more irritating when I am proven right, only to have the team (read: Dick Smith) ignore the results.

Yay, sports.

by MDC on Aug 25, 2008 2:30 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

"note,"

not “not.”

Yay, sports.

by MDC on Aug 25, 2008 2:31 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Steve Slaton

Will come in on 2nd and 13, after a brief stoppage of play to remove the injured, Ahman Green from the field………………..
Seriously, I would Love Green to be healthy, but I think Slaton will start very early in the season.

GO TEXANS!!!!!!!!!

by Texanmaniac on Aug 25, 2008 1:17 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

RB Situation

Everything I’ve seen and heard from Kubes spells out fairly clearly that Ahman Green is RB#1 if he is healthy enough to take the field. Steve Slaton is your 3rd down/change of pace back. He will stay in that role regardless of Green’s condition. If Green cannot play, then Chris Taylor is the starting RB.

Despite how thrilled we are with how Slaton has performed this preseason, Kubiak will not start the rookie when he has a more experienced back (even though Taylor doesn’t have that much experience) to field. I’m convinced Kubes has Slaton absolutely locked in as the 3rd down guy. Taylor has improved with each game, both running and picking up the blitz.

Chris Brown is, of course, gone.

by knave64 on Aug 25, 2008 2:19 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

houstontexans.com

(on if there were any roster moves) "We just added (FB) Jon Abbate. Harry (Williams) goes to the IR, and we signed Jon Abbate. We brought him back. We’re going to take a hard look at him at fullback this week."

by 1Texan on Aug 25, 2008 3:03 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Abbate

Wasn’t that the dude from Wake with the heart-string story about his brother?

If so, I’m back on his bandwagon.

So you're saying that now I have to think of some witty Sig that will be applicable across all the SBN sites? Go TexanHornStros!

by Shake on Aug 25, 2008 6:41 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Yup

Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Aug 25, 2008 7:47 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

luckily

6 of our games are against JAX, IND, and TEN. I think we’re actually better matched this year against these teams than in recent years.

If we can handle the front 7 of the opponent, we can move the ball with anybody. I think the shakeups of the front 4 of the other teams in our division should bode well for 3-4 wins in our division.

Now we just need to keep the out of division record we had last year!

Healthy and Turnover free 2008-09, and we win 11!

by texanphil on Aug 25, 2008 3:52 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

3 WR / 1 TE sets better than or comparable to ours

Indy – Wayne, Gonzalez, Harrison, Clark. Easily the best in the league, I think. Harrison only has a few more miles on him but those three will be better than our three this year.

Cincy – Housh, Johnson, Henry (when not in front of a judge), whoever they pretend is a tight end but is actually another right tackle. Too much talent, but I would throw a fit if we ever had a player like Chris Henry.

Possibly Arizona as well, or Detroit in a similar situation. Calvin Johnson is a manimal. Maybe Green Bay. New Orleans this year could be vicious if Robert Meachem keeps things up as he’s been doing in the pre-season; he’d be teamed with Shockey and Colston. Pittsburgh is pretty good, too, with Ward, Santonio Holmes, and Heath Miller.

by socctty on Aug 26, 2008 11:23 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Point Taken

On Indy, but I’d take Houston’s 3 WR/1 TE set over anyone else.

Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Aug 27, 2008 8:49 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Agreed with Tim

Cinci has a suspended guy and a guy with a torn labrum in that mix, as well as an unnamed TE. Don’t know how you can call them better.

For Indy, Clark is highly overrated, but, yeah, they are still better.

Arizona? Who are they playing at WR3 and TE? Steve Breaston and Jerame Tuman? I love Breaston, but Andre Davis is better. And Daniels v. Tuman isn’t even close.

Detroit? Two Rams castoffs at WR3 (Furrey/McDonald) and no TE with more than 17 catches next year.

As for the rest, at best there’s two good receivers in the mix, so they fail the 3WR/1TE set premise of this discussion.

Yay, sports.

by MDC on Aug 27, 2008 8:04 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

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