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This Is What It Sounds Like When Doves Cry--Part II

Part I is here.  I won't rehash what's said there.  Except to say that if I gave grades for performance, the Texans' offense deserved a "G-" for the first three quarters.  An "F" would be too high.  As ballsy as the fourth quarter comeback was, make no mistake--the Titans enabled a good portion of it by going EXTREMELY conservative on both offense and defense.  The comeback was almost legendary.  But it had as much or more to do with the Titans as it did with Sage & Co.  On to the defense and other miscellaneous items...

  1.  DeMeco Ryans is not from this planet.
  2.  It's a disturbing, recurring theme halfway through the season:  Why in the name of all that is decent and holy don't the Texans blitz more?  Their one sack (by DeMeco) came on a blitz.  Aside from that, the pressure on Collins was sparse all day.  Look, I understand Richard Smith's reluctance to bring the house on passing downs.  First, your front four contains three (3) former first round draft picks.  In theory, those guys should be able to pressure the QB without any help.  Secondly, blitzing necessarily leaves your secondary on more of an island than they would be otherwise, and everyone knows that the last place you want to leave Petey Faggins is on an island.  At least metaphorically...I'm sure many of us would chip in on a one-way plane ticket to send Mr. Smiles to the Aleutian Islands right now.  But...if you don't pressure the QB (which the front four clearly are not doing with any consistency), an NFL QB is going to pick you apart.  Damned if you and damned if you don't, I suppose.  Personally, I subscribe to the theory that you want your corners to spend as little time as possible in coverage; the more time they are forced to cover, the more likely they are to get juked or burned.  So why not take a risk and blitz?  The status quo certainly isn't working.
  3.  Speaking of corners, I was shocked at how often the Titans went right at Dunta yesterday.  With regard to the big play to Roydell Williams, I don't know if Dunta could have played it any better.  That was just a perfect throw from Kerry Collins, who I thought was legally barred from making such throws.
  4.  News flash--Petey Faggins is still very, very bad at his job.  But the newest development seems to be that he's even terrible at nickel, which was supposed to be his natural position.  Given his penchant for defensive holding, pass interference, and every other penalty imaginable, what do Dexter Wynn and/or Jamar Fletcher have to do to replace him?  No way either of them can be worse.
  5.  Stats aside, Fred Bennett looks to be the real deal; I'm more excited about his future every week.  The kid is going to take his lumps, but he's got a knack for delivering the big hit and/or making the play more often than not.
  6.  Once again, Morlon Greenwood quietly turned in a ridiculously good game (12 tackles).  Our natural fixation with DeMeco probably takes attention away from Greenwood, but the guy is playing extraordinarily well right now.
  7.  Von Hutchins had, I think, his poorest game since moving into the starting lineup.
  8. Travis Johnson was a force of nature on Sunday. I've never seen him so active and involved. I'm not naive enough to think he's figured it all out. I will, however, pray that he bottled up some of that intensity for San Diego.
  9.  I can't conclude an analysis of Sunday's game without mentioning the fans and the mass exodus that occurred during the second half.  Matt has his take here.  Mine's a bit different.  There's nothing that says people have to stay at a game until the bitter end.  You can come and go as you please.  But here's the deal:  One of these days, the Texans are going to make the playoffs.  One of these days, the Texans are going to win the Super Bowl.  One of these days, it'll be popular to be a Texans fan.  When those things happen, there's going to be a lot of people who claim that they supported the team since the beginning; that they were there for all of the bad times; and that they always stuck by the team.  And the vast majority of those "fans" will be liars.  The 10,000 or so people (and whoever watched the complete game, be it at home, at a bar, via DVR, etc.) who stuck around Reliant for the whole game on Sunday won't be in that group.  And we'll be the ones who deserve the inevitable success the most.  So here's to the diehards.

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Okay, I'll go.
I didn't want to even discuss football this week, but I was one of us who continued to watch that train wreck to see how bad things were going to get. It may be unpopular, but your take on the comeback was dead-on. It was more them than us.

I can't figure out the FO/coaching staff for my life. I know that we don't have Elway, Rod Smith in his prime and aren't lucky enough to step in shit with every running back we draft, but the earmark of this franchise seems to be conservatism. David Carr stinks up the joint and is never replaced. If the run isn't working, and I mean NOT working, what do we do? We try to establish a running game no matter what. Getting a second receiver involved wasn't even a thought for four years.

Ditto with Faggins. He sucks, plain and simple. The other guys can't be that bad, and even if they are, let's just see what happens.

David Anderson returning punts. After being cut in the preseason. After getting signed two weeks ago. In the fourth quarter. Of a division game. Of a game you seem to be building some kind of momentum in. Just fucking mind boggling.

Watch the replay later everyone. Randy Cross couldn't hide his disdain for this franchise. Toward the end, he gets on Travis Johnson for getting fired up, trying to fire up his team and getting in the face of some O-linemen. Hey Randy, they were mounting a comeback and making some pretty big stops. We've been waiting for this since this guy was drafted. A tackle getting excited for making plays. Who ever heard of such a thing. Dick.

I'm done.

by JBNJ on Oct 23, 2007 2:44 PM CDT   0 recs

100% In Agreement
With everything you typed, JBNJ.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Oct 23, 2007 3:12 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Dunta
This is the second year in a row that Richard Smith made a stupid play call to cost the game with the Titans.

If you look at the play, check out where the safety help is.  He's barely in the picture.  Do you think that Smith knows what safety means?

When Andre Davis made that great catch, he did it against two guys and AD made a concentration catch.  You have safety help, maybe one guy can knock the ball out or make it more difficult to get it.  Because that is what non-clown DCs do.

I had no problem with Robinson coverage at all.  Collins just threw a nails ball. And he said he knew he was throwing into single coverage there.  I'm not sure you should bait the other team into throwing the ball far enough to get into great field goal range.

My opinion of Smith from last year:

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/texans/2006/08/25/the-texans-defense-got-rocks-in-their-lock ers/
   

by Steph on Oct 23, 2007 2:45 PM CDT   0 recs

Re: Safety Help
The general refusal to roll safeties over to help the CBs has been bothering me all year.  Granted, it's most obvious when we're repeatedly treated to Petey in single coverage, which inevitably produces a migraine-inducing penalty or big play that causes me to question the existence of a kind and benevolent Creator.  But you're right--it doesn't make a lot of sense that Dunta had zero support.  It's not like the safeties had to worry about giving up a TD; everyone in the stadium knew that the Titans were just trying to get into FG range for Bironas.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Oct 23, 2007 3:10 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Agree and disagree
There's nothing that says "people" have to stay to the bitter end, but I feel like real fans should stay.  So, I guess we are just looking at it from opposite ends--the people you see as coming back to the team when we are good are the people that I don't count as actual fans in the purest sense of the word and the people you count as the real diehards are the only ones I consider real fans.  Tomayto, tomahto.

Also, Kerry Collins is a homo.

by MDC on Oct 23, 2007 3:18 PM CDT   0 recs

Could it be?
Now maybe this is just the Busch talking, but did Travis Johnson look respectable out there? I swear I saw him stuffing the middle and getting in the Collins' face to tip a few passes. Maybe the Trent Green events will trigger some sort of Haynesworth-like revival in him to where he actually lives up to his potential.

Speaking of which, Haynesworth said this after the game:

"Well, heck, I mean we probably would have won this game 35-7 if he stayed in," Haynesworth said. "It was good to knock him out I guess, but he's going to come back and I don't think there'll be any kind of quarterback controversy because they pay that guy a lot of money."

It was good to knock him out? What is this, Mutant League Football? The goal of the game is not to injure the opposing team. What an asshole.

by Nashmeister on Oct 23, 2007 3:26 PM CDT   0 recs

Travis
has been playing inspired football.  It's weird, but I like it.  I hated the guy as much as anyone but Tim before this preseason, when he kind of won me over.  The "Fuck Trent Green" response completely sold me on the New Travis.  And this week, yeah, he was literally playing sideline to sideline and smacking some people in the mouth.

by MDC on Oct 23, 2007 3:33 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Haynesworth
I meant to include that quote in the recap.  Needless to say, I'm hoping he gets gonorrhea and chases it with a tall glass of syphillis.
Looking forward to a day when being a Texans fan doesn't mean that April is the highlight of my season...

by Tim on Oct 23, 2007 3:36 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Oh, damn.
I responded to this one after reading the first part. I'm glad somebody else noticed TJ.

By the way, I'm not one to defend Petey, but I thought that PI call was bullshit. Petey has become the Mike Piazza of the NFL. Once you get a reputation for not being able to throw anybody out (or in this case cover receivers), teams start running on you (throwing at you) every time. Even the best catcher is only going to throw runners out 25% of the time.

I thought he played that fairly well thogh. He certainly wasn't holding him back; if anything, he was pushing him towards the back of the end-zone, and even then there was barely any contact. That said, if he was pushing him towards the ball and the receiver still didn't get to it, how do you call PI?

by Nashmeister on Oct 23, 2007 3:34 PM CDT   0 recs

That one was bullshit
but he got away with one earlier in the game at midfield when he was holding on to the WRs arm.  So, in theory, those evened out.  Of course, the fact that one was in the endzone make the bad call worse than the no call.

by MDC on Oct 23, 2007 3:38 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Re: Petey's Latest PI
I thought it was a dubious call, especially because the ball looked to be uncatchable.  Maybe the refs thought he was faceguarding?

Regardless, you're right--his reputation precedes him to the point that we should expect that call every time his assignment doesn't catch the ball.

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

by Tim on Oct 23, 2007 3:38 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

Confession
I confess I left the bar after our inept beginning to the second half.  I justify this by saying that had I stayed any longer, I would have been drunk, belligerent and depressed - and still had to get me and my car home somehow.  It was safety!  I swear it!

The remainder of the game was spent w/ Sirius on the couch, spitting profanities and garnering sympathy from my roomie.  (Fucking BoSox fan.)

Tell me again why I follow sports?

by DisplacedTexan on Oct 23, 2007 8:24 PM CDT   0 recs

Nice
I think your departure is fine.  Unless you were going to yell REALLY loudly, I don't think you could have swung the outcome.

by MDC on Oct 23, 2007 9:04 PM CDT to parent up   0 recs

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