The Texans pulled it out...Finally!  Huge emotional win.  Celebrate for now.  Lots to go over.  Good and bad.  Go Texans!  Bulls over Cat-Fish!

What do These 3 Things Have In Common?

(Special thanks to blogcdn.com, templewingchun.com, cheyne.co.nz and z.about.com for images)

They're all part of a formation the Dolphins are calling "Wildcat".  Its early success is not based on magical alignments or genius play design.  Rather, it's early triumph comes from the execution of a few sound principles. 

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A lot of people were, shall we say, disappointed with my recap of the Texans 31-12 loss on Sunday.  People said that I was looking at the game through Vandermeer-colored glasses.  After all, the Texans just lost by 19.  How can you say it was a good game?  I'm glad you asked.

Yes, the Texans lost and yes, the Texans had some bad plays in there.  Despite all that, I saw a world of awesome plays and even better, a winning game plan.

Let's look at the numbers.

The Texans' offense ran 65 plays.  Even with the frantic passing attempts at the end of the game, they still came away with 57% passing/43% running.  That's an incredibly balanced offensive attack.  These plays were run out of 19 different formations.  That means the Titans' defense saw a new look at least every 3.4 plays.  It was far more often than that on most drives.

Schaub was shaky at times in the passing game, but he still put the ball where it needed to go more often than not.  The "not" hurt with 3 interceptions and a few critical incompletes, but he's doing his job.  With more practice, he'll do it better. 

Also, there were numerous deep passes called.  Kubiak had Schaub throwing to the flats, to the middle of the field, and deep down the side lines.  As the game progressed, the Titans pass rush picked up in intensity.  Kubiak had Schaub switch to 3 step drops as well as throw 2 great screens to slow down the pass rush.

The things that excited me most about the passing game were the play actions and bootlegs that were called.  The Titans' defense was stacking 8-9 men in the box, and Kubiak started calling play actions and bootlegs against it.  The Titans' defense backed up real quick.  I'm excited because Kubiak made extensive use of some of his favorite tools in the passing game.

The running game itself was very even.  With the exception of when it went directly behind the combination of Chris Myers and Mike Brisiel (RG) the running plays were called in every direction.  I suspect that not as many running plays were called to go off right guard both because of a lack of power in that offensive line combination and as most runs off RG are straight at Albert Haynesworth.

Which brings me to a point I made in earlier posts: The Texans' offense played a very physical game.  They moved all over the place in zone blocking for rushes and in pass protection.  I reiterate that it was a great achievement to make Fat Albert run until he had to come off the field for a part of the game after having such a bad game against another fatty, Casey Hampton.  This time Kubiak made the fat men run, and it had an effect.  This will only improve with each game.

Most importantly, and I stress most importantly, Kubiak played the whole game from start to finish to win.  He wasn't trying to keep it close.  This game was a dog fight, and Kubiak had the Texans fighting the whole game.  Rather than hope the Titans were going to slip up somewhere and have the Texans steal a win, Kubiak took it to them.  He called 11 plays that were designed specifically to put the ball in the end zone.  He took shots at the end zone from the 16 all the way out to the 35.  They didn't pan out this game, but he took his shots.  He went down in a blaze of glory.  We know we have a coach who is playing to win.  After years of a coach who played not to lose, I'm excited that we have a coach that knows how to win.

The scoring in this game was not as lopsided as the final score makes it appear.  Examine the graph above and you'll see actual scoring on each drive, as well as the 11 attempts at the end zone.  Despite all the mistakes along the way, it wasn't until midway through the 4th quarter that the game was out of reach.  For the whole second half, a touchdown would have drastically changed the makeup of the game and Kubiak went for the TD over and over.

This game was a tale of 2 teams going all out.  Take a look at the game book.  First Downs: TEX 18 / TIT 19, 3rd Down Eff: TEX 20% / TIT 38%, Total Net Yds: TEX 317 / TIT 343, Total Off Plays: TEX 68 TIT 62, Average Gain: TEX 4.7 / TIT 5.5, Net Pass Yds: TEX 171 / TIT 189, Gross Pass Yds: TEX 188 / TIT 189.  Even Net Punt Avg: TEX 38.8 / TIT 37.2. 

There is only one stat that killed the Texans.  Red Zone: TEX 1-6 17% / TIT 4-4 100%

That said, there are 3 things the Texans need to work on and games like this could turn into a 40+ point rout of the opponent. 

Red Zone - The Texans are driving the ball down the field and not finishing.  This has been a problem all along for the Texans, but now they're so close.  Kubiak called 11 plays that were designed to specifiaclly put the ball in the endzone. That's a possible 77 points.  Coming away with 1 TD and 12 total points says that when the Texans improve in the red zone, and when they do, they'll be hanging 30+ on opponents regularly. 

Matt Schaub to Andre Johnson - Something is broken here.  They are not in sync.  I would make them stay after ever practice and throw every route imaginable until they are scoring TDs.  Kubiak called AJ's number 12 times in the game.  Of those 12 times, 5 of those plays had AJ in the endzone and he had 0 TD receptions.  Of those 12 targets, he only had 2 receptions for 29 yards. 

Running Game - The running game showed some life, especially with Steve Slaton going 18/116 1TD and an amazing 6.4 YPC.  Yet, there were several running plays that managed to only pick up 3 or less yards.  As the OL keeps working, I believe that the running game is going to be solid and churn out yards.

I'll look at the individual drives tomorrow and the defense later this week.

I finally got to watch and think about every minute of this weeks game and I am nothing but excited.  Sure the score says it was 31-12, but that's not what I saw on the field.  I saw a solid exciting football team playing their hearts out.

The Texans have faced 2 of the nastiest challenges possible back to back and have gotten better each week.  They to Pittsburgh and got buried, but gave them a few good licks.  And then the Texans got battered by Hurricane Ike before taking the field on the road again to battle the Titans.

And battle they did.  I don't think I saw a single play where I wondered "what in the hell are they doing".  I was cheering into the final seconds.

Gary Kubiak

Many congratulations are deserved this week.  First and foremost, Gary Kubiak for having the balls to go for it on 4th down 6 times.  This was an all out dog fight.  What better way to show your players that you have confidence in them than to let them make a play.  The Texans didn't catch as many breaks as they needed, but they still made huge plays, especially on 4th down.  Keep calling them Kubiak.

Richard Smith

Whatever it was that got him to call this game the way he did, please, please let it happen again.  Our defense blitzed and pressured all game.  Yes, we didn't have any huge game changing plays this week, but there was real life there.  There was a real defense on the field.  Most plays 5-6 guys were crossing the line of scrimmage.  The Texans gave up some coverage and Collins found some holes, but they kept battering him.  By the second quarter, he was sweating profusely and breathing heavily.  Several of his throws were off target and several plays, both runs and passes, were blown up.  That's the kind of Texans defense I want to see. 

Kyle Shanahan

Whether it was Kubiak or Shanahan calling the offense, they did worlds better this week.  They got Schaub moving and it showed in the line play.  The offensive line was much better in their protection.  Most importantly, especially with our undersized mobile line, we had the Titans big fat men, running around laboring for breath.  At one point we even chased Albert Haynesworth off the field. 

Another thing they did well was adjust the play calling.  For some reason they started Schaub with 5-7 step drops and the Titans were getting to him.  By the second quarter they had switched to 3 step drops and screens which was really tearing up the Titans defense.

Third, they tried several different things and stuck with what worked.  There were no vanilla formations for the Texans.  They showed several different looks and both ran and passed out of them.  The Titans defense was noticeably slowed until the 4th quarter when they could pin their ears back. 

Fourth, Kubiak's philosophy is starting to get traction.  Schaub had several good bootlegs.  The running game actually worked this week and Kubiak was able to execute a few of his favorite plays off of it.

Lastly, They absolutely attacked the end zone.  They ran plays attacking the end zone from all over the field.  If any of those plays and scored, this would be an entirely different game.  None the less, they attacked over and over again.  The Texans will score on these plays.

Offense and defense both played a great game.  A loss to a division opponent sucks, but I've never been happier about where an 0-2 team is.

More on some individual players after the jump.

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With all the havock that Hurricane Ike wrecked on our fair city, a lot of people are a little frazzled.  The Texans stayed home with their families through the storm.  Now, the Texans are taking the field against their division rivals, the Tennessee Titans, with the home opener weeks away.

Football is an emotional game, and momentum can mean everything.  When they take the field against the Titans next Sunday, how are they going to come out?  It should be an emotion-filled game against a hated division rival.  Will Houston come out on fire after all this mess or will they be deflated after watching their friends and family struggle with things like electricity and water?

I'm really hoping that the Texans come out fired up.  What kind of emotion do you think they will take the field with?

The Texans have always been a high-character organization.  So when Hurricane Ike blew threw town, Texans players opted to stay with their families and loved ones rather than leave town to play the Ravens.

PFT reports:

Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com reports that the Houston Texans didn’t want to play their Week Two game against the Ravens at a neutral site because they didn’t want to leave their families in the zone of the hurricane damage while they went to another town, such as New Orleans or Atlanta, to play the game.

Personally, I think this speaks a lot to their character.  When everything else in their world is swallowed up by playing this game professionally, it's nice to see that this team has their priorities in order. 

Everyone at BRB hopes that you and yours made it through Hurricane Ike okay.

Gregg Easterbrook of Tuesday Morning Quarterback writes:

Scouts Notes: Houston's Matt Schaub throws pretty well to his left -- but man does he telegraph passes when he throws right. The Steelers have obviously noticed this -- how long until every team does?

Can anyone confirm this?  I'm going to go back to my DVR and see if I can find this in the Pittsburgh game. 

Please check it out and post if this is at all the case.  

Probably a weird thought after just getting smacked around by them, but I noticed that some Steelers players are feeling some pain (along with their elation).  Ben Rothlisberger (shoulder), Marvel Smith (groin), and Deshea Townsend (heel) are all hurting after last Sunday's physical battle.

I only point this out as evidence that the Texans didn't just lay down.  They got man-handled, but they put the hurt on a few of the Steelers as well.

The sick feeling of getting pulverized will pass.  Until then, just 3 more things to think about from the game against the Steelers.

First, a story.  When I was 13, I played in one of those great Thanksgiving pick-up tackle football games you have with your friends.  One of the guys playing was a gigantic Samoan.  He played D-line at some college.  He got the ball on a kick off and came charging down the field.  He was running straight ahead and didn't make any attempt to avoid me.  I had the brilliant idea to go head up with him and stop him with pure tenacity.  We were going full tilt at each other and I made a flying leap to tackle him.  What happened next was such a gigantic departure from my expectations that the moment has forever been burned in my memory.  As we collided, I actually bounced off of him and was flung backwards several feet.

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On the eve of his team taking Heinz Field to begin the 2008 season, Matt Schaub is definitely flashing that goofy smile today, because he knows that Smithiak just made his life a whole lot easier for the next few years by giving him the protection he needs every snap.  How, you ask? By locking up a franchise right tackle, that's how.

PFT is reporting that Eric Winston has signed a five (5) year extension for $30,000,000.00, $10,000,000.00 of which is guaranteed.  The Gaping Void that once existed on the right side of the Texans' OL is now going to be a strength until at least 2013.  Another brilliant move by Smithiak.