Good problems with our D

Pastor Dillon · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:58 am Post subject: Good problems with our D

has anyone noticed that our Defense has been so dominant, that no one (except Watt) is putting up any numbers?

we are top 5 in total, passing, rushing and scoring Defense and have been pretty dominant from game 1 (minus 1 quarter against Manning)

but the ironic thing is that the individual stats dont seem to match that

JJ Watt is playing insane, when was the last time we saw a 3-4 DE be so good?

only 3 other guys have sacks (Smith -1, Jamison-1, Reed-1.5)

no one on our D is averaging more than 5 tackles a game

we have 3 ints (all week 1) by 3 different guys

we simply are so dominant that our guys arent playing enough to get the numbers, but im ok with that
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Texansfan713 · Joined: 24 Dec 2009 Posts: 27639 Location: Houston

The one guy that stands out that hasnt done anything is Connor Barwin. I am not worried about it yet since the season is still young, but I am starting too. Did he even rack up a tackle yesterday? I didnt hear his name at all.
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TexansFan80 · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:31 pm Post subject:

EliteTexan80 · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:19 pm Post subject:

Apollo Stallion · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 5431 Location: Battle Red State

There was nothing "dominant" about the d in the 4th Quarter. The Broncos were 2 plays away from making this an epic meltdown. Great teams "finish" and this team gave up 50 yards in two plays in the first drive of the 4th and 74 yards in 16 on the 2nd drive. If Decker doesn't make a boneheaded move and pin them back to the 14 while burning two plays worth of clock, the spin on this game is more "epic collapse" than "epic crowning." Yes, escaping with the win is great, but this game exposed more than it cleared up in my eyes.

1) Brice McCain is who I thought he was. An awful man-to-man defender who will get picked apart in situations like this all year. The Texans presumably are going to be protecting leads often this year which means 4 receiver sets which means you can't hide McCain. If you can't hang with 36 year old-lost 4 steps Brandon Stokely in the slot, this week could be flat scary with Kendall Wright or Randall Cobb coming up. It is well past time to see what Brandon Harris can do and I could care less that Alan Ball is better on special teams. McCain is a handy zone defender, that's it.

2) Wade Phillips. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Wade is great in drawing up a gameplan and going after Peyton with the base defense was a brilliant strategy through 3 quarters. However, that 4th quarter was screaming for more strategic blitzing once Peyton got his rhythm. The front 3 were clearly gassed in the thin air and we needed Whitney, Barwin, or even Nading to come flying around the edge. Lance Ball wasn't going to beat us at that point. Fortunately JJ used his superhuman power to get the one sack we needed, but this is 2012 Peyton and he can be sacked. More importantly, Wade failed to adjust the secondary when it became clear McCain couldn't hang. At one point, McCain was isolated on 6' 3" Jacob Tamme which is an absurd mismatch by 1/2 foot. For all of Phillips success, he has been prone to late game collapses with teams marching down the middle of the field the way the Broncos did in that 2nd 4th q drive.

3) Kareem Jackson. The only reason we are talking about McCain instead of Jackson today is that Manning chose Stokely instead of Thomas for the 38 yard TD. Thomas had Jackson beat by 10 yards on the same play which is inexcusable in the 4th Q. I have no idea where Quin was on that play as Demps can't support both of our corners deep on the same play. We adjusted well on the next drive where Manning just took everything underneath, but until proven otherwise, I'm not going to consider a 21 point lead enough with 2 guys out there that can be exploited as easily as these two.

Yes, all in all it was a great 3 quarters of football yesterday, but ask the Dolphins how much beating a team for 3 quarters is worth. At this point our goal needs to be winning home field throughout the playoffs and a bad quarter or two can cost us that and we shouldn't let the fact that we escaped this week with the W prevent us from addressing the few items that could keep us from the big prize, namely this secondary and q4 defensive strategy.
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EliteTexan80 · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:44 pm Post subject:

treece300e · Joined: 29 Jul 2011 Posts: 358 Location: Nampa, ID

There were also some notable drops by Demaryius Thomas, one when he was wide open 15-18 yards down the field without Texans jersey within 6 yards. I know there was at least one other drop, but I don't remember the specifics surrounding it.

I also think that Bradie James' lack of talent is preventing some of Cushing's productivity. Cush has made a few statement tackles, but appears to be in coverage more often. On running plays, he is around the play, but it seems like teams are leaving it on James and the safeties to make the plays, and James isn't getting it done that well. Fortunately, our Safeties are great tacklers.

With as many holes in our zone that we had yesterday, we can expect a loss to the Packers if this isn't addressed. Rodgers and his receivers have much better rapport and won't have the same issues exploiting those holes as the Broncos did. While we are putting a lot of pressure on, we need to get more sacks, and more turnovers to get to that next step; Super Bowl. I thought the offense looked pretty solid for most of the game, and blasted a defense that came out on its heels and was reeling until the second half.

I'm actually very happy that this game was close because it makes it more obvious to players and coaches that there are still plenty of things to work on in practice, and to study in the film room. I think we're better off heading into the Titans game with 6-point win, than with a 20-point win.