Week 3: Texans vs. Broncos GDT

jargin · Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 7038 Location: Houston, TX

Here we are. 2-0 to start the season. Miami and Jacksonville were defeated pretty easily. This week is a different game. We are going up against a very strong team in the AFC and the Houston Texan's franchise nemesis Peyton Manning. If you have been a Texans fan for a while then you know how many times the robotic, machine-like Quarterback from the University of Tennessee shred our defense to pieces. He was like a brain surgeon on the field, cutting little tiny bits out of our brains. He did it for years and now we play him again. Only this time we are playing him for the first time not wearing a blue and white Indianapolis Colts jersey with a horseshoe on the side of the helmet. Instead, we are traveling to the mile high city to face off against Manning wearing the Broncos blue and orange jersey. We are 2-0 and the Broncos are 1-0 heading into their big MNF matchup tonight against the red hot Atlanta Falcons.

The Texans are one of the best teams in the NFL. No one doubts that at this point. Gary Kubiak, Rick Smith, Joe Marciano and Wade Phillips have done an absolutely excellent job of assembling and coaching this team to get to the point it is at today. We saw our offense's ability to smash the ball down someone's throat yesterday in Jacksonville and we saw our defense get 4 straight turnovers against Miami and allow only 117 yards of total offense to the Jags. To me, the key to this game is the Texan's defense. We have to put pressure on Manning in the pocket; it is the fundamental reason why we drafted Mario Williams, Amobi Okoye, Brian Cushing, Connor Barwin, JJ Watt, Brooks Reed, Whitney Mercilus and have seen so many different combinations of defensive linemen and defensive tackles. It is all built to put pressure on Manning. Antonio Smith is one of the most important veterans on this team and his engine never stops but JJ Watt is taking his play to another level in his 2nd season. So far in 2 games we have seen him record 8 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 passes defended and 1 fumble recovery. He is leading the charge of this defensive unit right now.

It is going to be the job of the defense to harass Manning in the pocket, force incomplete passes, force turnovers and stop the Broncos offense. We know they have a dangerous weapon in Demaryius Thomas and a solid run game with Willis McGahee. Manning also has our old TE Joel Dressen and his old TE Jacob Tamme to work with. Not to mention that Manning's LT Ryan Clady is one of the best in the league. It is going to be up to the defense to slow Manning down because if he gets into that fast paced, no huddle offense he is going to throw lasers all over the field. I think Kareem Jackson is going to play a big role in this game. We know what we are going to get from Jonathan Joseph every week; a great cover corner who can shadow any receiver in the league. Kareem on the other hand is a different card. He has certainly stepped up his play in the first two games of the year, getting an interception and being in great position on a lot of plays, its just that he still has that bad habit of running down field and never getting his head turned around. He looks leaner and like he has a more explosive break on the ball, but if anyone can exploit a weakness in a defense, its Peyton Manning. Manning will pick on Jackson all day if he can't keep up with Decker, Stokley or Thomas.

Position Battle
QB Advantage: Broncos
RB Advantage: Texans
WR Advantage: Texans
OL Advantage: Even
DL Advantage: Texans
LB Advantage: Texans
DB Advantage: Broncos

The QB advantage is with the team that has the first ballot hall of famer. I gave the Texans the RB advantage with the two headed monster Foster and Tate. The Texans have one of the top 3 WR's in the game but haven't developed Martin or Jean into fully legitimate outside threats yet. Just based on Andre Johnson alone the Texans should have the advantage at WR. The OL is probably even. The Broncos have a nice line and the Texans improved a lot against the Jaguars. I can't give either team an advantage there. On the DL there is no doubt that JJ Watt and Antonio Smith are some of the best in the league, although I think the Broncos are very good up front. I think its close in this category and its pretty close in a lot of categories. The Texans LB group is one of the best in the league minus Bradie James and his terrible example of what a whiff combined with horrible coverage and lack of awareness can look like on a football field. The Broncos have Von Miller in this category, which may make it more fair to say that it is even but I think Barwin and Reed are both due for a big game. Cushing has also been playing lights out through 2 games and could make a huge impact against the Broncos. I honestly have to give the DB advantage to the Broncos. Champ Bailey is a hall of famer plus they added Tracy Porter and have a pretty nice safety in Rahim Moore, a guy I wanted us to draft out of UCLA. Most of you saw how the Broncos were able to keep up with the Steeler's wide receivers pretty well. They are going to face a bigger challenge tonight against Julio Jones and Roddy White.

This is a big game. The biggest game of the year so far and from here on out they are only going to get bigger with Baltimore, New England, New York, Green Bay and Chicago on the schedule. I think the Texans have what it takes to win this game and win most of the big games this year. I think the Texans are a really strong, stout, smart football team. The intelligence of Matt Schaub, Arian Foster and JJ Watt along with the physical ability of Andre Johnson, Connor Barwin and Brian Cushing are going to take this team to some great places. We can only take it one game at a time. This game is the most important game imaginable right now. Going 3-0 to come home for Tennessee would be huge. The win here is the most important thing and the defense is the most important part of the game. Only 6 more days to kickoff.

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DreDay80 · Joined: 09 Jan 2012 Posts: 1660

The Broncos don't have a better DB advantage....This is the real test. We dealt with the Jags and Dolphins pretty easily and now we finally face a real offense.

longhorntexan · Joined: 09 Nov 2011 Posts: 173 Location: Austin, Texas

bunnyracin · Joined: 28 Jul 2011 Posts: 969

This is the first game of the season. To me this game will say A LOT of how good we really are. A road game against the best QB of all time and we are fully healthy. This is probably the game I looked forward to the most when the schedule came out. Cant wwwwwwwwwwwwait!!!

And if JJ Watt plays like he's been playing the past few games and absolutely takes over, I will be in the market for a JJ Watt jersey.

The guy who kept our team in the bunkhole for almost ten years (Manning) vs the new king of the AFC South.

This is going to be awesome.
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Raz · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:48 pm Post subject:

Great analysis.
I cannot wait for this game, i'm just so pumped for it i can't think straight.

Go Texans!
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Texansfan713 · Joined: 24 Dec 2009 Posts: 23337 Location: Houston

I am so nervous about this one. We only have beaten Peyton twice, both games at home. One advantage we might have is that the Broncos have a game tonight. I hope our OL is ready for the pass rush from Dumervil and Von Miller. I can't wait for this game!
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2011 and 2012 AFC South Champs

YellowSCRE4MS · Joined: 01 Nov 2011 Posts: 1209 Location: Houston

I agree that the defense has to stop peyton for us to win, but if we win the time of possession battle we should definitely win the game. We need to play keep away and have successful long drives ending in TDs.

Wolf6151 · Joined: 11 Feb 2008 Posts: 2559 Location: Pearland, Texas

This is a big game, a true test of where we think we are as a franchise this year. There's been lots oh hype this year about the Texans, this game will prove if it was warranted or not. Manning has been our nemesis for years and been able to pick apart this team but remember he hasn't played this defense before. He's always faced a terrible Texans defense.

bunnyracin · Joined: 28 Jul 2011 Posts: 969

lumberjackchris · Joined: 14 Apr 2011 Posts: 3111

Great write up Jargin.

Offensively I think our game plan will be pretty close to last week versus the Jags. Run ball and control the clock with a short passing attack but with a couple more deep balls (hopefully).

Defensively we've never had a JJ Watt to go up against Peyton so I think he'll make the difference and we sneak out with a 24-17 win.

I'm glad Denver has to play tonight, it takes a day away from them for prep and let's our guys watch their game and relax.
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kenney · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 11361

EliteTexan80 · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 6:11 pm Post subject:

lumberjackchris · Joined: 14 Apr 2011 Posts: 3111

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