eagle eye Posted October 29, 2016 Author Posted October 29, 2016 It's been 5 days since the Texans laid yet another road egg in Denver. 3 road games, 3 losses; 4 road games, 4 wins. I'm sensing a pattern here. I'll tell you, this week's game will test that pattern in a real way. I heard someone say that Detroit was the NFL's version of the Zombie Apocalypse because they Lions just won't die. In all 7 games the Lions have played this season the final outcome wasn't reached until inside the final 2 minutes of the game. Detroit is 4-3 on the season. Detroit kicks FG w/0:08 secs left to beat Indy 39-35 - W Tennessee scored TD w/1:52 to beat Detroit 16-15 - L Detroit scored 10 4Q points, the last a TD w/1:31 left but onside kick failed. GB won 34-27 - L Detroit scored TD w/2 point conversion to pull within 17-14 of the Bears. Onside kick failed. Chi won 17-14 - L Detroit kicked FG w/ 1:28 left to beat Philly 24-23 - W Detroit kicks FG w/1:29 left in the game to beat Rams 31-28 - W Detroit scores TD w/0:16 left in game to beat Wash 20-17 - W The largest margin of victory or loss was 7 points and that happened once in the loss to Green Bay. They won once by 4 when they kicked the FG with 0:08 seconds left and they got an oh-by-the-way safety on the next play to push the margin to 4. 3 games were decided by 3 points 3 times and two games were decided by one point. To say it ain't over til the fat lady sings rings completely true with these Lions. Detroit is tied for 11th with Pittsburgh in average points per game with 24.3. By contrast Houston is 31st at 16.7 PPG. That leads me to the point of all this, Brock Osweiler has to be a huge disappointment to the Texans so far. He is still young and he is still learning the Texans offense. In Denver he had 4 years to learn the offense and he was able to do it behind one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, Peyton Manning. In Houston he's dealing with a brand new RB to Houston in Lamar Miller and two of his major weapons are rookies, Braxton Miller and Will Fuller. He does have DeAndre Hopkins, Ryan Griffin and CJ Fiedorowicz to lead on, and he has, but the bottom line Brock has pretty much stunk up to this point in the season. Brock is 20th in passing yards with 1,533 with a QBR of 71.9. That's certainly nothing to write home about. He has got to ramp his game up and Detroit's defense is ripe for the taking if he only will. Detroit is the 25th ranked defense in the league giving up an average of 24.3 PPG. By contrast Houston's defense is ranked 12th giving up 22.0 PPG. The numbers actually favor the Lions all things considered and the wise guys agree with the Lions -2.5 points. It's hard for a road team to be favored in the NFL so that speaks to how the wise guys feel about the lack of an effective offense the Texans have. The bottom line is Brock has to be better than he's been so far. The question is can he? So far he hasn't shown enough to give fans hope he can get better. So, what does that mean for tomorrow? Texans 24 Detroit 20 with a heavy dose of Houston defense. Quote
eagle eye Posted November 1, 2016 Author Posted November 1, 2016 The NFL is a funny animal. One week you’re up and the next you wonder just what the heck happened. The Texans have been on a roller coaster like that all season, or at least when they started having road games. The first half of the Texans season is over and they have had 5 home games and 3 road games. I’ll give you just a moment to figure out what their record is half way into the season. Got it? I knew you’d get it right away. Houston is 5-3 but the down side is their schedule is 3 home and 5 road games in the second half. Houston will get their bye week this week so they can bask in a solid win over Detroit this past Sunday. It was a good win over a team that had won 3 straight so there is definitely something for the Texans to hang their bye week hat on. Brock Osweiler played pretty well other than a dumb throw that was picked off ending a Texans scoring threat. I think the play calling left a little bit to be desired too and that’s all on Bill O’Brien but, all in all, a win is a win. I see Osweiler’s stat line of 20/29 for 186 yards and a TD and a pick. Those are old school numbers for a QB. If he put up numbers like that in 1983 he would be up for player of the week honors. The number you like is the 69% completion percentage which is a marked improvement over last week’s 49%. What’s worrisome is the fact that Houston only managed two field goals in the second half after taking a 14-3 lead into halftime. In my pregame prediction I mentioned that a strong effort by the defense would be needed and danged if they didn’t get it. You take what had been a fairly high output offense and hold them to just 13 points and less than 300 yards of total offense and you have definitely got something. Houston will take the first week of November off and come back with a winnable road game against Jacksonville. It won’t be a picnic but it’s better than playing New England, Minnesota and Denver. Or is it………………………..? In the mean time, here’s Texans.com’s John Harris with his weekly gazillion observations from this past Sunday’s game. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/29-observations-from-Texans-vs-Lions/55a8f9f2-cdc2-44b7-8c53-ffaf03097988 One item of note, former Texans WR Andre Johnson, who is left Houston prior to last season for the Tennessee Titans has called it a career. Johnson was the face of the first 12 years of the Texans existence and he was pretty much the only quality player the Texans had for most of his career but he still has put up Hall of Fame caliber numbers. The link below is from Texans.com with player reactions to Dre’s retirement. There is also an interview segment along with the article. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-reflect-on-Andre-Johnsons-career/85cf96f5-48e8-42f5-88e8-f4f03a38fd45 Quote
eagle eye Posted November 6, 2016 Author Posted November 6, 2016 The Texans are on bye this week as you well know. They are in much better shape than they have been the past couple of years with a 5-3 record. And yet, we are complaining. Complaining because the Texans are 5-3? Just so you didn't forget, Houston was 3-5 at the half way point last season. In 2014 they were 4-4 after 8 games. Remember 2013? Sure you do. That was the year Houston was 2-6 after 8 games on their way to a 2-14 record that cost both Gary Kubiak and Wade Phillips their jobs. You have to go all the way back to 2012 before you find a worthwhile record at the half way point. In '12 Houston was 7-1 and they went on to go 5-3 in the second half to finish 12-4 and the AFC South division champs. While this isn't the 2012 team it's done pretty well. At 5-3 Houston is on top of the AFC South a game up on the 4-4 Titans, 2 games up on Indianapolis who is 3-5 and 2-1/2 games up on 2-5 Jacksonville. For me, I'm pretty happy Houston is where they are and you should be happy too. Has it been perfect? No, it hasn't but we are still on top looking down on everyone else in the division. Regardless of what you or I or anyone else thinks of the AFC South that's the first goal of every single team, with their division because it is the only guaranteed way to go to the playoffs and it guarantees you a home playoff game. Those are two very big deals. I realize that there is still a very long way to go before we worry about division titles and playoff talk you get where I'm coming from. It's also important to realize that under Bill O'Brien the Texans have been a good 2nd half team. The Texans turned 4-4 into 9-7 in 2014 narrowly missing a Wild Card spot in the playoffs and last year Houston went 6-2 in the second half to finish with an identical 9-7 record but that was good enough to earn the Texans a division title. So, the Texans are in pretty good shape here at the half way mark. The 2nd half of the season is no picnic with games against the Chargers, who are better than their record indicates, Raiders, Bengals and Packers. The Texans have two against Jacksonville and they have to play both the Titans and Colts on the road. Not an easy task this second half with 5 road games to play of the final 8. Houston has struggled on the road this year but they kind of have an excuse. Houston had to play New England, Minnesota and Denver on the road. You could argue that Minnesota isn't all that but they were at the time and Houston was embarrassed by them. What needs to happen? Simple. Brock Osweiler needs to play better. He did okay at home but on the road against good teams he sucked. There is no two ways about it Brock laid a major stink bomb in 3 NFL cities and he wasn't exactly impressive at home unless you take into account the 2nd half of the 4th quarter and overtime of the Colts game. He was pretty impressive there. Fortunately, Brock played well and unfortunately Brock played well. The Texans got the win but we also got to see a Brock we hadn't seen previously. The Brock we hoped would be there from day one and wasn't. Brock has been driving the bus and at home he's kept the team between the ditches while it was a whole other story on the road. I want to believe in Brock but he makes it hard to trust him but I go back to what Texans owner Bob McNair said this past week. He said that, in effect, Brock is a still a rookie having only 15 NFL starts in his career. It's not technically correct since this is Brock's 5th NFL season but he is right, in terms of on-field experience Brock is a neophyte. He is also just 8 games into a brand new offensive scheme. That does make a difference so let's cross our fingers and watch and see what happens in the 2nd half of the season. Brock just might surprise everyone. That might give you something to think about today as Houston and 5 other teams get to sit at home and watch games just like the rest of us. Cold brews, wings, pizza, just a happy go lucky weekend with no pressure and they have earned the break. Houston has now played 12 games counting the 4 preseason games back in August, not to mention the 2 weeks prior when training camp actually began the first of August. Enjoy your break Texans, you've earned it. Quote
eagle eye Posted November 10, 2016 Author Posted November 10, 2016 The Texans will head into the second half of the season with a little road trip to Florida. Jacksonville to be specific. The Jags suck and with the talent they have they shouldn't suck. Really. They have 3 top notch WRs in Allen Hurns, Allen Robinson and Marqise Lee. They have a top notch TE, when he's healthy, in Julius Thomas and a decent TE in Marcedes Lewis. They have RB's that do the job in Chris Ivory and TJ Yeldon and that's just on offense. On defense they have two guys who was a first round top 10 pick in Jalen Ramsey and the other should have been a top 10 pick in Myles Jack who had issues with his knee. Even so, he went at the top of the 2nd round. They join guys like Sheldon Day and Dante Fowler....you get my point. This team just has too much talent to be a woeful 2-6 and a distant last place in the AFC South. Blake Bortles is having a weird year. Unlike the crop of rookie QBs exploding on the NFL Bortles, in his 3rd year seems to have taken several steps backward. If they don't turn things around in the second half the Jags head coach, Gus Bradley could be looking for work in the near future. That means Jacksonville will be looking to take advantage of the road woes the Texans have gone through so far. Three road games and three road losses. You could point out that those 3 games were against 1st place in the AFC East New England Patriots, 1st place, at the time, of the NFC North, Minnesota Vikings. And they also lost to 1st place, at the time, of the AFC West Denver Broncos. Since Houston limped out of town with embarrassing losses to all 3 only the Patriots continued their excellent play but it doesn't belie the fact good teams beat the crap out of Houston. Jacksonville, in eternal optimism, hope the talent on their team starts to play up to their expectations. If they do, Houston is in deep doo-doo. It wouldn't be terrible if Brock Osweiler started playing better but he's only been in this offense for what amounts to about 7 months counting OTA's, mini camps, training camp and of course the regular season's first 8 games. Maybe Brock deserves a little slack on the expectations. Not only is he trying to run a new offense, really very different than the offense he ran in Denver for the first 4 years of his career but he's trying to do it behind an O-line that isn't very good. No use to belabor the point but these guys are not good. Sort of like the group of underachievers Bortles is trying play behind. Good, we have common ground to work with. Whoever can function better behind a patchwork line will likely win the game. The Texans need to win Sunday because the schedule doesn't get any easier that this Sunday and the Texans need to stockpile all the wins they can. Will Fuller will miss this week's game due to knee and hamstring issues. That means that Braxton Miller will get more work. Miller missed a bunch of time earlier this season. He just came back the week before the bye so he's had some time to re-acclimate himself with Brock and the rest of the offense. Houston will also be without Jalen Strong for a while after suffering an ankle injury in the Detroit game. Miller needs to step up big and so does the TE duo of Ryan Griffin and CJ Fiedorowicz who have emerged as a poor man's Gronk and Martellus Bennett. Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue are a nice one-two punch at RB and the defense has been playing pretty good despite losing All World DE JJ Watt. It is concerning that NT Vince Wilfork didn't practice today because of a groin issue. We'll see how that plays out during the week. Hopefully, the big man is just getting a veteran's day off. Speaking of Alfred Blue, here is an article from Texans.com. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Alfred-Blue-producing-in-a-pinch/2201731a-fc9b-47ef-98b0-f30ee6b5b54d Quote
eagle eye Posted November 13, 2016 Author Posted November 13, 2016 The Texans are coming off a bye and Jacksonville is coming off a loss at the hands of the KC Chiefs. It was the Jags 3rd loss in a row. Houston beat Detroit two weeks ago so they went into the bye feeling pretty good about themselves. The begin their second half of the season on the road which is not really where Houston wants be given the fact they are 0h-fer when not in the friendly confines of NRG Stadium. It isn't so bad considering the Jags are 2-6 and equally inept at home and on the road. The O-line is still a concern for Houston and it is the engine that makes teams go. You think Dak and Zeke would be as good as they are without 3 first round picks and 4 pro bowlers plowing the way for Zeke and forming an almost impenetrable wall for Dak? Not hardly. So, we might try to cut Brock a little slack since he doesn't have that same security blanket in from of him that Dak does. It is a division game and that means just about anything can happen. I think the talent is pretty even on both teams it's just a situation where Houston has done a better job of getting the job done. The Texans on the road scares men even if it is just Jacksonville. The Texans won't have Will Fuller or Jalen Strong but they do have Braxton Miller and he was able to play in the Detroit game so he's not coming off the bench cold. Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue is making a nice RB duo and there is always DeAndre Hopkins as a go to big play man. The Texans are using their top two TE's, Ryan Griffin and CJ Fiedorowicz to good advantage. The Texans defense will be missing a couple of important players. Vince Wilfork is out with a groin injury while what I believe could be the Texans defensive MVP of the first half of the season, CB AJ Bouye, is out with a bum ankle. It's a crap shoot and we'll see how well Brock Osweiler can play on the road against a non-elite team like the Jaguars. If he plays well then Houston will win but if he plays like he has on the other road games Houston has played so far Jacksonville will get win number 3 on the season. Back and forth, yin and yang, push me pull you. What does it all mean? Texans 23 Jacksonville 17 Quote
eagle eye Posted November 15, 2016 Author Posted November 15, 2016 If you knew nothing about the final score and I told you Brock Osweiler's final stat line for the game yesterday was 14 or 27 passing for 99 yards and 2 TD's. You might reply, "I'm sorry, what?" in utter disbelief an NFL QB could only manage 99 yards passing for a whole game. Big fat 99. If you're talking about JJ Watt you got something there but 99 yards passing? Holy crap, was Brock bad! He and Texans offense had two weeks to come up with this smelly, rotten egg they laid yesterday. There are the two TD's Brock threw that helped and it sure didn't hurt that this was the first game this season Brock didn't throw a pick. Small victories I guess. Brock was a tick above .500 in completion percentage so that's --- good??? What actually happened was that Houston finally won a road game and extended their record to 6-3 and they maintain a one game lead in the AFC South. Quote
eagle eye Posted November 15, 2016 Author Posted November 15, 2016 I stopped writing about Houston yesterday because I just didn’t have a point other than my total amazement at Brock Osweiler’s ineptitude. I’m glad Houston won, don’t get me wrong, but playing a good team isn’t going to be any different than the other ass whoopins they took in their three losses. Then I got to thinking about it and Houston has beaten good teams. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs who are tied with Oakland at 7-2 and first place in the suddenly strong AFC West. They beat the Tennessee Titans who are just 1-1/2 games back of Houston in the AFC South at 5-5. I say Tennessee is good because they are beating teams now quite handily behind the running of DeMarco Murray and the passing of Jake Mariota. They also beat the Detroit Lions who are tied for 1st place in the NFC North. Houston is doing it with just enough offense and whole lotta defense. One of the biggest plays of the game Sunday was a pick six by Kareem Jackson. Without it Houston would not have won that game. Despite what you might think Houston is not last in offense in the NFL. That would be Minnesota. Yep, the same team that beat the crap out of Houston in Week 5 31-13. Houston isn’t even 2nd to last in offense, that honor goes to the truly pathetic Los Angeles Rams. No, Houston is 3rd worst in the league scoring an average of 17.9 PPG. If you look at it in perspective, the Cowboys averaged a tic over 18 points per game last year and went 4-12. The difference is the defense. Dallas was awful on defense last year putting up franchise lows in sacks and turnovers. Houston, on the other hand is 4th in total defense in the NFL. The bad thing is they are 12th in points allowed giving up 20.9 PPG. When you score less than you allow it’s usually a recipe for disaster. The PPG allowed is a little skewed because of blowout losses to New England, Minnesota and Denver where Houston scored 0, 13, 9 points while allowing 27, 31, 27 respectively in those games. I listened to The Blitz on ESPN radio yesterday and it’s not often I agree with AJ and Fred but Brock is looking like a $72MM bust. That is until he makes a clutch 3rd down pass into traffic to DeAndre Hopkins for the first down that iced the game against the Jags. The game was still in doubt at the time, as a matter of fact, if the Jags had gotten the ball back there is no question in my mind they would have scored and stolen the game from Houston. On the one hand you’re happy the Texans got the first down and secured the win but on the other hand you are left scratching your head wondering WTF was that all game? Does Brock just stink or are Bill O’Brien and George Godsey doing a lousy job of coaching him up? A fifth year NFL player, even one with just 16 starts under his belt should be better than this, shouldn’t he? The good thing Houston recipe for winning can continue. They have a MNF game in Mexico City next week against the Raiders and fully expect Oakland will beat Houston easily just because Oakland is just that good these days. But, after the Raiders the Texans face the Chargers, Packers, Colts and Jaguars and considering San Diego is the biggest threat to beat Houston of those four you’d have to consider all of those games winnable. Even if Houston goes 2-2 in those games they would still be 8-6. Go 3-1 and Houston is 9-5. And what if Houston actually does beat the Raiders? That four game stretch is going to go a long way to securing the division title. The last game of the season is against Tennessee and it could be that game decides who wins the division. So, I’ve really decided not to give up on Brock for now. He has to do better than he has been but while Brock learns on the job the Texans keep winning and that is not a bad thing. Quote
eagle eye Posted November 18, 2016 Author Posted November 18, 2016 Houston plays on Monday Night Football this week against the Oakland Raiders. This is the 3rd prime time game for the Texans this season. Let’s hope this one doesn’t end up like the first two, with blowout losses. The concerns everybody has over the lousy performances Brock Osweiler be damned because the Texans have to go play a football game. You hope Brock gets better, you hope the offense gets better as a result. Regardless, they’ve got to strap it up and play. If Houston loses it won’t surprise anyone and it won’t be the end of the world or the end of the season. The rest of the Texans schedule isn’t that hard, even though it looked like it at the beginning of the season but a couple of the so-called hard teams aren’t nearly as good as everyone thought so Houston has a real shot at still winning 10 games this season. Lamar Miller is nursing a sore shoulder but he should be ready to go for MNF. That is good news and for even more, with a little shot of bad, here’s today’s Texans-Raiders injury reports. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Friday-Injury-Report-Texans-vs-Raiders/4e249c2b-94d9-4407-8575-88ecc4c9cef5 With Jonathan Grimes both out of action last week Houston called up Akeem Hunt from the practice squad to fill his spot. All he did was go 8 carries for 52 yards to augment what Lamar Miller was doing as he ran for 83 yards on just 15 carries. Miller’s 5.5 YPC was impressive given the state of the Texans passing offense but Hunt was even better gaining nearly 7 YPC. With Alfred Blue injuring calf and not participating in practice this week you figure Hunt is in for even more work against the Raiders. Hunt and Blue combined for 15 carries last week so you figure Miller and Hunt could go 60-40 in carries this week. It could be Hunt is more involved in the passing game as well with Jalen Strong out and Will Fuller still questionable. This game could be a good old fashioned NFL ground battle. The Texans want to be a running team and they should rely heavily on Lamar Miller and Hunt a lot in this game while Oakland counters with the 5th best rushing attack in the NFL. Yep, a good old fashioned, old school, grind it out sort of a game. Those kinds of games aren’t bad but people will bitch because there isn’t enough offense. Screw ‘em. Kick back and enjoy the game. Houston has re-signed RB Kenny Hilliard to the practice squad in a move to fill the spot opened up by Akeem Hunt’s call up to the 53. Hilliard, the RB from LSU, was a Texans draft pick last year and he had been on the Texans squad until the final cut downs for this season were made. Finally today, here is an article from Texans.com simply ‘Getting to know the Oakland Raiders.’ http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/In-the-Know-Oakland-Raiders/d6db9b8b-7af1-49d2-9df8-e3239d3b1074 Quote
eagle eye Posted November 19, 2016 Author Posted November 19, 2016 The Texans opponent tomorrow is the Oakland Raiders. There aren't many ties between the two teams except for one thing. The ties between the Raiders QB and the Texans. You guys know this if you've been a fan of the Texans for any length of time. Derek Carr definitely has a big connection to Houston because he grew up around the team because his big brother, David, was the number one pick in the Texans inaugural draft back in 2002. David Carr was the highly touted prospect from Fresno State. The problem was, trying to play QB behind a really bad offense line on an expansion team is not conducive to a successful career. He did pretty well in Houston, he really did considering who and what he was playing offense with. Those Texans teams set records for allowing sacks, 249 total, in Carr's 5 years in Houston. David had a decent career as a backup for the rest of his tenure in the NFL. He actually played 11 years and he even won a Super Bowl ring while with the New York Giants. The G-men won Super Bowl XLVI played in February of 2012 over the New England Patriots. Now David's little brother, Derek used to hang around the Reliant Stadium and practice facility and he got a rare look at what it's like to be an NFL team. Now I know the stream of jokes inferring that the Texans weren't really an NFL team are going through everyone's mind but I'll leave that one alone. Derek got to see what life is like for an NFL QB trying to play behind a truly lousy offensive line. Derek saw that his big brother's career was basically ruined by that line because he spent more time looking up at the sky than he did looking for open receivers. The only real weapon David Carr had was future Hall of Fame receiver Andre Johnson who was drafted in 2003 in the first round. It's really hard to do much good when you are running for your life all the time. Derek grew up to become a QB just like his big brother and he followed in his brother's footsteps going to Fresno State. He wasn't as highly touted coming out of college. He may have suffered a little from what a perceived bust David was but, in truth, he wasn't as good in college as his big brother. That isn't to say he was chopped liver either. For whatever reason, Carr lasted until the 2nd round of the 2014 draft when Oakland took him. Much has been made this past week about how Houston, in dire need of a franchise QB, passed on drafting Carr and they took OL Xavier Su'a-Filo leaving him available to Oakland 3 picks later. In conversations with the press this week Carr talked about his fondness for Houston and he appreciated how well he and his family were treated but he did say he was glad he wasn't a Texan. It was a bit of a misstatement but it was clear he was just trying to say he was happy as a Raider. Carr is slinging the ball around with great success this season after making the Pro Bowl in his 2nd year last season. He is 7th in passing this season as Oakland is winning at a clip that would remind you of the Raiders of 30 years ago. They are currently tied for 1st place in the AFC West, a suddenly strong AFC West, with Kansas City with a 7-2 record. Denver is trailing them by 1/2 game with a 7-3 record. Denver has yet to enjoy their bye week. Even San Diego is pretty good but they seem more prone to shooting themselves in the foot costing them games hence their 4-6 record going into this weekend. The biggest difference for the younger Carr's success is simple, he has a better team around him than David ever did in Houston. Still, considering how much of a bust Su'a-Filo has been we can only speculate how much better Houston's offense would be with Derek under center. The battle between Houston and Oakland could go one of two ways. 1. the game could turn ugly with Oakland beating the crap out of Houston or 2. it's a defensive struggle with Houston actually having a shot at winning. Vegas odd are listing Oakland as 6 point favorites which means they see a closer game than most average Joes and Vegas is rarely wrong. After all, if they were, they wouldn't be in business long now would they? So what does this mean? Houston, with a strong Latino following, playing in Mexico City against a team in Oakland with a big Latino following. The biggest problem won't be the crowd. As a matter of fact, this is the first Monday Night Football game outside the United States and the Mexican crowd will be loud and boisterous they way soccer crowds down there are. That should make for a very festive atmosphere. No, the problem I have hear absolutely nobody discuss is the fact that Mexico City is at a higher elevation than Denver. The thinner air could manifest itself in many negative ways which could even the playing field for the Texans. All I have heard is how bad Houston is on the road and that they will get their asses handed to them on a cool and clear night in Mexico. I just feel like this is an upset in the making and it would be a huge boost to the Texans if they could pull out this win. And that's exactly what I think they will do. So................................. Houston 20 Oakland 18 Quote
eagle eye Posted November 23, 2016 Author Posted November 23, 2016 Brock Osweiler didn't play half bad. Really. If he plays like he did Monday night Houston will win some games. That is, of course, they don't get the same piece of shit refereeing crew they had to deal with. Seriously, could refs get much worse than they were on Monday night? The worst offenses came on the by the Raiders sideline. A blown call on DeAndre Hopkins in the 1st quarter cost Houston 4 points because the refs rule Hopkins stepped out of bounds when he did not. The most egregious calls came in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 20. With 7:07 left in the game at the Raiders 16 on 3rd and 2 Lamar Miller took a handoff around the left side of the formation. He clearly made enough to more than get a first down but the refs spotted the ball short. This article from fox sports shows in pictures and video these mistakes. http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/texans-raiders-referees-spots-video-highlights-controversy-bad-calls-112216 Brock played decent football. He threw for 243 yards on 26 of 39 attempts with a TD and a pick. He did throw two other balls that should have been picks but that is just football, sometimes you get lucky. Like on two pass plays in the game when the Texans misplayed passes to Amari Cooper it cost them a TD and a long gainer. Yet another chunk play was responsible for the last TD Oakland scored that gave them the lead and was the winning score in the game. The Texans ran the ball well gaining a total of 124 yards rushing with Miller gaining 104 of those yards on 24 carries. The biggest error on the night was when Bill O'Brien failed to challenge the spot on that 3rd and 2. A first down would have allowed the drive to continue and Houston could have burned a lot of clock. A field goal or a TD late in the game would have almost been the nail in the Raiders coffin. But, it wasn't to be. Oakland took over and drove for the winning score and they left Mexico City with 27-20 win. The Colts upset the Titans on Sunday meaning Houston maintains the one game lead they held before the weekend began only this time the 2nd place team is Indianapolis. Tennessee is a game and a half back in 3rd place. Houston is back home this Sunday to face the Chargers. As I said at the beginning of this post if Brock and Texans play like they did on Monday night they will win at least half of their remaining 6 games. The question is, if that is all they win will 9-7 be enough to win the division? Quote
eagle eye Posted November 27, 2016 Author Posted November 27, 2016 The Texans and Chargers are about to begin so I don't have much time. Houston knows they let a big win get away from them in Mexico City last Monday night and at 6-4 they need to win some games and it really needs to begin at home this afternoon at NRG Stadium. I really think that maybe Indianapolis has stumbled onto something but a big wrench was thrown into the Colts works on Thanksgiving night with a 28-7 loss to Pittsburgh. A loss today wouldn't be a disaster because the Texans will still own a 1 game lead over Indy and the Titans for the division but it sure wouldn't hurt to make that a 2 game lead with 5 games to play. The Titans still are waiting on their bye week and they travel to play Chicago today. Chicago put up a good fight but ultimately lost to the New York Giants last week. We should all become Bears fans today for the good of the Texans. Houston's offense showed life against the Raiders on Monday night and if that is any sign then Houston could start to depend less on their defense and a little more on their offense which is a good thing going down the stretch. San Diego has an explosive offense and Houston really needs to put the clamps on RB Melvin Gordon. Phillip Rivers is still a gunslinging sonofagun but they have to make the Chargers one dimensional by stopping Gordon. The Texans defensive backfield is good enough to make plays so it will ultimately come down the Brock and the offense. Continue what they started against Oakland and they have a real good chance to continue their home winning streak. So, what does that mean? Houston 24 San Diego 23 Quote
eagle eye Posted December 4, 2016 Author Posted December 4, 2016 Here's the deal, it's real simple. Houston is 6-5 and clinging to a tenuous lead in the AFC South and Green Bay is still holding on to a playoff hope as they now trail Detroit in the NFC North by two games as they currently occupy 3rd place in the division. The Packers did pick up a 1/2 game on 2nd place Minnesota by virtue of the Cowboys victory over them on Thursday night. To say Green Bay is playing with a sense of urgency would be a huge understatement. Houston should be playing with that same sense because they have lost two straight and they need to right the ship after suffering their first two game losing streak of the season. On the road in Green Bay on what may not be the frozen tundra but it should be pretty darn chilly. Somehow in some way Houston has to play better offense than they played last week against San Diego. They played a sloppy offensive game and they had some breakdowns on defense as well. You can sort of understand the defense showing signs of wear and tear and because the offense can't seem to stay on the field long enough to give the defense a friggin break. Can Brock stop throwing picks long enough to help the Texans score a TD or two? That's the question we would all love a big resounding "YES" but so far we only get THAT Brock in short spirts. The trouble is I don't see the same upset in the making the way I did last week. Of course I was wrong as I could be about that as Houston lost a game they really could have won had they not turned the ball over so much. Green Bay will have their best defensive player, Clay Matthews, even though the thinking earlier in the week that a shoulder injury would keep him out. The Texans will be without Jadeveon Clowney today as he is dealing with an elbow and wrist issues. Houston will also be without John Simon for another week with a torn pec muscle. I am not even feeling any love for the Texans this week. I have lost faith that Brock will finally "figure it out". Houston will flounder and break under the pressure of Lambeau Field. What this means is I don't think the Packers offensive outburst against the Eagles last Monday night was a fluke. Unlike my feelings about Brock, I think Aaron Rodgers did "figure it out" and the Texans are in deep doo-doo when they face the resurgent Packers offense. Even as well as they have played on defense Houston isn't going to fold their tents. Shoot, this could be the game when the Packers unleash Christine Michael. He has been inactive since signing him 3 weeks ago but maybe this is finally the day they give him his shot to pump some energy into the Packers lifeless run game. I'm rambling now. Maybe it's because I don't want to write what I'm about to write. Eff it, here goes.......................... Green Bay 29 Houston 10 Quote
eagle eye Posted December 5, 2016 Author Posted December 5, 2016 The Texans lost yet another game they could have, maybe even should have, won. The 24-13 loss is about what I thought but it was a cool deal, no pun intended, to watch the game played in a snow storm. You knew the tundra wasn’t frozen because as much as it snowed not very much stuck and the buildup of snow wasn’t what you’d expect because the ground isn’t in winter mode ---- yet. The games in Green Bay and Chicago were just fun to watch. I played Pop Warner football when I lived in Denver in snow like that. I had a blast but maybe grown men playing football for a living may not feel the same way. Brock wasn’t great but he didn’t exactly suck and passing ineffectiveness was not all his fault. He has a lot of balls dropped. That’s the difference between kids and men paid to play the men are expected to catch the damn ball. Pretty much every receiver for Houston had at least one drop and many would have been for first downs. As usual, the defense played well for most of the game but they just got wore down because the offense couldn’t sustain any drives to give them a rest. The bottom line is, the Texans need to score more than 13 points a game if they hope to win. On the other side of the coin the Packers scored on an 88 yard drive and an 89 yard drives in the game. The defense had to be exhausted. Ironically, the Texans led overall in time of possession 31:31 to 28:29. If Indianapolis beats the Jets tonight there will be a 3 way tie for first place in the AFC South between Houston, Indy and Tennessee who were on their bye yesterday. It’s a far cry when just 3 weeks a go Houston was 6-3 and riding high as the division leader with a 3 game cushion. Every week is a playoff game now with Houston playing, in order, @ Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Cincinnati and ending the season @ Tennessee. That is going to be hell if Houston can’t figure out how to generate some offense. The link below is to the Texans website that has picture of the game. I am not trying to rub anyone’s nose in the loss I just love the snow falling. The high was in the mid-thirties yesterday and I know that sounds cold but the dryer air means it doesn’t feel as cold at the same temps in the Golden Triangle. The downside of the dryer air is your sinuses dry out and you are prone to nose bleeds and static electricity is a bitch! Cold weather feels all that much more cold when you lose so I’m sure it was a miserable day for the Texans after all. Quote
eagle eye Posted December 6, 2016 Author Posted December 6, 2016 The Texans were forced into using backup CB Charles Johnson in Sunday’s loss to Green Bay. All he did was give up a long pass to the Packers when he bit on a double move by Jordy Nelson allowing the Packers an easy 32 yard pitch and catch TD. In the link below NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus talks about how good a player Johnson is but, in truth, the reason he was let go was because he wasn’t all that great in coverage as a CB. He was good at special teams but his flaws as a cover man were painfully on display Sunday when Jonathan Joseph left the game with an injury. Why is it just Houston’s luck that the week before they play the Texans teams seem to break out of slumps? Who saw the 41-10 whoopin the Colts put on the Jets last night? Now the Texans have to travel to Indy to play this same team who couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag just a couple of weeks ago now hanging 41 on people. Darn the Luck (pun intended). The Texans also picked up a player when they released Charles James. They picked up CB Al-Hajj Shabazz. What they are getting in Shabazz is bigger CB than the 5’9” 185 lb James was. Shabazz is 6’2” and 200 pounds. He is a small school guy from tiny West Chester University near Philadelphia Pennsylvania. They are a D-II school and a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Shabazz was an UFA in 2015 by Indianapolis and he spent time on the practice squads of the Colts and Bucs in 2015. He was signed on February 4th of this year to a futures contract by the Steelers. He bounced between the practice squad and the active roster for Pittsburgh several times this season. He was just cut on December 3rd after being on the active roster since November 5th. The Texans claimed him off waivers yesterday. Here is a link to the Texans.com article by John Harris listing 18 observations he made from Sunday’s Packers game. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/18-observations-from-Texans-at-Packers/dde506f3-dd6c-402e-8e62-632ff569bf30 Quote
eagle eye Posted December 8, 2016 Author Posted December 8, 2016 The Texans nominee for the Walter Peyton Award, given each year to the player who exemplifies greatness on and off the field, is LB Brian Cushing. Is this a bit of surprise? On Hard Knocks last year he sort of came off as sort of a macho jerk but in real life his is anything but. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Brian-Cushing-nominated-for-Walter-Payton-Award/7013e0bc-5db1-4c22-822f-c7494b955ec0 Jadeveon Clowney missed practice yesterday and he may not be available against the Colts this week. He was a surprise scratch last week because of a lingering hand/wrist injury. Bill O’Brien held him out against Green Bay as a precaution preferring to have him miss one game rather than risk losing him for the rest of the season if he makes the injury worse. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Jadeveon-Clowney’s-status-vs-Colts-uncertain/01076443-7e15-4ff9-b430-fc3aed16edff The Texans have missed WR Jalen Strong for the past 4 games because he was out because of an ankle injury. He returned to practice for the first time in over a month yesterday on a limited basis. If he isn’t able to play Sunday against the Colts he will certainly be back the following week. The Texans newest player, CB Al-Hajj Shabazz, has had a whirlwind last couple of days. He was literally in the process of resigning with the Steelers practice squad after he was cut from the active roster to make room for the signing of K Randy Bullock when he got the call letting him know the Texans picked him up. That was on Monday and he was practicing with the Texans yesterday. Here’s an article from Texans.com detailing his hectic week. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Breakfast-Shabazzs-whirlwind-48-hours/9f3b6e4c-fb16-4785-9b85-9af57908f218 I know this may be inappropriate but does anyone besides me find Texans.com writer Deepi Sidhu to be pretty hot? She’s pretty, not drop dead gorgeous but, she is definitely hot. Quote
eagle eye Posted December 11, 2016 Author Posted December 11, 2016 Houston needs to win this game against Indianapolis. In the last couple of years they have won games most people thought they had no chance to win. Like Cincinnati on Monday Night Football in 2014. It started a turnaround that darn near got the Texans to the playoffs with a 97 record. That's the game I'm looking toward to take some hope that the Texans can pull off this upset. The only thing this game isn't is on prime time tv. On the road, on a losing streak and heavy underdogs were the conditions Houston faced against the Bengals heading into that game with Cincinnati and it's the same song and dance, different verse for the Texans heading into Indianapolis. BTW, the Texans record is dismal against the Colts. Granted, most of that was because of some guy named Peyton Manning. Manning's successor, Andrew Luck, has kept the hurting coming. Since the Texans came into existence in 2002 they are 23-6-0. However, the Texans have won the last two meetings. You remember the overtime win on Sunday night on October 16th and prior to that, nearly one year ago exactly, the Texans won their only game in Indianapolis 16-10 last December 20th. In two of their last three losses, against the Raiders in Mexico City on Monday night two weeks ago and in Green Bay last week, Houston had a real good opportunity to win both games. In each of the last three games the Texans have rushed for over 100 yards. The O-line has done a pretty good job opening up holes for Lamar Miller and the rest of the Texans running backs. Whether they use Alfred Blue or Akeem Hunt, it doesn't matter, both are doing a fine job as a change of pace to Miller. The Texans really need to win this week. I already said that, but it bears repeating. To win the defense has to keep on doing what they do and the quarterback needs to play better. His consistency is getting better but to win in Indy the Texans need to have left the bad Brock in Houston. You know the one. The guy who makes bad decisions and sometimes throws inexplicably horrible passes for INTs and engineer way more than his fair share of 3-and-outs. Yeah, THAT guy needs to stay his ass in Houston. It's just bad luck that Houston ran into Green Bay a week after coming out of their losing streak/slump and it seems like the Houston is catching the same bad luck (no pun intended) as Indianapolis just demolished the Jets last week. It would have been nice to catch Indy on a losing streak but I guess the win will be all the sweeter if the Colts are playing well. The Texans, Colts and Titans are all tied for the AFC South lead with identical 6-6 records. The Titans have a tough game today as come off their bye week last week and face the Bronco in Nashville. As Texans fans we can't sweat that game, all we can do is cheer our Texans on to a win over Indy. So, how's about my feelings as to who wins? I guess until the "Good" Brock shows up for more than a series or a quarter I just can't trust the Texans to do more than hang close before finally losing. I've been saying since training camp that the Texans will only be as good as Brock and to date Brock as only been average at best with flashes of better. I just don't trust Brock yet and, if he continues to play as he has, a game like this will slip through the Texans fingers just as they have slipped through their fingers the past three weeks. So, what does this mean today? Indianapolis 26 Houston 16 Quote
eagle eye Posted December 13, 2016 Author Posted December 13, 2016 The Texans proved me wrong. It looked early on like the Bad Brock had showed up in Indianapolis with an ill-advised throw in the first half that was picked off. The saving grace for teams like Houston and the Trent Dilfer-led Ravens and the Brad Johnson-led Buccaneers is they all have great defenses to cover up weaknesses in the offense. Even without JJ Watt the Texans are proving that their defense can stand up to just about all comers IF, and I do mean IF, Brock drives a clean and safe bus which means he keeps the chains moving and it’s okay to settle for field goals as long as he doesn’t turn into oncoming traffic and give the ball away. On Sunday that is just what Brock did, he drove a clean bus. People will point to 5 trips into the Red Zone and the Texans only coming away with one TD but the Texans got 4 other field goals too. 5 trips into the Red Zone and they score every single time—19 points. That was enough to win the game. The fact the Texans got an insurance FG to make it 22 was just gravy. The TD would have put the game out of reach but won’t we settle for a win when Houston had just lost 3 games in a row? Hell, yes! I hate to count chickens before they’re hatched but Houston plays Jacksonville at home this week. That is just about as close as a lead pipe cinch as there is. Fellow 1st place in the AFC South Tennessee has a much harder row to hoe as they travel to Kansas City while Indianapolis gets to play the Vikings in Minnesota. If Houston takes care of business by the end of the weekend they should be alone in 1st place in the AFC South with a one game lead over Tennessee and a two game lead over the Colts with two games to play in the season. Maybe Brock is beginning to figure things out finally. Maybe the emergence of the running game is carrying this team. Maybe the Texans are going to ride their defense all the way into the playoffs. Stuff is getting interesting. The defense has one flaw that stuck out like a sore thumb on Sunday. The CB who is taking Jonathan Joseph’s place since he injured his ribs in the Green Bay game sucked big fat balls on Sunday. That man would be Robert Nelson, #32 in your playbook. It seemed like if he wasn’t getting beat on a play he was guilty of holding or interference or he missed a tackle. Nelson is a 2nd year player from Arizona State but on Sunday his name was mud because it seemed like every time something good happened for the Colts Nelson was involved somehow. All we can say is, “c’mon Jonathan Joseph, get back in the game!” I’m not sure if I would have said this before the season, hell, I know I wouldn’t have said anything like this during training camp but the most likely candidate for defensive MVP of the Texans this season is CB AJ Bouye. I know his name is pronounced Boo-yay but it should be pronounced with a resounding BOOYAH because of the way he has emerged as a lockdown man cover guy. If a play is being made in the secondary in 2016 it is likely to be AJ Booyah making it. The Texans needed someone to step up too after last year’s 1st round pick Kevin Johnson when down on October 20th with a broken foot and Bouye has been that guy. Joseph’s injury left the Texans wondering how they would ever survive without him. Even before that fateful October day Bouye was playing great football and since then he has been a flat out beast. Bouye will be in Houston for a long time if he keeps playing CB like he has in 2016. Quote
eagle eye Posted December 18, 2016 Author Posted December 18, 2016 The Texans have everything to gain today and the best thing is they are at home to do it. The best case scenario for today's games is this, Houston beats Jacksonville, Kansas City beats Tennessee in frigid cold weather in KC and Minnesota beats Indianapolis in Minneapolis. The second place Colts would be 2 games back of Houston with 2 to play and Tennessee will be 3 back and they are pretty much out of the playoff hunt. Speaking of frigid Kansas City the temperature right now is zero. Game time temperature is scheduled to be a tropical 30. Three. Kansas City has the advantage being at home and a loyal and loud crowd. I like the Chiefs chances. I also like the climate in Minnesota but it has nothing to do with the weather. This will be the 2nd debut of the season and the first appearance since Week 3 of Adrian Peterson who is listed as active without a snap count today. The Texans will still be without LB John Simon (chest), TE CJ Fiedorowicz (concussion) and G Jeff Allen (concussion) today. CB Jonathan Joseph (ribs), RB Tyler Ervin (ribs) and LB are listed to Whitney Mercilus (back) questionable. If they are able they will play. Jacksonville will be without WR Allen Hurns (hamstring), G Chris Reed (toe), RB Denard Robinson (ankle). Everything being equal Houston is certainly talented enough to carry the day against these sad sack Jaguars. It's good to be in first place and it's good to be at home in the comfort of NRG Stadium when the Texans biggest rivals toil on the road against hostile crowds and, the Titans case, brutal weather conditions. You have to feel very good about where the Texans are right now, both figuratively and in reality. The karma is in alignment and that is exactly what scares the hell out of me. I don't have anything else to say about the Texans-Jaguars game. With fingers crossed I am riding with the home team today. Brock showed up and did a decent job last week under circumstances that could easily have spelled disaster and the Texans and their beleaguered QB answered the challenge and won in a place they have only won once before against a team that was tied for the division lead with them. The Texans had every opportunity to choke, to roll over and play dead. They didn't and it's to their credit for the effort. If occurs to me that if Houston wins out they can better the 9-7 records of the past two years and end up 10-6. A much more reasonable final tally for a division champ. But that's looking way too far into the future. What needs to happen is for the Texans to take care of business and so far in 2016 they have done just that at home. They have a very good 5-1 record and their lone loss came in a game they could have won if a couple of plays gone differently. Two of their last three are at home which bodes quite well for the Texans but it doesn't mean squat if they don't continue their winning ways at home. With all that said, what does that mean...................? Houston 24 Jacksonville 9 Quote
eagle eye Posted December 19, 2016 Author Posted December 19, 2016 It's pretty bad when you have to cross your fingers and hope the evil incarnation of your quarterback doesn't show up to a game. That's pretty much what happened yesterday and Bill O'Brien wasn't going to tolerate Bad Brock for the whole game yesterday, there was just too much at stake. The first pick Brock threw wasn't terrible on Brock's part. The TV color man described the play pretty well. Osweiler had to throw over the underneath coverage and hit his receiver in front of the deep cover guy. The ball, by necessity, was a little high but Will Fuller got both hands on the ball long enough to tip it up to the Jacksonville defender. I agreed with the commentator that the pick wasn't Brock's fault. The second pick was another story altogether. Brock scrambled out of trouble in the pocket by stepping up and running toward the line of scrimmage. Brock had nobody in front of him and he could have run for several yards, maybe not enough to get the first down but he would've gotten positive yards. Instead, he tried to fit the ball into his receiver through a convention of Jaguar players in the middle of the field and lo and behold he threw a pick. Sometimes you have to wonder just what in the hell he is looking at when he lets passes go like that. Sometimes his field vision is atrocious and it was again on this pass to DeAndre Hopkins. There was 10:02 left in the 2nd quarter when this happened and I'm sure it was decided to bench Osweiler before he left the field. Bill O'Brien has now seen enough of "Bad Brock" to know it wasn't likely to get better the rest of the afternoon. If you want to hear Tom Savage bashing listen to ESPN Houston radio around 4 o'clock on weekdays. You the show, The Blitz with Fred Faour and AJ Hoffman. There motto seems to be why say something good about any Houston franchise when a good bashing will do better. I have to give the boys credit though because they are a non-discriminatory group. They don't care what race, creed or color you are, if you are a Houston player you are going to get roasted. The reason I mention this is because I have heard both of them say Tom Savage is nothing more than a backup. I have disagreed right here in this forum in the past. I thought that Savage should get his shot at being the starter until the signing of Brock Osweiler this past spring. I knew Savage wouldn't get a shot seeing as how the Texans shelled out a crap-load of cash for Osweiler's service. He seemed to turn a corner in his development during the 2015 offseason. In last year's preseason games he really looked like a guy who got it and it was a shame he was hurt in the last preseason game against Dallas or he may have become the Texans starter last year. Again, this past summer he looked good in preseason again and I was hoping he would be the primary backup to Osweiler and I got my wish. Five minutes into the 2nd quarter fans got their wish when Savage came out on to replace Brock. Judging by the cheers for Savage when he came in the game it seems Coach O'Brien wasn't the only one tired of "Bad Brock". All Savage did was lead the team on scoring drive after scoring drive. There was a hiccup along the way with some stupid penalties by the O-line and a bad break fumble but basically Tom Savage came on and got the Texans moving. In the Texans first drive with Savage they drove from their own 25 to the Jags one yard line. The Texans thought they had a score on an Akeem Hunt run on 2nd and 2 at the two but Hunt fumbled prior to crossing the goal line and replay couldn't determine who recovered the ball. By rule that gave Houston the ball at the spot of fumble which was at the one yard line. On 3rd down Houston tried to run the ball and what usually happens when you run a 3 tight end goal line play the defense knows you're going to run and when Houston tried to run the ball in with Lamar Miller he got stuffed for no gain. O'Brien tried to go for it on 4th and 1 and he called a fade route to DeAndre Hopkins who was covered by Jalen Ramsey. A fade is poor man's Hail Mary which is to say it's a jump ball pass play and unless the receiver owns a distinct height advantage it is a very low percentage play. Ramsey played the ball perfectly and that was the end of the first real threat the Texans made in the game. At this point in the game Houston was trailing the Jags 13-2 but after a 3-and-out by Jacksonville Houston marched down the field and they got a field goal with :53 left in the half now trailing 13-5. In the second half Houston stopped Jax on their first drive and the offense took the punt and drove to the Jags 27 when the drive stalled. Nick Novak kicked a 45 yard FG to inch Houston closer at 13-8. On the ensuing kickoff Marquis Lee took the ball at his goal line and returned it 100 yards for a TD and just like that it was 20-8. Houston didn't fold because in three drives Tom Savage had taken the team right down the field and there was no reason not expect him to continue to lead the Texans down the field. Houston and Jacksonville trade short possessions when Houston got the ball back with about 3:30 left in the 3rd quarter. Savage led the Texans down the field again until the drive stalled at the Jags 27 forcing another Nick Novak FG. With just seconds left in the 3rd it was Jacksonville 20 and Houston 11. Houston forced the Jags into a 3 and out to begin the 4th and yet again they drove down the field on a 6 and half minute drive that, again, stalled. This time Houston got the ball down to the Jag's 10 and it was just a chip shot field goal for Novak to edge the Texans a little closer making the score 20-14 with 7:54 left in the game. Houston forced another 3 and out with the help of a first down holding penalty on Jacksonville. With just 5:46 left and the ball on their own 48 Savage and Texans went back to work this time needing a TD instead of a field goal. Baby wants a TD, baby gets a TD because after 2:56 seconds and 8 plays Lamar Miller powered in for the go ahead TD. There was still 2:51 left in the game but the defense wasn't going to let this one slip away. The D-line, Jadeveon Clowney in particular, harassed Blake Bortles and didn't allow him anything forcing the Jags to punt. Houston took over at the Jacksonville 40 after a 4th down attempt failed but the Texans were too cute in trying to run the clock out simply handing off for no gain 3 times. What the Texans did do was force the Jags to burn all three of their time outs so when they got the ball back they had to go 93 yards with 1:10 left in the game and no way to stop the clock. On first down Bortles tried to force the ball down the field and he got it picked off by Quentin Demps and two kneel-downs later Houston got the win they needed. Needed? Yep, because the Titans kicked a game winning field goal as time ran out to beat the Chiefs. Ironically, the Chiefs called time out right as former Chiefs kicker, Ryan Succup, tried to make the 53 yard field goal. The kick was well short and would have given the game to the Chiefs but the Titans were given a new life and this time Succup had the leg and he easily made the field goal for the win. And, oh BTW, the Colts went into the Minneapolis and kicked the living crap out of the Vikings. There is virtually no change in the division standings other than Jacksonville lost another game. Houston and Tennessee are tied for first place in the AFC South with Indy just a game back. I can't wait until 4 o'clock when I get to hear Fred and AJ talk about how surprised they were that Tom Savage didn't suck. Now, will this earn Savage a start against Cincinnati on Saturday? That remains to be seen but for now we can bask in the glow of what is a pretty nice win all things to considered. Quote
eagle eye Posted December 22, 2016 Author Posted December 22, 2016 Evidently Bill O'Brien had seen enough of Bad Brock this season because on Monday he announced that Tom Savage would be the starting QB when Houston plays Cincinnati on Saturday night. O'Brien, in his Monday press conference, announced the change of QB saying he did it in the best interests of the team. Brock was 7-6 as the Texans starter this season but the Texans could have, and should have, had a better record than that and most of the reason for the lack of success by Houston rested squarely on the shoulders of Brock Osweiler. Only Phillip Rivers (18) has thrown more picks than Brock who is tied for second in most INTs with Blake Bortles with 16 picks. Brock also has only 14 passing TD's which means his TD/INT ratio is not where you would like to see it. Anytime you have more picks than TD's you know you have a big problem. Brock got pissed last season when he was benched in favor of Peyton Manning after going 5-2 in seven starts but I believe Brock would have to admit he wasn't getting the job done and he had successfully played himself out of a job. I am very interested in seeing what Tom Savage can do. It may be this offense begins to click like I thought they would if Brock had played better. One plus for Savage coming in is he has the 5th ranked rushing offense in the NFL and the four headed monster Houston has at running back led by Lamar Miller has been a real strength of the Texans all season. If opposing teams have to actually respect the Houston passing game it should open up things even more for Miller and company to run wild. Besides Miller, who is 6th in rushing in the NFL with 1,073 yards, Houston has gotten solid contributions from Alfred Blue, Jonathan Grimes and Akeem Hunt. The Texans have proved they are even deeper at RB than they are at WR. I am pretty excited about this week's game because Cincinnati always seems to bring out the best in the Texans. I want to see how Tom Savage plays with a full week of practice with the 1's. You saw an immediate change in DeAndre Hopkins effectiveness when Savage came in the game in the 2nd quarter Sunday against Jacksonville. This offense could get real fun to watch. The trouble is the game is on Christmas Eve night so I probably won't get to watch until Monday all things considered. Thank goodness for a DVR. The NFL announced the Pro Bowl rosters on Tuesday evening. The game is returning to the traditional AFC/NFC roster format as the Pro Bowl draft format was abandoned this year. Only Jadeveon Clowney made the PB for the Texans. LT Duane Brown, WR DeAndre Hopkins, RB Lamar Miller and LB Whitney Mercilus were named alternates. One guy for the Texans I definitely feel was snubbed is CB AJ Bouye. Bouye has been a one man wrecking crew and he has made play after play for the Texans all season. He is hurt by the fact that he only has one INT on the season but he has 12 passes defensed and I swear it seems like more. He has 51 tackles on the season with 34 of those solo tackles. It seems like every time something good happens on the Texans defense Bouye is right in the middle of it. I wish he would have at least made alternate. LT Duane Brown was named the Texans Ed Block Courage Award Winner for 2016. It's an honor bestowed on a player from each of the 32 NFL teams in recognition of excellence both on and off the field. Here's an article from Texans.com about the honor for Brown. http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Duane-Brown-voted-Ed-Block-Courage-winner/ddad7596-7a39-4219-bbda-8c5e5c416e41 Quote
eagle eye Posted December 24, 2016 Author Posted December 24, 2016 This is the time of year when team pray for the health of their team. As the long season takes its toll on players every GM and Head Coach in the league are looking to head into the final leg of the season relatively healthy. As you will see, the injury report for the Texans-Bengals game has some important names on it. So, as they prepare for tonight's game lets take a look at the Texans injury list from Texans.com and see what we can surmise from it. Friday, Dec. 23 Game Status DID NOT PARTICIPATE RB Lamar Miller Ankle Questionable LIMITED PARTICIPATION DE Jadeveon Clowney Elbow/Wrist --- ILB Brian Cushing Ankle --- CB Johnathan Joseph Ribs Questionable K Nick Novak Oblique/Back --- FULL PARTICIPATION G Jeff Allen Concussion --- T Chris Clark Ankle --- TE C.J. Fiedorowicz Concussion --- TE Ryan Griffin Hamstring --- CB Kareem Jackson Hamstring --- S Don Jones Illness --- ILB Benardrick McKinney Wrist --- OLB Whitney Mercilus Back --- ILB Brian Peters Quadricep --- OLB John Simon Chest --- G Xavier Su'a-Filo Finger CINCINNATI BENGALS Friday, Dec. 23 Game Status DID NOT PARTICIPATE LB Vontaze Burfict Knee/Concussion Out G Clint Boling Shoulder Out TE Tyler Eifert Back Out TE Tyler Kroft Knee/Ankle Out FULL PARTICIPATION DE Wallace Gilberry Calf --- WR A.J. Green Hamstring Questionable HB Jeremy Hill Knee Questionable DE Michael Johnson Shoulder Questionable LB Vincent Rey Hamstring --- DT Pat Sims Hip --- WR James Wright Knee --- The first thing a Texans fan will notice is that Houston will get a lot of guys back this week who have missed some games recently like LB John Simon, G Jeff Allen and TE C J Fiedorowicz are back. The availability of CB Jonathan Joseph is still up in the air some but he at least participated in practice this week but it was on a limited basis as he's getting over a rib injury suffered a few weeks ago. The Texans list is long but most of the players listed as questionable will play. That's just the way it is late in the season, everyone is nursing some ailment or five and teams list these guys because they have to but it doesn't mean they won't play. The exceptions to the rule on the Texans side of the list is Joseph and RB Lamar Miller. Miller, according to NFL.com is iffy, at best, for tonight's game because of the ankle injury he suffered against the Jaguars last Sunday. He is expected back next week for the season finale against Tennessee but that won't help the Texans tonight. What is good news is Cincinnati will be without their best LB Vontaze Burfict and their 2nd best receiver in TE Tyler Eifort. They will also be missing a backup TE in Tyler Croft. It's pretty certain that WR AJ Green will limited by a troublesome hamstring as well. What all this means is the Texans can keep their running game going without Miller because they have 3 other RBs who they regularly use in Alfred Blue, Jonathan Grimes and Akeem Hunt. That's not to say Lamar Miller won't be missed but these 3 have been effective in relief of Miller and the run game should still keep cranking out the yards. Especially with Cincy missing Burfict. It's not like Houston hasn't feasted off the Bengals when the chips were on the table in the past--injuries or no injuries. When Houston needed a Monday night win in Cincy to keep their playoff hope alive last year the Texans rose up and got the win. When Houston played in their first every playoff game as a franchise in 2011 a backup QB, TJ Yates, led the Texans to the win. It seems like when Houston needs to have something unexpected happen it happens against the Bengals. The benching of Brock Osweiler is big too. This gives Tom Savage his first ever regular season start and coming off last week's come from behind win over Jacksonville hopes are definitely high for the Texans prospects tonight. In 2-1/2 quarters of play Tom Savage made DeAndre Hopkins relevant again and with a real threat of a passing game the Bengals might have to back off the line of scrimmage some which will allow the run game to prosper. Last week against the Steelers the Bengals were beating them handily. In the 2nd quarter Jeremy Hill scored on a 4 yard run that ended up putting the Bengals up 17-3 when Hill grabbed a "Terrible Towel" from a Pittsburgh fan and he attempted to tear it to pieces. He was unable to do this and he just spiked the towel into the ground totally disrespecting the home Pittsburgh crowd and it must have fired up the Steelers too because they outscored the Bengals 21-3 the rest of way giving the Steelers a 24-20 win over the Bengals. The Bengals team is pretty talented but they always seem to under perform. That is why I listed head coach Marvin Lewis as a guy whose job could in jeopardy simply because of the Bengals tendency to fail to meet expectations. Lewis' Bengals have been successful in the past but it is a success that is very limited and you have to wonder how long Bengals management will put up with an also-ran. I have high hopes for the Texans going forward. I have liked Tom Savage since he emerged during training camp last year. He never got the chance to show what he could do because of a shoulder injury suffered in the last preseason game against the Cowboys that ended up ending his season when he was put on IR. By his own admission Savage said he didn't come into his rookie season with the right mindset and he was absolutely underwhelming in preseason and gave the Texans no reason, despite taking him in the 4 fourth round of the 2014 draft, to feel they had drafted their QB of the future. A rededication to his team and himself was the reason he looked so much better in 2015 which goes along with his re-rededication in this year's offseason that won him the primary backup role going into the season. The Texans were hyper patient with Brock Osweiler given the financial investment they made in him but last week's Bad Brock moment was all Bill O'Brien could take. Tom Savage made the most of his opportunity last week and he says he is determined to make the best of his opportunities going forward. I like this kid and I'm rooting for him to do well and judging from what I've seen of him I think he will do well, very well indeed. So, what does this mean for the game tonight? Texans 31 Cincinnati 18 Quote
eagle eye Posted December 25, 2016 Author Posted December 25, 2016 Merry Christmas everyone! I'm up early obviously before anyone else. I guess that's what candlelight church service is helpful for, besides your immortal soul of course, is everyone sleeps in the morning after. Except me so I guess I'll talk about the early Christmas present awarded the Texans yesterday afternoon. The woeful Jacksonville Jaguars just days away from giving their head coach the boot hosted the Tennessee Titans and would you believe it, the Jags won! It wasn't pretty but Blake Bortles had a good game throwing for 325 yards with no picks. Yep, no picks. Zero, nada, zippo. Because the Jags played error free ball for the most part and the Titans didn't Jacksonville came away with a very improbable win over a team that was heavily favored and tied for the division lead going into the game. I don't know what Jags interim head coach Doug Marrone told the team going into the game but it must have been a Knute Rockne doozie of a pregame speech. By the time the dust settled the Jags had punished the Titans to the tune of 38-17 and instead of moving on to next week's showdown finale against Houston the Titans were knocked clean out of playoff contention. Not only that but Titans second year QB Marcus Mariota broke his leg in the first half necessitating the appearance of Matt Cassel. It's tough luck for Mariota and you hate to see a good player go down like that. What that early gift from Jacksonville gave the Texans was the ability to guarantee themselves a division championship with a win over Cincinnati last night. Another reason to thank God, the DVR saved my bacon so I wouldn't miss the game while me and the family were out Christmas Eveing around town. What transpired was a sort of boring game that featured the Texans and Bengals trading punts for most of the first half of the game. I don't care about style points anymore. I've learned winning is the goal and how you do it doesn't matter as long as it's within the framework of the rules. What I saw was a Bengals defense that just made the Texans O-line their bitch. Tom Savage barely got back in whatever drop he took, 3 step, 5 step or 7 step drop didn't matter because the Bengals D-line were all over Savage like nobody's business. The Bengals defense wasn't giving up much in the run game and the passing game in the first half was non-existent. Houston had exactly -1 yards passing in the first half. The Texans defense didn't give in much either until the last drive of the first half. The Bengals worked the ball down the field, with a little help from the Texans because of an untimely penalty or two and it allowed the Bengals kicker to give them the halftime lead of 3-0 over the Texans. The teams came out and both seemed to make halftime adjustments as both the Texans and Bengals were able to score some points in the second half. It started with a field goal by the Texans on the opening drive of the third quarter. The Bengals responded early in the fourth quarter with a two play TD drive capped by a 86 yard catch and run by WR Brandon LaFell on a short slant route that Houston's defense played poorly. LaFell caught a short pass and just outran all of the Texans defenders to the end zone. That gave the Bengals their second lead of the game at 10-6. Houston came right back and even though the offense had not found a real rhythm the whole game they found some on the ensuing drive. It was also a drive that was assisted by 3 Bengals penalties for critical first downs. Houston drove down and scored a TD giving them a 12-10 lead but that was all they could come up with because Cincinnati blocked the extra point. Houston hung on partly because the Texans defense stopped the Bengals when they could but on the final drive of the game Cincinnati engineered a nice drive that took them down to the Texans 25 yard line with just 5 seconds left in the game when on came former Texans kicker Randy Bullock. With the clock winding down because the Bengals had no time outs left so the field goal unit had to set up quickly, in hindsight probably too quickly, and got the kick off just ahead of the final gun sounding. In all likelihood the fact that they had to rush to get the kick off messed up Bullock's rhythm and he pushed the ball wide right to give the Texans a rather unlikely win and the AFC South Championship. Again, Merry Christmas, the Texans and their fans are sure grateful for their gifts this morning. Quote
eagle eye Posted December 28, 2016 Author Posted December 28, 2016 A thought just popped into my head this morning, my dream of an all Texas Super Bowl is alive and well. It may be a long shot but it's better than no shot at all, isn't it? Sure it is. Dallas has an explosive offense based around a better than average running game. They also have a defense who might give up some yards but they don't allow many points to be scored. They are definitely a factor the Cowboys have been lacking for a long time. Houston has probably the best defense in the NFL even without JJ Watt. Jadeveon Clowney has emerged as a force to be reckoned with. There was a fear that he would be a huge bust after being taken with the first overall pick in the 2014 draft. For sure it has a been a long two years after he messed up his knee in his very first game Clowney tore the meniscus in his knee and eventually it was found that he needed microfracture surgery. Microfracture surgery is a potentially career ending surgery and even the players who have successfully come back it has usually taken over a year for the player to get back to 100%. After a disastrous rookie season and an equally frustrating sophomore campaign he is emerging as a force to reckoned with. A force Houston thought they were getting when they drafted him. Houston has had struggles on offense with an inconsistent offense mainly because free agent QB Brock Osweiler has not lived up to the $72MM contract he was given by the Texans in the offseason. Frustration with Osweiler culminated when he threw 2 INTs in a game against Jacksonville two weeks ago. Brock was pulled in favor of Houston's 4th round pick in 2014 Tom Savage out of the University of Pittsburgh. He led the Texans to a comeback win over the Jags igniting the offense in the process. In the game against the Bengals last Saturday night the offense was less explosive and the Texans defense carried them to a 12-10 win over the Bengals. What is encouraging is Savage takes care of the football which in contrast to Osweiler who had the 2nd most INTs in the NFL through 13-1/2 games. So far Savage does not have a pick in his 6 quarters of work. Houston's offense, like the Cowboys, is based around their run game with Lamar Miller on point for the Texans. Miller is hurt but Houston has the luxury of being able to rest him until the Wild Card round of the playoffs begins in two weeks. That down time will benefit both teams meaning they will be as healthy as they can be heading into the playoffs. Keeping hope alive for the 2016 playoffs. Quote
eagle eye Posted December 31, 2016 Author Posted December 31, 2016 If you try to tell Bill O'Brien that Sunday's game against division rival Tennessee is meaningless you might get a sermon on just how relevant that game is to him and his team. Now, if they win or lose doesn't matter, that much is true. No matter what Houston will be the #4 seed in the AFC side of the playoffs. They will host the #5 seed wild card team at NRG Stadium one week from now. What matters is that O'Brien wants to win that 10 game of the season. He gave the politically correct answer at his presser today saying that any time you line up and play it matters but make no mistake win #10 means something. Double digit wins is a big deal especially if the head coach has maxed out at 9 wins in his first two seasons on the Texans job. The first year 9-7 was a tic shy of being good enough to earn a wild card ticket to the 2014 playoffs. Last year 9-7 was good enough to win the AFC South but they got hammered by the Kansas City Chiefs right out of the box. Well, guess what, Houston will play those same Chiefs again in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. It's a chance to get a little payback for last year. Again, that doesn't explain why 10 wins is so important does it? How about this, 10 wins gives a little gravitas to the AFC South. A division that is regularly bashed in recent years as being weak. How about what double digit wins will do for the self esteem of the team and the coaches. They didn't back into the playoffs, they earned their way in and 10 wins gives the Texans another reason to hold their heads up. 10 wins doesn't look bad on a resume either. Houston won't have Jadeveon Clowney, Lamar Miller, Jay Prosch and John Simon. If the division wasn't wrapped up and it was win or go home these players would probably try to play but that is one luxury of having playoffs wrapped up. The Texans will definitely have their hands full with the Chiefs and they will need all hands on deck but they can afford to rest these players in the mean time. I want Houston to have 10 wins and the fortunes of this division may very well change a lot over the next couple of years. Jacksonville has a ton of talent and they will have a high draft pick to add more. Add to that the fact they will have a new head coach to help change the losing culture around. Indy may have a new head coach but the Colts definitely need to bolster their O-line before they get Andrew Luck killed. Then there is Tennessee. Mike Mularky has change the thinking in Tennessee in much the same way the Jaguars hope a their new head coach can do. This is a run oriented team with a damn good QB as long as he stays healthy. Marcus Mariota will miss this game because he broke his leg against the Jags last week ending his season. When the Titans lost the game it also ended everyone's season. Listen, guys on both sides of the ball are playing for their NFL futures regardless of outcome of the game so there is a big 'want to' factor for the players. Yep, this is an important game and I only hit some of the points Bill O'Brien might point out if you were to ask him if the game matters. This game also matters because it's the last goll darn game of the 2016 regular season and for my money this season has just flown past. It definitely got here before I even realized it. It's starting to hit home now that there is just about 5 more weeks left before football is done until next September. For a football nut like me that is just tragic news. Quote
eagle eye Posted January 1, 2017 Author Posted January 1, 2017 Happy New Year to all! Obviously I survived somewhat in tact and nobody was injured setting off fireworks even though, at times, it looked like some were destined to make a trip to the emergency room. I'm not even that hung over! Win-win right? Now it's all about football and for goodness sake the Ohio State-Clemson game was on at the party I went to and I thought the FSU win over Michigan was a hoot it was nothing to the shock of seeing Colin Cowherd's man-crush coach Urban Meyer and his buckeyes get their asses handed to them. Virtually, nobody could have predicted a 31-0 blowout of THE Ohio State University by lowly ACC champ Clemson. The only thing that kept the whole universe from being thrown into chaos was the Alabama win over Washington. The universe is safe ---- for now. Since this is the Houston Texans thread it's time to turn away from the college ranks to the pros and focus on the season finale for the Texans (and the rest of the NFL). I can't focus this morning on the fact that this is the end of the regular season. It's just too surreal. Oh well, Texans-Titans at noon today in Tennessee. The weather in Nashville is supposed to be cloudy with temps in the lower fifties. You would imagine the folks in Tennessee got a similar downpour as we got yesterday so the field conditions could be dicey. NFL grounds keepers are really good at their jobs and I'll wager the field was covered so I'm going to say weather and field conditions should be fine. Here's the deal, Houston won't have Lamar Miller on offense or Jadaveon Clowney on defense. Tennessee will not have their starting QB Marcus Mariota. Houston will need to piece together a defense because they will also be without some key personnel on defense besides Clowney. Here is the full list of inactives for today's game and you will notice some very familiar names on that list. Two of the last 3 are probably guys who are nursing some things along and Bill O'Brien is just giving them an extra week to heal up before the playoffs begin next week. Brandon Weeden has not been active yet this season. TEXANS INACTIVES DE Jadeveon Clowney RB Lamar Miller FB Jay Prosch OLB John Simon CB Johnathan Joseph ILB Brian Cushing QB Brandon Weeden The question to be answered is, can Houston stop the Titans run game without Clowney, Simon, Joseph and Cushing? We may be able to see just how good the depth is on the Texans defense as they face the challenge of stopping DeMarco Murray, the NFL's 3rd leading rusher and his battery mate Derrick Henry. The defense for Tennessee is only ranked 21st in the NFL so Houston, who isn't really missing anyone other than Lamar Miller should be able to do some damage in the run game. Tennessee is ranked 5th in rushing defense but I'm not sure if that's because people can pass on them and don't need to run or if the Titans really are that good against the run. What is true is that the Titans are 31st against the pass so if Tom Savage has anything going for him it's that. He struggled last week against the Bengals but so have a lot of other QBs in the league. I'd look for Will Fuller to have a good game as with the tight ends Ryan Griffin and CJ Fiedorowicz. I'm not forgetting about DeAndre Hopkins guys even though it seems like Brock Osweiler did for most of the season. Since Savage has taken over at QB it seems like he is doing his dead level best to target Hopkins even when he probably shouldn't. Unless I am totally wrong, you know THAT never happens, I think Savage is going to bounce back with a strong game today and I think the Texans are going to light up a slightly demoralized Titans team for some points. So, what does THAT mean? Houston 31 Tennessee 10 Quote
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