because the texans have been so dominating, hardly anyone thinks we have any weaknesses. i think our weakness just hasn't been exploited yet, and that's special teams. Trindon Holliday has been underwhelming. on every punt return, i hold my breath because i fear he's going to mishandle the catch. when he does catch it and run, i'm always thinking he's going to fumble. and when neither of those happen he still doesn't do anything. the texans' defense has created numerous punt opportunities, yet Holliday hasn't taken advantage of any of them. the other possible weakness is the kicking game. in a close game, if we need a 45+ yard FG do you trust shayne graham? i can't say do. we aren't always going to win by double digits. and this thread isn't a complaint. it's an aspect of our team i think is worth talking about but i hope never comes into play.
Football Outsiders has Texans ranked dead last in special teams http://www.footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2012/week-3-dvoa-ratings
Honestly with the exception of JJ Watt, I don't think they've been dominating in the sense of their performance. Miami and Jacksonville would have to play out of their minds to beat us this season. I just don't think there are a lot of teams capable of beating the Texans as long as they don't turn the ball over or just play terrible. I look forward to seeing our defense match up with Green Bay. That will be a good test.
Right side run blocking is iffy Special Teams are subpar D is vulnerable to hurry up and quick passing attacks Life could be a lot worse. Packers, Giants, and Pats are shaky. I consider us the most complete team in the NFL, including the Niners and Ravens.
I feel like teams are coming at Trinton extra hard because of his preseason performance....he has a huge target on his back and players want to catch what could be the fastest guy in the league....so that's not helping him at all, especially as an inexperienced player.
I never feel comfortable watching Holiday return anything. I feel like he is going to drop it every single time. It is a relief just to see him catch it (before he is taken down 5 yards later). And for the love of god stop pausing before you run!!
The short yardage rushing game could be better. I would like to see the rookie offensive lineman Brooks get some run so he can help in this area.
Need ILB and DB depth almost as badly. I do think Newton and Jones will develop nicely given a few more games.
considering what CJ had been doing, this was VERY surprising. i guess as long as we have big leads we don't have to worry about the run.
Killer instinct: The ability to step on your opponent's throat until they stop squirming. When/if the Texans find this, look out.
Holliday has looked a bit skiddish back there. He's has some close calls but he has yet to have an actual turnover. The coverage has been very good against him but even with that he's had a couple of returns that were just one broken tackle away from taking it to the house. He just needs to relax a bit. The think the pleasant surprise has been Donny Jones. He's done great in the field position game. Last week's late 4th quarter punt pinned Manning so far deep there was no chance for a miracle.
If Barwin goes, then we'll be looking at drafting an OLB again in the first round. Where we'll be picking though, there might not be anymore great physical specimens, and it may end up that we can get the #2 overall ILB as a better value over the #8-10 overall OLB/pass rusher. We'll see. I think this franchise has faith in its ability to draft offensive linemen in the middle to late rounds, banking on their ability to coach up guys with raw natural talent and a little lacking on what is considered ideal size by NFL standards. With the money we invested in Brown and Myers, don't look for us to be putting any other high-priced pieces up there on the line. Maybe a RT in the 3rd round again if Newton REALLY drops the ball. No matter what I think we've got our longterm RG in Ben Jones and future LG in Brooks for when Wade Smith gets too old to play at a high level (which is happening faster than you think. Then in 3yrs or so, way too far down the line to worry about, when Myers gets older and suckier, we'll have Jones in position to replace him as well. That's when you draft RG again. The key is the coaching staff and the talent evaluation from upper management. It's the reason why teams like Pittsburgh and Baltimore will always find gems despite picking at the end of the first round every year.
1. Stopping the run up the gut. Cody isn't the run stuffer we need. Bradie James isn't the best LB for this, either. 2. Right side of the line is thin. Eric Winston would be nice to have! 3. Today's play aside, there's a reason QBs target Kareem 4. Linemen stepping on Schaub's feet
I see no way that we draft an OLB in the first round again....that was the purpose of Mercilus...to replace Barwin. Maybe an OLB in the 3rd or 4th round, but no sooner.
The Giants seem to do it every year. Why not? I wouldn't mind a rotating door like they had/have: Straham->Tuck->Umienyora (sp?)->Pierre-Paul->TBD
Despite people saying such, we were actually 4th in run defense for the NFL until this game, where we gave up more then 90 yards for the first time this season. I agree Special teams is shaky, don't know if it really is just Holliday as until recently our coverage was just as bad. Maybe with Dobbins and Brahman healthy (both are supposed to be special teams leaders) that might improve. It sort of did today but I have no faith against a team like the Titans anyway. Right side of the offensive line, I don't think Caldwell is our future starting RG. I've never been impressed with his run blocking and by the fact that Jones was rotating with him in the second game, I suspect neither was Kubiak and crew. This injury does concern me as I doubt that Jones nor Brooks are ready to take over full time, without a vet subbing for them. Newton I'm not as worried about but time will tell. I am now seriously concerned about our secondary, not so much our CBs but Demps isn't looking like he is as healthy as he usually is, making Keo (who it looks like got hurt himself) in there to spell Quin or Manning probably for half the amount of times Demps was because Keo really doesn't seem to have as much coverage ability as the top three.
