Clinchin' Ain't Easy
After a dominating, soul crushing performance, the Houston Texans are officially going to be playing football in January again. By beating the Titans 24-10 they have secured a spot in the post season for the second year in a row. However, this year they will not be injury ridden and hobllling into the postseason, but storming into it. Houston dominated from the first snap on and there was no doubt who was going to win this one. The past three games have been a wild ride, but it was awesome to see a convincing, Texans' style win that we have grown accustomed to the past 2 seasons.
Before injury- 3 games started 63.2%/ 781/ 4/ 2/ 89.1 and 67 rushing yards
After injury- 3 games started 50%/ 689/ 4/ 5/ 69.2 and 95 rushing yards
There is not much a different in the numbers which is good news that Jake is alive and well. Locker's numbers have not been awful, but average and what one usually expects from a quarterback in his first year as a starter. He is dynamic, has an incredible arm and is able to make plays with his legs. The Titans need to get some play makers for him (receivers drop way too many passes) and fix their running game in order to put him in situations where he can succeed. The Titans are not disciplined enough to have long drives down the field and seem to make more mistakes the longer the drive goes. They have big play ability, but long drives are usually how most points of their points are created. Locker is still an unknown commodity and the Titans still do not know what they have with him. However one can wonder if the Titans and the Jags, drafted their franchise quarterback a year early and as a result missed out on RGIII and Andrew Luck. Regardless, of the numbers the Titans are giving Locker his shot to play since he has started in every game that he has been healthy. They need to stick with Locker and keep giving him his time to develop and wait and see if he really is the franchise quarterback they need.
Again Chris Johnson played timid football and was not able to get anything going on the ground. Almost every running play had 4 Texans players in on the tackle as they swarmed to the ball like a shark on a wounded seal. If you go back and watch a replay of the game, every running play had multiple white shirts attacking Johnson. Houston had 7 tackles for a loss and held Johnson to 51 yards on 13 carries. One of his runs was for 26 yards and if you remove this run his yards per carry drops from 3.9 to 2.08. Chris does not help himself at all by the way he runs. He constantly looks to juke and shimmy instead of making one cut and hitting the hole. He is always looking for the big play instead of realizing gains of 4 and 6 are just as important as 20+ yard runs. The Houston defense is too quick to be dancing around and the defense line consistently moved the line of scrimmage backwards. For Tenessee to ever get back to a season like they had in 2008 they need to go back and learn how to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage.
The Texans had to go call on their reserves after Brooks Reed hurt his groin chasing down a Lions receiver on Thanksgiving day. Texans Linebackers Reed, Dobbins, James, and Cushing all have been injured this season. Regardless, Houston has manage to keep a top 5 defense because of their depth. This week Mercilus made his first career start in the NFL and man did he shine. He had two sacks, recovered a fumble and constantly put pressure on Locker. With Reed out until maybe the post season Houston will not lose a step with Mericlus starting and Barwin at strong side linebacker. Mercilus' performance will go unnoticed in the national spotlight because JJ Watt devoured the Titans offense. Against Tennessee Watt had five tackles, three for a loss, one sack, two swats (one of which led to a Dobbins INT) and a forced fumble. JJ is having one of the greatest seasons a defensive lineman in the NFL has ever had. Watt has become the first defensive lineman in the history of the NFL to knock down 15 passes and have 15 sacks. All of which has been from a position that is supposed to open holes for linebackers by swallowing up double teams. Teams in the NFL will eventually get smart and double team him every play like what the Bears did. Until then we will get to see this immovable object keep terrorizing offenses and stay the top candidate for defensive player of the year.
The only problem the defense had against the Titans was big plays. The secondary was torched for 309 yards and gave up 300+ passing yards for the third straight game. Part of this is due to injuries, since Houston has guys playing that did not even suit up at the beginning of the year. Brandon Harris did an adequate job, but he led the team with 6 tackles (5 of them were on pass plays) which is one stat category no one wants a corner to lead the team in. Jake Locker went 6 for 9, 193 yards and one touchdown on deep throws. Locker had completions of 25, 34, 49, and 38. This does not bode well for the Patriots game next week, but hopefully Joseph will be ready to go by then. Overall, the defense shut up any doubts about their ability as a unit.
I spent most of my life watching playoff football wondering "what it
feels like to have a winning franchise and watch a championship
contender?" Here we are Texans' fans and it is hard to fathom and
describe how great these past two years have been. It is like having a
best friend that had a rough some rough middle/high school years. When
he was still in elementary school his dad left his mom and moved to
Tennessee. To top it off he was a little slow, chubby and was the butt
of all the jokes. His old friend that protected him was quarterback and
captain of the football team, but it never led to wins. He ended up
moving to New York, backed up for a prep school and won two state
titles. Because of his weight and more popular older brother, his
parents spoiled him with presents. He saved his money then invested it
in the stock market. Now everyone that picked on him suddenly wants to hang out. He is about to go to an Ivy League Graduate School, his
extra weight helped spur a colossal growth spurt and his stocks did
incredibly well. His older, cooler, popular brother now lives at home,
smokes a lot of pot and spends most of his time thinking about the glory
days. Now he finally gets the chance at redemption by proving to the
father that left him how great he has become while his older brother
watches at the wayside. The most important part of this story is that
you were there the entire time and helped him when he needed it the
most, unlike all the creatures who now have leeched their way on to the bandwagon. Most of the time it takes climbing through a mound of crap
for good things to happen. After years of terrible football the Texans'
window is open and they are ready to parade right through it.
The Texans beat the 4-8 Tennessee Titans to and stuck it right in Bud Adam's wrinkly face. The defense finally looked rested and played up to the standards they set for themselves this year. Hopefully it continues this Sunday and Jonathon Joseph is back and healthy. Houston heads up to the Northeastern United States to go to war with the 9-3 New England Patriots.The Texans are playing on Monday night to put a stranglehold on the #1 seed and what could very well be the precursor to and AFC championship rematch.
The Hurt Locker
After being drafted #8 in the 2011 NFL draft Locker has only played 11 games in his two years in the league. Unlike the Jaguars, the Titans have stuck with their plan on how to develop Jake Locker. After they chose him, they signed the veteran Matt Hasselbeck to let him sit behind, grow and learn the nuances of the game from. Last season Locker did not start one game and played only in garbage time. In his limited action Locker had a line of 51.5%/ 542/ 4/ 0/ 99.4 (From now on when describing quarterbacks I am going to use a stat line of completion percentage/yards/TDs/INTs/Quarterback Rating.) The Titans still manage to go 9-7 last year with Hasselbeck at the helm and just missed the playoffs because of a tiebreaker. This year they went with Locker as the starting quarterback to see what they had in their number first round draft pick. He started the first four games of the season only to have his shoulder dislocated by a car crash of a hit by Glover Quin. He was able to return sooner than expected, but the injury extinguished the roll he had going after his career day in a win against Detroit.Before injury- 3 games started 63.2%/ 781/ 4/ 2/ 89.1 and 67 rushing yards
After injury- 3 games started 50%/ 689/ 4/ 5/ 69.2 and 95 rushing yards
There is not much a different in the numbers which is good news that Jake is alive and well. Locker's numbers have not been awful, but average and what one usually expects from a quarterback in his first year as a starter. He is dynamic, has an incredible arm and is able to make plays with his legs. The Titans need to get some play makers for him (receivers drop way too many passes) and fix their running game in order to put him in situations where he can succeed. The Titans are not disciplined enough to have long drives down the field and seem to make more mistakes the longer the drive goes. They have big play ability, but long drives are usually how most points of their points are created. Locker is still an unknown commodity and the Titans still do not know what they have with him. However one can wonder if the Titans and the Jags, drafted their franchise quarterback a year early and as a result missed out on RGIII and Andrew Luck. Regardless, of the numbers the Titans are giving Locker his shot to play since he has started in every game that he has been healthy. They need to stick with Locker and keep giving him his time to develop and wait and see if he really is the franchise quarterback they need.
Bulls On Parade
This was one of the greatest defensive performances in the history of the Houston Texans. With their defense decimated by injuries they tyrannized the line of scrimmage and forced the Titans into 6 turnovers. Locker accounted for five of the six turn overs (3 INTs and 2 fumbles lost). The pass rush was dominated the Titans the entire day. Phillips consistently rushed 5 or more and forced Locker have to find the open man quickly. Locker was awful at making his pre snap reads and constantly put himself in bad positions. The offensive line did not help at all though. I counted Locker being in pressure on 24 of his 49 drop backs. The defense was able to put pressure on Locker 48.9% of the time, sack him 6 times, hit him 8 and knocked down 16 of his passes. 61.2% of Locker's passing attempts resulted in either a neutral or negative outcome. Two of Locker's interceptions were the result of passes tipped at the line of scrimmage that went up in the air for a Houston player to track down. The defense was able to play with a lead which led to the Titans looking like the Detroit Lions and not their usual more balanced offense.Again Chris Johnson played timid football and was not able to get anything going on the ground. Almost every running play had 4 Texans players in on the tackle as they swarmed to the ball like a shark on a wounded seal. If you go back and watch a replay of the game, every running play had multiple white shirts attacking Johnson. Houston had 7 tackles for a loss and held Johnson to 51 yards on 13 carries. One of his runs was for 26 yards and if you remove this run his yards per carry drops from 3.9 to 2.08. Chris does not help himself at all by the way he runs. He constantly looks to juke and shimmy instead of making one cut and hitting the hole. He is always looking for the big play instead of realizing gains of 4 and 6 are just as important as 20+ yard runs. The Houston defense is too quick to be dancing around and the defense line consistently moved the line of scrimmage backwards. For Tenessee to ever get back to a season like they had in 2008 they need to go back and learn how to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage.
The only problem the defense had against the Titans was big plays. The secondary was torched for 309 yards and gave up 300+ passing yards for the third straight game. Part of this is due to injuries, since Houston has guys playing that did not even suit up at the beginning of the year. Brandon Harris did an adequate job, but he led the team with 6 tackles (5 of them were on pass plays) which is one stat category no one wants a corner to lead the team in. Jake Locker went 6 for 9, 193 yards and one touchdown on deep throws. Locker had completions of 25, 34, 49, and 38. This does not bode well for the Patriots game next week, but hopefully Joseph will be ready to go by then. Overall, the defense shut up any doubts about their ability as a unit.
The Big Nastys
With starting right tackle Derek Newton missing the Texans offensive line controlled the game. They held the Titans to a clean sheet and Schaub had an even cleaner jersey. I counted 8 plays where Schuab faced pressure which comes out to 22.8% of the time he had to deal with a defender near him. This was done against a down and out beggarly defensive line that ranks 22nd in the league, but it should not diminish the immense job they did. The passing game looked a little rusty due to Schuab being a little inaccurate 60%/ 207/ 2/ 0/ 95.8. He seemed to miss some wide open receivers at time, but he had to fall back down to earth sometime. The running game was back to its old ways and Tate was finally back in pads. Houston ran the ball 35 times for 121 yards and one touchdown. Foster, Forsett and Tate each got 14, 14, and 3 carries respectively (It was nice to see Foster rest and not run 20+ times). Duane Brown was the star of the offensive line as Houston was able to run to the left edge 11 times for 37 yards and one touchdown. Week after week they run behind him and week after week they have success. After years of having awful to average LTs protecting the blind side they have franchise cornerstone in Duane Brown. The curse of Tony Boselli has finally been lifted and I bet David Carr would have liked to play with him during his time in Houston. Rick Smith and Kubiak have done an incredible job putting this unit together. 6 out of the 11 members of the offensive line were drafted by Houston. Only one of the six was drafted using a first round pick. Three of the five starters were drafted by Houston as well. Like the linebackers the depth is incredible as they have lost two starters this year, but not the production. Despite the injuries, Houston dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball on Sunday.
The Week Ahead
I spent most of my life watching playoff football wondering "what it
feels like to have a winning franchise and watch a championship
contender?" Here we are Texans' fans and it is hard to fathom and
describe how great these past two years have been. It is like having a
best friend that had a rough some rough middle/high school years. When
he was still in elementary school his dad left his mom and moved to
Tennessee. To top it off he was a little slow, chubby and was the butt
of all the jokes. His old friend that protected him was quarterback and
captain of the football team, but it never led to wins. He ended up
moving to New York, backed up for a prep school and won two state
titles. Because of his weight and more popular older brother, his
parents spoiled him with presents. He saved his money then invested it
in the stock market. Now everyone that picked on him suddenly wants to hang out. He is about to go to an Ivy League Graduate School, his
extra weight helped spur a colossal growth spurt and his stocks did
incredibly well. His older, cooler, popular brother now lives at home,
smokes a lot of pot and spends most of his time thinking about the glory
days. Now he finally gets the chance at redemption by proving to the
father that left him how great he has become while his older brother
watches at the wayside. The most important part of this story is that
you were there the entire time and helped him when he needed it the
most, unlike all the creatures who now have leeched their way on to the bandwagon. Most of the time it takes climbing through a mound of crap
for good things to happen. After years of terrible football the Texans'
window is open and they are ready to parade right through it.The Texans beat the 4-8 Tennessee Titans to and stuck it right in Bud Adam's wrinkly face. The defense finally looked rested and played up to the standards they set for themselves this year. Hopefully it continues this Sunday and Jonathon Joseph is back and healthy. Houston heads up to the Northeastern United States to go to war with the 9-3 New England Patriots.The Texans are playing on Monday night to put a stranglehold on the #1 seed and what could very well be the precursor to and AFC championship rematch.
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