coachdent
11-17-2008, 05:16 PM
I saw some really good things from the offense that I really liked. Not sure if there is a mole in the organization that checks this board, but they did some things offensively that I have been calling for for weeks now. Having said that, they also reverted to some disturbing tendencies as well as soome questionable play calling decisions.
The Good
I thought Duane Brown played extremely well Sunday. Perhaps one of his best games. I know that may seem hard to imagine for some who saw the two sacks he gave up (more on that later). But the bottom line is, he went up against one of the premier defensive ends in the NFL and beat him repeatedly, overwhelmed him at orther times and more than held his own.
One of the keys to Brown's success was the Texans FINALLY giving him some help. They did so in a number of ways. Initially, the Texans ran zone plays the right repeatedly down the throats of the Colts. Just opened up the whoop *** and said here we come boys. A testament to the improvement and the excitement around Mr. Winston. Beautiful game on his part to be sure. They ran twice to the left in the first quarter where Brown was able to turn out Freeney to the outside and taking advantage of his overaggressive upfield rush.
Secondly, the Texans brought a tight end over to Brown's side on several occassions and actually CHIPPED Freeney on one play. I almost swallowed my pretzels! On three other occassions, the Texans employed a double tight end formation (including the Green touchdown plunge). On each of those sets, Brown went beserk destroying the Sam linebacker twice and driving a defensive tackle back four yards. As I said last week, this is where Brown excels. He excels inside and is better suited to play guard, covered up. When exposed, he has issues, but when he can just go after someone, he is a very good NFL lineman. He had an incredible backside scoop block where he went 2-for-1 cutting off a tackle and then being able to go up on a linebacker on one of the Slaton's big runs early on. An offensive line coach's dream!
The Bad
From a schmatic playcalling standpoint, there were several calls that irritated me byond belief. The first would be the fourth down call to run a sweep to Freeney's side with Kevin Walter and Andre Johnson squeezed in tight to the left. Hideous play that was destined for failure from the get-go. Kevin Walter leading? Ahman Green racing to the outside? AND it was into the boundry. A bevy of other options there much better than that crap.
Additionally, schematically, the Texans ran best when they ran downhill and attacked the Colt defense. The Indy defense is fast, but very small upfront and the Texans were controlling the line of scrimmage. To run a toss play against that defense is doing them a favor. The thing that they did not run...and have not run all year long is COUNTER! Counter is a no-brainer call against an overpersuing defense and tailor made for Indy. We didn't run counter once. Shame.
Next was the second sack that Duane Brown gave up. On that particular play, the Texans did ANOTHER thing that I have been screaming for, which is chipping the defensive end with a back. On the previous play, Slaton chipped Freeney and Brown easily handled Freeney with help to the outside. The next play, the Texans gave Brown help again with another chip block from Slaton. This time, the consummate pro Freeney, saw it coming and baited Brown upfield and spun underneath him. This is offensive line suicide. You NEVER give up the inside, ESPECIALLY when you have outside help. The whole point of chipping is so that you can be heavy on your inside protection and react late to the upfield rush. Poor job on that play from Brown not understanding his help on the protection.
The Ugly
Having said that the Texans used a back to chip Freeney and that they used some two tight end sets to him and they slammed released him with a tight end...what in God's name is Gary Kubiak thinking on 3rd down in the red zone and leaving Brown one on one with Freeney? Some fans probably blamed Brown for having Freeney blaze right by him and undoubtedly cursed the first rounder for sucking. But hey brother...they get paid to play too. If I have Dwight Freeney on my team and he is working against a rookie tackle and gets him in a one-on-one dead passing down, I am expecting him to make a play...and Freeney did. To leave the rookie out there by himself is akin to putting him on the spit to be roasted. In-san-ity. Forces a field goal when six was in the offering.
By somewhat popular demand form some, I will put up some comments on our defense, but if you look at how the Colts handled Mario Williams it was as if they had a plan. The Colts doubled him with a tackle and guard, slam released him with a tight end, blocked him with just a tight end with tackle help, doubled him with the tackle and tight end and chipped him with a back in addition to, at times, leaving him one on one. They ran away from him almost exclusively. They got burned on numerous occasions when he was singled up. But the key was with the Colts is that when they were singling up with Mario, Manning was either half rolling away from him or they were three step and one step passing. That's what you do to a premier pass rusher. The Texans took some significant steps forward in addressing issues in pass protection, but it has come too late in the season and does not come near the complexity that it needs to be at to combat dominant defensive ends.
Overall, offensively, I was pretty pleased with the offensive output in the game. Going into Indy and putting up 27 points should, on most occassions, get you a win. But as an offensive coach, I tell my team that we don't lose if we score every time. Learned that from Mike Leach at Texas Tech. Can't beat us if they don't stop us. The offense needed to be perfect and it wasn't. But strides were made.
The Good
I thought Duane Brown played extremely well Sunday. Perhaps one of his best games. I know that may seem hard to imagine for some who saw the two sacks he gave up (more on that later). But the bottom line is, he went up against one of the premier defensive ends in the NFL and beat him repeatedly, overwhelmed him at orther times and more than held his own.
One of the keys to Brown's success was the Texans FINALLY giving him some help. They did so in a number of ways. Initially, the Texans ran zone plays the right repeatedly down the throats of the Colts. Just opened up the whoop *** and said here we come boys. A testament to the improvement and the excitement around Mr. Winston. Beautiful game on his part to be sure. They ran twice to the left in the first quarter where Brown was able to turn out Freeney to the outside and taking advantage of his overaggressive upfield rush.
Secondly, the Texans brought a tight end over to Brown's side on several occassions and actually CHIPPED Freeney on one play. I almost swallowed my pretzels! On three other occassions, the Texans employed a double tight end formation (including the Green touchdown plunge). On each of those sets, Brown went beserk destroying the Sam linebacker twice and driving a defensive tackle back four yards. As I said last week, this is where Brown excels. He excels inside and is better suited to play guard, covered up. When exposed, he has issues, but when he can just go after someone, he is a very good NFL lineman. He had an incredible backside scoop block where he went 2-for-1 cutting off a tackle and then being able to go up on a linebacker on one of the Slaton's big runs early on. An offensive line coach's dream!
The Bad
From a schmatic playcalling standpoint, there were several calls that irritated me byond belief. The first would be the fourth down call to run a sweep to Freeney's side with Kevin Walter and Andre Johnson squeezed in tight to the left. Hideous play that was destined for failure from the get-go. Kevin Walter leading? Ahman Green racing to the outside? AND it was into the boundry. A bevy of other options there much better than that crap.
Additionally, schematically, the Texans ran best when they ran downhill and attacked the Colt defense. The Indy defense is fast, but very small upfront and the Texans were controlling the line of scrimmage. To run a toss play against that defense is doing them a favor. The thing that they did not run...and have not run all year long is COUNTER! Counter is a no-brainer call against an overpersuing defense and tailor made for Indy. We didn't run counter once. Shame.
Next was the second sack that Duane Brown gave up. On that particular play, the Texans did ANOTHER thing that I have been screaming for, which is chipping the defensive end with a back. On the previous play, Slaton chipped Freeney and Brown easily handled Freeney with help to the outside. The next play, the Texans gave Brown help again with another chip block from Slaton. This time, the consummate pro Freeney, saw it coming and baited Brown upfield and spun underneath him. This is offensive line suicide. You NEVER give up the inside, ESPECIALLY when you have outside help. The whole point of chipping is so that you can be heavy on your inside protection and react late to the upfield rush. Poor job on that play from Brown not understanding his help on the protection.
The Ugly
Having said that the Texans used a back to chip Freeney and that they used some two tight end sets to him and they slammed released him with a tight end...what in God's name is Gary Kubiak thinking on 3rd down in the red zone and leaving Brown one on one with Freeney? Some fans probably blamed Brown for having Freeney blaze right by him and undoubtedly cursed the first rounder for sucking. But hey brother...they get paid to play too. If I have Dwight Freeney on my team and he is working against a rookie tackle and gets him in a one-on-one dead passing down, I am expecting him to make a play...and Freeney did. To leave the rookie out there by himself is akin to putting him on the spit to be roasted. In-san-ity. Forces a field goal when six was in the offering.
By somewhat popular demand form some, I will put up some comments on our defense, but if you look at how the Colts handled Mario Williams it was as if they had a plan. The Colts doubled him with a tackle and guard, slam released him with a tight end, blocked him with just a tight end with tackle help, doubled him with the tackle and tight end and chipped him with a back in addition to, at times, leaving him one on one. They ran away from him almost exclusively. They got burned on numerous occasions when he was singled up. But the key was with the Colts is that when they were singling up with Mario, Manning was either half rolling away from him or they were three step and one step passing. That's what you do to a premier pass rusher. The Texans took some significant steps forward in addressing issues in pass protection, but it has come too late in the season and does not come near the complexity that it needs to be at to combat dominant defensive ends.
Overall, offensively, I was pretty pleased with the offensive output in the game. Going into Indy and putting up 27 points should, on most occassions, get you a win. But as an offensive coach, I tell my team that we don't lose if we score every time. Learned that from Mike Leach at Texas Tech. Can't beat us if they don't stop us. The offense needed to be perfect and it wasn't. But strides were made.