Quick Thoughts - Week 2

[ChaosTheory]

Not the greatest litmus test in the Texans, but they did what they were supposed to do, so good game.


-Obviously AR is the story. Two weeks in, two injuries, two early exits. Beyond the progress he needs to make as a player... this was always the concern with drafting and building around a running QB. Strong start because of his running. Left the game because of his running. But that's what makes him scary for defenses.

-Minshew's floor as a passer is higher than AR's. He didn't light it up, but he was very efficient. Short-term, we probably have a better chance of winning some games. Long-term, this is not the QB ceiling we want. Good game.

-Zack Moss is a good football player. He's a bowling ball and his vision was a giant improvement. He played more impressive than the 88yds he finished with. He was at 5.5ypc before we told the Texans we were running the clock.

-Offensive line did what they were supposed to. 0 sacks, 0 tfl, 1 QB hit, 126 rush yards, 5.5ypc. Was curious what Will Anderson would do today: glad it was nothing.

-Again hard to grade the receivers because it was such a short-pass, efficiency gameplan outside of the 43yd Mallory catch-and-run. Some drops (like Granson's early) have got to stop.

-Blue tent of death has claimed three offensive contributors in the first two weeks. Concussion protocol annoys me sometimes.

-Front 7 also did what they were supposed to. Again, not the greatest opponent, but if they didn't look great, that would be concerning. 6 sacks, 10tfl, and 9 QB hits is great. So well done.

-DB's aren't there. This is our Achilles' heel. Moore is good, other CB's are not. Need Brents to catch up. Need to rewatch the safeties, but I don't think they were good today, either.

-Stroud showed he could be a pain in our ass going forward. Got a lot of yards when our D softened up with a lead, so not as good as his stat line... but he is a pretty passer.


What else?

[Racehorse]

DBs can't tackle for shit. Wrap the guy up instead of trying to knock him around.

[Spike]

Secondary was hot garbage.

[CletusPyle]

I know a few of us on the board (including myself) have been critical of Alec Pierce, but as soon as Minshew came in he immediately passed to Pierce and found him again for a good gain later in the game....so it may be that Alec is getting open, but AR just may be overlooking him.

I had high hopes for Pierce and have so far been disappointed, I had just assumed he was not getting separation, but in fairness to him, that may not be the case.

Excellent game points and summary!

[Oldcolt]

Dayo was the one who punched out the first fumble.

[omahacolt]

Originally Posted by Oldcolt

Dayo was the one who punched out the first fumble.

was he? thats all he did

[Hoopsdoc]

Just watching the game now. Had family stuff all day. Just made it to the Texans first td.

My initial impression is that Stroud is gonna be really good and that the Texans offensive line is just brutal. They might be worse than the Colts were last year.

When I heard that AR got injured I was worried but that seemed more like a freak type of thing. Hope it’s not to serious.

[daedge]

Originally Posted by CletusPyle

I know a few of us on the board (including myself) have been critical of Alec Pierce, but as soon as Minshew came in he immediately passed to Pierce and found him again for a good gain later in the game....so it may be that Alec is getting open, but AR just may be overlooking him.

I had high hopes for Pierce and have so far been disappointed, I had just assumed he was not getting separation, but in fairness to him, that may not be the case.

Excellent game points and summary!

AR is also not giving him time to get open. While no doubt deliberate, everything is very short and sharp with AR-5 in the passing game.

[Mr. Session]

- Much better week from the coaches imo.

- Steichen is intense. I don't think I remember Pagano nor Reich ever being that animated with referees. I'm not sure how productive that is, but part of me appreciates the sense of urgency from Steichen vs. what always looked like a mixture of helplessness/indifference from the previous guys in similar scenarios.

After last week I was miffed with the failed 4th down conversions but when he was asked to comment on that I appreciated how unapologetic he was. As frustrated as I was, he was right in advising that is just something we HAVE to do. It just is what it is. I can live with that.

- I've liked the new HB #21 better than I liked the old HB #21. I'm glad we got rid of that guy.

- Richardson is 0-2 in finishing games. Not cool and the hit he took there was his fault. They tell us all when we start playing weight ball, "keep your head on a swivel".

- I get Leonard needs some time but if he doesn't start showing something before the end of the year, I'm with Omaha. Right now it looks like Speed may offer more, at least at first glance. Franklin has grown a lot...

- Did Grover Stewart gain weight? Am I trippin'? He looks bigger to me.

- I'm glad Paye is 2/2. Keep it up and get paid

- Pitt put in some work today too. Same deal; Keep it up, get paid.

- Happy to see Granson continue to produce. I was a little surprised MAC made the team but it was fun watching him send that dude off the field.

- I can't tell if Baker is getting toasted or if that is just what our defense was okay with giving up. To me it looked like they were hitting behind Speed/Leonard and just hitting the soft spot. When are we going to see Jones or Brents?

Fun game to watch. I appreciate Minshew.

[ukcolt]

I liked the dline rotation, certainly on rushing downs, didn't really notice any drop off between any of the personnel groupings, which is a great sign. And hopefully when we come to play the Titans, the freshness will mean Henry isn't going to take over games in the 4th quarter against us.

I am not going to be complaining too much about our corners, they are young and incredibly inexperienced, besides Kenny Moore, who has played well through my eyes in both games. I am not sure what anyone was expecting to happen with the guys we were/are going to be using this season. Baker, Flowers, Jones, Brents have 4 combined starts between them, one of them has yet to even play a game yet. 3 of those have been from the first 2 games of the year!

The safeties haven't done much this year though, again I realise Rodney Thomas II is only in his second season, but Blackmon doesn't feel like the same player he was before his injury. I am not saying he has played badly....just nothing of note. I was surprised when i looked at the snap counts from last week that Nick Cross didn't have a single defensive snap. Not sure that i saw him yesterday either.