Official "Houston blows it against Indy" game thread

[gronkykong]

Blunt force will do what we did to the Jaguars. Lewis will sit on bench by third quarter when we are up big.

 

[ViperGTS]

Doubling down on stupid. That's a bold strategy, ever worked for you before?

Anyone who has a problem with Wilfork is an idiot, full stop. This weird need to crap all over former players the minute they're gone is genuinely pathetic. Luckily, for the most part it seems to be confined to only a small group of the worst posters here.

Doubling down on stupid? That's a new low opinion for someone was esteemed as you. (Yes that's sarcasm).

Go look up what Ted Williams did one year when offered more one year on a contract. Go look at what Ray Bourque did near the end of his time in Boston. How about Tom Brady? Or numerous other athletes who actually have an idea of what they are worth (Brady undersold himself..possibly.)

The problem with people such as you is your inability to add any historical context to your petty rebuttals. Even sadder, is you have polluted the minds of others here judging by the likes you received. This has nothing to do with, how do you so eloquently put it...crapping...on Wilfork because he's not here anymore. It's about ego.

 

[ViperGTS]

Wilfork also had to play out his rookie contract despite extension talks. The hardball approach from the pats early in his career led to his hard stance regarding his compensation later in his career. Can you blame the guy? Probably the last year, maybe two of his career. There is no way the Patriots are throwing even 6 mil at him, that extra 3 million isn't chump change, especially on what is possibly his last year (or close to it) in the league. Sure he would have more endorsement value back here, but he also doesn't have the state income tax to deal with for atleast 1/2 his games.

While he is an anti-Brady contractually, I think it's easy to see where and how his thought process was molded.

You make some fair points and the earlier negotiations may have some bearing on his ideas. I just cannot stand to see outstanding if not legendary athletes get hammered by fans and the masses not for performance, but for the performance in relation to the contract. I'd be happy as hell of he was loved in Houston. He isn't and it isn't just be use he's being moved at will off the ball. Thats what I find sad.

 

[AzorianPats]

Agreed re: Mallett. He didn't do anything to lose the job last night, Hoyer just happened to hit his ceiling right away when he got his chance. People wonder why Brady never leaves the field if he has any choice in the matter, and that's why. Sure, we all think/know it's irrational for him to be looking out behind him for the guy coming to take his job (though I'm sure he remembers exactly how he took Bledsoe's, and isn't totally wrong to recognize that no one's ever totally secure). But Brady taking this need to prove he's the best every day to pathological extremes is a huge part of what makes him Brady. He doesn't go from #199 to GOAT without that borderline-insane drive.

Also agreed on the Texans' personnel/scheme, the thing about a 2-gap 3-4 is that your OLBs need to set the edge well, at least one ILB needs to be able to stack up guards, and at least one ILB needs to be a playmaker who can mop up all over the place. The 01-04 Pats had all of that in guys like Bruschi, McGinest, Vrabel, Johnson, etc. And the DL talent we had then kinda speaks for itself too.

The Texans have a lot of the right pieces, but they're still a work in progress. They're not even close to all the way there. Wilfork is still a solid 2-gapper, even in his diminished post-achilles state, and Watt can do pretty much anything. Clowney's a freak and impressed me last night in how well he's adapted to strong-side edge-setting in a role that's still really new to him. But I don't think the rest of their personnel are suited to their roles at all. Cushing's fine, but he's better as a pure playmaker in a more aggressive scheme. And the rest of the guys just don't get it done. Doesn't matter how well Wilfork and Watt 2-gap if there's no talent behind them to take advantage of being unblocked.

I dunno how good of a 2 gap player Watt is. There's reports of the coaching staff being mad that hes free lancing.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Dion Lewis says hi.

Yeah, that's a good example. Lewis would kill it in Philly.

Not necessarily. Remember that LeGarrette did fine in the same system at Oregon.

I think there are two points at play there. One is that Blount is kind of an exception to every rule--for better or worse--that generally applies to big, direct backs. Second is that in most of those games Oregon physically dominated the competition in ways that doesn't happen in the NFL. If the front seven you're going against is nowhere near NFL quality, you can get away with a lot more in terms of suboptimal usage of some players.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I dunno how good of a 2 gap player Watt is. There's reports of the coaching staff being mad that hes free lancing.

I feel the same way about Watt that I did about Seymour, with some kind of multiplier because Watt's better than Seymour ever was. Basically, his physical talent makes him almost unlimited in scheme versatility. He absolutely can play pretty much any scheme or technique on the line, and that includes 2-gapping 3-4 DE. He're more than capable of doing it. Whether he wants to is a separate issue.

And 'reports' that claim to know how the coaching staff feels are unfounded nonsense more often than not. BOB and Crennel are from the Belichick school, no way I believe that any of them are talking to the media. More likely this is like the media 'sources' who were claiming after week 4 2014 that there was a rift between Brady and the Pats. Just lies in the name of clickbait.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Kind of sad how prescient the title of this thread was.

National media will play this up as a heroic effort by Indy, but there was a certain inevitability to it, and this thread is proof.

 

[supafly]

I would actually say that it's 100% the coaching that is what is wrong with this team. There is a lot this team is being made to do that it can't. This is an one-gapping 4-3 defense that is being forced to be a two-gapping 3-4.

The offense also isn't tailored to the talent that Houston has on hand. It is rigid; on many runs I saw a zone blocking that couldn't seal off the aggressive one-gapping that the Colts defense does, being historically known as an undersized but speedy defense. They didn't really take advantage of the overpursuit that naturally occurs with an aggressive defense.

But most importantly, watching BOB's body language last night- I never saw him offer encouragement, never saw him being positive or reassuring. Even a little "don't worry, we'll get them next time," would have gone a long way. His body language screams "You're never good enough for me. You're going to screw something up, I guarantee it." It's almost as if he wants something to yell and scream at.

Consequently, the players are not having fun out there, they're not playing loose and they're definitely not relaxed. They're playing scared and uptight, playing not to lose.

Also BOB's handling of the QB situation is downright terrible. You can do no worst than say one thing and do another, and going back on your word. So now he's lost the trust of both quarterbacks who are now playing with the knowledge they could get yanked at any moment, so they're playing to avoid making a mistake, instead of playing to win.

Solid points regarding their mistakes and poor decision making (particularly on the defensive front topic), but my comment was more geared towards the lack of talent on the Texans team, as opposed to it meaning that Bill O'Brien will definitely suck in another setting.

I think he's making rookie coach (at the NFL level) mistakes like most other coaches would do, but I really can't say for sure that it's all Bill O'Brien's fault. I think he's attempted to bring some passion and fire to the team, along with some basic Belichickian principles. As we know, that's often not good enough, but it's hard to say how many more games they'd have won with a different coach who would fall within their "range" of anyone considering that position. In other words, they're not getting a Nick Saban, Bill Cowher, etc any time soon.

 

[supafly]

Can anyone tell me why RAC has the Texans trying to two gap? Seems as if they're trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It also takes away from what Watt does best (although it's great for Wilfork and would be good for the defense as a whole if they had the LB's to pull it off).

I think that seems to be the million dollar question, Kontra.

You'd think that having Watt, Wilfork, and Clowney would produce much different results against the run. It certainly seems like an odd choice from where I'm sitting, and possibly one they address very soon.

 

[mosi]

Where are all the people that have been saying they'd rather have Wilfork than Brown now?

Yes, Wilfork is done. I don't think he has anything left in the tank. Very sad to see.

 

[Angelpats]

I hope the Texans don't have an epiphany and start playing the defense their personel is better suited for when they do up against us.