except they're not healthier.....since playing the pats, the texans lost dobbins and sharpton, their 2 best LB's at that time when it comes to pass coverage and they still could not stop hernandez.......add to the fact that gronk is back, my question is 'who is going to cover the TE's?' bradie james?
all the bengals had to do is keep handing the ball off to green-ellis.....he'd still be running....the bengals had qhat could be the worst game plan ever
honestly? I think the outcomes for this one could be worse for the texans than the last one
there is nothing that the texans can even use from the last game in terms of adjustments.......it's not like 'well, if we do this or we do that, we'll fix what killed us in that game'......the texans playing the pats is a square peg in a round hole for them
Was going to post this but you beat me to it. Remember that the Texans effectively play a 5-2 defense, with the OLBs (Barwin, Reed, Mercilus) effectively playing on the line outside their DL. They will drop occasionally but that is more of a change-up rather than a strength.
So the Texans use their ILB and S positions to patrol the middle of the field. Lets look at the depth chart at those 2 positions, first ILB:
Bradie James - Serviceable player but not a difference-maker
Barrett Ruud - Street FA making 2nd start since middle of last year
Mister Alexander - Special teams guy signed last week
Cameron Collins - Just signed off practice squad
They are one injury away from having to throw out their base defense from lack of players. But can the safety position mitigate this?
Daniel Manning - Good player that has helped stabilize their secondary
Glover Quin - Helps in run support but can't cover worth a lick
Quinton Demps - Once useful nickel guy but has fallen out of favor
Shiloh Keo - Terrible but somehow still getting defensive snaps
Outside of Manning (who really should be patrolling the deep middle), who is covering any of the Pats middle of the field threats? They love to blitz but are unable to play lockdown man behind it. If they play zone, they will die by a thousand cuts.
Now that the 2 TE alignment is (hopefully) healthy, the Pats can adjust formations without changing personnel. The Texans base has 3 players (James, Ruud, Quin) that can be exploited. If they go nickel, the Pats just need to get through their DL to get some big runs.
Any given Sunday and the Texans offense can go a long way to mitigating the issues I mention above...but this is not a good matchup for the Texans. They need a lot of people to step up big time and they just haven't been doing it for the last month or so.
