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Oct 1, 2007 2007 Season, Athletes who don't stab people, Batman, Demarcus Faggins sucks, Gary Kubiak might be high, Ron Dayne likes pie, Teams that aren't the Texans, The Schaub Experiment
First off, let’s be clear: The injuries are not an excuse.
Would it have been nice to have Andre Johnson and Ahman Green and the rest? Of course. But this game was not lost because we didn’t have the primary weapons. It was not lost because ND Kalu couldn’t play. It was not even lost because our special teams were without Jerome Mathis and Jacoby Jones. Nope, this game was lost because of:
- Petey Faggins,
- Piss-poor clock management,
- Below average play-calling,
- Some questionable decisions by Matt Schaub, and
- Surprisingly effective play by Joey Harrington.
Let’s take these one at a time.
Petey Faggins. When he was abused by Steve Smith for two TDs in roughly 9 seconds, the excuse was “well, LOTS of people get burned by Smith.” When he allowed nearly every pass thrown his way to be completed by playing 30 yards off the line of scrimmage and allowed Joseph Addai to score two TDs by running right at him, the excuse was “the coaches put him off the line like that and, hey, at least Marvin didn’t score.” What, pray tell, are the excuses going to be this week?
Just for grins, let’s recap. On one play, he managed to hold the wide receiver, impeding said receiver’s progress (in theory), only to still find himself burned on the play. Now, the prudent thing to do at this point would be to try and recover (which he lacks the speed to do), try to play the ball and maybe knock it down (which he lacks the wherewithal to do), and/or try to be in position to deliver a hit as the ball is caught in the hopes of knocking it loose (which he has rarely been able to do). The thing you shouldn’t do–especially when you’ve been beaten for three straight weeks–is get a pass interference penalty while still not even preventing the catch. Because, if you do that, the opposing team will likely realize that you really are as bad as you seemed on tape and will continue to attack you until the even the TV guys are saying “wow, they are running pretty much every play to that side.” This would likely lead to you getting flagged for another hold and another PI before it is all said and done.
I am not surprised by Petey’s struggles; I have been railing against him since the inception of this blog. I am surprised at the extent of his ineptitude, however. I can honestly say that, right now, he’s the worst defensive starter in the NFL. Because of that, and until I am shown otherwise, I am going to continue to refuse to believe the company line that he is still our best option.
Clock management. Let me ask you something. How is it that the hundred-people on the Texans sideline collectively failed to notice that they had been screwed out of 14 seconds? Wouldn’t you assume that someone–say, maybe, the HEAD COACH of the team trying to score ten points in the last 3 minutes–would look to see that, because the play did not count, the 14 elapsed seconds would be put back on the board? Of course, not noticing was in keeping with how Gary Kubiak has managed the clock for much of this season. I believe in The Kubes, I really do, but a simple grasp on how to best conserve (or expend, depending on the score) time is pretty freakin’ important. Between the confusion last week just before halftime and this week’s willy-nilly use of time and timeouts, Kubiak continues to shoot himself in the foot. After the way the time had been handled throughout the game, seeing Jameel Cook (or was it Vonta Leach?) run toward the middle of the field with 8 seconds left and no timeouts just seemed like the icing on the mismanagement cake.
Poor play calling. A naked halfback toss to Ron Dayne at the one-yard line? Seriously? This isn’t Tecmo Bowl, man. That play would be near impossible for Dayne to manage from midfield, when the defense is spread out; there is no chance in hell he’s going to score on that play from the six, with the defense packed in tight. Besides, and here’s the bigger issue, after seeing us pound the ball up the middle with a modicum of success during the game, why the heck didn’t we try to punch it in from the one with either Dayne (who is supposed to be our between-the-tackles power RB), Gado, or even one of the fullbacks? Twice, while trying to mount the comeback, we had the ball at Atlanta’s one-yard line. We came away with three points TOTAL out of those two trips. Unacceptable.
This isn’t the first instance of odd play-calling, either. There was the curious decision last week not to kick the onside kick. There have been several random “run when we probably should have passed” or vice versa moments. I know that injuries have played into that to an extent, but still.
Questionable decisions by The Schaub. Far be it from me to cast stones at the Altar of Schaub, because God knows I wouldn’t want to revert to the old QB, and the positives certainly outweigh the negatives with Matt, but someone might want to sit him down and explain some things to him. First of all, throwing a two-yard pass to a crossing fullback on thirdfourth-and-three is never, ever a good idea unless the defense is made up of blind people and retards. Second, in the hurry-up offense, again you might want to avoid dump passes to people like Jameel Cook. (In fact, speaking of Cook, I think it’s fair to say that something went wrong in your game planning if Cook ends a game with 6 catches, especially for a whopping 28 yards.) Third, that “running to the right, throwing back against the grain into the middle of the field” thing? Yeah, rarely a good idea. And, by “rarely,” I mean “never.” Finally, the next time you think about throwing the ball to Ron Dayne, do me a favor and throw it directly into the ground to end the suspense.
Harrington. I was going to cite “inability for the defense to stop anything” as the reason, but that would take away from how well Harrington actually played. Still, when you saw how easily we were able to get to him and disrupt their offense near the end when we started blitzing, one has to wonder why we didn’t mix that in a little more. Sure, Amobi got his fourth sack and, yes, Mario was getting pressure, but for the most part, Harrington just avoided whichever defensive lineman worked his way free and threw to the open man being guarded by Faggins. I am generally not a huge fan of blitzing, but mixing a couple in just to get some shots in on Joe and force him to make quick throws would have gone a LONG way toward keeping Atlanta points off the board. But, because we didn’t, my hat is off to Joey for playing an efficient and intelligent game.
****
Not everything was bad, however. After a game like that, it can be hard to admit that there were in fact a few bright spots. First, the offensive line continues to play far better than anyone thought they would. Schaub was sacked once, raising the season total to 6 (1.5 per game). The old QB was sacked three times in his first start at Carolina.
Second, DeMeco Ryans. Six more tackles and a sack. He and Morlon Greenwood (11 tackles) quietly had a great game in the middle of the field.
Lastly, Apostrophe Davis. The man came into the game with a recently-dislocated finger, made a leaping one-handed circus catch for a TD, and finished the game with 5 catches for 117 yards. Considering he wasn’t even on the active roster a couple weeks ago, this performance was outstanding.
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October 1st, 2007 at 2:15 pm
First of all, throwing a two-yard pass to a crossing fullback on third-and-three is never, ever a good idea
If I recall, wasn’t that on *4th* down… making it an even more egregious error?
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October 1st, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Goddamnit, you are right. I got angry again just realizing that.
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October 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Not a terribly surprising result. The Texans last year had problems keeping their composure on the road. There was more composure from the QB position generally speaking, but hard to overcome the penalties, poor field position, and complete lack of running game.
Ron Dayne is not a short yardage back. File that with Petey sucks posts.
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October 1st, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Not a pretty game to watch. Let’s just hope this serves as a wake up call to the organization that we haven’t “arrived” yet. If we don’t spank Miami at home this week, I will be worried. But I’m not hitting the panic button yet. Apostrophe does look good though. I think Kubes should seriously consider him starting with Big Dre when He gets back. I think a 3 wide set with both dre’s and JJ would be quite formidable. Walters has never wowed me. He reminds me of a white Jabar Gaffney..he’s just open by default sometimes.
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October 1st, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Steph, re: Dayne, if a big fat dude like that is not a short yardage back, what exactly is he? Other than “not good,” I mean.
tyler, “white Jabar Gaffney” might be the best insult-compliment I’ve ever heard for a WR.
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October 1st, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I found another bright spot, and I can’t believe I forgot about this up until now.
Dunta Robinson blocked a fucking field goal. That was pretty rad.
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October 1st, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I think the word you’re looking for in regards to Dayne is “craptastic,” or maybe “shitacular.”
I really think the play-calling was more egregious than the clock management. Most coaches don’t notice they should get time back when the play doesn’t count, I’ve only seen a handful of times when any coach has brought it up. Not that the clock management was good, I’m just saying maybe #2 and #3 should switch order.
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October 1st, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Oh, one more thing. Kubiak said that as soon as Bennett is healthy (hamstring problem right now I believe), he’s going to get some playing time.
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October 1st, 2007 at 5:23 pm
On behalf of the rest of the AFC South, please stop insulting the genius that is Petey Faggins.
Don’t you see? He’s just faking everyone in to believing that he couldn’t cover a dead fly carcass with a blanket, and as soon as he has lulled us all in to thinking that - BAM! -pick six to the house.
Nah who am I kidding. That guy is a disaster. But I won’t complain if he’s out on the field here in Nashville in a few weeks.
But Jesus, why didn’t you guys keep running the ball? That Falcon d-line was about to puke their guts fromk exhaustion by the third quarter.
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October 1st, 2007 at 5:23 pm
TBL, I didn’t really put them in order, though I would certainly keep Faggins at the top of the list either way. You are right about the play-calling, but the clock thing is becoming like a running sub-plot.
I love the news about Bennett. Then again, they could say “we’re going to put this large rock out there” and I’d be optimistic.
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October 1st, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Did they? That exhaustion sure didn’t keep them from stuffing us on every 3rd-and-one on the day. Take away the 25-yard run and Dayne was averaging 2.3 per carry. As for the 25-yarder; that might have been the biggest running hole in the history of football. Sam Adams would have hit that for at least twenty. I’m also certain that Green would have taken that one to the house.
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October 1st, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I think the stuffing you guys on every 3rd and 2 was more the fact that they had 11 guys in the box on those plays. No deep threat, no need to put back a safety. Atlanta’s d currently is listed as giving up 4.3 a carry. That translates in to run the rock, and playaction every once in a while. And I’m afraid that A-Davis is not the deep threat you need. Coming from a Titans fans, you should know that I know what it’s like not to have a deep threat.
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October 1st, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Ron Dayne is a fat man that runs like a smaller guy but for the fact he can’t beat anyone to the outside either. When the Texans coaching staff talked about using Dayne in short yardage when they acquired him, those who have watched him with the Giants and Denver just laughed. So this is a non-surprise.
Since the new regime, the running game has never been trustworthy. When Kubiak first came, there was visions of a Denver insert any suck running back and get zillions of yards. But the Texans don’t run the Denver zone blocking, and have their hybrid of Kubiak passing and Sherman running.
And generally speaking, they’ve never really worked together very well. There were some good running days last year, but mostly against suck run defenses and only after the Texans basically gave up on trying to throw the ball and pass block.
Though I can’t confirm it, there are some who believe that the way that the Texans line up for the run versus the pass telegraphs what the play is going to be based on the gaps between the linemen. Hard for me to say because of the angle I watch the games from.
But we can talk all we want about what scheme they are using. Truth be told, other than a healthy Green, there is not a back on the roster that any other team would have any interest in.
So basically against a suck run defense, and after having a special emphasis on the run in this last week’s practice, that was the best that could be done with Dayne. I just ate dinner and the thought of that really makes me nauseated.
The thing the Texans defense needs is for Dunta Robinson, DeMeco Ryans, Amobi Okoye and Mario Williams* to be cloned, and for the offense to keep them off the field. The Ron Dayne experience ain’t gonna do it.
The games the Texans have played well in, the team has succeeded as a team–with all three parts of the ball. And in Sunday’s game, though there were flashes of good from each unit, there were too many mistakes in all three phases too.
*For those of you who read stat lines and don’t watch the games, Williams didn’t have a bad game. He played with a lot of energy, chased down players, and most importantly, check out how many times ATL ran away from his side of the field. Didn’t matter what side he lined up on.
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October 1st, 2007 at 7:17 pm
As usual, you’re 100% on the money here. I don’t know how many times I’ve read that the Texans use the Denver running scheme, but it irks me every single time.
Re: the backs, I didn’t buy into the Dayne Experience even after his good games last year, mainly because I have two friends who are Giants fans and I’d been conditioned to know that what we were seeing was a mirage. The two things that are really annoying about the current RB depth chart is that Ahman Green:Ron Dayne :: Ron Dayne:Samkon Gado. That’s some serious drop-off AND that our RB corps (to my mind, at least) would be a LOT better with a healthy Chris Taylor.
As far as the defense goes, I know it’s not fair to put all the blame on Petey, but he is the poster-child for how bad our secondary looks right now. C.C. has his very good and very bad moments…and the rest of them (Dunta excluded, obviously) just have the very bad. I guess we will get to test my theory that even Fletcher would be an upgrade over Petey.
By the way, Mario has been very visibly double-teamed on three of Amobi’s four sacks. Teams don’t run at him, either. Mario is a force right now and the stats will come in due time.
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October 1st, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Give me Ricky Williams, ASAP.
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October 2nd, 2007 at 10:14 am
Mario Williams has been playing phenomenal this year. He’s being held by two men on almost every single play - he wouldn’t get that constant attention if he was the DE equivalent of Petey or Fatass Dayne.