DGDB&D: a Texans blog.

Kickoff - “Readers react” Edition

Nov 3, 2008 Awfulness, Guest Posts, H/T Eric, I really dig my readers, Kickoff

A number of good emails came in prior to and (especially) after the game.  Git yo read on, homeslice.

From Edgar:

So we all know how god-like Andre is on the field.  Anybody who knows anything about football will most likely concede that this guy is one of the most talented receivers in the game, if not the most talented.  Yet somehow we can’t go more than a few days without hearing of an article by a sportswriter who thinks he is having this big epiphany by extolling Andre’s virtues.  My question is this: do you think if Andre was more of a diva on and off the field like just about every other wide receiver in the league he would get more props?

It almost seems like his hard work ethic, unselfish nature, and consistent performance on the field would be a slight detriment in that his name isn’t being tossed around nearly as much as much less talented receivers.  Does this matter to him?  Most likely not, and it shouldn’t matter to us either but I was just curious to see if you had any thoughts on the matter.  The guy is just too good to not be on every single list of the top receivers, and I think his quiet nature is part of the reason—people just forget.

I’d agree with that.  Hell, in the pregame yesterday, Bill Cowher gave his Top 12 WRs list and Andre was number one.  One of the other twits said something about “do you think anyone even knows who Andre Johnson is?”  My constant reply to that idea is “if they have a damned clue about anything other than their team (which is most likely the Cowboys), they sure as hell do.”  But, yeah, I think the fact that he is so classy about everything makes him take a backseat press-wise to turds like Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens.  And, of course, it doesn’t help that he’s never made a playoff appearance.

From Will “The Thrill”:

The O-Line got owned.  That contributed to a lot of problems.

As bad as they played, we should have won it, but gave another game away with stupid fucking turnovers.  Not just turnovers.  Stupid Fucking Turnovers.  As Alex Gibbs told Rosenfels after that INT, “What the fuck was that?”

Our front 7 played the best game of the year on D.

Our secondary had the worst game of the year.  Dunta included.  Fuck Jaques Reeves.  Even with Dunta getting burned, what case can be made for any other CB combo than Bennett-Robinson?

The only reason Reeves intercepts that ball is because he was behind the reciever and the ball was thrown behind then tipped.

Duane Brown: fuck!

Hey Sage: those timeouts are precious.  Quit fucking burning them.

Chris Myers: learn how to snap the fucking ball.

Schaub: If you’re going to be the man, you can’t fucking throw to the other team.  Also, hold on to the fucking ball when you get hit.

FUCK

A while later, again from Will:

Riddle me this:

What’s really different about this team from last year?

Better:
Steve Slaton is a glaring positive.

Tim Bulman and Earl Cochran big improvements.

Mario looks better than he did last year.

Worse:

Our O-Line is arguably worse with a first rounder and a big name coach.

Our secondary is worse with a big name coach.

Tackling has went down hill.

A couple of key players to our long term success have regressed: Fred Bennett, Amobi Okoye and Eric Winston.

Same:
QB play still inconsistent.  I don’t have the stats, but Schaub has to fumble at least 1 in every 3 hits.  At least 1 in 4.

As good as Schaub is, he’s still good for some really boneheaded INT’s.

Maybe why he’s 1-10 as a starter on the road now.

Same fucking stupid clock management.

I can’t blame much on defense playcalling this week.  But fuck, we’re talking about the Vikings O.  Aside from AP, what ‘real’ weapons do they have.

I could keep on going, but it just seems like it’s more of the fucking same old shit.  I think we’re staring 7-9 or 8-8 and another non-playoff-berth [season] right in the eyes right now.  Which probably guarantees more of the same next year.

FUCK.

I wish I could disagree with the last part, about how 7-9 or 8-8 gives us more of the same, but I can’t.  I can already hear the “see…we finished 8-4″ or whatever.  As if the first four losses somehow shouldn’t count.  I will say this, however, even if we won out and did not allow another point all year, I would still be calling for Richard Smith’s head.  If he’s shown anything this year, it is that any defensive success we have is in spite of him and certainly not because of him.  When Jacques Reeves is getting targeted on EVERY SINGLE PASS, you might want to ask yourself “self, is Reeves really that bad?”  The answer is “YES.”  But I am positive Smith has not had that conversation with himself at all.

Finally, from Eric:

WTF morning guys!

This might be an easy note, ’cause it’s the consistent problems we’ve played with during the Kubiak era. Who’s in charge? Shanny is OC and Kubes makes the offensive calls. Gibbs rips Sage (while he’s leaving the field) after his dunderheaded interception. Richard Smith is *cough* *gag* the DC and has never made a game plan to beat a Pop Warner co-ed team. So, here are my four (4) problems with these Texans (not in any specific order):

1) Can’t win on the road
2) Clock mgmt.
3) Turnovers
4) Richard Smith

The Texans have not won on the road in over a year! One fucking year!?! In the comfy confines of Reliant, our boyz look like a legitimate NFL team. On the road, they seem unprepared, under performing, and out played.  (In the Denny Green voice) “They are who we thought they were! If you want to crown them, then crown their asses!”  Not a crown of gold, of course, but a dunce cap will do. Why?

Sage’s interception was/is inexcusable. Thinking they had a first down, the coaches fail to get the play in, when in fact they were now 3rd and short and the play clock was then inside the 15 second time frame and his helmet headset shuts off. Instead of calling a timeout, Sage calls the play (w/Kubes and baby Shanny oblivious to what’s going on) and instead of regrouping and burning the T/O, running a play that might get the 1st, or settling for 3 pts., Sage throws the pick.  Why?

Since Kubes is the lead engineer of the train, he’s responsible for the train wreck. I’ve tired of him coming to these pressers and proclaiming “it’s all on me” and following it up the next week with the same glaring problems. During TC, these buffoons wore on their asses “protect the ball (offense)” and “get the ball (defense)” or some such shit. What has changed? The “red zone” seems to be the time our QBs decide it’s time to either throw it away or lay it on the ground. The defense cannot strip the ball nor do they have a ball hawk in the secondary, to go get the ball. Why?

Richard Smith….need I say more? Why?

Did you know that Football Outsiders shows the Texans as 26th in the league in offensive efficiency in the 1st quarter and 2nd in the league in the second quarter? Why? Now Schaub might have to sit for two (2) weeks with a sprained left knee. The bus will be driven by “Rosenchoppa”, who had everything to prove from the Indy meltdown, proving he could be a starter in this league, and playing before friends and family 5 hours away. He displayed the same tendencies he showed against Indy and that 3rd round pick from the Vikes is a distant memory. Yes, we need him and is a luxury to have as a back-up but, if we’re laying an egg, pull the trigger.

Well said. “Why?” could be the overarching theme of the entire season right now.

If I am curt with you, it is because time is of the essence.

Oct 15, 2008 Fake Conversations with Real People, Fire Richard Smith, Guest Posts, Pulp Fiction

Continuing today’s theme of “Let Other People Do My Job For Me,” here’s a guest post from Will the Thrill.  As an aside, if you combine fake conversations, the Texans, and Pulp Fiction, it’s damn near impossible to not get your stuff posted here.  –Matt

[Gary Kubiak and Richard Smith are standing in Bob McNair's office]

Kubes: God damn Bob, did you see that Mario Williams got two sacks again today?! That’s some serious pass rush shit.  Hell, me and Richard here would have settled for hell, just a few quarterback pressures.  And he springs this serious Pro Bowl DE shit on us…what college did he come from?

Bob: Knock it off Kubes.  I don’t need you to tell me how good Mario Williams is, okay?  I’m the one who pays him; I know how good he is.  When Casserly drafted, he drafted shit.  I got him to draft a real fucking pass rusher, because when he plays I want him to sack the quarterback.  But you know what’s on my mind right now?  It ain’t my soon to be All-World defensive end, Mario Williams.  It’s the other fucking losers in my stadium.

Kubes: Oh, Bob, don’t even worry about it….

Bob: N-nnnn-nu no.  I don’t want to think about anything.  When you and Richard came pulling in here from Denver, did you notice a sign up in front of my stadium that said “Fucking Losers Play Here?”

Kubes: Bob, you know I didn’t see no shit….

Bob (a little louder): DID YOU SEE A SIGN IN FRONT OF MY STADIUM THAT SAID “FUCKING LOSERS PLAY HERE?!”

Kubes: No, I didn’t.

Bob: You know why you didn’t see that sign?

Kubes: Why?

Bob: BECAUSE IT AIN’T THERE BECAUSE HAVING FUCKING LOSERS PLAY FOR ME AIN’T MY FUCKING BUSINESS, that’s why!

Kubes: Bob, we ain’t going to lose all the time…

Bob: N-nnnn-nu nuh…Don’t you fucking realize that if we keep losing, that fucking Charlie Casserly is going to sit there in his analyst chair and say how HE wasn’t the fucking problem?  We’re in our third season and you know what they’re going to call us?  Fucking losers.  Not up and coming, not on the verge, fucking losers.  And I don’t want to be called a fucking loser.  (calms down a little) You know Kubes, I want to help you.  I like you, help progress your career a little. But I don’t want to be called a loser doing it, alright?

Kubes: Bob, Bob, they ain’t gonna call us lose–

Bob: DON’T FUCKING “BOB” ME KUBES! OKAY?!  Don’t fucking “Bob” me.  There’s nothing you’re going to say that’s going to make me forget I bought this team to win, is there? Look, you know we got 11 games left to play, okay?  A few home games, a few road games.  You gotta make some phone calls, you gotta make some personnel adjustments, you gotta hire or fire some coaches, well then DO IT.  All we gotta do is win eight more fucking games to keep from being “officially” losers.

Kubes: It’s Kool and The Gang.  We don’t want to fuck your shit up.  All I’m going to do is call my people, talk to my team, we’ll bring this in, that’s all.

Bob: You don’t want to fuck my shit up?! You’re fucking my shit up right now!  You’re going to fuck my shit up big time if Casserly calls us losers.  Now there’s a phone down in your office, a mulimillion dollar practice bubble down there, I suggest you get to it.

DGDB&D Guest Post feat. Vega

Sep 24, 2008 Conventional Wisdom Can Blow Me, Curious Coaching, Gary Kubiak might be high, Guest Posts, I really dig my readers, I was told there would be no math

Because he was the only other person besides myself that I saw arguing that Kubiak’s fourth-down plays were statistically correct, I asked math dork guru Vega to run the numbers for a guest post.  Enjoy.

70% of Statistics are Made Up on the Spot
by: Vega

Last week, Gary Kubiak went for it on fourth down six times in the game against the BE-SF’s. SIX!! Who the fuck does that?! Did he have a meth-contact high? Probably. But I think that accounts more for his play calling and challenges than it did for his fourth down decisions.

Kubiak actually played the percentages pretty well on those situations. Yeah, I know we still lost. Yeah, I know we only made 2 of those 6 (33%). But that’s the thing about percentages. There’s always that chance you’ll get fucked. The idea is to increase the probability that you fuck someone else, because we all know it’s better to fuck than be fucked. [Ed. note: Not according to Foomey.] Simply put, that’s really the coach’s only job.

We’ve all heard about the fact that coaches are as a whole more conservative on 4^th down than they statistically should be, but what does that really mean? The original line of thinking on fourth down conversions vs. field goals comes from this paper from Economics Professor David Romer from the University of Cal–Berkley. He used economic models of expected returns to see if coaches were really maximizing their probability of winning. If you’re not into busting your brain on math with no numbers, let me give you the super simplified version.

Romer starts by assigning a value to field position. Basically, he assigns expected points based on the long term expected return of having first and ten from every yard line minus the value of where you would leave your opponent. For example, having first and ten from your own one is worth -1.6 points because you’re unlikely to score many points, but you’re likely to leave your opponent with good field position.

He then estimated the value of kicks at every point on the field by taking the expected point return on a field goal minus the value of average field position on the ensuing kickoff. For punts he took the value of the average field position of where you would leave your opponent. Finally, he looked at fourth down conversion probabilities for 4^th and 1, 4^th and 2, all the way to 4^th and 10, at every yard line (technically he used 3^rd down stats because there wasn’t enough data on 4^th downs, but it works pretty well).

When the dust settled, Romer had developed a method where you can look at fourth and whatever from any point on the field and determine your expected point return by either going for it or kicking. He was then nice enough to plot this on a chart so you can just look at it and see what you should do (statistically speaking). Easy peasy, Japanesy.

Now let’s take a look at the six occasions where Kubiak went for it.

* Within standard error, so there is no definitive answer, but it is on the “Go for it” side.

So it looks like with the exception of the last two, Kubiak made the statistically rational decision four out of six times. Ah, if only it were that simple.

For the sake of simplicity, the study was done with data independent of game situations. In other words, it didn’t take into consideration the score, time left on the clock, quality of the teams, etc. So let’s look at each of these a little bit closer.

· 4^th and 1 from Tenn 11; 9:58 2^nd Q: Romer says to go for it. At this point, there was plenty of time left in the game so we can take Romer’s recommendation at face value. Good call.

· 4^th and 4 from Tenn 10; 5:20 3^rd Q: This one is close. According to Romer, when a call is right on the boundary, the team should be fairly indifferent to going for it vs. kicking, so you should really play the game situation. I can see the argument against Kubiak as a FG would have made the score 24-15 with over a quarter left to play. Remember that if we kick the FG, Tenn probably ends up with the ball at the 27, so we in essence reduce our probability of getting the ball back with the same score. Still, considering Tennessee had started going with the “let’s just not fuck up” game plan and we would leave them field position worth about -1, so we stand a good chance of getting the ball back with good field position. Hold on… I have a headache… All in all, both the score and the game situation slightly lean towards going for it, so I say go for it.

· 4^th and 3 from Tenn 17; 9:11 4^th Q: Again, this one is close so we need to consider the game situation. Down twelve with 9 minutes left. Kick a FG and we need another FG and a TD to win. If we miss, we need two TDs. The argument for conservatism is a little stronger here as the game situation starts to become more important than the statistical analysis. The problem here though is that we had 2^nd and 3. We ran it left for two yards on second down and then threw to Slaton in the flat on 3^rd for a loss of two. Way to push the ball down field guys.

· 4^th and 2 from Tenn 2; 7:12 4^th Q: Ok, this one is a no brainer. The stats say go and the game situation says go. That said, I’d like to send a big “Fuck You” to Kubes on the play calling again. Let’s look at the prior plays.

o 1^st and 4 from the 4: Run Slaton right end for three yards.

o 2^nd and 1 from the 1: Incomplete pass to a well covered Apostrophe. That’s a timing route that wasn’t even close. With that coverage, Schaub should have either floated one to the corner or looked for another receiver. That’s fucking crazy talk!

o 3^rd and 1 from the 1: Pass to Kevin Walter for -1 yard. Yeah, because when I have one yard to go against a super aggressive defense, I don’t even like to look at the endzone.

o 4^th and 2 from the 2: Run Slaton up the middle against the strength of the defense. Look, Slaton had a great game, but most of that success was to the left and to a lesser extent to the right; NOT up the middle where our Oline was getting dominated. Throughout the game, Slaton had one rush up the middle that gained more than one yard and that was to close out the first half.

· 4^th and 10 from Tenn 48; 4:26 4^th Q: Romer says kick, but I think we’ve gotten to that point in the game where you’re willing to take on more risk because of the game situation. Down 12 with less than five minutes left, you have to go for it. Again though, the big problem here is if you look at the prior downs. 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd downs were incompletions.

· 4^th and 10 from Tenn 48; 1:17 4^th Q: Same as before. Stats say kick, but who gives a fuck. You HAVE to go for this. The pick was not really Schaub’s fault as Vanden Bosch was given the red carpet treatment on his way to Schaub’s knee. But again, we had 2^nd and 3 from the 4 and ran at Haynesworth and VB. We then took a sack on third down to put ourselves in this spot.

To sum this all up, it doesn’t look like we made the bad decision to go for it on fourth down on these plays, but where we fucked up was in putting ourselves in too many fourth downs. This came from weak play calling and poor execution. So while some may say that one of our problems last week came from being too aggressive on fourth down, I would argue that we weren’t aggressive enough on first second and third downs and ended up in too many fourth down situations.

Let me leave you with this.

We were first and goal from inside the 10 three times, and first and 10 from the 11 once more. Three of those times we ended up with a fourth down situation. That’s why we lost the game.

We get emails

Sep 24, 2008 Gary Kubiak might be high, Guest Posts, I really dig my readers

Reader and occasional guest-poster Will “The Thrill” offers a couple interesting points.

Oh yeah, we got the funk, gotta have that funk…..

What the fuck? Over!

I’ve never been so glad to not only miss getting to watch my favorite team, but also forgetting to DVR it.  I was at the Fall Nationals in Dallas this weekend, so I was spared being pissed off by seeing how shitty the Texans played in addition to being pissed off at a small piece of trash that entered the fuel system of our race car, ending our day in the second round in what would have been a cake walk to the final.  Without further ado, here’s some outside looking in.

Remember when I mentioned one of the things that could bite us this year was the “funk” we got into last year in games like Atlanta, Tenn, SD, etc.? That’s the team that has showed up.  Kinda like the June 2008 Astros.  Or playoff Rockets.  For some reason, Houston sports teams are either all or nothing.  They might show up in Jax and kick the shit out of them.

All Houston-conspiracy, something-in-the-water theories aside, it’s starting to look like we have a coaching problem—or multiple coaching problems—because every single player, Steve Slaton aside, is showing their worst.  Oh yeah, Demeco and Mario too.  [Ed. note: Be fair...Mario was a singular monster in Pittsburgh.]

My faith in Kubiak is diminishing.  He’s one of the worst in the league on challenges.  I’m starting to get the feeling he’s just not head coach material.  Some guys can be a great coordinator, but not the fearless leader.

Could it be that Ray Rhoades is a detriment to our secondary?  Bennett looks like shit.  Demps looks like shit.  CC Brown looks like shit.  Reeves looks like shit.  See a trend here?  These guys didn’t look this bad last year.  They wasn’t great, but not this bad.

0-2 is the count to Schaub.  If Schaub opens the first half against Jacksonville like he has played the rest of the year, Rosie will be throwing more passes on the sideline.  Regardless of talent, upside, draft picks, etc., the one thing Sage always seems to have is poise and confidence under center.  We don’t have that with Schaub right now.  Hopefully something turns the light on for him, or I’m going to have to buy another jersey to wear to the games.

We got to have someone step up and make some plays.

“The Thrill”

Now, I am with Lee and a couple others in the “what has Sage done” camp, but I think the points about Kubiak and Rhodes are possibly valid.  Thoughts?

Oh…yeah…I suppose I should mention that I always reserve the right to run insightful emails as well as really really dumb shit.  So consider yourself notified and/or warned.

DGDB&D Guest Post feat. Vega

Aug 15, 2008 Babyeating-Sisterfuckers, Dancing With the 'Tards, Guest Posts, I really dig my readers, Richard Justice is a talentless hack., Vince Young can't read this post

Back in this post, I mentioned that we are always willing and happy to run well-written posts from our readers.  This is one of those posts.  (Also, I expand that offer to include fans of other teams that would like to offer a well-reasoned reponse to things they’ve read here about their favorite teams.)

Here’s the next guest post:

A Reasoned Rebuttal To A Richard Justice Article That Doesn’t Deserve A Link
by: Vega

You sense you are in the presence of greatness the moment he enters a room. Adults and children are in awe. Teammates love him, opponents respect him. There will never be another one like him.

Joe Montana - worthless. Jerry Rice – NFL slut. Dan Marino – what did he ever fucking accomplish? Walter Payton – he couldn’t even avoid death.

Vince Young did things on a football field that made grown men cry.

Similarly, Richard Justice has done things in journalism that make me cry.

He brought happiness to millions, made their boring lives worth living.

Damn it. If only I lived in Texas and was a Longhorn fan, my life wouldn’t suck.

He wore orange, but Tech fans, Aggie fans, UH fans, all fans rooted for him as if he was their own. Such was his greatness.

Wait a second, you mean EVERYONE loved him?! Friend and foe alike?! Well then why do I hate him now that he’s a BE-SF? Also, why… hold on, is he dead? Is this a eugogoly?

He made an entire state—and probably an entire nation—feel good about itself. All Vince Young has been to Texans is everything.

That fucker just called me an “it”.

That’s why nothing that happens this year in sports will be as emotionally powerful as what The University of Texas has planned for August 30. That’s when Vince Young’s jersey No. 10 will be retired by the Longhorns.

Michael Phelps would agree. When Tiger won the US Open on a broken leg, his first thoughts were of Vince Young. Eli Manning wore #10 in the Superbowl in honor of Young.

I’m probably like a lot of you in that when I’m feeling down or have had a bad day at work I put in the DVD of that Rose Bowl. No matter how many times I watch it, I’m still inspired by it, moved by it.

And sometimes, when I’m alone, I’ll grab a bottle of baby oil and a wooden spoon and spank my own ass.

It makes me want to work harder, to accomplish more. It makes me want to make Vince proud.

Usually, I’ll do a double of tequila and rub my own boob and I know that somewhere, Vince Young is smiling.

Whenever I’m in Austin, I drop by to see The Trophy, to feel its power, to remember that incredible evening.

Reading comprehension question: What is Richard Justice referring to when he speaks of “The Trophy”, “its power”, and “that incredible evening”?

a. The BCS Trophy, what it represents, and the 2006 Rose Bowl

b. His Pulitzer Prize, his extensive influence, that night he learned to fly.

c. His Vince Young Real Doll, sweaty man love, and his evening routine

d. Other. Please elaborate.

I never expect to have another one like it as long as I’m on this earth.

I wonder what your wife thinks about this.

I’ll be there for the ceremony. If you can’t be there, I’ll be there for you. I’ll capture the moment for you. I will write something that tugs at your heart and reflects Vince’s greatness. That is my gift.

Gee, thanks Dick, but I’m allergic to literary semen. How about if I just hammer an ice pick through my testicles and we call it square?

Texas isn’t like other places. Texas only honors a few of its own. Texas isn’t like other schools. Greatness is routine at Texas.

I’d like to step aside for a moment and congratulate BFD and all the other Longhorns on this site for being great. Super job, guys!

To have your jersey retired by The University of Texas, you have to be special.

He definitely is “special”.

Vince will join Tommy Nobis (60), Bobby Layne (22), Earl Campbell (20) and Ricky Williams (34) as the only Longhorns to have their numbers retired.

So according to the previous statement, Ricky Williams is pretty great and special too, huh. Among his accomplishments he lists setting the NCAA career rushing record (later broken by Ron Dayne), quitting the NFL so he could smoke more weed, not being able to get through a CFL season, and that night he ate 15 bags of Doritos.

The University of Texas is a special place. Whether you graduated from Texas, as I did, or you have visited the campus, you understand its power, its beauty and its grace. It’s a place of ideas, a place of thought, a place where people learn to be the best they can be.

It’s one of a kind too. Harvard, MIT, Princeton – amateurs.

So Texas will honor one of its best. He’s a magical man in that he’s beloved, not just by the University of Texas, but by millions of others. He’s admired for his football accomplishments, but also for his charitable heart and his dignity.

Yup, dignity. Lots of dignity.

”I’m really looking forward to getting back to Austin again, seeing everyone, reaching out to the community with my foundation event and cheering on my team,” Vince said. ”I was speechless when they told me about the jersey retirement earlier this summer, and I still don’t think it’s sunk in. It’s such a great honor to be remembered in such a special way. Man, when I see that number and my name on the stadium. I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s just going to be such an unbelievable feeling for me and my family.”

Quick, raise your hand if you think that Vince Young knows the name of his foundation.

No, Vince, the honor is all ours. You allowed us to watch you play.

It’s a good thing you did too. Every year before college football starts, I stress over which players are going to allow me to watch.

”When you think about Vince, all he’s done for The University, our football program and the community, it’s going to be a really special day for all of us and a great opportunity to say thank you,” Mack Brown said. ”Thank you for what he does as a football player, how he represents our football program, athletic department and university, for sending such a great message about education by coming back to finish up school, but most importantly, for always giving back. Vince is a terrific football player but an even more special young man.”

Is it me, or is there an excessive amount of “special”-ness going on?

We’re Texas.

I thought we were Marshall?

What starts here changes the world.

We’re still talking about football right? Football that happened two and a half years ago?

Has Vince Young found a cure for cancer that I’m not aware of? Did he bring peace to the Middle East and I just missed the news conference? He’s a fucking football player!!

I’ve been clear in my comments here that I have no affiliation to UT and am completely impartial to what the team does in sports. That said, I don’t speak about my own mother this way. I don’t talk like this to my fiancee. She’d probably cancel the wedding if I did. I would love to hear from the UT crowd. Do you all feel the same?

DGDB&D Guest Post feat. Will “The Thrill”

Aug 12, 2008 2008 Season, 2008 Training Camp, Guest Posts

Back in this post, I mentioned that we are always willing and happy to run well-written posts from our readers.  This is one of those posts.  (Also, I expand that offer to include fans of other teams that would like to offer a well-reasoned reponse to things they’ve read here about their favorite teams.)

Without further Ado, I present the guest post:

Taking A Look At The First-String Offense
by Will “The Thrill”

Hey guys and gals, Matt and BFD opened the door, and I welcome the opportunity to be a part of the great site they have going here.  Sometimes I’m just too lazy and I email Matt my thoughts rather than comment.  Enough with the pleasantries; let’s talk some football.

First off, this was the first preseason game, so we can’t read too much into it.  Everybody on the field is rusty, so that works both ways.  So, if someone looks good, it may be because someone else was rusty, and vice versa.  This was our first time out there with the new zone blocking scheme and I really think that showed.  I only took the time to really evaluate the first couple of series, so here’s my first crack of acting like an “expert.”

Ahman Green - Wow, that sucked, and what horrible timing.  The ice just got a little thinner underneath him and it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure.  We’re not going to know if he’s 100% until he’s back out on the field and actually gaining yardage.  They can toe the party line all they want and talk about how minor it is, but we heard every week last season he was ready to be back only to be let down.  History doesn’t allow a lot of room for optimism here, but I’m just hoping it is minor and we get some use out of him.  Going into the season, I think we’ll be OK as long as we have either Green or Chris Brown to go with one of the young guys.  I hope we don’t have to lean on Chris Taylor, Darius Walker and Steve Slaton as the starters too early in the year.  I wouldn’t rule out a return by Mike Bell either if one goes down.

Let me add to this thought.  Is anyone else sick and tired of every sports radio talk show host here in town beating this 31-year-old deal to death?  Talking about how this was one of the bad decisions by Rick Smith??  I haven’t heard one of them offer up what Rick should have done without arguments supported by hindsight.  What were Smith’s options last year?  They knew it was somewhat of a gamble going into it, but aside from a first round pick in the draft, which would be ANOTHER GAMBLE, it’s not like we had another course of action we bypassed.  I’m not at all pleased myself with the situation, but there are some other things we can evaluate on this team besides beating that horse to death.

O-Line - Well, it was the first time out with this zone scheme, and the first time they could really cut block.  Denver had 8 or more bodies in the box much of the time.  Let’s face it, it was a preseason game and they knew good and well we would be running a lot just to get reps.  Looking back at the film (or DVR in my case), we were just some missed blocks away from some good yardage gains with Taylor.  Seems like on several occasions, we had someone on the backside of the play miss a block.  Chester Pitts missed one early on, and so did Eric Winston.  Taylor made a bad read once where he cut it back.  Had he hit the original hole, there was one man to beat that was semi-occupied with a block.

It did seem like the guards stayed on their chip blocks a little long and didn’t get to the second level quick enough.

Pass protection was solid.  I think it’s necessary to point out that our passing game will open up the running game.  We also didn’t see a lot of blitzes out of the first team units.  Preseason is usually pretty vanilla.  We moved the ball right down the field on medium to short range passes and we didn’t have weapon No. 1, Andre Johnson.  Oh yeah, I was evaluating O-Line.  Whether it was rust or a new system, my take is this unit will start to gel and have a much easier time once defenses start respecting our passing game.

Maybe some of us fans can volunteer to be cut block dummies for O Line practice.  I’m down.  I’d love to throw on some pads again!  Maybe then I could scream at the linemen “God don’t like Ugly”…oh yeah, that’s been used..

RB- Taylor took most of the reps with first string after Green went down.  It seems like he’s hitting the hole a little late, and maybe that’s something Brown and/or Slaton could bring to the table.  Hitting the hole quicker when it’s there combined with the linemen getting to that second level quicker is what we really need.  This is going to call for a back to make quick decisions and not over-analyze.  I’d have to say I’d put more of the blame on the line for lack of performance.  However, the D wasn’t showing our passing game the proper respect, so that made things tougher for them.  Didn’t see any playaction out of Matt Schaub and Co. either.

QB - Looked very sharp except for that one throw.  He still doesn’t have a full season as a starter underneath his belt, so he’s going to make mistakes from time to time.  Looking back, I think our lack of running game last year will pay off in the long run because it made us learn how to pass.  Losing AJ made him scan the field a little more rather than leaning on No. 80.

WR- Hard to really evaluate them without a wide angle.  Looked like they did well blocking.  Didn’t see anything to comment as negative.

It’s hard to take a whole lot from week one other than “Thank God football is finally here.”  I remember talking to Matt quite a bit when he started this blog on the demand for football news during the offseason, and we definitely had more of it this offseason.  The media picked up on this demand and delivered.  Unfortunately, most of it was junk.  Most of it was of no real substance coming from people that are no more of an expert than myself.  This blog, BRB and others were about the only place to get some quality news and analysis.  Most of the mainstream stuff was rehashed and rehashed.  As far as predictions, how many people are informed about all 32 teams enough to really predict much besides the obvious front runners?  The NFL is filled with surprises every year, and I think the Texans will be one of them.  That said, I’m very happy to see us scheduled against a bunch of teams we’re “supposed” to lose to in the early part of the season.  This is a young team, and young teams are notorious for getting up for big games and sometimes falling prey to trap games.

Thanks for having me, and if Matt and BFD invite me back, I’ll throw in some D commentary.