The Jags? Are You Kidding Me?

After a courageous effort in a come from behind win over the Titans in week two, the Houston Texans returned to the horrid confines of Reliant Stadium.

In the "soft" part of the schedule, the Texans so far are 1-2. They have one more home game before embarking on an extended road trip. The Texans will play four of five games before the open date of November 15th. They failed to hold serve at home and now must try and make up those losses on the road. Given that they've only won three road games in the last two seasons, it's a tall order for these road warriors.

My quick recap and take on the Jaguar game.

The offense pretty much held up its end of the bargain aside from a last minute fumble by RB Chris Brown. Brown was visibly shaken after the game. He barely could keep his composure as he felt the weight of the loss. I feel bad for Brown. Normally I'm not sympathetic to players that make mistakes (like Sage Rosenpenis). The game never should have come down to a late Brown fumble.

The defense was an epic failure. Again. They once again allowed a long gain for a touchdown. They also never put any pressure on David Garrard's fat ass. He had all day to throw. I swear I saw him eating a sandwich and drinking a beer before he threw the ball on one play. The Jags constantly torched the secondary.

Initially the players were excited about no longer playing a read and react defense that former coordinator Richard Smith implemented. Instead new coordinator Frank Bush pledged a more aggressive defense. The defense has been more aggressive but very plain vanilla. They telegraph when and where the blitzes are coming. They line up exactly how they plan on blitzing. They also play a lot of man coverage. If a quarterback, even Garrard, knows the direction of the blitz and the coverage, he will know where to attack. Blockers know where to align themselves before the snap. A little creativity would go a long way in keep offenses guessing some.

How about that run defense? I'm not sure what's going on there. Most the time it seems like blown assignments. In all those long TD runs there is practically no contact at the line. Before the defense even knows what hit them the running back is out racing the defensive backs. In many of those plays the linebacker at the point of attack never sees the run. Is there a fatal flaw that offenses are seeing and the Texans fail to recognize?

Now back to why the game never should have come down to Brown's last minute fumble. Culprit number one: The Defense. Or lack there of. The defense really only needed to make two or three key stops. A few stops would have a.) kept the Jags points off the scoreboard and b.) probably given the offense a few more opportunities to put up points. Very simple. Keep the ball away from opponent and they can't score. Keep the ball and you can score. If the defense had done it's job, the more likely scenario is Chris Brown is running out the clock and not fumbling away the game.

Week 4 and the Raider game is a must win.