I'd be impressed by the win but for one thing. It was the freaking Raiders. The Raiders!!!! The organization that brought us a real life Seinfeld episode. George Costanza (played by Lane Kiffin) keeps showing up for work even though Emperor Palpatine (played by Al Davis) tries to get him to quit by doing everything but barring Costanza from the team facilities.
For one week at least, the Texans stopped the oppositions run game. After being gashed and gored for three games, the defense manned up. But it's the Raiders. One of the things I like watching during the game is how the Texans defense lines up before a play. In the first two home games, one thing that stood out was the misalignment of the deep safety (for lack of a better term since the Texans call them both safeties and don't distinguish between free and strong). The deep safety would move in to support the run. Nice idea if he would stay at home on his assignment. What the Jags did was a thing of beauty. Their line sold the play going to the Texans right, faked an end around to the left that the safety and corner bought and then sprang a counter play to the left. The defense had over pursued to the right and the fake cleared out the corner and safety on the left side leaving a gaping hole for Drew-Jones to dance to the endzone.
Against the Raiders, the Texans made three changes in the secondary. Fred Bennett found a very nice spot on the bench. He receiver was David Garrad's favorite target. This week one of the rookies (Quin or McCain, I'll have to double check) took all the reps in Bennett's place. He did a nice job (against the Raiders). Bennett came on one play that I was told about. I never saw him. He came on in a nickel package and promptly gave up the first down yardage. I did spot him on special teams. The other major change was at safety. Bernard Pollard, the player who ruined Tom Brady last season, started. If nothing else I didn't notice him line up out of position. Which was nice to see.
Offensively the Texans had a very questionable second half. Like John McClain wrote,"...who told the offense they could leave at halftime?"
The plays called were horrible. I'll need to look at a play diagram but it appeared that the Texans decided to abandon the short to medium passes and go deep. I understand trying to go for the jugular. However each time the offense went deep they never connected. I remember one play distinctly the typified the half. Schaub dropped back to pass. He kept looking down field for someone to open up. About 15 yards in the middle Steve Slaton was uncovered with plenty of room to run after the catch. Schaub ended up throwing the ball incomplete.
Gary Kubiak stated in the post game press conference that they ran several run plays just for film study. I can kind of see where he's coming from on this point. They are playing the JV Raiders and needed to work on a few things. So why not take advantage and use a semi-pro team to work rather than going through the motions in practice.
Through four games some disturbing trends are developing.
First is the use of Andre Johnson. There are two All-Universe caliber receivers in the NFL....Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald. He is the Texans deadliest weapon. He makes defensive coordinators cry at night. According to ESPN poll of coordinators, Johnson is one of the few players in the league that defenses must game plan completely around. The trend this year has just been to line Johnson up and WR and run his routes. Last year Kyle Shanahan and Kubiak line Johnson up all over the place...in the slot, out of the backfield, in motion. It worked beautifully. Defenses have to account for him and moving him around puts the defense on their heels. By lining him almost exclusively at WR, the defense can roll the coverage his
direction and account for him almost from the time Schaub goes under center. Shanahan needs to return to last year's strategy.
Second thing that is bothersome is the lack of a running game. I see two things developing in the case. First is the offensive line is getting beat at the point of attack. Most zone blocking scheme are designed to push a defense out of the way in one direction and allow the running back to cut back against the play. This season the offensive line has had problems getting the play flowing in the direction they want. The defenses are either holding the point or pushing the offense back. When Steve Slaton hits the area he's supposed to cut there is no place to go. The defense is there waiting for him for minimal gain or caught behind the line of scrimmage.
The other thing affecting the running game has been Slaton's hesitation. I wonder if he's not seeing the hole to cut back to cause their isn't anywhere to go. On a message board some where, I think it was DGDB&D, said he thinks Slaton has been to impatient to see the flow of the play. Even if the line is getting held at the point, a direction of the play develops. The poster wondered if maybe Slaton was too impatient to let play and flow. There could be some merit to that point.
Coming up next is the Arizona Cardinals. Maybe, if I have time, I will try a brief preview and my prediction.
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