Texan game thoughts

[OILERMAN]

This was actually a pretty weird game. The Texans controlled the ball and threw for almost 400 yards with one healthy skill player(hopkins) and he was shut down. Stranger it's not like he was doubled and tripled and the rest of the Texans feasted on man coverage, Hopkins was singled and it worked. Ryan and Sims covered him well and Sims picked him off to seal the game. 

 

I doubt most people realize that the Titans outscored the Texans 24-3 after falling behind. 

 

The early mistakes, Jackson fumble, got the Titans in a hole that the Titans had to grind their way out of. 

 

Everything has been covered so I'll just say this......

 

Mariota is struggling with the little stuff. He should have had to the TD to Smith that Green pointed out. He bailed from the pocket too soon and the play to the sideline to Smith where he didn't get two feet down should have been a very easy play. Mariota was late and a little off when the play was wide open. He doesn't seem to be standing the pocket and going through his reads. If it's not a designed pass he doesn't trust himself to let the ball loose. For all I know he may have good reason with Davis and Taylor being rookies. 

 

They actually came out throwing and trying to get Mariota into a groove with some easy stuff. It seemed they tried a lot of deep passes too, Decker should have had another PI but the refs didn't throw it. I really do not think the passing game will be fixed until next year. Mariota needs a full off season and the rookie WRs do too. I have no doubt Mariota will develop and he's still very good when they need him on game winning drives. 

 

The Colts pass defense might be the worst in the league. Bortles threw for over 300 yards and a 119 passer rating without Robinson or Hearns and the Jags had no running game at all yesterday. The Titans had less 200 yards, 2 INTs and a 60+ passer rating two weeks ago. 

 

One of the goals this season was to win division games, the Titans have done that and are in first place regardless of how much some don't like it. They have won 6 of their last 7 games with wins over the Ravens, Jags and Seahawks. 

[Justafan]

The thing that stood out to me this game was the running game and the blocking.  The line seemed to play much better than they had been and the running game shined as a result.  Murray played with more burst than we've seen in a while and even though it's obvious he's lost a step, he proved today that if the blocking is right, the backs can be serviceable.  

 

I don't know what is up with the Texans vs. Titans scheme matchup but playing man all game long is a recipe for failure against a healthy Texans team.  I thought it was Watson the first game but after watching Savage shred them, it's pretty clear that there is a matchup problem and the Texans have exploited it.  Titans need to do something about that in the offseason.

 

I thought Decker played really well today and has been a really nice addition for what he is.  I hope they resign him and keep him around for a few years, as I think he's a pretty serviceable number 3-4 guy.  They are going to be putting a lot of faith in CD this offseason to take the next step so I hope he does.

 

Walker is incredible.  I mean, I hope he plays another 3-4 years at this level.  He's a matchup nightmare and he makes it all look easy.  

 

Bill O'Brien is a better coach than given credit for.  I don't like him but the dude pulled some rabbits out of the hat yesterday to keep his team in the game.  The Titans were clearly the better team on the field and yet the Texans gave them hell all game long and it was much closer than the score indicated.  

[Alcibiades]

I was surprised we didn't double Hopkins, but I agree that it worked. I mean he got his catches, but he was minimized, as much as one can minimize a guy like him. We just weren't getting off the field properly in 3rd and 4th and long. Frustrating. But we won the game, which is what matters. And apparently, we were playing physical out there. Texans were down some players, and now they are down about a half dozen more! 

[japan]

2 hours ago, OILERMAN said:

This was actually a pretty weird game. The Texans controlled the ball and threw for almost 400 yards with one healthy skill player(hopkins) and he was shut down. Stranger it's not like he was doubled and tripled and the rest of the Texans feasted on man coverage, Hopkins was singled and it worked. Ryan and Sims covered him well and Sims picked him off to seal the game. 

 

I doubt most people realize that the Titans outscored the Texans 24-3 after falling behind. 

 

The early mistakes, Jackson fumble, got the Titans in a hole that the Titans had to grind their way out of. 

 

Everything has been covered so I'll just say this......

 

Mariota is struggling with the little stuff. He should have had to the TD to Smith that Green pointed out. He bailed from the pocket too soon and the play to the sideline to Smith where he didn't get two feet down should have been a very easy play. Mariota was late and a little off when the play was wide open. He doesn't seem to be standing the pocket and going through his reads. If it's not a designed pass he doesn't trust himself to let the ball loose. For all I know he may have good reason with Davis and Taylor being rookies. 

 

They actually came out throwing and trying to get Mariota into a groove with some easy stuff. It seemed they tried a lot of deep passes too, Decker should have had another PI but the refs didn't throw it. I really do not think the passing game will be fixed until next year. Mariota needs a full off season and the rookie WRs do too. I have no doubt Mariota will develop and he's still very good when they need him on game winning drives. 

 

The Colts pass defense might be the worst in the league. Bortles threw for over 300 yards and a 119 passer rating without Robinson or Hearns and the Jags had no running game at all yesterday. The Titans had less 200 yards, 2 INTs and a 60+ passer rating two weeks ago. 

 

One of the goals this season was to win division games, the Titans have done that and are in first place regardless of how much some don't like it. They have won 6 of their last 7 games with wins over the Ravens, Jags and Seahawks. 

 

Damn. Mariota missed two passes you say? Bum.

 

Curious to hear your take on the playcaling. Did you enjoy the trickeration? You never seem to weigh in on that. 

Edited December 4, 2017 by japan

[OILERMAN]

12 minutes ago, japan said:

 

Damn. Mariota missed two passes you say? Bum.

 

Curious to hear your take on the playcaling. Did you enjoy the trickeration? You never seem to weigh in on that. 

I doubt Maroita missed only two passes, he threw for 150 yards, he likely didn't attempt several other passes that he should have, see what Bortles did to another sorry pass D yesterday that Maroita struggled against a week ago

 

I don't like some of the trick plays, the jet sweep was fine, saw plenty of teams run the same play including the Tams yesterday. The complaints are over board though. The final TD was also trickery 

[scine09]

2 hours ago, Justafan said:

I thought Decker played really well today and has been a really nice addition for what he is.  I hope they resign him and keep him around for a few years, as I think he's a pretty serviceable number 3-4 guy.  They are going to be putting a lot of faith in CD this offseason to take the next step so I hope he does.

Decker did not play really well.  He dropped a ball that an NFL wide receiver cannot drop.

[japan]

3 minutes ago, OILERMAN said:

I doubt Maroita missed only two passes, he threw for 150 yards, he likely didn't attempt several other passes that he should have, see what Bortles did to another sorry pass D yesterday that Maroita struggled against a week ago

 

I don't like some of the trick plays, the jet sweep was fine, saw plenty of teams run the same play including the Tams yesterday. The complaints are over board though. The final TD was also trickery 

Bortles > Mariota!

[japan]

Oilerman: Don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain! 

 

This offense is like an older guy trying to fit in with the younger crowd by wearing hip clothes (trickeration!)

Edited December 4, 2017 by japan

[pat]

This season is weird and hard to evaluate.  Both the offense and defense are ugly... and winning.  The comparison to Fisher is accurate but unfair.  The 2017 offense is more explosive than the McNair / George edition, and the defense is less dominating.

 

Titans look like a playoff team but not a SB favorite, which is good progress.  It's also fair to be concerned this is a dead cat bounce, look at Oakland this year.

[scine09]

2 hours ago, OILERMAN said:

 

Mariota is struggling with the little stuff. He should have had to the TD to Smith that Green pointed out. He bailed from the pocket too soon and the play to the sideline to Smith where he didn't get two feet down should have been a very easy play. Mariota was late and a little off when the play was wide open. He doesn't seem to be standing the pocket and going through his reads. If it's not a designed pass he doesn't trust himself to let the ball loose. For all I know he may have good reason with Davis and Taylor being rookies. 

 

 

If Mariota only improves on one thing this offseason he needs to stop trying to make every pass as catchable as possible and just fire balls, like he did to Walker on the game-winning drive against Cincinnati.  On the play to Smith (which he certainly should have caught regardless), it wasn't that the ball was late, it's that it took too long to get there (which in turn made the ball late).  These are NFL players, they can catch balls with velocity.  Mariota tries to put touch on too many of his passes.  It works great on some of them, like his passes down the seam to Walker or that play last week between 4 or 5 defenders, but it also gets him in trouble because it prevents him from completing some of his passes into smaller windows.  I felt like on the INT to Douglas last week, although the throw was poor, he also tried to make it too easy of a catch by throwing a low velocity pass.

 

He needs to figure out when to fire it, when to lob it and when to put it in between.  He throws a great touch pass.  But some passes don't require touch, they require high velocity.

[pamo9]

11 hours ago, big2033 said:

Cause I'm bored.

 

Seahawks defense came to play ... 

 

56 minutes ago, Alcibiades said:

I was surprised we didn't double Hopkins, but I agree that it worked. I mean he got his catches, but he was minimized, as much as one can minimize a guy like him. We just weren't getting off the field properly in 3rd and 4th and long. Frustrating. But we won the game, which is what matters. And apparently, we were playing physical out there. Texans were down some players, and now they are down about a half dozen more! 

The best receiver for the Texans was TE Anderson to me. He made some great catches.

[Yoshimitsu]

1 hour ago, Alcibiades said:

I was surprised we didn't double Hopkins, but I agree that it worked. I mean he got his catches, but he was minimized, as much as one can minimize a guy like him. We just weren't getting off the field properly in 3rd and 4th and long. Frustrating. But we won the game, which is what matters. And apparently, we were playing physical out there. Texans were down some players, and now they are down about a half dozen more! 

What surprised me the most is that Adoree didn’t shadow Hopkins after Ryan went down.  

[IsntLifeFunny]

4 minutes ago, Yoshimitsu said:

What surprised me the most is that Adoree didn’t shadow Hopkins after Ryan went down.  

They weren’t outright doubling Hopkins, but the safety was constantly rolled his way. I’ve thought it was a good strategy since the start of the season to put Jackson on the number 2 and have Ryan follow the number one with a safety over the top. When they’ve done that it’s worked fairly well, as Jackson doesn’t need the help over the top and can consistently shut down #2 WRs. The only time we’ve seen Jackson on the #1 guy was against burners like Antonio Brown. 

[TheBukafax]

7 minutes ago, Yoshimitsu said:

What surprised me the most is that Adoree didn’t shadow Hopkins after Ryan went down.  

Hopkins is to big of a man for Adoree.

[japan]

1 hour ago, scine09 said:

If Mariota only improves on one thing this offseason he needs to stop trying to make every pass as catchable as possible and just fire balls, like he did to Walker on the game-winning drive against Cincinnati.  On the play to Smith (which he certainly should have caught regardless), it wasn't that the ball was late, it's that it took too long to get there (which in turn made the ball late).  These are NFL players, they can catch balls with velocity.  Mariota tries to put touch on too many of his passes.  It works great on some of them, like his passes down the seam to Walker or that play last week between 4 or 5 defenders, but it also gets him in trouble because it prevents him from completing some of his passes into smaller windows.  I felt like on the INT to Douglas last week, although the throw was poor, he also tried to make it too easy of a catch by throwing a low velocity pass.

 

He needs to figure out when to fire it, when to lob it and when to put it in between.  He throws a great touch pass.  But some passes don't require touch, they require high velocity.

That's debatable with Decker...