The news is this week that after their rough 0-6 start, Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams is forcing Head Coach Jeff Fisher to bench aging Quarterback Kerry Collins and give Vince Young a chance to lead the team and show what he's got.
It feels good to be right.
In March I wrote Who Will Start More Next Year which estimated when and how much Vince Young and Houston Texans Dan Orlovsky would play in 2009.
My estimation for Vince was that he would play from week 8 on. Not to toot my own horn, but I couldn't have hit it more head on. He is indeed making his 2009 starting debut in week 8 as estimated, but what will happen and how long will he last? I projected he would play 8 games in 2009, so only time will tell.
Bud Adams has never been one to completely put the hammer down on a coach to force personnel moves. Previous to the 2006 draft, Fisher had made a few initial comments that alluded to the fact that he wasn't in full support of the team drafting Young. On draft day, however, Fisher's tune suddenly changed.
Influence of the Owner perhaps? I think so.
Regardless of the change of tune, the Titans took Young in that draft and the organization began what "appeared" to be building the team around him. Although he led the team to the playoffs and made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, statistically his season was mediocre to poor at best. The following season Young seemed to be off to a relatively average start before injuring his Quadricep in Week 6. He hasn't been the same since.
Then after another injury and some odd personal problems leading to questionable behavior at the beginning of 2008, he was stripped of his starting duties. Relieving Young, Kerry Collins led the Titans on their magical run last year, but has the team off to a terrible start this year.
Leading us to where we are in week 8 of the 2009 season - with "VY" starting once again. Although none of the Titans brass will ever admit that there is anything "fishy" going on and that they have given up on him, Young's demeanor on the sidelines has told a different story last year and so far this year.
He doesn't talk to the rest of the team. He never smiles. It looks like he's listening to an i-pod with a hood on most of the time and in his own world. He never celebrates on big plays and no one gives him high-fives. He is totally isolated, which shows that there is much more to the story than the "his talents just don't fit without offensive scheme" or "he's not smart enough to run an NFL offense" B.S. that has been given from Fisher and his staff.
So what happens now? I guess Young's just supposed to step in and be the leader of a team that doesn't respect or acknowledge him. That'll be simple! (Does the sarcasm read?)
For whatever reason that still remains behind closed doors, Vince Young is not a Titan in his, the team's and Jeff Fisher's minds. Regardless, like a surprising number of #10 dedicated fans, Bud Adams still believes in him and has made that well known this week forcing Fisher's hand to revive Young as the starter.
All this being said playing Vince Young is really a win-win situation. The Titans aren't going anywhere this year. That's been established. So why not give him a chance to show what he's got? If he comes in and shows flashes of brilliance, suddenly he becomes the future of the team again or strong potential trade bait. If he continues to look terrible, then they can simply put their minds and the minds of Titans fans at ease by cutting their losses at the end of next year when his contract ends.
For Young, it's a true chance to audition for the world and show them what VY is all about. When he came into the NFL, he was immediately thrown to the wolves and never had a chance to learn and adjust to NFL over college. Maybe the next 8 games will be his chance to practice and learn how to play as an NFL quarterback without the pressure of fans and media pushing him to take a team to the playoffs. The expectations are already low...so it's time for Vince to show what he's got.
Oh...and as for Dan-O...as incredible as Matt Schaub is playing this year, I really hope that I am wrong in my prediction from March about Orlovsky playing 2 games unless Schaub is just resting the last two weeks after clinching a playoff birth.
10.27.2009
The Prevent Defense: How It Can Make Or Break The Texans
Often when a team is ahead by a few scores in the second half, they’ll switch to a big play preventative defense like the aptly named ”Prevent." Typically this defensive set-up is aimed at keeping all plays underneath 10-15 yards and making the opposing team run out of gas while running out the clock.
The Prevent is accomplished mostly through “quarter coverage” where the defensive backfield is divided into four coverage zones and the secondary adjusts their coverage to match these zones. Cornerbacks play deeper off of receivers and have deep sideline zone coverage responsibility while the safeties guard two deep zones in the middle of the field. Instead of blitzing and putting pressure on the quarterback, the middle linebackers drop into zones to cover 5-10 yard slant, in, hook and shallow post routes. The outside linebackers’ responsibility become covering “the flats,” 5-10 yards deep on either side of the tackles to the sideline.
When in this defense, the goals are simple:
Don’t give up the big play.
Keep the ball in-bounds
Be slow to let them up after you tackle them
Have them run a lot of plays and tire themselves out running down the clock
When a team executes this type of defense, it can be very effective in closing out games. Unfortunately against the San Francisco 49ers, the Houston Texans had some trouble running the Prevent. Though they won the game, the Texans made it look like the game was closer than it was and gave their fans a slight worry that they'd blow another one by allowing two scores late in the game.
Generally it’s a good rule of thumb to go to the Prevent in the second half if you are ahead by three or more scores. It's safe and it runs down the clock. At the time that the Texans switched to it they were only ahead by two touchdowns, which was their first mistake. Until that point, the Texans defense was working very effective at keeping the 49ers out of the end zone with the exception of one play.
The Texans also went to the Prevent very early in the second half, which also helped in allowing the 49ers to climb back in to the game. However, switching to the Prevent too early and without enough cushion between scores wasn’t the determining factor in what lead to the 49ers making this a close game. The poor execution by the linebackers and safeties is what led to the two late deep touchdown passes.
Let’s face it: Alex Smith is a terrible NFL quarterback. He didn’t just “wake up” at halftime in a game halfway into his 5th season. The poor execution of the Prevent defense is the only reason the 49ers were able to crawl back into it. The majority of the fault has to do with the inexperience of Demeco Ryans, Brian Cushing and safety Bernard Pollard and their inability to communicate to one another mid-play to transition their zones to make sure that a tight end is covered as he moves from the 5-10 yard zone to the deep zone. This miscommunication led to Vernon Davis being wide open between the two zones on both big touchdown plays.
With 7 defenders dropping into pass coverage, the Prevent defense also lacks a pass rush. With very little pressure being put on him, even David Carr could’ve made the throws that Alex Smith made. So 49ers fan, I wouldn’t get your hopes up on Smith if I were you.
Truth of the matter is that if the Texans had stood by their game plan a little bit longer, they most likely would have maintained their lead. Part of the reason I think they went to the Prevent so early was in hopes of keeping everything underneath leaving the 49ers offense to run out the clock themselves. It’s a good strategy given the Texans inconsistent running game, but would have to have been executed better to be pulled off.
As we’ve learned thus far in 2009 though, the Texans defense is tremendously good at learning from mistakes and adjusting accordingly. I don’t see why this game would be any different. Expect the Texans defense to improve from this slip up and to come out strong against the pass in the coming weeks. A win is a win, but winning by a big margin would make the wins just taste even better.
After 7 weeks, I still stand strong in my belief that the Texans will have a winning season. With an ever improving defense with a lot of talent and an incredibly productive offense that has Matt Schaub leading the league in passing yards as well as touchdowns, the games should get progressively more and more fun to watch, ending in more wins than losses.
Ironically the 2009 Texans remind me a little of the 49ers from the Montana era. A really strong, high scoring offense that scores a lot of points with a young talented defense that is trying to put the puzzle pieces together to knock some blocks off. Andre Johnson favors the great Jerry Rice, while Steve Slaton (without fumbling issues) reminds me a little of Roger Craig. Owen Daniels is an easy comparison to Dwight Clark and hard hitting Vonta Leach packs the punch of a Tom Rathman.
Can Matt Schaub be close to being a leader like Montana? It’s still early in his career and only time will tell. Let’s start with posting another 300 yard, 3 touchdown win over Buffalo and we’ll go from there.
The Prevent is accomplished mostly through “quarter coverage” where the defensive backfield is divided into four coverage zones and the secondary adjusts their coverage to match these zones. Cornerbacks play deeper off of receivers and have deep sideline zone coverage responsibility while the safeties guard two deep zones in the middle of the field. Instead of blitzing and putting pressure on the quarterback, the middle linebackers drop into zones to cover 5-10 yard slant, in, hook and shallow post routes. The outside linebackers’ responsibility become covering “the flats,” 5-10 yards deep on either side of the tackles to the sideline.
When in this defense, the goals are simple:
Don’t give up the big play.
Keep the ball in-bounds
Be slow to let them up after you tackle them
Have them run a lot of plays and tire themselves out running down the clock
When a team executes this type of defense, it can be very effective in closing out games. Unfortunately against the San Francisco 49ers, the Houston Texans had some trouble running the Prevent. Though they won the game, the Texans made it look like the game was closer than it was and gave their fans a slight worry that they'd blow another one by allowing two scores late in the game.
Generally it’s a good rule of thumb to go to the Prevent in the second half if you are ahead by three or more scores. It's safe and it runs down the clock. At the time that the Texans switched to it they were only ahead by two touchdowns, which was their first mistake. Until that point, the Texans defense was working very effective at keeping the 49ers out of the end zone with the exception of one play.
The Texans also went to the Prevent very early in the second half, which also helped in allowing the 49ers to climb back in to the game. However, switching to the Prevent too early and without enough cushion between scores wasn’t the determining factor in what lead to the 49ers making this a close game. The poor execution by the linebackers and safeties is what led to the two late deep touchdown passes.
Let’s face it: Alex Smith is a terrible NFL quarterback. He didn’t just “wake up” at halftime in a game halfway into his 5th season. The poor execution of the Prevent defense is the only reason the 49ers were able to crawl back into it. The majority of the fault has to do with the inexperience of Demeco Ryans, Brian Cushing and safety Bernard Pollard and their inability to communicate to one another mid-play to transition their zones to make sure that a tight end is covered as he moves from the 5-10 yard zone to the deep zone. This miscommunication led to Vernon Davis being wide open between the two zones on both big touchdown plays.
With 7 defenders dropping into pass coverage, the Prevent defense also lacks a pass rush. With very little pressure being put on him, even David Carr could’ve made the throws that Alex Smith made. So 49ers fan, I wouldn’t get your hopes up on Smith if I were you.
Truth of the matter is that if the Texans had stood by their game plan a little bit longer, they most likely would have maintained their lead. Part of the reason I think they went to the Prevent so early was in hopes of keeping everything underneath leaving the 49ers offense to run out the clock themselves. It’s a good strategy given the Texans inconsistent running game, but would have to have been executed better to be pulled off.
As we’ve learned thus far in 2009 though, the Texans defense is tremendously good at learning from mistakes and adjusting accordingly. I don’t see why this game would be any different. Expect the Texans defense to improve from this slip up and to come out strong against the pass in the coming weeks. A win is a win, but winning by a big margin would make the wins just taste even better.
After 7 weeks, I still stand strong in my belief that the Texans will have a winning season. With an ever improving defense with a lot of talent and an incredibly productive offense that has Matt Schaub leading the league in passing yards as well as touchdowns, the games should get progressively more and more fun to watch, ending in more wins than losses.
Ironically the 2009 Texans remind me a little of the 49ers from the Montana era. A really strong, high scoring offense that scores a lot of points with a young talented defense that is trying to put the puzzle pieces together to knock some blocks off. Andre Johnson favors the great Jerry Rice, while Steve Slaton (without fumbling issues) reminds me a little of Roger Craig. Owen Daniels is an easy comparison to Dwight Clark and hard hitting Vonta Leach packs the punch of a Tom Rathman.
Can Matt Schaub be close to being a leader like Montana? It’s still early in his career and only time will tell. Let’s start with posting another 300 yard, 3 touchdown win over Buffalo and we’ll go from there.
10.20.2009
How the Texans Can Have A Positive Year Without Making The Playoffs
Coming off of such a strong win against a solid team like the Bengals is always promising for a team who is trying to pull out of what has the initial appearance of being a mediocre season at best. Now at 3-3 the Houston Texans are at a “turning point” in a season where the team and fans have had high aspirations of making the playoffs.
Though a record like 3-3 screams mediocrity, there are some very positive elements that the team has built upon over the past 6 weeks; namely their defense. In the first three games, the Texans defense was ranked dead last in stopping the run. And the old football adage is true…if you can’t stop the run, you can’t win.
This lack of ability to stop the run could mainly be attributed to the inexperienced secondary and poor communication on defense. While the Texans Defense still isn’t perfect by any means, they have adjusted to stop the run, going from the worst in the league against the run over the 1st three games to the best in the league over the last three(including stopping Cedric Benson who came into last week’s game as the top rusher.)
The work to improve a lackluster defense isn’t done yet however. There’s still the constant problem of getting pressure on opposing team’s Quarterbacks. Adding Antonio Smith and Connor Barwin was supposed to help to the pass rush, but where is all the pressure? Part of the lack of getting to the Quarterback could be attributed to the fact that Mario Williams has been playing with an injured shoulder for the much of the season and the team has also been trying to adjust to stop the run by changing up the starting tackles every game to see who can get the most penetration.
That being said, last week’s game against the Bengals started to shine a little light on the Texans pass defense too. Barwin was able to record his first sack in his career and it seemed the front four was able to get Carson Palmer to hurry a few tosses…one of which was brilliantly picked off by future Pro-Bowl linebacker Brian Cushing. We still need to find a way to get Mario into the backfield though. He is the missing link in the Texans pass rush only recording 2 sacks thus far. Elvis Dumervil who entered the league in the same draft as Super Mario, but nearly 150 picks later...already has 10.
So the defense is improving, but what about the Offense? The Texans passing game is sickeningly good thus far. Matt Schaub is 1st in the league in Touchdown passes with 14, 2nd in yards and in the top 7 in rating, yards per game and completion percentage, while Andre Johnson ranks 2nd in receiving yards. Despite his recent fumbling addiction, Steve Slaton is starting to pull out of his sophomore slump too. Not only does Schaub lead a productive offense, but it’s also an exciting one to watch as well.
From the end of last season the expectations for this season by Texans fans and the team itself have been big: MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. It’s a huge hump to get over and will be a challenge to accomplish over the next 10 games, but it’s possible despite the mediocre record that the Texans have gotten off to. Winning the division is more than likely not going to happen unless the Texans could win the next 10 games and finish the season at a monstrous 13-3. As weak as much of the schedule is on paper, we all know how unlikely this is purely from the fact that the Texans have to face the Indianapolis Colts twice and Tom Brady’s Patriots once this year. All three are going to be difficult to get wins.
With the chance of winning the division very slim, the Texans will most likely be playing for a Wild Card spot. Going 7 and 3 in the next 10 games and ending with a 10-6 record would probably be about the worst they could do to get themselves in. Assuming they have a good chance of beating the 49ers, Bills, Titans, Jaguars, Seahawks and Rams and can splitting the games with the Colts, the Texans could accomplish this dropping only the other two games to the Patriots and Dolphins. This is a likely scenario ON PAPER considering how most of those teams are doing so far in 2009. But we all know that for the Texans “on paper” is very different than “on the field.”
What happens if they don’t accomplish this and can’t make the playoffs? Is the season a total loss? Answering this question is walking a tight rope. If the Texans don’t make the playoffs, it will be frustrating as fans, but there are a few promising items that if they happen instead of the playoffs – the season could still be positive.
The obvious is that they end at 9-7 or better. Going 8-8 again or having a losing season is inexcusable and will rule out any possibility of a positive 2009 season. The probability of the Texans going 6-4 or better over the next 10 is high, but we shall see if they have the “clutch” to pull this off.
Seeing Matt Schaub stay healthy for at least 14 games, lead the league in passing and make his first Pro Bowl would also be a very promising and positive outcome of the season. This would prove that Schaub is indeed the Texans “guy” and not only can stay healthy throughout the season, but also has the talent to compete with the best. That being said, all this could be for naught if the Texans do not have a winning record. Stats are nice, but wins are the true reflection on the leader of the team.
Having the Defense end the season in the 7 defenses in the league would also be an incredible positive. It’s already pretty apparent that Brian Cushing may be on his way to winning Defense Rookie of the Year, but seeing he and Demeco Ryans make the Pro Bowl and seeing Mario Williams pull out of his sack-coma would also help this season end on a positive note.
So if the Texans don’t make the playoffs, but do meet all of the above criteria then I think we shouldn’t count the season a total loss. However, if the above isn’t met and there are no playoff games...it may be time for Mr. McNair to shake things up in the front office again. Only time will tell. All we can do is sit back and watch what unfolds in an exciting season none the less.
Go Texans!
(By the way – if the Texans are 1st in passing and in the Top 7 defenses – then it would be highly unlikely to not have a winning season.)
Though a record like 3-3 screams mediocrity, there are some very positive elements that the team has built upon over the past 6 weeks; namely their defense. In the first three games, the Texans defense was ranked dead last in stopping the run. And the old football adage is true…if you can’t stop the run, you can’t win.
This lack of ability to stop the run could mainly be attributed to the inexperienced secondary and poor communication on defense. While the Texans Defense still isn’t perfect by any means, they have adjusted to stop the run, going from the worst in the league against the run over the 1st three games to the best in the league over the last three(including stopping Cedric Benson who came into last week’s game as the top rusher.)
The work to improve a lackluster defense isn’t done yet however. There’s still the constant problem of getting pressure on opposing team’s Quarterbacks. Adding Antonio Smith and Connor Barwin was supposed to help to the pass rush, but where is all the pressure? Part of the lack of getting to the Quarterback could be attributed to the fact that Mario Williams has been playing with an injured shoulder for the much of the season and the team has also been trying to adjust to stop the run by changing up the starting tackles every game to see who can get the most penetration.
That being said, last week’s game against the Bengals started to shine a little light on the Texans pass defense too. Barwin was able to record his first sack in his career and it seemed the front four was able to get Carson Palmer to hurry a few tosses…one of which was brilliantly picked off by future Pro-Bowl linebacker Brian Cushing. We still need to find a way to get Mario into the backfield though. He is the missing link in the Texans pass rush only recording 2 sacks thus far. Elvis Dumervil who entered the league in the same draft as Super Mario, but nearly 150 picks later...already has 10.
So the defense is improving, but what about the Offense? The Texans passing game is sickeningly good thus far. Matt Schaub is 1st in the league in Touchdown passes with 14, 2nd in yards and in the top 7 in rating, yards per game and completion percentage, while Andre Johnson ranks 2nd in receiving yards. Despite his recent fumbling addiction, Steve Slaton is starting to pull out of his sophomore slump too. Not only does Schaub lead a productive offense, but it’s also an exciting one to watch as well.
From the end of last season the expectations for this season by Texans fans and the team itself have been big: MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. It’s a huge hump to get over and will be a challenge to accomplish over the next 10 games, but it’s possible despite the mediocre record that the Texans have gotten off to. Winning the division is more than likely not going to happen unless the Texans could win the next 10 games and finish the season at a monstrous 13-3. As weak as much of the schedule is on paper, we all know how unlikely this is purely from the fact that the Texans have to face the Indianapolis Colts twice and Tom Brady’s Patriots once this year. All three are going to be difficult to get wins.
With the chance of winning the division very slim, the Texans will most likely be playing for a Wild Card spot. Going 7 and 3 in the next 10 games and ending with a 10-6 record would probably be about the worst they could do to get themselves in. Assuming they have a good chance of beating the 49ers, Bills, Titans, Jaguars, Seahawks and Rams and can splitting the games with the Colts, the Texans could accomplish this dropping only the other two games to the Patriots and Dolphins. This is a likely scenario ON PAPER considering how most of those teams are doing so far in 2009. But we all know that for the Texans “on paper” is very different than “on the field.”
What happens if they don’t accomplish this and can’t make the playoffs? Is the season a total loss? Answering this question is walking a tight rope. If the Texans don’t make the playoffs, it will be frustrating as fans, but there are a few promising items that if they happen instead of the playoffs – the season could still be positive.
The obvious is that they end at 9-7 or better. Going 8-8 again or having a losing season is inexcusable and will rule out any possibility of a positive 2009 season. The probability of the Texans going 6-4 or better over the next 10 is high, but we shall see if they have the “clutch” to pull this off.
Seeing Matt Schaub stay healthy for at least 14 games, lead the league in passing and make his first Pro Bowl would also be a very promising and positive outcome of the season. This would prove that Schaub is indeed the Texans “guy” and not only can stay healthy throughout the season, but also has the talent to compete with the best. That being said, all this could be for naught if the Texans do not have a winning record. Stats are nice, but wins are the true reflection on the leader of the team.
Having the Defense end the season in the 7 defenses in the league would also be an incredible positive. It’s already pretty apparent that Brian Cushing may be on his way to winning Defense Rookie of the Year, but seeing he and Demeco Ryans make the Pro Bowl and seeing Mario Williams pull out of his sack-coma would also help this season end on a positive note.
So if the Texans don’t make the playoffs, but do meet all of the above criteria then I think we shouldn’t count the season a total loss. However, if the above isn’t met and there are no playoff games...it may be time for Mr. McNair to shake things up in the front office again. Only time will tell. All we can do is sit back and watch what unfolds in an exciting season none the less.
Go Texans!
(By the way – if the Texans are 1st in passing and in the Top 7 defenses – then it would be highly unlikely to not have a winning season.)
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