If Sunday’s game was a bad dream, today’s news that Mario Williams is gone for the entire season is a nightmare that we won’t wake up from until next year.
Okay, that’s overstating it a bit – but those of you who are Mario-haters and constantly talk about how he isn’t an impact player – you’re about to see how wrong you are.
As far as the 25-20 loss to Al Davis’s ghost – um, I mean Al Davis’s ghost – by now you must all be as sick of the reaction as I am, so I’m going to skip the long recap. Here are some quick hit points:
Matt Schaub absolutely would not have made it on the last play if he tried to run
He’s slow, he doesn’t have any “moves,” and a Raider defender had an easy angle on him. NO CHANCE Schaub would have made it. You can argue about the throw, or the decision not to throw it away for another play – but you can’t say he would have made it. Related – here’s a classic tweet from friend-of-the-site and site contributor @TXCleaver: “On last Texans Schaub play, Vince Young would have scored easily and pulled the Texans within 21.”
Lawrence Vickers owes Matt Schaub a Christmas card
I get that Schaub is the QB and therefore takes more criticism than he deserves as part of his job description, but Lawrence Vickers’ drop of a sure thing touchdown was just a damn disaster. End of “analysis.” THAT is what we get when James Casey is injured?
Mario is done, and I’m sad
Mario has taken SO MUCH undeserved criticism, and it sure looked like he was on his way to his best season as a pro. He had five sacks in four games and a quarter. He was getting constant pressure on the QB. I own one sports jersey (aside from my old school Warren Moon Oiler jersey) and it’s Mario’s. Great player, TOUGH player who plays through pain, by all accounts a great guy who’s not a knucklehead– and done for the year. It’s tough to stay positive about the season without Mario in the lineup. Yeah, yeah I know, Brooks Reed. He’s good, and I think he may do better than people think – but he’s not close to Mario.
Jacoby Jones is who he is, why is everyone mad at him?
Jacoby is a decent #3 WR on his best day. On all his other days, he’s just another fast #4 WR and return man. There’s nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is when the coaches and/or organization just assumes a guy is going to step up beyond his ability, and does not address the situation otherwise. Sure, he’s more mature – and he doesn’t even drop punts anymore – but he’s never taken that leap as a receiver, and really hasn’t shown anything more than a couple of flashes. Of course, that didn’t stop me from asking on Twitter “if Calvin Johnson is Megatron, which Transformer is Jacoby Jones?”
Gary Kubiak continues to be challenge-challenged
The guy in the Texans’ booth who looks at replays and tells coach Kubiak whether or not to throw the challenge flag is worse at his job than the guy who is tasked with keeping Joe Buck awake during MLB broadcasts.
It’s bad now, but Texans should still win AFC South
I’m in no mood for optimism right now, but just look at the facts. The Jags and Colts are garbage. We still don’t know exactly what to make of the Titans, but they have played some tough defense, save for the beating the Steelers just handed them. Houston is staring 3-3 in the face with a road game coming in Baltimore where they won’t have Mario Williams, and most likely will not have Andre Johnson. But after that, the schedule softens up. I still think the Texans take the division, but it sure feels like a “best of the worst” division crown at this point, similar to the NFC West of recent years.
But hey, the Texans had a bad day. They still have a great offense, but we may not see it again until Andre comes back. They still have a vastly improved defense, but it will now take a step back, undoubtedly. Luckily, WE PLAY THE RAVENS NEXT.
Yep, gonna be a long week.
Oct 11, 2011 at 00:04:56
Great point about Jacoby. Not blaming him for the L, but the team desperately needed him to step up for 80′s absence, and he stunk it up. I understand the reasoning behind Kubiak’s coachspeak about backups having to stepup when starters go down, but does he seriously believe that JJ is just going to snap his fingers and become an above (or even) average WR? I like JJ … as, like you said, a 4th WR & PR, but I really want the Texans to add a playmaking #2 or 3 WR during next year’s offseason to play alongside AJ.
Oct 11, 2011 at 00:15:53
Depressing facts:
1) HOU @ BAL opened at -6 and moved to -7. I think it should be -5 1/2 but what do I know?
2) Football Outsiders has BAL as the #1 pass defense and #3 rush defense. (HOU is 10th pass DEF and 30th rush DEF). This is without updating for this past week.
Fun facts:
3) HOU is the 5th pass offense and 8th rush offense. BAL is the 17th pass offense and 24th rush offense.
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What gets me about the 7 point spread is that I have a hard time imagining the the Baltimore offense scoring 7 more points than the Texans offense. Ray Rice is a bad-ass and the Texans rush defense is going to be even worse with Mario gone, but not seven points worth, right?
Oct 11, 2011 at 08:02:54
Jacoby should have ran to the corner, tried to get open. When the play breaks down and the QB scrambles it’s time to ad lib. Still, Texans just got beat, plain & simple. It happens in the NFL…Bills over Patriots, Titans over Ravens are perfect examples.
Oct 11, 2011 at 08:12:12
Jacoby would be Bumblebee if he were a transformer. Young, fast and will never be leader.
Oct 11, 2011 at 11:38:52
This is encroaching familiar territory. The national media, which already snubs their nose at us for our lack of quote-worthy knuckleheads, is already writing us off. It seems that Houston – Mario < Tennessee + Hasselbeck.
Yes, this is gonna be a bad year for the division, but we're going at least 5-1 in division unless their is an epic meltdown on this team. Our poor division record has been one of the big things holding us back before, and this is the year that that chink in the armor is repaired.
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One final note on the Raiders game: Al Davis JUST DIED. This caused the players/fans/organization to want to "Win One for the Gipper" and/or Have legitimate hope that this team is looking up for the first time since the all-Seniors team went to the Super Bowl. A LOT of good teams would have lost to the Raiders that day. We took a good team that was on an emotional super-high…and we only lost by 5 after being in the game or winning the game the whole day. Let's not bust out the Fire KUBIAK crap yet.
Oct 11, 2011 at 19:26:30
Jacoby was targeted 11 times Sunday, one catch. That just does not cut it in the NFL. Until Johnson gets back, give me Walters and Anderson. Anderson may not be as fast as Jones, but he catches anything near him and can run a route.