I made a comment over at Steph’s blog regarding the “rematch” coming up on Monday night. Long story short – I’m concerned that Jared Allen will be frothing at the mouth, since he missed last week’s game due to an injury.
She replied, saying that teams can’t play scared… and I couldn’t agree more. There’s no “but” or “however” coming up here. It’s not really so much that I’m afraid Allen will be looking to deliver another cheap shot… it’s just the law of averages. For whatever reason, it seems to be set in stone that Matt Schaub has to play about three quarters on Monday night. That means there are going to be a lot of snaps between Brown and Allen… and, you know – one of them is arguably THE elite pass-rusher in the NFL, and one of them is about to start his second season.
Of all the players on the Texans, Brown might be the one most puzzling to me. If you look at them alone, Brown’s sack numbers make him one of the worst LT’s in the NFL, but we know the numbers rarely tell the entire story, or more accurately – they don’t tell the most important part of it.
Sure, Brown faced an unprecedented gauntlet of pass-rushers as a rookie last season. Yes, he plays in a division with tough defensive ends. These are all valid points that I agree with wholeheartedly – but the fact is he wasn’t good enough to stay on the field for every series last year. Was that just due to conditioning? I don’t know, but there was never any sort of rotation for any of the other offensive linemen.
If a guy isn’t good enough to play every down for Texans offensive line coach Alex Gibbs, then a guy isn’t good enough to play for Alex Gibbs, period. Clearly, Gibbs made an exception for Brown, and his patience might have paid off. From most accounts – he’s had an excellent training camp.
Media reports suggest that Gibbs is simply in love with Brown, and he feels like he can be a pro-bowl caliber tackle. Maybe, but a tough no-nonsense guy like Alex Gibbs couldn’t have been happy when Brown showed up for his rookie training camp a little out of shape, and played over his optimal weight all season last year (if you believe the reports that we’ve all read).
Both Brown and the Texans organization seemed to sort of “recommit” to each other in his second offseason. The team cut Brown’s backup (and every-third series replacement) Ephraim Salaam, despite him being quite capable, quality depth, and fairly cheap for what he does. For his part, Brown showed up to camp 10-15 pounds lighter, and has shown improvement, as mentioned before.
Still, how much can a 10-15 pounds-lighter second-year guy improve in just one offseason? The NFL cliche is that players make their biggest jumps from year one to year two… but it can’t be a big enough jump to keep Allen out of the backfield for three quarters. So, I wouldn’t say I was scared – just concerned… but who’s not? It’s only our playoff chances riding on every snap!
Aug 26, 2009 at 08:31:33
I think the pick up for lineman is around a season and a half. From what they do is 24 games excluding a playoff run can be in my opinion a pretty good gauge of how effective they will be in the leauge.
Aug 26, 2009 at 11:26:30
jared allen reminds me of “Boats and hoes, boats and hoes, I gotta have me my boats and hoes!!!!
Aug 26, 2009 at 12:51:44
I think Brown has been terrific in pass protection so far this preseason. I think he will impress on Monday night. Where he needs to improve is his run blocking. He along with every other Texans o-lineman was terrible against the Saints.
Aug 26, 2009 at 13:25:20
Just sit down schaub and aj. They don’t need the reps. Least our fantasy draft is after ” the greatest show on on a yacht
Aug 26, 2009 at 13:31:57
I went back and re-watched the Saints game and I decided to isolate Brown and look at his play specifically. I’m please to report that other than 1 false start he played a virtually flawless game. (the “holding” call was a mistake) Both as a run blocker and as a pass blocker he was consistent and dominant. It will be one of the key matchups to watch on Monday. I’m expecting him to do very well. I’m sure Allen will get the best of him on a few occasions but overall I think you will see D. Brown 2.0 to be an excellent upgrade over v. 1.0
Aug 26, 2009 at 13:48:55
Chris, I’m gonna slap you! Where do you live, I’m coming over? You still given 76ondelef hell about being a 1 year left tackle in college, and coming out as a rookie against the elite DE’s in football and still lookin a lot better than veteran Salaami did. I know he looks like a man, but he’s still a young guy who was tried by fire his rookie year, and there wasn’t or isn’t anyone better on the team that could replace him. We have waaaay worse problems than him who were high or first round draft picks. Our offense was the best it’s ever been with him as a rookie starting left tackle. (repeat last sentence)
Aug 26, 2009 at 14:20:51
@1Tex
You’ve got the wrong idea, man. I was and am a fan of the Brown pick. I never had a problem with us drafting him, and I think he’s going to do just fine – like I said, it’s the Law of Averages I’m worried about – it’s not because I think Duane is a revolving door. I think Brown can be a longtime starter for this team.
Nobody’s looking to replace him! I love the guy… I just don’t want Allen to go Animal again.
I’ve never given 76 hell about being a one-year LT in college. I thought he was a good pick, even though when they called his name, I didn’t know who he was, LOL.
Aug 26, 2009 at 14:28:48
I do not see the need to play the starters 3 quarters in this game. I say run a few seires with each unit and as long as they are performing well, put in the second team. What do you have to prove? The preseason is about evaluating new talent, not risking injuring your starters form last year. If we lose another to injury it will be on Kubes.
Aug 26, 2009 at 14:36:16
all in good fun Chris
but calling him one of the worst tackles in the NFL?…and …If a guy isn’t good enough to play every down for Texans offensive line coach Alex Gibbs, then a guy isn’t good enough to play for Alex Gibbs, period….doesn’t sound like you love the pick too much.
Aug 26, 2009 at 14:51:54
Where did I call him one of the worst tackles in the NFL?? I said if you look strictly at the sack numbers – he’s one of the worst tackles in the NFL – and then I said you CAN’T look at only the numbers. I even said I wholeheartedly agreed with the whole thing about how he faced great DEs and how he was just a rookie learning. I’m just putting out multiple viewpoints that others have shared on him.
The Alex Gibbs comment is more about Gibbs, not Brown. He doesn’t seem like the kind of coach who will coddle players, but he knows he has something good in Brown, so I think he’s giving him more rope than he normally would.
I like Duane Brown. I supported the drafting of Duane Brown. I’ve always been a “build from front to back” guy, and Brown was the best option for the biggest position of need in that draft.
Anyway, it’s all good – I just don’t get how what I said got so twisted.
Aug 26, 2009 at 16:06:17
Chris, how could you say you hate Andre Johnson? I know you complain a lot about Demeco and Mario, but I have no idea what AJ ever did to you.
Aug 26, 2009 at 16:57:54
Poor chris is getting a new one torn for him on this blog.
In addition to the brown vs. allen matchup, I am worried about the williams “brothers” going up against 2 of our backups and one guy who I think should be a backup in breisel.It is not like brown is going to get much help against one of the elite defensive lines in the league.
Aug 26, 2009 at 17:41:22
Kc joyner would tell you the best o lineman we have is briesel…
Aug 26, 2009 at 19:38:17
I’m with Allen and NAC. No need to push our luck with the guys we absolutely cannot afford to lose–Schaub, ‘Dre, and Slaton. Might even add OD to that list.
Aug 27, 2009 at 00:33:30
Yo Chris-
Could it be that Brown didn’t play every snap his rookie year because he was, you know, a rookie? It’s the rare rookie that comes in and plays every down. I think that’s a rather harsh way to judge him.
Yes, he was so-so as a rookie, which is pretty good if you think about it. I don’t think he needs to be a Hall of Famer, but I can easily see him having a solid 10 year career.
Aug 27, 2009 at 17:02:00
good stuff here.
http://espn.go.com/blog/afcsouth/post?id=2449
Aug 27, 2009 at 20:05:13
It’s no big deal to play Schaub for the entire first half. Kubiak just needs to make it perfectly clear to all the linemen that if you get beat, hold. That’s right, grab the pass-rusher and tackle him. Do whatever it takes to protect Schaub because this game doesn’t count. Penalties don’t count, but all these guys need the reps.
Aug 28, 2009 at 05:19:28
@1Texan-
That’s a great article. Thanks for posting.
Aug 28, 2009 at 14:22:42
Something else to consider about Duane Brown vs. Jared Allen…
…to paraphrase some comments made by TMQ’s Gregg Easterbrook (if you have an hour on Tuesdays, I highly recommend checking out his verbose posts on ESPN Page 2), Jared Allen cares about nothing except his own sack totals. Since most people define defensive ends by their sack numbers, he cares way more about that than anything else. Easterbrook has noted numerous plays in which Allen disregarded his running back contain assignments to try and cut inside on the left tackle to get the sack.
So, combine this hypothesis with the fact that Jared Allen likes to have everything be all about him (this is evidenced by taking a 50k fine to cheap shot Matt Schaub last season), and I say he doesn’t give his all on this occasion.
THANK YOU BRETT FAVRE!!!
In case you haven’t been paying attention to ESPN, Jesus Christ, I mean Brett “Heave Ho!” Favre, has and will garner any and all national media attention from this game. If Brett throws 3 TDs, the coverage will be his great game. When, I mean, IF Brett throws 3 INTs, it will be about Brett’s BAD game (or, if we’re lucky, how our defense defeated the mighty Brett Favre). There is nothing that Jared Allen can do to take the spotlight away from Brett, so what’s his incentive to play? Even if Kung Fu Panda schools him, he’s still one of the Top 5 pass rushers (note that I didn’t say defensive ends) in the league…and he’ll still be less important than “Heave Ho!” Favre.
The more important matchup is Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor versus our entire roster of defensive tackles. Make no mistake about it, it will be an abject massacre, but Texans fans are hoping that there will be one or two DT’s that emerge as less awful against AP than the rest.
Personally, I think Connor Barwin’s development should be making Bush seriously consider moving Antonio Smith inside on a permanent basis. I know it’s not what he was signed for, but, for $35 million dollars, I’m sure he’ll suck it up and drive on. It means that Mario Williams would move to left end, but that’s where Reggie White played his entire career, and his stats speak for themselves. If Super Mario is the athletic freak we all have come to expect him to be, he can shrug off the tight end and still get 15-20 sacks this season. (and would that be any different than the double teams he will keep getting until a decent interior threat emerges)?
P.S. DRAFT VINCE OGHOBAASE!!!