It’s Wednesday, and Owen Daniels is still out for the season. I’m still waiting for the news that he’s actually okay, will be removed from Injured Reserve, and will be able to return after the bye week. Keep checking back, because I know it’s coming…
In the meantime, some minor moves…
With Owen on IR, the Texans filled his roster void by promoting DE Jesse Nading from the practice squad. That means that now both DE Nading and DE Tim Jamison are on the active roster. Clearly the team isn’t getting as much out of the pass rush as they’d like (obviously) and they’re going to try any and all combinations.
Of course sacks don’t tell the whole story when it comes to pressuring the quarterback, but the Texans are tied for 30th in the NFL in sacks, with 11. The team is getting more pressure than they did last year, but from what I’ve seen – they’re not getting a LOT more pressure. They’re certainly blitzing a lot more (especially compared to the total lack of blitzing in the first three quarters of last season), but they’re looking for more. A lot more.
THURSDAY UPDATE: Reading Kubiak’s post-practice comments, it’s pretty obvious Nading is being promoted strictly to fill in on special teams for Dreessen. It really doesn’t take Kubiak’s comments to confirm that – I just didn’t think it through. Obviously, they’re going to pull Dreessen off of special teams because he’s the starter at TE, plus he’s their long snapper. So, it likely has nothing to do with the pass rush at all… still – 30th in the NFL. Not good.
A new TE and LB join the practice squad.
The Texans have had an open spot on the practice squad for a few days. Former Ohio State linebacker Marcus Freeman was signed today, as well as tight end Dezmond Sherrod, a former Pittsburgh Steeler practice squadder.
I saw Freeman’s name pop up here and there as a possibility for the Texans leading up to this year’s NFL Draft. He was drafted by the Bears in the fifth round, but they sent him packing before the season started.
The Steelers signed Sherrod as an undrafted free agent in 2008, and he was along for the ride to get himself a Super Bowl ring. I mean, I assume practice squad guys get rings too… announcers get them, so why wouldn’t the P-squad guys?
The Texans will be thin at two positions going in to Indianapolis.
With Sherrod not signed to the active roster, it appears the team will go in to Indy with only two TEs. Even more interesting is the fact that Anthony Hill hasn’t been active for a single game this season, so I doubt the team will be counting on him very much on Sunday – probably not even for his blocking.
Clearly the Texans have a little something up their sleeve. We’ll probably be seeing a lot more of Jacoby Jones, and though Kevin Walter has been out there the whole time, we’ll be hearing his name called more often by whichever intolerable announcers call the game Sunday (Kevin Harlan & Solomon Wilcots).
Maybe the Texans will work Steve Slaton into the game more by lining him up in the slot while Ryan Moats is in the backfield. Something we won’t be seeing are three TE sets (which are useful against the Colts cover-2 style of defense, as Socctty pointed out in the comments), but the Texans can always bring in an extra tackle and go with a tackle-eligible play, though that’s not going to fool anyone.
They’re a bit thin at linebacker as well. (Or maybe not.)
As far as Freeman, I’m a little surprised the Texans didn’t go in a different direction with a LB that could go straight to the active roster. They’ve already been playing a little thin depth-wise at LB, and now with Xavier Adibi nursing an injured ankle coming out of the win in Buffalo, they may have have only four guys they can count on 100% in DeMeco Ryans, Brian Cushing, Zac Diles, and Kevin Bentley. Of course, it could also be that Adibi’s injury isn’t bad enough for him to miss any practice time and I’m just overanalyzing things as per usual.
Of course… they’re going to turn around and cut one of these guys when Owen comes back. Any day now… any day…
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Nov 5, 2009 at 01:15:00
Never Forget
11/1/09
We will always keep you in our hearts, Owen.
1982-Still alive
Nov 5, 2009 at 08:13:54
bring back long snapper helms? so te dreseen can concentrate on position
Nov 5, 2009 at 10:07:41
I like the idea of having Moats and Slaton in the game at the same time and then moving Slaton out wide. Maybe get a LB matched up on him. He should be able to exploit that mismatch.
Nov 5, 2009 at 12:12:50
I know what Kubiak has up his sleeve…
…THE WILDCAT!!!
Just kidding. GOD I hope I’m just kidding.
In all seriousness, though, the gameplan should be to take advantage of the Colts’ weak interior defense by playing a play style most noted by the 2008 Giants, where they ran the ball a ton and got away because, if the defense overcompensates, Eli Manning could launch a big pass to Plaxico.
In other words, since the Colts know that Schaub can toss a TD pass to Andre Johnson at any time, they are not going to stack the deck against Moats and Slaton, so we need to run the ball a lot. As was mentioned before, whether or not Moats is the “starter”, we HAVE to give Slaton the ball so that we can get the misdirection screen passes going.
I know the thought of a power run game is scary, but our offensive line has looked pretty good, especially considering we’re missing C-Pitts. But, another thing to consider is that we can still run an effective run game without tight ends. New Orleans doesn’t use a lot of tight ends, but their spread formations keep defenders out of the box, so it opens up running room for the RB. Since neither Moats nor Slaton are exactly pile pishers, I think this is the way we can beat the Colts. They are weak at the LB positions, but they make up for it with two great safeties. However, if we line up three wide with AJ, K-Dubz, and Jacoby “Not the Worst Fumbler on the Team Anymore” Jones, Bethea and Sanders will have to respect them, and therein lies our chance.
Nov 5, 2009 at 13:52:28
Kubes said Butler will line up at TE for 3 TE sets. I would assume they would just be used in goal line formations.
Nov 5, 2009 at 18:00:58
I liked Marcus Freeman last year at OSU, and thought he would make a good pro. I know he’s a little light, but if he could tackle maybe he could back up at the WILL. Of course, if he could tackle the Bears probably wouldn’t have let him go.
Nov 5, 2009 at 18:37:30
I guess Freeman is in line strictly for special teams duty. I saw that he was on Buffalo’s practice squad this year as well. Their LB’s are horrible. If he couldn’t crack that unit, then he must not have that much to offer.