I think they did. That said, it sure was fun to see the Texans beat the Cowboys up and down the field on Saturday night. Preseason or not, that’s a good feeling. Especially after the drubbing they took in New Orleans.
That said, I have some problems with what I saw on Saturday. Now, I’m already kind of seen as a cynical “over-worrier” when it comes to the Texans, but please hear me out.
After watching the game a second time, something that was crystal clear to me the FIRST time was only reinforced. The Texans did nearly EVERYTHING they could to win this game. They treated it (as they often do) as the preseason Super Bowl. The Cowboys? They were exactly who the Texans were in New Orleans. They had been away from home for a while (much longer than the Texans were), they had no desire to win the game, and it showed.
While in a perfect world, people could stand up, redfaced, and scream “I MAKE 20,000 A YEAR AND YOU MAKE TEN MILLION AND YOU NEED TO GIVE MAXIMUM EFFORT ALL THE TIME RAAWWRR!!!” — That’s not the world we live in. It’s preseason. Teams don’t care. For teams like the Cowboys and Colts, who have both looked pretty awful at times – that’s fine. They’re proven winners, and playoff teams. For the Texans? You better show me something.
So, they did. They came out on fire, especially defensively. But my thoughts on this game can be boiled down thusly: The Texans showed WAY too much, and wanted this meaningless game WAY more than the Cowboys.
Why the Texans did this, I have no idea. I can only assume they felt pressure to have a good showing in front of their angry fans after the New Orleans debacle. What’s the best way to ensure a dominant performance? Open up the playbook on both sides of the ball, and get after them. And they did.
The Texans were blitzing, stunting, and using defensive looks that the Dallas offense will be much more ready to handle when they return to Houston in week three. By then, they will have gameplanned for the Texans, and their beat up offensive line will be in better shape. Anyone who follows the Texans closely and pays attention to their defensive scheming was I’m sure in a near state of shock when Frank Bush dialed up a corner blitz with Glover Quin on the first series. There’s not a whole lot of tape on that sort of thing out there with the Texans, and of course – it worked beautifully. This time.
On offense, the Texans will beat you no matter how much tape the other side has, mainly because, well, they simply have a great offense. But there was one play in particular that I’m VERY upset they yanked out in the preseason. The 24-yard touchdown pass from Matt Schaub to Jacoby Jones was a thing of beauty. I’ve never seen a team bite on the play-fake as hard as the Cowboys bit. It was beautifully sold, perfectly executed, and SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN RUN IN THE PRESEASON!!!!!
Obviously, an enormous part of the Texans offense is based on misdirection and play action. But the route that Jacoby ran on the bootleg – where he went ACROSS the field after faking a typical bootleg route – that was something new and exciting, and any defensive coordinator worth TEN CENTS in the NFL is not going to fall for that more than once. It sure was a pretty play, though.
Even as cynical as I am, I have no wet blanket for what the running game did on Saturday night. They didn’t do anything fancy in that respect. They Cowboys knew it was coming, and they couldn’t do anything to stop it. Arian Foster is looking fantastic. I’ve been fine with him as the starter since Gary Kubiak started preparing us for it way back when – my ONLY concern with Foster is that he had injury issues at Tennessee. He only started two games last year, and we just don’t have a large sampling of him yet. Can he hold up to the wear and tear week to week? Man, I sure hope so because after already losing Ben Tate, this team is an injury to Foster away from having one of, if not the WORST running back situation in the NFL.
Jeremiah Johnson looked great, but he has issues with blitz pick-up. Steve Slaton still has shown me nothing at all to sway me away from thinking he’s the same guy he was last year. His field vision still looks non-existent, he hesitates, and that’s not even including the fumbling problem – which may have only been a one-time thing against Arizona, we just don’t know. The problem is, the fumbling is only one of many problems he has as a runner now. If he’s still considered the number two running back, it’s only because he’s a better blocker than Johnson – because Johnson certainly looks like a much better runner.
What happened, Steve? Seriously. It’s sad. The guy was unstoppable in 2008.
The Texans also appear to not have fixed their red zone scoring issues. I’ve seen in two separate places now references to how the Texans “would have had one more touchdown in the red zone if not for a holding call.” I don’t see it that way. The hold is what sprung the touchdown. It’s not like it happened away from the play. Chris Myers’ hold is what allowed Foster to score, and yes it was a legit holding call. Now – the pass interference call against Glover Quin – that was a load of horse crap… but I digress.
Look, the Texans looked great on Saturday. Other than their red zone woes, there was a lot to be excited about. I just don’t see the value in breaking open the playbook like that just to appease the fans who want to win yet another preseason Super Bowl championship.
So that’s my harsh, cynical look at what you would think I would look at as a triumphant return to form for the Texans on Saturday. I love that they won big. I love that they dominated – I guess I just am ready to take that step as a fan, where I don’t care about anything that happens in the preseason. I don’t want the players to think it’s a big deal, and I guess I don’t want the fans to think it’s a big deal either.
Maybe I shouldn’t have typed this on a Monday?
Aug 30, 2010 at 12:17:21
I think you can make a case that the Texans wanted to get a few things on tape…so that they can use a different wrinkle next time around. Next time we play the Cowboys and the corners shows blitz the Cowboys will adjust to it…but he can drop into coverage at the lest second while a LB comes from the other side.
I’m not generally to worried about showing too much in the pre-season. There’s not too much new in the NFL, and you can show whatever you want as long as you self scout yourself so that you see where you are predictable/weak. The other half of that is making adjustments. Teams will adjust to what you are doing no matter what. You have to be able to counter those moves. Putting something on tape in pre-season is not going to change that
Aug 30, 2010 at 12:21:52
About 90% of all my favorite JJ plays have happened in preseason, so just add that 24-yd TD to the list.
Aug 30, 2010 at 12:24:21
I agree, to a point. There’s not too much new in the NFL – but there’s a LOT new with the Texans and their blitzes… because they’re not much about blitzing.
But yes, I do acknowledge that there is probably more hand-wringing going on here than there needs to be.
Aug 30, 2010 at 12:47:41
On those play-actions (and the JJ touchdown specically) it is a pici-your-poison situation for DC’s. Will they fall for it again? Absolutley. If he doesn’t hit JJ then he has AJ crossing underneath in single coverage. That was almost the same play that AJ scored against Seattle last year. The other win-win is that if the defense starts staying at home and respecting the play-action those back side cuts in the run game get bigger. Have no fear of showing too much because 1) opponents have seen it before and 2)there’s not much they can do about it…not when the run game is firing on all cylinders like it was.
Aug 30, 2010 at 13:03:03
Chris, if you’re a real man, you’ll start the Texans Defense in Week 3 in our FFL.
Aug 30, 2010 at 13:04:17
One more item, let’s please not feed more into the media narrative that the players view X game versus X team as “their Superbowl”. It was their first home game, they sucked donkey balls in NO which equals coming out firing. I just don’t think the players or fans (some fans anyway…but definitely the players)see it that way, although the McClains and the Kuharskies of the world seem to. We definietly know Kubiak ins’t the type of guy to gameplan for the fan’s sake…otherwise red zone play calling would have changed two years ago.
Aug 30, 2010 at 13:09:01
The Texans lose. They are not ready for the regular season and need to get things right!!!
The Texans win. They showed too much and think its the superbowl!!!
All I have to say is that the Texans should want to win every time out. Especially against their state rival. If the crygirls dont want to win, then fine! I guess Saturday night primetime with millions of people watching isnt enough reason to want to have a good showing.
Yes week 3 is more important. But that doesnt mean Saturday night was worthless. The starters played 3 quarters on both sides of the ball and the score ended up 23-0. I dont know about you, but I am glad to be on the winning side of that one.
If the crygirls had won do you think their fans and orgnaization would have called the game worthless? Or a taste of whats to come? Ill give you a hint. It aint the first one.
Aug 30, 2010 at 13:12:28
@Buck
You know as well as anyone that I don’t feed into the media’s narrative. The players can say all they want that they don’t treat the game any different – but I’m not interested in what they say. I’m interested in what they do on the field, and it was pretty clear they cared plenty about that game, while not caring at all in N.O.
Your point about changing red zone playcalling doesn’t hold water with me, because in the preseason it’s a lot easier for the team to “gameplan for the fan’s sake” (your words) than it is during the year when every game means so much.
Aug 30, 2010 at 13:24:36
@Super Mario
At no point have I said anything Saturday was worthless. Meaningless, yes. Worthless? Most definitely not. Come on, man. That’s the kind of rhetoric you see on the message boards, but not here.
Also, I don’t give a rat’s ass what Dallas fans would have thought had they won the game. It’s not hard to figure out what typical Dallas fans think about… anything.
The BEST thing that came out of Saturday was that the running game looked GREAT, and even though the Cowboys were in “Texans at Saints mode” the Texans blew them off the field.
In other words – if they were going to open up the playbook AND play with a lot more effort than Dallas, they SHOULD blow them out – and they did.
Aug 30, 2010 at 13:36:27
It was hinted at earlier, but never fully stated: we DID have to win that game.
1. We get enough flak from Team Romo, and this season will be worse because of the “Hometown Superbowl” narrative. We need to put them in their place and take us seriously, or we won’t take ourselves seriously.
2. Online, we as a fan base are just as emotional as notorious places like Philly. When we win, “We’re headed to the Super Bowl!!!” and when we lose it’s “Fire Kubiak! Why’d we trust our future in a backup QB? Hire Bill Cowher even though he has no interest in coaching and got fired in the first place for a reason!” I’m not calling anyone out, because you can’t throw a rock in Houston and not hit someone I’m talking about.
We came out on all cylinders and beat the Cowboys 23-0. Remember that if we lose to Indy before you call for the heads of Kubes, Smith, Schaub, and whomever else.
By the way, there’s nothing wrong with an emotional fan base, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. The Texans need that emotion. What they don’t need is their saints loss being amplified while their cowboys win is dismissed.
Aug 30, 2010 at 14:05:53
I should have expressed that differently. I know well your disdain for the media. I didn’t mean to say that you buy into the media narrative, just that enough people outside of Houston claim that every game against them is our Superbowl that we don’t need to be saying it as well. Especially when I don’t think it’s true. I agree 100% that they cared more, that was obvious. I just think that it was a combo of wanting to avenge the laying an egg the week before and it being the first home game of the year. More fire and not so much opening up the playbook.
My “gameplanning for the fans” comment was in response to this statement in your original post: “I just don’t see the value in breaking open the playbook like that just to appease the fans.” This is where we agree to disagree, when have we ever seen Kubiak do something to appease the fans? Plus I just didn’t see where we got away too much from what we’ve done before, i.e. the JJ touchdown.
Aug 30, 2010 at 15:17:19
I disagree, the fact the Texans played so well was because of their passion. That being said I thought Kubes should have pulled his starters after the 1st quarter when I was obivous Dallas didn’t get off the bus. The only 2 plays that I would conside “too much” were the Jacoby’s touchdown down adn the corner blitz.
Aug 30, 2010 at 16:23:11
I don’t think the Texans played well because of their passion. That’s college and high school BS, not something that happens (very often) in the pros.
The Texans played so well because they were sharp, focused, ready to play, and just flat outplayed the Cowboys. I’m not trying to take anything away from them.
The Texans physically dominated Dallas up front on both sides of the ball, and the rest was easy.
Aug 30, 2010 at 17:18:25
We’ve played in three games. Throw out the stinker in NOLA and the destruction of the worthless cowboys. That leaves zona
We are what we are, a team that beats the bad teams, and hangs with the good teams for 45 minutes, and sometimes beat them.
Unfortunately with this team, until we see them come out against Indy we really wont know.
I’m still honestly concerned about all the corners and the DTs after re watching all three games
Offense will be fine with or without the running game, but not in the W column
Aug 30, 2010 at 18:02:38
Well, guys, I am glad they won this one. Down south here in South Texas most people think there is only one Texas professional team–so, me, I’ll take the win anyway and anytime we can get one. I am hoping our team keeps the focus and Kubiak keeps the team building a team where all players can step up when needed. If they set the bar for themselves as they did for this game on speed and accuracy, then I will be spending more time with my diehard husband after all in front of the TV. I’m ready with my pom-pons and popcorn–take care, gentlemen, I enjoy reading all of your comments.
Aug 30, 2010 at 21:12:20
Saw that Denver let J. Fargas go….I’m just say’in an exper. RB that could add depth @ a cheap price…Maybe, maybe not
Aug 31, 2010 at 09:14:42
Hey guys,
Since I am most likely the only Cowboys fan that replys on this blog, I figured that I should at least respond.
1. My hat if off to you guys. The game was a one sided win for you and the Boys looked like the 2009 Rams were wearing our uniforms.
2. Ok, here is what I saw when I didn’t have my head hung in disbelief, the battle in the trenches was won everytime by you guys. The OL and DL was overmatched and every run play, the DL was blown right of the ball. I have never missed Marcus Spears so much. Our interior oline was very confused, which was supposed to be our strength. While I have read to much this week was that the Boys were plying a vanilla gameplan and this was a bill parcelles like loss to fire up the team (Common Cowboy Blogs Excuses) the Line play and miscues troubled me. but, I will not get to deep into the Boys troubles since, you guys don’t care.
2. As for the Texans showing to much…..I was surpirsed at some of the play calling and the DLine play was very aggressive. The AJ slants across the middle was very scary. He is a machine. One thing i heard that caught my ear was when Schuab said, “we exicuted our game plan” that seemed to suggest that the team was preparring for this more than the average Preseason game. I think that the you guys did not show to much but, I do think that the Boys will watch the tape on those stunts and make note. The main point is that the Texans dominated the line and not amount of excuses and game planning can account for that.
But in then end, both teams won since no one got serouisly hurt and no matter how much either team bitches, it is still the preseason. Week 3 is going to be fun.
GO COWBOYS!!!!!
Aug 31, 2010 at 14:46:20
I wouldn’t be too concerned about having shown too much. They ran some good plays, but as pointed out earlier, those are pick-your-poison type plays. Next time, they think it’s a bootleg and follow Schaub, leaving Foster to hit the cutback lane wide open. Or he hits AJ on the crossing route, or Jacoby doesn’t cut back the other direction and continues to the right corner.
The beauty of the offense is it leaves options open and there’s always somewhere to go. The weakness is that it involves EVERYONE handling their responsibilities and executing. Too often in the past we had 9 guys executing, but the RB didn’t pick up the blitz, or the G didn’t pull or he couldn’t handle his blocker. It also requires a QB with uncanny accuracy, which Schaub has the overwhelming majority of the time. It was very apparent early on that while Carr had a cannon for an arm and could throw a ball through a wall, he never knew which wall it was going to be.
I am somewhat worried about the Week 3 game, b/c the Cowboys will have several guys back (Spears, Columbo, etc), we won’t have Cushing, and they are NOT going to be as flat as they were this week. We can beat them, but we have to be ON our game. Like it or not, the D sets the tone of the entire game. If our D is stopping them, fired up, and has everyone on their feet, the offense will dominate, too.
Aug 31, 2010 at 16:54:48
The cowboys D is so much better than our D, based on past regular seasons that they can just go through the motions. Our D isnt anywhere close to being able to do that. We need to just get better no matter what.
If y’all are thinking our O will be able to move the ball like that again on week 3, then you’re gonna be disappointed.
I do think our D will be successful against their offense, but what have we EVER seen to give us hope against good 3-4 teams? Not much. But they have the talent to do it….. But I’ll believe it when I see it
Aug 31, 2010 at 20:59:30
I was looking at some running backs that were cut loose recently and I saw some interesting names. Ryan Moats, Derrick Ward, and Justin fargas. ryan moats was on this team and knows the system. I have been a big fan of Fargas and he was very underrated in Oakland. Derrick ward still might have something in the tank and he is only one season removed from being a stud. I think we should look at those guys. I still do not think Chris Henry is a good running back.
Sep 1, 2010 at 07:03:03
I tend to agree with both Chris and papabear. It basically boils down to how many plays deep Frank Bush and Rick Dennison are thinking.
They may have actually been deliberately giving the Colts something on tape, just so, as Jethro might say, they could 00 out smart them.
It would be more comforting if they had a history of that.
Sep 1, 2010 at 14:12:30
I think the Texans needed to do 2 things against the Cowboys:
1. Prove they can be a force
2. Run the game in real time and execute and play the right tempo.
Let us not forget how flat they came out against the Jets last year. They really needed to position themselves that they can delivera nd execute at a high caliber.
I am a little concerned Matt was not in full form. He really needs to be able to go out there and hit the targets.
Sep 1, 2010 at 15:01:08
Two things: 1) 80% of the pass plays were “In” routes out of the redzone, and Swing passes in the redzone.
2) No Jacoby Jones TD means no Jacoby Jones dance. Now, my night would not be complete without Jacoby hittin da moves.
Sep 2, 2010 at 09:12:28
The Texans need to beat the Cowboys everytime they play them. Houston never gets any respect. As far as showing too much, they called plays everyone has seen for years, so they are not giving anything away. This makes it sound like Dallas was not even trying. I saw the long faces on the Cowboy bench, they tried and just got beat. The Texans vs the Cowboys is a good rivalry, for the governers cup, both teams are always going to try to win. They play again in the 3rd week of regular season. There is nothing more I would like to see than the Texans beat up on them some more. My prediction for the regular season….PAIN !!!!
Sep 3, 2010 at 12:27:46
Go Texans! Sure did put it to the cowgirls! Keep it up in the regular season game. I know you can!