Colts At Texans Preview

[Guest BlueShoe]

I went back and looked at the game tape (DVR) from the Texans at 49ers game and took some notes.

The first drive (first play) the Texans try to setup a screen and the 49ers linebacker read it the whole way, picked off the pass and took it back to the house. One thing I noticed on that play and the announcer pointed it out as well, was that Schaub actually telegraphs when he is going to pass by taking his left hand off the ball a lot earlier than most quarterbacks do. This may be something the Colts already know about him, but it’s worth pointing out. It was definitely how the linebacker knew he was throwing because the linebacker was actually blitzing and as soon as he saw Schaub take his left hand off the ball he fell back into coverage and picked the pass off with ease.

On the second drive the Texans drove most of the field but came up short and settled for a field goal. On that 10 play drive the Texans lined up with 10 different sets and personnel. That is pretty impressive. This is where I took notes.

Out of the 10 drives, Johnson was in the slot once, on the left side five times, and lined up on the right side twice.

Walter lined up in the slot twice, on the left side three times, and on the right three times.

Jacoby Jones played only three of the ten plays, lining up on the left twice and in the slot once.

The Texans use a TE/FB the same as we use Dallas Clark, in that they line him up in the backfield and as a FB. The thing that is impressive about their tight ends in Owen Daniels and James Casey is how they use them both on the weak side and strong side, meaning they have a lot of faith in both of their blocking and receiving abilities.

The Texans like to motion receivers and tight ends and when they do it will likely be a running play. Four times on this drive they motioned and three times they ran. They might set teams up with that and throw some down the field, but it appears to be a staple of their offense that might be able to be used against them for the most part. One formation I noticed was trip right (tight) with two of them being TE’s. They use one TE (Owens) to come inside and seal while the other TE (Casey) blocks the edge and leads the way.

They ran a bootleg on the seventh play of the drive and I expect to see them test us with it as well. The play was defended well by the 49ers front seven, but there was no rush so Johnson was able to get open and pick up a decent gain.

Another play that stuck out is when they lined two TE’s up on the right side and then ran a swing pass to Foster to the left, which explains the offense for what it is. They are filled with misdirection type of plays and use the element of surprise with all the different formations to confuse their opponent.

So how will we match up? Well with them being in two TE sets on nine of the ten plays, Brackett/Angerer and Simms/Conner will have their work cut out for them. The only time they lined up with one TE, Walter was in the slot and Johnson was wide right with Jones on the left, which leads me to believe they could have actually been practicing their game plan against us on this play. By putting Walter in the slot and moving Johnson out wide right it puts us into a situation that we don’t want to be in with Lacey covering Johnson. Every time they go with one tight end, I would expect them to send Johnson out wide right. Too make things more interesting when they did this they also put Foster in motion and he setup to the left of the line which give them 5 receivers (empty backfield). This would be a smart move on their part to take the safety help away from Lacey which gives them their most favorable match up of Johnson and Lacey with little to no safety help.

I think they are going to try to beat us physically on the line of scrimmage and then hit us deep when they have Johnson matched up with Lacey. It’s a solid game plan to have.

[sixfive]

I believe the Colts Texans match up is being blown up every year. The Texans have not matured into the team that everyone believes there are. The Texans always find a way to drop the games against the Colts. That is a form of maturity, it reminds me of when the Colts would be so close to beating the Pats, the Colts had all of the players all of the right plays but they were not mature. Look what happened when the Colts got seasoned they started beating the Pats. So with that being said the Texans need to step out of the Whitey tight tee and put on a pair of boxer briefs before they will be the Colts. GO Colts.

[NDKoltz]

Did anyone hear the report that someone died at a texans players house over the weekend?

[Guest BlueShoe]

I believe the Colts Texans match up is being blown up every year. The Texans have not matured into the team that everyone believes there are. The Texans always find a way to drop the games against the Colts. That is a form of maturity, it reminds me of when the Colts would be so close to beating the Pats, the Colts had all of the players all of the right plays but they were not mature. Look what happened when the Colts got seasoned they started beating the Pats. So with that being said the Texans need to step out of the Whitey tight tee and put on a pair of boxer briefs before they will be the Colts. GO Colts.

I disagree with nearly everything you have said. Us not beating the Patriots had nothing to do with maturity. The Texans struggles with the Colts has nothing to do with maturity either. A few Texans games, they just had some bad luck at the end and they beat us pretty soundly last season. They are a legit team that is capable of making a mark this year in the NFL. The addition of Wade Phillips is an immediate upgrade for the Texans defense and the dividends will continue to pay on that move for quite some time.

We still have a great team and I still feel that we are the favorites to win the AFC South, but to say the Texans are not mature enough to beat us is not something I can agree with at all.

[Guest BlueShoe]

Did anyone hear the report that someone died at a texans players house over the weekend?

Yeah, I did hear that. I was listening to Sirius NFL radio in my car last night and they were talking about it. It wasn't the player (Antonio Smith) or a family member, but a friend of the family was found in his pool.

[NDKoltz]

Found this link

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033768/Friend-Houston-Texans-player-Antonio-Smith-dead-morning-Labour-Day-weekend-ninja-mask-Speedo-pool-party.html

[Smonroe]

I disagree with nearly everything you have said. Us not beating the Patriots had nothing to do with maturity. The Texans struggles with the Colts has nothing to do with maturity either. A few Texans games, they just had some bad luck at the end and they beat us pretty soundly last season. They are a legit team that is capable of making a mark this year in the NFL. The addition of Wade Phillips is an immediate upgrade for the Texans defense and the dividends will continue to pay on that move for quite some time.

We still have a great team and I still feel that we are the favorites to win the AFC South, but to say the Texans are not mature enough to beat us is not something I can agree with at all.

With the Manning questions, and even before that, most people would favor the Texans to win the divisions. This being Wade's first year goes in our favor. He probably doesn't have the exact type of players he needs yet, and some guys aren't used to having different assignments.

Good write up. Teams sometimes show stuff in the preseason just to make other teams have to prepare for it, even though they may not ever use it during a real game. But I think that series you described is pretty much how the Texans will play.