Finally we get to find out what we have in Houston

Mike,

As a fellow Texans fan, I think you had a very good perspective on the game. Sounds like that was an in depth PR piece.

Should be a good game. I know we are 5-0 vs. Miami and AJ returning home.

I'm thinking 28-17. Texans

 

For the first time I'm going to bet against Miami on this one. They are not capable of stopping that kind of offense and Henne will face way too much pressure.

 

I have Houston winning the division (even before the Manning injury), but that's not saying much. I'm curious to find out how good you guys are as well. I scored a ton of fantasy points playing QBs and WRs going against that D last year. Are they really improved?

As for Henne, the big difference is the new OC. He is a remarkably consistent player, arguably robotic. Most people don't realize how consistent he is though, b/c they see the stats results were fluctuating the years under Henning. Fans would say "he made a bad decision late", when in reality he was making the same decisions, but our plays were so predictable that D knew what was coming. I expect that our defense will be a lot better next week. A ton of the damage Brady inflicted was against our young FS who may have only been starting b/c of the late injury to Clemons. Clemons isn't great and he doesn't make plays, but he rarely makes the big mistake either. I don't think his injury was that bad so I expect him to be back. You also may see Daniel Thomas, our 2nd round pick back and running this week. We don't really know what we have in him either. He's a big back and he flashed a bit in preseason, but he also showed he was a rookie. I haven't decided which way I'm going prediction-wise in this game. I didn't watch your game against the Colts. And I'm worried that we haven't beat you guys before. But I also expect a big bounce back from our D. I know I'm leaning towards picking Miami, but I haven't thought about it enough to separate how much of that is objective analysis and how much is homerism.

 

well lets remember this is not tom brady coming into town on sunday and also missing will be the best pass blocking oline in the league, schaub will turn the ball over, who knows if foster plays, walter out too maybe, i think we can beat them they really dont have a threat over the middle like hernandez/gronkowski, daniels is a good player but the houston offense doesnt scare me like the patriots do, yeah sure they have andre johnson the best receiver in the game, but i think this week we can get to schaub and rattle him

 

Defensively, you can't really reach any conclusion based on yesterday's game other than the fact that this unit was in no shape to play a regular season game in hot and humid South Florida. And since you usually don't solve conditioning issues in just five days (at least not without the help of illegal substances), all you guys have to do is precisely what New England did: Go no huddle, sustain long scoring drives, use the tight end down the seam.

Offensively, we seem to be in much better sync than last season, but I don't see us outscoring Houston in a shootout. Shy of a small miracle on the conditioning front, I'm afraid the only way you get beat is by beating yourself. Incidentally, you're quite good at that.

 

Miami wins if there's no Arian Foster. If he plays, its gonna come down to the wire. That's my expert analysis.

 

This is incorrect. The reason Miami couldn't match-up with NE was that they were rotating with their no huddle. Had they been keeping the same formation it would be a different story, but the Pats were literally sprinting players onto the field after the reception, with Brady knowing what to do immediately.

That was the best no-huddle I've ever seen. It's made specifically to counter teams that rely on mixing personnel and rotating players. If you can't do that you're in huge trouble. Houston will not be able to do the same.

 

i dont know if foster can be effective with his harmstring even if he plays

 

Houston actually has depth at the running back position.

 

Heard Golic talking this morning about the no huddle and he said that if the offense is substituting, they HAVE to allow the defense to substitute prior to snapping the ball. Is this true? If so, seems like there were some 12 men on the field calls that shouldn't have been made. I would tend to side with the officials before siding with Mike Golic, but thought I would see if there were any resident experts that could chime in.

 

Technically, you'll see what you have in Miami, not Houston. I wouldn't want you to be the only one to show up at Reliant Stadium on Sunday. And since the Dolphins have a history of completely shutting down Andre Johnson and destroying the Texans pretty much every time, I think its safe to say that both teams will be 1-1 next monday. Sorry, just facts. Good luck the rest of the way. My fantasy team depends on you horn-wearing bastards.

 

LOL Thats some funny shirt right there... To tell you the truth,as a Texans fan you guys scare me more then the Colts. You showed a little something against the Pats....not enough to win but still........

 

Can the texans run the no huddle like the patriots? That's a trick question, cause no one can.

The matchups for the patriots are just too good. Hernandez and Gronkowski are just a nightmare to think about. Then you throw in guys like Welker and Woodhead and it becomes impossible to cover everyone on that offense when their QB knows where all of them are at all times.

The texans have some great players, but they don't have the same kind of offense. It's a big play offense, but ironically our defense is much more suited to play against that. A traditional running game we can handle, a traditional passing game we can do better against than we did the patriots passing game. I could just be all wrong and maybe this defense is as awful as they played last night, but im leaning more towards the patriots gameplanned the **** out of us and Brady exploited everything in that way that only he can.

In short, I think our D is embarrassed and will not allow themselves to be embarrassed twice. 24-14 Miami.

 

The Texans dont normally run the no huddle.From what I saw,your D isnt going to be able to stop us.I'm not saying this to start any crap,but they're not to many Ds that can. Our running Game picked up where it left off last year,and our passing game is right there with it. With your questionable secondary I see Andre having a big night.
Our biggest problem has been on Defense. They looked fantastic throughout the preseason and the Colts couldn't do a damn thing against us. That being said ..it was the preseason and the Colts O was horrible.
It's really the only question the Texans face this year.Is the D really new and improved? Mario played very well at his new position,but his two sacks came at the expense of Clark so that was to be expected.(dont know what the Colts where thinking) JJ Watt played lights out,as expected.
Our new secondary really didn't get the test I wanted to see because Vodka Collins was on his back or in a real hurry most of the night.

I fully expect a win...if you go by paper,it should be an easy one. But I'm not chugging the Kool-aid just yet. We know the Texans have always had a problem with consistency so I'm going to wait and see.
As far as the score goes? I see our O putting up at least 27....but your O and our D are still a question I dont have the answer to yet. Have to wait and see I guess.

 

Yeah, you are definitely looking at 1 game against one of the greatest coaches and QBs of all time and assuming that our D is suspect. We are talking about a defense that was clearly Top 10 last year and only added to those parts. Unless Schaub has figured out a way to run the no huddle like Brady can, you are under-estimating the overall talent on this defense. Going by paper, this should be a VERY close game and to say it will be an easy one by paper is taking 1 game in 2011 and evaluating this team based on that one game.

I will choose to not wear my aqual/orange colored glasses and say that the Texans offense can be VERY good and VERY deadly. The Texans defense looks like it has taken a step in the right direction and considering the talent, they should be darn good. The biggest question mark in this game is can the Dolphins offense continue to be electric. We are talking about one of the worst offenses in football last year and obviously the OC had a lot to do with that. So can Henne stay consistent and "mistake free"?

My honest opinion is that if the Dolphins offense plays like it did the other night, this is a Dolphins win (no glasses on). The defense will be good enough to hold the Texans to under 24, especially considering Foster is not 100% and Walter appears to be out. AJ is always tough to stop and Daniels is a very solid TE but you will see a much different defense come Sunday. Lastly, I'm not buying the Ben Tate being 1a talk. Arian Foster was unbelieveable last year and Tate would have been relegated to 3-5 carries/game last year, at best. He looked good against an atrocious Colts run D.

Now all this goes out the window if the Dolphins offense makes a couple of costly mistakes or are unable to convert red zone attempts into TDs and I'm not fully confident that they are over the hump yet. Daboll had a pretty good scheme going in on Monday night and Henne kept his mistakes to a minimum, but that doesn't mean the wheels can't fall off (as we have seen from Henne in the past).

 

The biggest problem I see for your O is the blitzing your going to see all day. Pats never pressured Henne,but when they did he faltered.
You guys gave up 600 yrds mon. and your secondary is suspect. Lets say for the sake of argument you can shut down our passing game(not gonna happen)
Then you have to contend with Foster,Tate and Ward. And you stated that Tate isnt all he's cracked up to be? Get ready for a rude awakening,this guy appears to be every bit as good as Foster.
While you guys appear to be better then the last time we faced you,I dont think it's going to be enough. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say we sack Henne four times.

 

If you talk to anyone on the board they will tell you that I am more hard on Henne. Saying that if the plan is going to be to blitz Henne, then the Texans are in for a long day. The problem with Henne isn't when the teams blitzes, in fact last season he was one of the better quarterbacks in the league against the blitz. When you blitz you make the read easier for Henne and his arm is good enough to get the ball where it needs to go. If you can play really good base defense, you have a much better chance of taking on Henne.

if you look at last season Miami's defense looks suspect against the Patriots and pretty good against everyone else. I do believe looking at how Miami does against the Patriots in comparison to every other team in the NFL is a mistake.

Miami played Texans really well last time and would have won if not for an amazing play by Andre Johnson and then a last play on the goal line.

I think the Texans can be the Dolphins, however I do not think it is a forgone conclusion.

 

I really don't see Houston tearing up the defense for large chunks of rushing yards. I don't think we're going to stuff them completely and dominate them. I think where Houston can really hurt us is with Daniels and Dressens. The Patriots showed that on MNF & the Texans have always had success against us there also.

I think you'll see Miami dial it up against Schaub on Sunday & the pass defense will be much different. I think you'll see us press much more as we roll coverage to AJ.

I know Houston's defense improved, but I'd like to see it on Sunday. Jake had a poor game on Sunday, but he's always held his own against Mario. I think we'll be able to gash the Texans running the football, with Reggie, without Reggie. I think we'll have some success running the football against them.

 

If Kubiak is half the coach I think he is, he'll try the same thing that NE just did to us.

Schaub may not be Tom Brady, but Andre Johnson and Arian Foster are far better than any WR/RB on NE's roster.

 

For you Houston guys...we owe you one.

The Texans have cost the Dolphins plenty in the past, if you remember, the game we lost in Houston the year we went 11-5 (2008) was the difference between being the 3rd seed or having home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Our secondary is not as suspect at it appeared in that Pats game. We do have a pro bowler (Bell) and a near pro bowler in Vontae.

Having said that, the Texans have enough balance to score enough, even if our defense plays back to what they were in 2010. SO the Dolphins offense is going to have to be like it was vs. NE.

then we will have a barn burner. Should be the game of the week.

 

Yeah I'm looking forward to it myself.The Colts were a joke !!!
You guys actually owe us more then one.LOL I dont see the Texans blowing you guys out,but I do see us winning. While y'all have improved,so have we.
It should be interesting.

 

Holy ****. Your defensive front is tiny on the inside. They are undersized like heck. Screw passing. Miami must run on you inside. Forget strategy, forget anything else. Shaun Cody is your nose tackle? Really? **** this nonsense, it's time to run Larry Johnson up your gut. You guys are made to face the Colts, disguise coverages, and penetrate into the gaps.

 

Hi guys! Hoping for a great game this weekend. Both teams look improved and am not sure who's going to be the victor.

I'm a factual guy myself and some of these facts aren't accurate.

Texans are 5-0 all time against the Dolphins so I don't know why you think you've destroyed us every time.

Also, I don't believe the Dolphins have ANY history of ever shutting down Andre Johnson.

2003 - 6 Receptions 76 yards.
2006 - 9 Receptions 101 yards and a TD.
2007 - Missed a few games that year and this was one of them.
2008 - 10 Receptions 178 yards and a TD.
2009 - 5 Receptions 71 yards and a TD.

Chad Henne has improved from what I saw last year and what I saw against the Patriots. The Texans defense is improved and the Dolphins offense is improved. This could come down to the wire but if mistakes are made by either team this could end up 1 sided.

I won't predict a score because i'm a little biased.

Good game guys and hope it's injury free!

 

You just misunderstood some bad sarcasm man :P

 

I figured.

 

If that's a rule, then the NFL does a poor job of regulating it. Tom Brady was daring our defense to bring in substitutions so he could hit us with a 12 men on the field penalty.

 

I don't understand why people are saying "Well Schaub is no Brady and their alpine is not as good as Pats."
Pats had to bring a practice squad player just so they would have 6 linemen for the game! They started a rookie in place of Volmer and their center was out for the game. The guy they signed from the Chiefs played in one preseason game. So no, Pat line is by no mean "bestt pass blocking in the league"
Our D maybe look like it was, but most certainly it is not. Schaub is no Brady, but he is definitely an upper echelon QB who can do ALOT OF damage. Oh, did I mention that they have the best (Thats right, I said it) THE BEST reciever in the league. And of course last but not least, Arian Foster, you know the guy who lead the league in rushing last year, is also back.
So yeah, we can very realistically give up another 38 points in a heartbeat. I'm not saying we will, I just don't understand why people write them off simply because they don't have Brady at qb.

 

^^^^
oline not apline. Stupid autocorrect. Phone won't let me edit.

 

the Phins secondary can't cover TE's even when they are supposedly in shape though.............

 

I dont know where you got those number from, but they cant bee accurate.

 

Pulled them out of his ***, he did.

 

I pick Miami.

It won't be easy to beat us. Pats have this sick minded coach that never sleeps and %#@&s with us and a robot for a QB.

 

Apparently that would be one accurate ***....

 

That used to be y'alls game plan in the past....not so much anymore. If you guys had a big back to run up the middle,you might have some success doing that.
The thing you have to remember is that this is a Wade Phillips D, it's designed that way. And of course you'll have to contend with JJ Watt. And the LBs.

 

I will be surrounded by a few Baby Oiler fans AKA texan fans. Dolphins take this one 28-10. texans do not have The Phinz number, special teams has killed The Phinz against the texans. Can't wait to reply after the game.