Look no further than a 35 yard return on an onside kick to find how horrible the first game went for our Houston Texans. It was very weird for me, because after seeing us start out with going deep to Fuller, and then throwing a pretty good check down throw to David Johnson, I was absolutely sure we were set to use all of our new weapons, even though they both dropped those passes. The next drive did not disappoint. Both Duke and David, the Johnson and Johnson duo both on the field at the same time, even had the announcers say that KC didn't know who to cover. That drive was everything each one of these crazy moves in the off season was suppose to do. But after that drive, it was like the playbook went vanilla. The RPO that allowed Deshaun to WALK into the end zone, seemed to only been used that one time. It was very hard after the game to not feel like we left several plays in the playbook going against the defending champs. If the Texans come out this week looking like a different team and go toe to toe with the Ravens, we will know for sure that analytics played a major part of the game plan last week.
Looking at the Baltimore game last year, that may have been the worse game I've seen from Deshaun. Starting with a fumble in Baltimore terrority, to just holding on to the ball too long. The defense was all around Lamar Jackson, but just couldn't seem to bring him down. There is no team more hungry than one who dominated the entire season to get bounced by a team that got hot in the playoffs. I was ready to say that we pulled back in preparation for New England, but after looking at the highlights again, Baltimore took that game. From every aspect. Their defensive line, killed our offensive line. Their secondary owned our wide receivers. 7 sacks in any game, pro or otherwise, will not put you into a position to win. It's a shame that we lose the home field advantage not having fans in the stadium. I'm afraid this one could get ugly.
With that being said. I want to be clear that I am one of the few that actually agree with the moves that have been made over the last 2 off seasons. DeAndre Hopkins is a Hall of fame wide receiver, maybe the best to do it considering he still so early in his career. But we can't say that winning the division is not enough and then criticize giving up one player to bring on 3. DeAndre Hopkins in his 6 playoff games has zero touchdowns, and only one game above 100 yards. Hopkins Playoff Stats Click Here In essence we gave up Hop for Cook, Cobb, and David Johnson. All 3 for about the same amount of money that went to Dhop. Not to mention that Dhop held out with an injury until he got his new deal, and then went on to play. Putting up 151 total yards. But we have to ask ourselves, why Do we beat the bad teams and struggle against the good ones? Your entire game plan can not revolve around one asset. In the playoffs, great defensive teams have found a way to cover Hop, especially if he is the only person that the QB is focused on. Our new weapons have to hold on to the ball, sustain drives, and keep Lamar on the sidelines. If we do that, we have a shot, if not, lord help us.
And as always,
GO TEXANS
