Stillers @ Texans Pregame Analysis (Game #2, @ Houston)
The 1-0 Stillers travel to Houston to face the 0-1 Texans,
who were drubbed last week by the Bills in the season opener.��
* When the Texans have the ball, they'll drag
along an offense that picked up right where it left off in 2004, struggling
like banchees against the Bills.� The
Texans spent the offseason attempting to bolster the O-line, but the ground
game was largely ineffective and QB David Carr spent much of the day on his
back.�
Carr has all the tools to be a solid QB, and this is the year that he's got to
break out and move from the greenhorn level to something approaching consistent
adequacy.� Last week's QB rating of 12.1
-- yep, that's not a mistype -- shows that Carr has some room for
improvement.�
Dom Davis is a solid, if not unspectacular, running
back.� He gives Coach Capers a steady,
reliable ground game.� There's really no
one besides Davis to share the load, so Davis will have to shoulder the burden
the entire season, or as long as he is healthy.�
The Texans receiving corps is led by Andre Johnson.� He's a big (6-3", 219), strong,
reliable target that makes plays on the short stuff as well as downfield.� Former Green Bay Jacker Corey Bradford
starts opposite Andre, with young ex-Gator Jabar Gaffney serving as a top
backup.�
Due to Bennie Jopru's ACL tear, the Texans are saddled with
"The (Supposed) Great God of TE Blocking", Mark Bruener, at tight
end.� "Feet and Hands of
Stone" Bruener actually hauled in a 19-yard grab last week, which was
probably his longest grab since 1996.�
Matt Murphy also sees some PT at the TE spot.� When your O-line is as bad as the Texans', you have to use 2-TE
sets quite a bit, just to help out.
And, while we're at it, let's review the O-line.� An oft-applicable rule of thumb when looking
at any team's starting O-line, is seeing how many of the big boys are
home-grown products.� Like the Clev
Browns, this is former expansion team that has done an absolutely miserable job
of drafting and grooming its own linemen. Only LG Chester Pitts is a Texan
draftee; all other starters are pickups from other teams.� While it is reasonable to pick up a quality
starter or 2 from the FA pile, it's a long reach to expect to nab 4 O-line
starters off the heap in a sal-cap constrained, highly competitive and fairly
efficient market (applying the rationale of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis
(EMH)) such as the NFL.� Thus, despite
the offseason pontificating by the Texans, the line is still woefully inadequate.� There are some solid vets, such as guard
Zack Wiegert and LT Victor Riley, although even Riley isn't to be confused with
a Boselli or a Munoz.� Center Steve
McKinney, formerly with the Dolts, is a castoff that is hampered with the
plight of simply being too tall for the job of center.�
The Stiller defense, on paper at least, shut down the Titans
last week.�� Lost in the beatdown was
the fact that there were numerous un-forced drops by the Tenn. receivers, as
well as an INT that simply clanged off the hands of a receiver.� Also lost was the very solid success on the
ground by the Titans in the 1H, which became negated only because the score
became so lopsided that the Titans had to abandon the ground game.� Ike Taylor got the start in place of Wee
Willie Williams, and passed the test with flying colors.�
The key matchup will be the Stillers' CBs against
the 3-step drop of QB David Carr.� Due
to a woeful O-line, as well as Carr's skill set, Carr is at his best when he
can get into rhythmic, quick, 3-step drop-and-throws.� The Bills took this away last week by jamming the piss out of WRs
at the LOS.� The Stiller CBs have been
overly soft all of preseason, as well as in last week's game.� If DC Dick LeBeau and Billy Cowhard are
going to play the CBs 10-12 yards off the LOS, it will play right into the
strength and desires of Carr and company.�
* When the Stillers have the ball, QB Benji
Roethlisberger is coming off a "perfect" game in terms of QB
rating.� More impressive was the running
of Fast Willie Parker, who ran through, over, and around a stunned Titans
defense.� Despite this sterling
all-around offensive effort, I expect the going to be a bit more stingier down
in Houston on Sunday.
Coach Capers, formerly the Stillers' DC, is a 3-4 kind of guy,
and he employs the 3-4 as his base in H-town.�
The D-line is solid and experienced, with former Jag Seth Payne manning
the middle, flanked by DEs Gary Walker and Robaire Smith.� I always admired Walker's play when he
played with Jax, and Smith is a very solid, capable end.� Payne isn't chopped liver, although he's not
the prototypical NT for a 3-4 defense.�
The LB corps, although young, isn't shabby.� Former Dyking ILB Kailee Wong leads this
crew.� Houston's #1 pick last year,
Jason Babin, mans the LOLB spot, and although he's not a superstar, he's
considerably better than the Jason that manned the Stillers' LOLB spot for all
those years.� Former Fin Morlon
Greenwood start alongside Wong in the middle.�
Perhaps the youngster with the most potential is young OLB Antwaan Peek,
who rotted the pine the past couple of years but appears ready to blossom this
season.� Peek is a bit light, but has
good quickness and athletic skills.�
The Texans secondary is experienced and decent.� CB Phil Buchanon and FS Marcus Coleman give
the Houxans some solid, savvy veteran experience.� Former Raida Buchanon is on the small side, but has decent
athleticism and speed.� Dunta Robinson,
Houston's other #1 draft pick from '04, mans a CB spot and seems poised to
flourish.� CC Brown, who along with
Stillers CB Ike Taylor went to LA Lafeyette, starts at SS.� Former Stiller Jason Simmons serves as a
backup and nickel man.�
The key matchup will be the Stiller ground game
against the Texans' front 7.� Cowher
reviled in the ground-chuck offense of last week, and he'll want nothing more
than to play some more ground-ball this week.�
On the other hand, Dom Capers knows full well what's coming, and he'll
try to pull out all stops to avoid a bludgeoning.�
* Special Teams: �Former Stiller Kris Brown does the PK chores, while Chad
"Robin" Stanley does the punting tasks.� Vern Morency is being gradually worked into the KOR chores.� The Stillers got good booting from both PK
Jeff Reed and P Chris Gardocki last week.�
Key Individual Matchups:
* Towsend or Taylor vs. Andre Johnson.� Andre is the lone big threat for the
Texans.� Shutting him down is an
absolute must.�
* OLB Joey Porter vs. LT Vic Riley.�� Porter, rusty from a month-long layoff,
seemed to get more into the flow as last week's game went on.� He's capable of abusing Riley.�
* NT Casey Hampton vs. C Steve McKinney.� This is a matchup that is ripe for Hampton
to brutalize McKinney.�
Intangibles:
* Overlooking the Texans.�
This is the epitome of an overlook game.� After last week's romp, the Stillers could get caught overlooking
the Texans and instead worrying about the Pats, who visit Pittsburgh on Sep.
25.� Further, the Texans are smarting
from last week's road whipping at the hands of the Bills, and returning to
their home field, they'll be determined to at least impress the home fans.� Finally, Coach Capers is a Cowhard prot�g�,
and if there's a coach & team he'd like to beat, it's Bilbo Cowher and the
Stillers.�
* Synopsis: The Texans have holes all over
the place, which, in retrospect, is a grim picture for a expansion team that
should have been rounding into form by now.�
Still, expect this game to be much tougher than last week's rout over
the Titans.� The Texans will be playing
at home, and after receiving the thrashing last week in Rich Stadium, the
Texans will come into this game in a dour, surly mood.� The Stillers will prevail in this dogfight,
23-16.�