Well, although there has been a few struggles, injuries, and minor disappointments, I don't think anyone would turn down being 7-1 after half the year is over. The Texans have done eveything they need to do to win, although it hasn't always been pretty. Hell, I rather win ugly, than lose.
It's hard to complain when you have the best record in the AFC, first place in your division, a top ranked offense and defense in many categories (I'll let Cat-Man give the exact numbers in his weekly post) & an excitement and reason to watch football in the city. With that being said, the "areas of opportunity or concern" for the back half of the year are....
1. I'm a bit concerned about our offensive line - especially the right side. Hell, even our best - Duane Brown gave up sacks and big plays Sunday.
2. Penalties and mistakes have cost us some big plays and highly contributed to our one loss against GB. The stupid penalties need to stop.
3. Our special teams still lag behind. It seemed to improve a bit lately, but even JJ ran all over them. That needs to be fixed in a hurry.
4. Our secondary is inconsistent. Sometimes they look like pro-bowlers, sometimes they look like high schoolers.
5. I'm also concerned as to how we will react to our first situation in which we actually have to play from behind and win a game in the last minutes or seconds of a game. We have been piling up big leads, but one day we will be tested.
Other than that, I have to give them an A- overall. The second half starts with Chicago this Sunday night. This is the third true test to see what we are made of. We beat a injury-riddled Ravens team and got killed against GB. I can't wait to see how we do against the Bears defense.
Originally Posted by Satin
1. I had the same thoughts watching the O-line yesterday, Bills got owned at their place by CJ a few weeks ago, and we weren't that great against them, but I think the pass blocking has gotten better, on the right side in particular, run blocking still needs some work.
2. Fortunately, we haven't had too many penalties to cost us anything too big. I think with all the great WRs in the league now, it's just tough for the secondary players, as long as JJ and KJ tackle and prevent guys going into the endszone, that is good enough. But the fouls on offense, holding mainly, that shit just kills us cause we can't climb out of 1st and longs.
3. They have been shit, Martin has been an upgrade, but I'm for sure concerned, might even need a new coach there. The main thing is that our starting field position has been shitty all year, and with a D as good as ours, that should not be happening..
4. Like I said earlier, it's tough for them, we are actually top 5 in pass D which is great, but as long as we hold opponents to 3 in the redzone, we should be good. Plus, JJ has been injured (reportedly) the past few weeks, so I give him a pass..
5. This will be important in our first Playoff game...but if you look at our conference, only NE seems to have a great offense, I would be more concerned if we had to go against a Giants or Packers offense, luckily we don't.
But yeah, I think we are all happy where Houston is at, we just need our guys healthy, including Foster, he's on pace for setting the record for most carries in a season, but as much as we needed to limit his carries, we probably wouldn't be able to pull out some of the games we have, we need Tate back...Forsett is too finesse, we need a power guy back there.
