Texans Gameday Thread
Pretty soon, we're going to run out of "must win" games because it won't matter anymore. Thankfully, the AFC West is proving to be weaker than expected, so even at 1-4 there are glimmers of hope of turning things around and clinging to a Wild Card dream. Needless to say, today is a MUST WIN! Or should I say, JUST WIN, baby!
posted by Raider Take at 12:53 PM
20 Comments:
3rd qrtr and the Raiders still look very mediocre. After a bye week, all the talk of getting it together, looks like just talk. A miracle doesn't seem to be in the works.
I'm sure we all know the Raiders often play flat after the bye. True to form, the Raiders were flat early in this one but managed to step up nicely in the second half. Texans QB played well at times and had the Raiders D off balance quite a bit. Harmon's pick-6 was a relaxing moment in the game. Finally, a lopsided win.
Josh Jacobs is running wild. He's put together three outstanding games in a row. Johnson is a beast blocking for Jacobs.
I still hate the cross-field lateral play. Even though it's worked in a couple of games, it's a dangerous play against a disciplined defense, especially, if the Raiders keep using it and teams start planning for it.
A much-needed win!
Like the way the Raiders finished, they got stronger as the game went on. The running game looks really good now as Josh Jacobs shows why he was picked in the 1st round. A methodical win for the Raiders, hopefully, something to build on. Now, if they can win 7 or 8 in a row, we can call off the dogs.
This guy makes some good points.
https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/raiders_week_7_biggest_duds_and_disappointments_vs_texans/s1_16460_38032122
Play-calling is not what it should be, and should not involve stupid trick plays.
Raiders lack pass rush, particularly in the middle of the D. Crosby can't do everything!
Moehrig is slumping. That's understated. IMO, he was overrated from the start. He regularly got burned in coverage against TX, and it appears the Raiders replaced him with Harmon in some packages. Thankfully so, because Harmon made the pick-6, something Moehrig would never have been in position to do... he puts a new meaning to "deep safety."
Between Abram and Moehrig, the Raiders must have the worst starting safety duo in the NFL. The defense still needs a lot of work.
I am baffled by the play of the Raiders on both offense and defense. Offense looked flat, the only bright spot at this point is Josh Jacobs. Feed the beast 20-25 carries a game, guaranteed win at this point. It is literally the only thing working consistently on offense.
No QB pressure from the DT, for the 9th season in a row. Raiders have to better here, and should have signed Suh. However, Chandler Jones and Clelin Ferrell combined for a half-sack each yesterday. I'm still baffled why I am seeing Chandler drop back in coverage on some plays. Raiders D made Texans o-line and QB look like a Championship team. PATHETIC!
At the end of the day, Raiders pulled one out of their butts to win, 2-4 on the season. Not how I imagined they would be at this point in the season. McDaniels and Graham have to figure this out.
Nate, pretty harsh after a win. Jacobs is the "only bright spot?" I couldn't disagree more.
What about Moreau, who got open in critical plays yesterday, made catches and immediately secured the ball with both hands. Good and smart!
What about Adams, who is as advertised. He catches everything in his reach. Did you forget the two long bombs two weeks ago?
What about the O-line making improvement weekly? What about the Rookies, Parham and Munford? Both are playing well and getting better.
What about Renfrow coming back and making a couple nice catches? Third-and-Renfrow is back.
What about Johnson, who is a beast getting Jacobs to the second level.
I've got issues with some play calling too. But let's not completely lose sight of progress being made.
The defense, as a whole, has underperformed. However, with the exception of the Cards game, they have been pretty solid in the second half, sometimes even lights out.
McDaniels and Graham have both been weak calling plays. Texans playcalling on offense was crisp. They actually looked better than the Raiders for much of the game. Jacobs was the equalizer, then Harmon put it away. Moehrig is a dud. Can't cover, can't tackle.
I made a statement above about the Raiders being flat after bye weeks. Here are the facts.
Going into Sunday's game, the Raiders were 3-16 in post-bye weeks since 2003. That spans many regimes.
Nothing harsh about my assessment. Jacobs opened up the passing game, as he has the last 3 games. Our defense still cannot play, outside of Crosby and Nate Hobbs (who is on the IR). The fact that the Texans offense looked good yesterday, is a reflection on how bad our defense truly is, and continues to be. The end of the day, the Raiders are still 2-4, with a lot of room for improvement.
I agree with NY on this one. The offense is rounding into shape. Including the offensive line. Jacobs is a stud top 3 or 4 back in the leauge. However, make no mistake about it the fact Adams who si the best player on the team by far is constantly double and triple teamed is why Jacobs and the oline has not had to deal with 8 man boxes.
The play calling on offense yesterday was decent and Carr played well.
I am still pissed at McDaiels and Ziegler for trying to shop Jacobs, not picking up his option (8 million looks like a good deal about now) and then not feeding him the first 4 games. It has taken McDaniels 5 games to figure out his personell.
The defense is putrid with exception of the run play when Perryman is healthy. The secondary in particular awful especially without Hobbs. The Raiders have not had a decent defense since 2002. Anyway is nice to get a win but I think it proves nothing good and nothing bad. They beat the Texans a horrible team. Next week at New Orleans will be tough and the offense will need to score 30 points once again.
Sandy
So, is it playoff run again? Is it time to make the Pats' guys the answers to the losing?
This is maybe what the new Raiders should do:
trade Jacobs while we can!- we can get a 2nd rounder or a good edge or RT. We have a lot of RBs' some might be good, young players that can keep run game moving and they could win without Jacobs.
trade Ferrell for draft picks.
trade Moerig for draft picks or a back up DT.
Make C. Jones a specialist(passing downs), make Bowers the starting DE.
Jimmy Ward- FS, 49ers Maybe we can send Moerig and a draft pick to S.F. for Ward.
sign ex-Raiders' KR Jacoby Ford. He still is fast and was 1 of the best KRs' in the NFL. They need do something other than using big RBs to return kicks.
Get M. Koonce in the games more. He needs to get some reps. He needs to show if he can be a good back up pass rusher.
re-sign ex-Raiders, Cowboys and Texans'
DT P.J. Hall. He has too many great college stats not to get another chance. He was over weight and wasn't a focused player.
Maybe the Pats' guys could teach him to work hard and be a good lineman. He was very fast and made some plays for NFL teams just not really working hard. His college coach wanted him to get more power- he was 35lbs. over weight(275-310). If he can lose weight he can use speed with less and the Raiders should move him to DE; Only playing DT on 3rd/4th and long. If the Pats' guys could remake Hall it would be good to have a big guy not a power guy but a big, fast guy who might be a huge help as a DT and DE.
The Raiders had a decent defense in '03, '10 and '11.
None of the 3 new regimes have been as good or had as many pro bowlers as ANY of the 9 Al teams.
There was nothing wrong with the defenses until maybe after '07 then, in '10 they got real good.
The others have some good players but the Al Raiders look very good and were good. And I feel they are better than the other 3 new regimes for most of the past 19 years, the 2 regimes had good players, found some outstanding UDFAs' and had winning seasons but Al spent on star FAs' and drafted some top players and found some very good UDFAs'. They in fact had pro bowlers and played well they just lost a lot. The Pats' guys aren't in this conversation because they just got here.
Al era Raiders:
T. Branch
S. Routt
M. Giardano
Nnamdi
C-Wood left in '05
D. Hall
C. Johnson
R. Coleman
R. Seymore
W. Sapp
C. Clemons
D. Tollefson
D. Burgess
K. Wimbley
T. Kelly
T. Howard
Ricky Brown
G. Beikert
K. Morrison
S. Lechler
Reggie/ Gruden / Mayock:
K. Mack
B. Irvin
M. Crosby
D. Philon
D. Autry
S. Harris
D. Perryman
K. Barnett
#50
S. Moore
D. Bass/ they released him rookie year but he signed with Titans.
C-Wood
K. Joseph
T.J. Carrie
Heyward Jr.
T. Muellin
N. Hobbs
R. Nelson
A.J. Cole
Pats' guys:
C. Jones
R. Yon Sin
T. Bowers
Brown- linebacker
Gilmore
Nate, I forgot to include Mack Hollins on my list. He only had a 30-yard TD between two defenders that Carr put right on the money. No big deal, right?
All the players are playing hard, and they appear to be all-in with McDaniels right now. It's easy to criticize decisions and playcalling when they lose but they are making progress.
PFF numbers are out. I think Munford graded in top-5 tackles this week. With 43 snaps, he has taken charge at RT, but the Raiders are using many "jumbo" packages with both RTs in at the same time. Parham was ill last week, so the fact he played the whole game says a lot. Bars and Parham at G spots and Munford at RT... those were tough transitions to make early in the season and it's starting to pay off. Clearly, these guys are upgrades from Simpson, Cotton Jr and Leatherwood.
My problem with the Raiders right now is mostly on defense. Graham has been weak so far, only allowing the Raiders to be aggressive when the game is on the line. In those instances, the Raiders defense has come through and given the offense the ball and a chance to win. That tells me the players want to play more aggressively but they are being held back.
Raiders still haven't put together a 4-quarter game. Two quarters is all they've been able to muster so far. IMO, they will need to play better to beat the Saints on the road. Who knows, maybe Dennis Allen has an axe to grind.
NY, Can you imagine if they had played Bars, Parham and Munford all preseason instead of the three losers you mentioned.
To Anon, are you seriously still asking for Jacoby Ford to be signed the man is 35 and last played in the NFL ten years ago.
Renfrow looked improved last game. Once Waller gets into the groove the offense should be dominant.
Graham's system seems way too complicated. Bradley was decent he kept it simple.
Sandy
Hondo Carpenter is reporting the Raiders are trading Jonathan Hankins to the Cowboys. Not sure what we are receiving in return. Hopefully this will free us up to go after a pass rushing DT.
Q: Did the Raiders make a mistake resigning Waller to his blockbuster contract? Waller dropped at least two critical passes that may have changed the outcome of two games this year. He's not been effective this year, and he's had injury problems going back two years.
Now that the Raiders have Adams, and Renfrow and Hollins are both solid, and Moreau can catch and block, is Waller expendable? There's your pass rushing DT... in a blockbuster trade.
At a minimum, I expect the Raiders to make other moves before Nov.1st deadline. Zeigler doesn't seem to be one to sit on his hands.
Ferrell and Abrams are lame duck players whose options were declined. They might be worth mid-round draft picks to the right team.
FYI, I read that the Raiders only stand to lose about $1.5M if they tag Jacobs next year, after declining his option. That's pocket change in the NFL.
To be clear, I'd rather see Waller return to form, but Adams is incredibly reliable, so if there's an opportunity to get a top DT, I think I'd take it.
Or they could sign Suh and/or Philon, as has been suggested here.
So far this year, Adams has 58 targets and 58 receptions; pretty reliable for sure. Waller is dealing with an injury, give him time, and he will be back in form.
Ferrell is actually making plays and getting pressure of late, Abrams still hasn't learned to stick to his assignments. Moehring is picking up bad habits too. But I wonder if that is a result of Graham's coaching style, rather than play?
With Hankins gone, that opens us up to a big DT move. Hankins has 14.5 career sacks, and in the last 5 years with the Raiders, only 2.5. Certainly was stellar against the run, but so is everyone else so far. They need a DT to take the pressure off the D-line and get the QB. Crosby can't do it all. I mean for God's sake, he is triple teamed at times on the line, and someone else has to step up and get the QB.
Philon is still available, but is he football ready? Suh is a big name, but who else is out there? Sheldon Richardson? Both over 30, and both of their play has declined in the past few years. Suh is looking for a payday, and at his age, no thanks. He is not the same player. We will see what happens.
I am hearing rumors that the Raiders may be looking at the Washington Commanders for a possible trade for:
DT Daron Payne and CB William Jackson III.
Not sure who or what we would give up for these two, or if we are targeting one over the other. I would think it would be Payne, since Hobbs is designated to return in a few weeks. Yet, Jackson has reportedly asked for a trade, and another shut down CB would be awesome; but in order to be effective, Raiders need to bring the QB down.
With Ferrell playing better of late, he is a good candidate with a few picks we obtained; or maybe the package of Ferrell and Abrams and picks.
Anon and NY Raider- Oh, so now we have a group of pro bowl linemen? Hey, that's 1 game!
NY Raider- D. Allen?: even he is scratching his head about why this team keeps:
firing and hiring coaches/ GMs
reaching for players in the draft more than twice!
not spending to get star free agents
looking for cheap FAs' to fix problem areas.
* Anon- J. Ford still has speed what does age have to do with it? He was an outstanding WR and KR. C. Branch was 35 when he started for the '83 SB team, D. Green(Washington CB) retired over 40- oh yea, and Brady is 45 years old. The Raiders haven't had a KR TD in a long time so maybe bringing in players for tryout might help or trying something different like older guys might help.
* Trading Hankins? He helped against the run. So, could they bring in a DT or DE and should they trade Ferrell. Can they make him a good back back up or use him in some situations? Or trade him or let him be a back up or start using Koonce?
* NY Raider- Hollins? He's playing well sometimes, but he is a rookie and an UDFA. The Raiders have had guys who make plays but don't become stars. They'll have good games but aren't the type you build a playoff team from.
* Graham? They had 3 good DCs' and a HC/ DC; Just how many bad or over their head DCs' have the Raiders had the past 10 years? Or is it that the Raiders refuse to spend on star FAs' or draft big name defenders that give them problems before they start meeting players in training camp.
Just saw this new headline:
"Advanced Metric Suggests no O-Line in the NFL is Creating More Rushing Yards than the Raiders’ O-line"
That's quite an accomplishment in a short amount of time and given the turnover of three positions on the O-line. Here are the stats.
"Through six games, the Raiders (5.55) rank well ahead of the next closest team in adjusted line yards. New Orleans comes in no. 2 (5.05 ALY) and the NFL average is 4.49 ALY.
For comparisons sake, only one team since 2019 has ended the season with an ALY of more than 5.0 in a season. The Raiders ALY in 2020 (4.32) and 2021 (4.29) fell far short of where they are this year, so whatever McDaniels is preaching in the running game has been a lot more effective than what the previous coaching staff was able to achieve."
Besides the fact 6 games is a smaller sample than a season, IMO, it's partly because we went from zone blocking (and zone blocking personnel) to more power blocking.
Post a Comment
<< Home