I’m pleased to be joined once again by Steph Stradley to preview this latest Titans-Texans matchup.
Stephanie Stradley is a Houston lawyer who writes about the Houston Texans for the Houston Chronicle’s Ultimate Texans blog. You can find her personal blog atStephStradley.com. You also can (and should) follow her on Twitter @StephStradley. In addition to her answering questions I sent, I answered questions she sent and you can find those over at her site, where I share billing with Keith Bulluck. On with the Q&A.
Total Titans: Ryan Fitzpatrick is a familiar name to Titans fans, with a well-established track record of below average play.How likely is it the Titans see another quarterback under center for the Texans, either on Sunday or in Houston in late November, or will he be the guy until a new passer arrives in the offseason?
Steph Stradley: You will see Fitzpatrick for the next game unless or until he gets hurt. The Texans have been pretty quiet about what their ultimate plan at quarterback will be. There’s media speculation that if they make a change it won’t be until after the bye week.
I’m not sure that the future of quarterback is on the roster, though both Ryan Mallett and Tom Savage have the size and strong arm that would seem to suit what head coach Bill O’Brien is looking for.
My dentist tells me his neighbor said that Rick Smith told him that he was going on college scouting trips, “Looking for a quarterback.” I am sharing this rank gossip because that is how little we know about the ultimate plan for the Texans at quarterback. Texans are at two years of abysmal quarterback play, and will likely have to suffer through more of the same developing a rookie. Titans fans may be familiar with this Is What It Is purgatory of not having a real quarterback.
Total Titans: For years, you’ve known what to expect watching the Texans offense, including a healthy diet of outside zone and bootlegs off of it. How much does the Texans offense look the same in the first year of Bill O’Brien, and how much is it different?
Stradley: Theoretically, the offense is supposed to be similar to New England, but that is hard to do without that Tom Brady guy and with the entire team learning the offense. The offense requires the quarterback to do more than under Gary Kubiak in terms of pre-snap reads. Kubiak’s view was that you find out what you do well, and you ram it down the other teams throat with variations based on defensive tendencies. The O’Brien mantra in camp was that the offense was “complex” and “multiple.” The benefit of that is that it makes it more difficult for teams to prepare against. At this point, it is hard to see what the team has mastered on offense and is good at. It looks like the team is thinking more than doing on offense, and the offensive line/tight end blocking in particular looks off.
The bootleg is dead. The Texans under Kubiak depended a lot on the tight end position because they were surehanded compared to the non-Andre Johnson wide receivers, and created difficult to cover formations that didn’t show run or pass. The tight end position was coached very well. Under Bill O’Brien, the tight end position is on the side of a milk carton. The thought by some before the season was that the tight end position would be used like Bill Belichick uses it. The problem with that view is that the leftover tight ends are not the dominant athletic specimens NE favors, but more suited to Kubiak’s offense. And the rookie TE they drafted, C.J. Fiedorowicz is a rookie who is not blocking or catching particularly well.
Ryan Fitzpatrick has defended the lack of targets to tight ends by saying that there are only so many balls to go around, with Arian Foster, Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins being primary targets. He also noted that targets to tight ends may increase with certain matchups, but so far I haven’t seen that even with teams who had issues defending the TE going into their matchup with the Texans.
Ultimately, this is too many words about the offense. The Texans didn’t have a quarterback last year. They don’t have one this year. Ergo, the offense is going to be a roller coaster adventure week to week, because it is hard to make chicken salad out of chicken er beaks. They will want to run the ball a lot, have their quarterback not make mistakes, get the ball to their best three skill players if they can.
Total Titans: J.J. Watt is obviously the best player on the Texans defense, but who’s next? I hope for their sake it’s not Brian Cushing, who is looking like a shell of his former self.
Stradley: That is a hard question to answer. Theoretical Jadeveon Clowney? He did some gorgeous things in camp, and limited time in the preseason. Pro Football Focus numbers, for better or worse, when looking at total snaps lists S Kendrick Lewis, then CB Kareem Jackson as the next two best players. OLB Whitney Mercilus had a good last couple of games.
Hard to tell how much drop off of some players is learning a more involved defense or that they just aren’t good.
The debate on Brian Cushing is whether he is done done, or whether it just takes time coming back from a knee. It would be brutal at his age if he were done because that guy truly loves being a linebacker.
I wish I skipped this question.
Total Titans: What are the weak links on the Texans defense? Who or where have opposing teams gone after successfully?
Stradley: Inside linebacker used to be a strength of the team when it was Cushing and DeMeco Ryans. Now it is weakness, If they are forced to cover, they can struggle with that, and without consistent play at the nose, teams have been able to gash them with the run.
Safety D.J. Swearinger is a feast/famine player. He can put a lick on a player or fail to wrap up. His aggression can work for him or against him from play to play.
The Texans defense overall has been subject to giving up the big play. Likely makes a big-armed quarterback a more appealing option coming into this game, assuming he has enough time to get rid of the ball.
Total Titans: Is there anything I haven’t asked you’d like Titans fans to know about the Texans?
Stradley: Texans fans have had to create their own history since the Titans stole Houston’s with the NFL’s endorsement. One of the fan-created traditions is sharing the true story of the Titans name twice a year. Here’s the video, and the story behind the video. Most Titans fans are pretty good sports about the video because, well, it is true, and arguably kinder than the source material.
Thanks again to Steph for participating in this Q&A. Don’t forget to check out her site for Texans content and my answers to her questions.
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