Ask Battle Red Blog

The defense improvement is for real, but by the end of the year will likely settle somewhere as mediocre instead of great. But going from historically bad to mediocre, especially when you have a top 5 offense, is a relief. All hail Wade Phillips!

The way I was breaking down QB play he maybe as high as top 6 right now. He could dip the next few weeks without Johnson. If he is who you think he is he won’t have a drop off he will still make it happen.

1)We still have one of the best running teams in football, so that still helps. WE don’t really have a great #2 reciever, but a lot of that comes from us putting a bigger focus on our TEs then most teams. Tates biggest role this year will be to spell arguably the best RB in football, Foster. Without him we don’t have anyone else really, and Foster could end up getting fatigued like he did agaisnt the steelers.
2)Run run run probably, its what we did against pit, but we also use our RBs a TON as reciever, and we have been using our HB a bunch too(converted TE Casey). Walter and JJ are no slouches at reciever either.
3)Our O-Line is really good, it should be a real battle down in the trenches.

1. Losing Andre hurts, a lot. The rest of our WRs are trash, honestly. As for Tate, he’s a key player as well. While Arian carried the ball 30 times last game, and came out fine, Tate needs to take some carries from him. Tate is a much more explosive RB than Arian is, and gets good, tough yardage. He also has good speed. He’ll be a gametime decision.

2. Now that Andre is out, you guys don’t always have to commit a safety over the top of him, so OD can definitely be shut down in this game. Thankfully, we have the best TE group (maybe outside of NE) in the NFL. Joel Dreesen would start for quite a few teams in the league, and Garrett Graham is on his way to becoming an OD clone.

3. I’m just going to say it: We have the best OLine in the NFL. We are fantastic at protecting Schaub, and our run blocking is absolutely the best in the NFL. Our LT, Duane Brown, is playing like an All-Pro this year. Has faced Dwight Freeney, Jason Taylor, James Harrison, and Will Smith, and has yet to give up a sack. Funny thing about him is, his strength is run blocking, not protection. He could be a pro-bowler this year. Other than him, the rest of our OL is above average. They aren’t pro bowlers like Brown can be, but as a unit, they are fantastic.

We just destroyed the 2nd best defense in the league, so it’ll be hard to stop our running game.

Great We Have Foster as well as a Good Scheme.
Daniels and Casey will not be denied, sorry.
This will decide the game, Trench Warfare.

Now a Few Questions?
How does your Oline fair against our front seven?
Reliant has been a diffecult place to play this year, you think it might effect Campbell?
Who is to watch out for when the Raiders need to make their comeback?

Too many times the Texans settled for FGs instead of punching it in for TDs. The Texans kept that game too close & Drew Brees shredded our secondary (or more precisely just abused Kareem Jackson) in the fourth quarter. I hope we don’t see Kareem on the field at all until Vance Joseph & Wade Phillips fixes everything he does wrong. If the Raiders do try the spread the Texans out like the Saints did, I expect to see a lot of Brice McCain & Brandon Harris covering the slots in those situations. I don’t know how Wade plans on matching up the DBs on the Raiders WRs, but I probably expect to see Joseph & McCain covering Jacoby Ford & Denarius Moore

I’d say twice, maybe three.

I didn’t know that I wasn’t allowed to attach a picture of a Texans player in a fan post dedicated to answering your questions about the Houston Texans. Pardon my arrogance.

No boasting required.

Kyle Boller and Shane Lechler (Cause Pryor can’t practice yet). Heaven help us if JC goes down :P

as a Texans fan, I pretty much go into every game assuming our offense will score, and hoping that our defense won’t completely melt down.

you know what arian think of you people?

But I see where you’re coming from. Oakland’s offensive line isn’t quite as good as ours, so I’ll give DMC credit there.

we’ll see at the end of the year. Going offf last year Foster is the best back in football.

Foster is a slippery, extremely solid runner and probably one of the two or three best in the league. Just because McFadden has looked good in 4 games doesn’t outweigh that. By the way, in the one game Foster’s been healthy, all he did was be the AFC Offensive Player of the Week with over 150 yards rushing and a TD against the Steelers. Sorry buddy, DMC is not better than Foster.

Has been solid at home, the pass rush in particular. Not to mention the running game

Texans:
Andre Johnson – was out then and now (no change)
Duane Brown – was out last year, having an All Pro (James Harrison killing) season
Conner Barwin – was out last year, revving up big now
Demeco Ryans- was out last year, slow start this year but making key tackles
Brian Cushing – was out last year, leading the team in tackles
JJ Watt – rookie having a DROY contending season, commanding double teams
Jonathan Joseph – Huge FA pickup trending to a career high performance
Daniel Manning – returns kicks and great in safety coverage and run defense
Jason Allen – replaced the parking cone Kareem Jackson who was in his fourth career game vs Raiders last season, positive FA upgrade so far

Wade Phillips – installed far better defensive schemes compared to the embarrassment of Frank Bush’s mess last year

Raiders:
Nnamdi Asomugha – was there last year, gone this year

Home advantage – was Oakland last year, in Houston this year

You’d likely be better off with Jacoby Jones, but I’d go with neither unless it is a 12 team league with an extra flex spot. Our WRs are just not that likely to have very big games, though Jacoby may be good for a touchdown.

I’d expect Owen Daniels to really shine in this game, he’s the go to behind Andre Johnson.

It makes a rec rare though. It’s kind of like inflation. It takes three at BRB but you see a hell of a lot more rec’s there than you probably see here.