WEEKLY TEXAN REPORT: NEW YORK JETS - SEAN GARZA - NOVEMBER 23, 2010

WEEKLY TEXAN REPORT: NEW YORK JETS

Written by: Sean Garza
Date posted: 11/23/2010

In the “what could have been” department, the Texans flew up to New Jersey to play the New York Jets in the new Meadowlands Stadium. The reason I mention that is because after what the Jets did to the Texans last year at home, it would have made great theater for the Texans to have a 6-3 record or better against the 7-2 New York Jets.

 

Of course, Texan fans have to live in a world of reality and the reality is this. The Texans were 4-5 going into this game after taking a major gut shot against the Jacksonville Jaguars on the “hail mary heard ‘round the world”. On the other end of the field sit the N.Y. Jets. Home of “Revis Island” , where wide receiver stats seem to disappear, and that tough Jets defense.

Primarily, I’m going to focus on the Texans defense. We all know what the Texans offense is capable of doing, but I think what we’re looking to see is the possibility of the Texans defense improving even in the slightest way possible. Believe it or not, I actually had faith, at least in the first half, that they had taken major strides. I should know better than to trust the Texans in the first half, but like a fish looking at a lure I feel for it again.


The defense started out on their own 35-yard line, so it was almost inevitable that they were going to be down 7-0 within the first few minutes of the 1st quarter. Surprisingly after a 3rd down drop, the Texans held the Jets to a field goal. Surprising? No. It was very, very surprising and completely unexpected. Even more surprising than that was the fact that the Jets had two more offensive possessions in the 1st quarter and were forced to punt both times. On the third possession, DT Damien Lewis had a sack and DE Mark Anderson had a big pressure to force a punt. OK, so after one quarter of football, the Texans were down. I know you're not surprised, but they actually were only down 3-0. No touchdowns, one sack, and a big buckle down early to force a field goal.

The Texans were able to put seven on the board with an Arian Foster 2-yard TD run. Things were looking good. Defensively, the first quarter was great; however it was more of the oasis in the desert. I thought I saw a defense on the rebound, but as the second quarter began, it quickly faded away. It was the defense that I have come to know and hate!

The Jets managed to get the lead back on a 4-yard TD pass to Braylon Edwards. As I looked at the replay, the first thing I noticed is that the Texans had eight men in the box. The formation was three-wide (two to the left, one on the right), tight end on the left and one running back. With that said, the Texans put no safety help for the corners and the Jets ran a quick slant on the non- tight-end side for an easy touchdown. The corner was sitting five yards off the receiver on the 4-yard line with no safety help. There is a big difference playing off the ball with 40 or 50 yards to go with safety help and 4 yards with no safety help. Welcome home defense!

The Texans had a great opportunity to take the lead, however, Jacoby Jones continued to have season long amnesia on how to return a kickoff or punt for decent field position. Also on second and 10, Matt Schaub threw a deep ball down the right side to a wide open Kevin Walter in stride, however, he was unable to haul in the potential touchdown, so the Texans were forced to punt deep in their own territory.

After a bad punt, the Jets again started in Texans territory. The Jets were driving and were aided in what I consider a questionable roughing the passer call by Bernard Pollard. Since the NFL has six million ways to break down what is considered an illegal hit on a quarterback, such as the time of hit, angle of the sun during said-hit, and whether or not the referee was checking his facebook for new friends at the moment of the hit. The point is I felt it was questionable, however the Texans were able to withstand yet another Jet drive and force another field goal. The Texans hit halftime only down six at 13-7.


The first half wasn’t a total disaster defensively, however, it would have been nice to see the offense show up for a first half. The Texans started the second half on defense and gave up another long drive, however, a Mario Williams sack and a missed field goal kept the Texans well within reach. That feeling didn’t last long as on the Jets next offensive possession QB Mark Sanchez hit WR Santonio Holmes for a 41-yard TD pass. To my non-surprise, DB Brice McCain fell down during Holmes’s move to get open. Also, Troy Nolan had the opportunity to bring him down before hitting the endzone, however, he failed at that task which gave the Jets a 20-7 lead late in the 3rd quarter.

The Texans had another good opportunity to get back into the game by holding the Jets to a 3-and-out and forcing a punt, however, the punt landed around the 9-yard line. The Texans first offensive play was a run and fumble by Arian Foster, which again gave the Jets a very short field to put the game away. Again, the Texans defense held and forced the Jets to another field goal giving them a 23-7 lead early in the 4th quarter.

The Texans ran a “hurry up” offense on their next possession and were moving the ball effectively until…….they decided to huddle. The smooth ball moment turned into overthinking and the Texans were forced to kick a field goal to make it 23-10. New York goes on a drive, however, Brian Cushing forces a fumble which is recovered by Kevin Bentley. The first play after the turnover is a 43 yard touchdown to Joel Dreessen. It's 23-17 with a little over nine minutes to go. Mario Williams records his second sack of the day and the Jets are forced to punt again.

The Texans again go on a drive which results in a 1-yard touchdown run by Arian Foster. The play was reviewed and upheld after it was determined that Foster broke the plane of the goal when he stretched the ball out before he was ruled down. At that time, the Texans had come all the way back to take a 24-23 lead with a little over two minutes to go in the game. What a comeback, but I was far from confident because again the defense needed to make a stand and honestly I didn’t have that confidence.

On a 2nd-and-10, Mark Sanchez was picked off by Kevin Bentley as DE Mark Anderson got his hand on Sanchez’s arm as he was throwing the ball. Bentley returned the ball to the Jet 10-yard line with 1:52 to go in the game. Wow. The defense was shutting down the Jets and forcing turnovers. FINALLY! After running Foster three straight times and forcing the Jets to use all of their timeouts, the Texans kicked a field goal giving them a 4-point lead with about 49 seconds to go in the game.

I thought for sure that even the Texans couldn’t screw this up. Cover the outside, cover deep, and force the middle. This strategy was about as difficult as “round hole, square peg”. It’s painfully obvious on what needed to be done. After missing a big tackle on a pass to Ladainian Tomlinson up the middle for a big gain, Sanchez hit Braylon Edwards for a 42-yard pickup putting him at about the 6-yard line with 16 seconds to go. Finally, the Jets ran a cross-route with Santonio Holmes being the recipient of a game-winning TD pass with 10 seconds to go. Jets win, 30-27.


This loss drops the Texans to 4-6 with a 4-game losing streak in progress. I said it last week and I’ll say it this week. SOMETHING isn’t clicking on defense. Is it the coach? Is it the scheme? When your defense is constantly giving up big plays in the secondary and giving away games that you NEED to make a playoff run then something has to give. I would much rather see a change and the same defense than no change and the same defense.

I know he doesn’t want to do it for health reasons, etc., but beg, plead, etc. to get Ray Rhodes up in the booth calling defensive plays. I’m sure Frank Bush is a great guy, person, human being, etc., but the defensive play is on his watch and it’s not living up to expectations. They keep making the same silly mistakes over and over again. That’s either lack of focus on the players or lack of command from that coach.

Next, the Tennessee Titans are coming to town. I have already been alerted that “The Crew” may go with the “brown bag special” for the game. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Although Vince Young, who is out for the season with a thumb injury and for blasting his head coach last game, will be out, that still leaves Randy Moss and Chris Johnson coming to town. Let's do a quick math equation, ok. Ready? Ok class, what does Randy Moss + Chris Johnson + Texans 32nd rank defense =?

I’m not sure I want to know.










SEAN GARZA



HMW


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