Yeah Church im not sure how this can be qualified as sucking it up. He only got to throw 5 times, and if the receivers would have held on to the ball, he would have been 4/5.
4 of the 4 throws were very sharp, precise, and right on target.
Thoughts from the first half...
I was mostly focused on the defense, because I think the offense will be fine.
The play where Leggett sacked Schaub was AWESOME. 1 down lineman (Magee), rushed 6, and the OL had absolutely no idea what to do as 2 guys were immediately in the backfield and Leggett went through untouched. We haven't seen a blitz like that in years, and we got to see it on the very first drive. Awesome.
The first team run defense was excellent, aside from a couple runs by Chris Brown late in the drive. On pass plays the guys up around the line looked hungry. Pass coverage wasn't great aside from Flowers, who did well and made some plays.
Dorsey played surprisingly well all around.
Cory Mays has really long hair.
I was really impressed with LJ. The run blocking wasn't great and he was working for a couple extra yards on every play.
On the end around to Kevin Walter, Hali made a very nice tackle in the open field that saved an extra 10 yards (at least). He definitely looks slim and quick, and explosive in pass rushing. He got a little anxious on one 3rd and long and drew a neutral zone infraction though.
I already strongly dislike Wright and Lawrence. Can we get a real return guy please? These guys struggle to catch a punt without falling over. I wonder why Savage isn't returning kicks.
Jackie Battle looks really impressive and I see why Haley seems to like him a lot. I could see him at a minimum being a very good short yardage guy for us down the road.
At one point I saw some white guy wearing Jared Allen's old 69 playing NT on 1st down. I looked him up and he's some 6'6" 265 lb guy listed as a tackle? Not sure what that was about, but he was taken out the next play.
We were able to get to the QB with just 4 guys rushing the passer at one point on 3rd and long (Hali, Jackson, Magee, Studebaker). I don't remember seeing that last year. Studebaker actually looks really good in a situational pass rushing role.
I LOVE the safety blitzes. Neither Page nor Pollard are particularly good coverage safeties, but I think both guys can excel if they're thrown in around the line of scrimmage sometimes. Both made a lot of plays when they were around the line last night.
McGraw is still a special teams stud and I'm really glad we kept him.
Our defensive line gets shuffled around a lot depending on the situation, with Jackson sometimes playing inside and such. Same with the OLBs, I saw Hali playing both left and right. Hopefully this keeps offenses on their toes.
Bowe is incredible and made Croyle look good. Croyle made some really bad throws at times, throwing behind receivers and the play where Bowe had to dive for a ball when he was standing still. Croyle did make some pretty nice throws too though.
No joke, I'll bite on that if you name another QB over the history of the league that has been declared a bust because of fumbled snaps. Drop or not, his throws were on the button, I can't wait to see what a real team of receivers does for him, opening up more than 5-10 yard throws.
Cassell will be fine. He was composed, and all but one throw was on the money. QB is not much of a worry for me. Its even a spot on the roster we may have some depth now. O-line pass blocking and D-line run stopping are what concern me the most.
Look at the up side-it's preseason week 1
Texans won 5 of their last 6 last year and I thought we played ok against a decent team. Leggett getting that sack was pretty cool. The horsecollar call was complete crap and seemed to take some wind out of the D. I'd like to see more Vrabel, Thomas, and Brown. Thig scored our only td, so kudos to him. D is obviously quicker and will improve every game. Need a kick returner. I miss TG already...
I was encouraged by our defence, the TJ pick looks more and more solid, and Hali has progressed further than I expected.
Flowers looked good, I think he is going to be awesome this year.
Cory Mays? Who the f**k is he? He was all over the field last night, I hope he makes the team. We might have a starting middle linebacker there, though it is still way too early to tell.
Im so glad Bowe played so well, now he needs to show he is a pro in practice too. The other WR's on the other hand, man it looks like we have a real problem.
Cassel didn't get good stats, but he was only allowed 5 throws against their no. 1 defense. (Their D showed some good pass rushing skills I think..) Besides it was very ****ty weather, and atleast 2 of his throws should have been caught. TE Ryan dropped one, and one of the recievers did too.
My main concern right now is our WR's and pass protection as well as run blocking.
We had 13 different guys catching 21 passes last night, that amassed a total of 115 yards. Of which Bowe accounted for 5 catches and 70 yards.
That is NOT very good! Our 2 "starting wideouts" Copper and Darling had a combined 3 catches for 15 yards.
We have to remember though, that they "only" had 1½ quarter of play. Still not good enough..
Last year Cassel did a great job of completing a high number of short passes to a variety of receivers + the occasional bomb to Moss. He can read defenses and get rid of the ball fast, but we need the recievers to get open and hang on to the ball. Otherwise Cassel won't get a fair chance.
Thank god it seems we have atleast 3 good backs! :)