Notes from Game Charting: Texans-Bengals, Game 6, Half 2
Chris Myers. I’m surprised they let him be anything other than a turnstile.
- The offensive line push in this half was just abysmal. Myers was the main one to blame, and startlingly enough for someone with his skill set, even was slow getting to the second level on a sweep. Antoine Caldwell looked exactly like you would expect someone who they were reluctant to get active despite poor interior line play would look. He whiffed on a stunt that led to a unblocked rusher up the middle to end one drive. He was generally better in the run game, but looked a little sluggish there as well. I actually liked the (very) little I saw of Chris White. He looked more active and got some push. He should probably be starting somewhere from here on forward, since the rest of the interior line is about as threatening as fabric softener.
The Bengals were very aware of the draw and the pitch, and guarded the outside fairly well. They also (generally) played fewer in the box, although it didn’t seem to matter since the Texans were usually getting negative push at the line. When the Texans did have success in the running game, it was because their wide receivers were blocking well. That’s not generally the kind of sentence that is important to running games.
- This ref set, Bill Leavy’s team, called more holding penalties than I’ve seen in a long long time. According to the Ref Chat blog, they’re worth about -10 points just on calling penalties. That certainly came into effect here.
- While the terrible run blocking continued, here are some fun PA numbers, 8 plays: 10, 23, 13, 20, 0, 15, 12, 2. A few of these even came out of non-I-Form, which was a wrinkle compared to what the Texans have been doing. They also scrapped the Vonta Leach wide to I-Form shift, and instead ran Owen Daniels out wide only to bring him back in. Like last week, this didn’t really seem to make a whole lot of difference.
The PA was incredibly effective. The Bengals bit especially hard on the second one in the half, which was the 23 yard strike to Jacoby Jones uncovered after Chris Crocker blew his zone assignment for run support. This was hardly a one time thing though, as the Bengals seemed to take lessons from your Houston Texans in overpursuit 101. I would have spent some time covering the Texans own overpursuit issues except…
- The Bengals didn’t just abandon the run in the second half, they tossed it in the dumpster like an unwanted prom baby. Bengals fans booed them mercilessly after they ran a draw with 3 minutes remaining; it was their fourth run of the half, as opposed to nineteen passes. Granted they hardly had success with it in the first half and that the Texans pass game is imminently beatable, it’s not too bad of a strategy. Problem is: it’s a lot easier to beat the Texans through the air when they are playing zone-end-of-half-we-don’t-care defense. It didn’t happen this time at the end, but the Bengals were moving the ball fairly easily on that defense again up until the Cushing interception.
The best part about the Cushing interception? A wrinkle where the Texans dropped a down lineman into coverage. I was just sitting there entering the rushers/blockers, 4-5, 4-5, 4-5, I even started doing it before the play even snapped in slow-motion. I had to go back and correct it on the interception play. I still hate a lot of things about your defense, Frank Bush, but bravo on that one.
- The Texans were very, very, very lucky that this game wasn’t closer. I say this not only because the Bengals lost Peko and Odom, but also because the Texans recovered two of three fumbles, and had another one overturned. Winning the turnover battle is pretty crucial, but winning the fumble battle is almost all random luck. I guess we were due for a little good luck after this whole “being Texans fans” thing.
- Over on SB Nation’s Cincinnati fanblog, they spent the immediate aftermath of the loss wondering what tight end they could pick up. I can’t disagree with that quick analysis: J.P. Foschi was abysmal in every area of the game. Poor blocker, poor receiver, fumbled the ball. The kind of player that makes you happy that Mark Breuner is gone and Owen Daniels is a Texan.
- The Texans really targeted Leon Hall hard in the second half, at one point sending 4 straight balls at receivers he was “covering”. He “covered” them to the tune of three first downs allowed and five completions on five attempts. Failed to understand the hype on that one. The Texans mostly stayed away from Jonathan Joseph, except when Schaub let a deep sideline comebacker almost get turned into six defensive points for the second straight week.
#23 in our playbooks, #32 in our stat books, Dunta Robinson was targeted four times and the following happened: Pass Interference penalty, 35 yard drop by Ochocinco when he laid out for the ball and landed ball-first, forcing it out, 6 yard quick slant, 17 yard busted zone. While he’s no great shakes, Glover Quin is clearly the second-best corner at this point. At least Dunta always acts like a badass (read: dumbass) when he does something good. Gotta draw attention to yourself on the few good plays you make.
