On The Houston Texans BOY-O. We are getting closer. We’re a week away from crawling out of a Fourth of July hangover
DeAndre Hopkins Jersey , alone, tired, so alone, thinking about growing up, adopting a dog and getting married.We are also a week away from being able to pre-order the 2018 Football Outsiders’ Almanac. During the drag of the offseason, Football Outsiders will publish statistic sets as they write the book. Recently they came out with some personnel analysis. On offense, they discussed how 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end
Authentic Kevin Johnson Jersey , three wide receiver) dropped in DVOA and usage for the first time since 2010 and then published team specific numbers. Houston used 11 personnel 52% of the time, which ranked 24th, averaged 6.1 yards a play, and had a DVOA of 2.4%, which ranked 19th. In every other personnel grouping, the Texans had a DVOA of -13.7%, which ranked 26th.The difference between 11 personnel and non 11 personnel of 16.2% for the Texans was the 11th highest difference in the league. I guess this is what happens when Tom Savage becomes the quarterback again and you try to hide him by running the ball but can’t really run the ball at all. Houston didn’t use 22 personnel (two running backs, two tight ends
Youth Lamar Miller Jersey , one wide receiver) at all last year.They used 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends, one wide receiver) on less than five plays last year. Defensively, I never knew that the nickel formation was the predominant defense in the NFL. I guess watching Houston every week for so long warped my brain and turned me off from certain things. The Texans were one of the few teams to play their base defense more often than their nickel or dime defenses last year. Houston played their base defense 38% of the time (7th), nickel defense 34% of the time (28th), and their dime defense 24% of the time (8th). This allotment was similar to how the Texans played under Romeo Crennel in 2016; that season, Houston played base 37% of the time (11th), nickel 32% of the time (30th)
http://www.texansauthorizedshops.com/authentic-nick-martin-jersey , and dime 30% of the time (4th). It’ll be interesting to see if Crennel continues to maintain a fluid defense and whether he has better results than Mike Vrabel did. That’s everything regarding Houston from FO at the moment. Regardless of the fact that this is a team specific site, you should check out both articles and read up on the league-wide trends entering the 2018 season. Dak Prescott took plenty of time away from the cameras trying to explain why he thinks the Dallas offense is close to breaking through the struggles most responsible for the Cowboys' losing record.The quarterback at one point looked for help in his description from Cole Beasley, the receiver who sounded off recently about the frustration his group feels in a sound bite that was perceived as a shot at Prescott.In short, Prescott sees no issues of unity with the Cowboys (2-3) trying for the third time to get back to .500 with a home game coming off a rough road trip. Jacksonville (3-2) visits Sunday."That's why I give these guys a lot of credit because we talk, we communicate," Prescott said Thursday. "There's not any beef or any tension from when I go see them on the sideline. It's great communication. They allow me to do that and we can be straightforward with each other."Newcomer Allen Hurns has joined Beasley in trying to defend a receiving corps struggling to replace Jason Witten and Dez Bryant and getting the criticism that figured to go with it.The former Jaguars player also caused a stir by suggesting that a particularly poor play call resulted in Prescott's second interception against Houston in a 19-16 overtime loss.Hurns didn't back down, but coach Jason Garrett and Prescott didn't necessarily agree that the call was so terrible. Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan brushed it off as a non-issue."I don't put any stock in that as being critical," Linehan said. "I'm the first one if you had a better play against that coverage to say we could have a better call there. You don't have to put that on Allen Hurns. He's busting his butt and we're really happy with what he's doing."The Cowboys have the 30th-ranked passing offense in the NFL and the second-fewest touchdowns. The receivers haven't really earned the right to second-guess because they aren't producing.But everyone agrees it's a combination of protection
Ryan Griffin Jersey , Prescott's accuracy and their shortcomings."That kind of comes with the territory here," Beasley said of the criticism. "And I do feel like we've gotten a lot of it. But a lot of other people have too. So it's not just us. It's just kind of how it goes. Whether it's true or not, we've still got to go in and just do our job."The Cowboys have the NFL rushing leader in Ezekiel Elliott, but Prescott is still close to the bottom of the league in key passing efficiency categories two years after setting a rookie passer rating record as NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.To illustrate how he thinks the team is close, Prescott points to a play late in regulation against Houston when tight end Blake Jarwin was open for a big gain but J.J. Watt got to the quarterback before he could make the throw. Had the Cowboys converted that play, they likely would have been in position to kick a winning field goal."That's why you can't let outside of here seep into your head or get into your head," Prescott said. "You watch the game, you don't necessarily see that. So you just hear negative all this. We're this close."As the Cowboys keep working to get there
Authentic Julien Davenport Jersey , Garrett has no concerns about a divided locker room."We've got the right kind of guys on our team who go about it the right way every day," Garrett said. "I have the good fortune of spending time with them at meetings, walkthroughs and practice every day. They absolutely handle themselves like pros who support each other."Elliott used a few expletives to try to illustrate how he believes his teammates are accountable."There's enough accountability in this locker room that there's not going to be any finger-pointing," the star running back said.NOTES: DE David Irving returned to practice after a longer-than-expected excused absence to deal with an ongoing custody issue involving his young daughter. Irving was eligible last week after starting the season on a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. He practiced one day but left the team again to deal with the personal issue. The Cowboys decided to keep him out of the game against the Texans. ... Dallas signed CB C.J. Goodwin from Cincinnati's practice squad and S Darian Thompson from Arizona's practice squad. Dallas added RB Darius Jackson to its practice squad, replacing former Alabama RB Bo Scarbrough. ... LB Sean Lee (hamstring) went through individual drills but was listed as a non-participant in practice. He is expected to miss his third straight game.
