Hey folks, decided to attack this upcoming game in a different way. I will analyze what the Texans need to do to beat us, so that we can see what the Dolphins need to do to win. Still with me? Ok lets give it a go. Key #1 - STOP RONNIE BROWN, duuuuh. But its not just about stopping Ronnie Brown when playing the Dolphins, its about gap control. Ronnie Brown has consistently shown he has the patience and vision to find the gaps in the line and attack. Also running out of the wildcat there is a lot of misdirection that can cause confusion for a defense, to defeat it you must stay DISCIPLINED and stay in your assigned gaps. Over-pursuit or biting on a misdirection or a Ronnie Brown cutback can be disastrous for a defense. The Texans must not be over-aggressive and not try to make the big stop for a 2 yard loss, they must be content to keeping Ronnie and Ricky to 2 and 3 yard gains as opposed to being too aggressive and giving up the 8-10 yard gains. Key #2 - Blitz Blitz Blitz. The Dolphins wide receivers have shown nothing that should scare a defense. They have been efficient, but not dangerous. So there is no reason you cant bring extra defenders to get the QB rather than staying back to cover a WR core who has not been explosive yet all year. Also you are dealing with a YOUNG O-line that you must try to attack. Bringing blitzes can confuse the line and can also force one on one blocking for Mario Williams which is positive matchup for the Texans anytime that happens. Pennington has shown he will not make mistakes on his own, he will make the safe and correct pass if he has the time. But you get enough pressure on any quarterback and you can force mistakes. And if you can turn those mistakes into points and turn the game into a shootout, you have a better shot than being stuck in a defensive battle with the Phins. Key #3 - Start FAST! The Texans just came off a disastrous collapse that is such a morale killer for any team, let alone a team that was 0-3 already. If the Dolphins score early and jump out to a lead, keeping the team focused and playing hard will get more and more difficult, not to mention keeping the crowd involved. The Texans MUST score first, so that starts 1 of 2 ways: If they get the ball first, they must attack the Dolphins down the field... scheme to get Andre Johnson 1on1 and throw it down field, attempt to put points on the board quickly and explosively to up the team morale and the fan morale. If the Phins get the ball first, the goal is the same, up the team and fan morale. Bring those blitzes, get the pressure, get sacks or turnovers, and get the ball out of the Phins hands. If the Texans get a lead early they can ride that momentum throughout the game to victory. So what does that mean for the Phins? #1 - Outmuscle the Texans DLine at the LOS. The way you beat a disciplined team, is you out-physical them. We've shown we can be physical at the LOS and we must do the same with the young Texans Dline. #2 - Screens, quick routes, draws. If a defense gets too aggressive with their blitzes you take advantage. Ronnie Brown is a beast with the screens, and you show a defense screens early, it prevents them from blitzing too much for the remainder of the game. #3 - Grab the early lead, CRUSH the morale of the Texans which is already low... stomp out their hearts fast! Put Teddy on the opening Kickoff and let him take it to the house (). Whatever it takes grab an early lead and take the life out of the Texans. Sorry for the long read but just wanted to put my thoughts out there. What do you guys think?
class should never stop you from talking more about the phins but good points... andre johnson is big, id double him... keep a safety over the top and take him out... let them try to beat us with anyone else...
nice write up, like the angle you go with here. however, i dont think blitzing should be a priority for houston. san diego was fairly unsuccessful, and we run short patterns. i dont think they can bank on blitzing us successfully, where the opportunity for CP holding the ball will be great. and if im them, i go after our corners and renaldo hill. fortunately, they dont have a yeremiah bell, because if they did, you put him on ronnie all game and hope for the best.
Nice post Arsenal. I think those are key as well as Special Teams. We aren't very good at them and neither are they but if they put Andre' Davis back there, he can take it to the house and win games for them. (i.e. against JAX last year) I'm interested in how they defend the 'Wildcat'. They have a couple quick defensive linemen and they run a four man front which is something we haven't seen this year when running the Wildcat. I don't watch Arkansas but I did watch a video against LSU who has a four man front. LSU normally has linemen that have NFL size. David Lee ran the Wildcat against that four man front, of course with McFadden taking the direct snap. What was interesting is that they ran a counter-like play against LSU's four man front and it proved to be successful. They often got the linemen to pull to one side, with McFadden running the opposite way. They have the power run which is directly up the middle and then the sweep which is the handoff to Felix Jones or Ricky Williams in our case. If the sweep play to Williams gets us yards then the Texans could have a long day because that would open it up for Brown. The thing about the Texans defensive line is that they do a lot of rushing yards (26th in the league I think it was) but they have a couple quick offensive linemen who can disrupt the whole play in Mario Williams and Amobi Okoye. I don't know how much we run it nor do I want to take a guess at it lol.
i think they will need to bring a blitz, i didn't see San Diego blitz that much... they brought LBs out of the 3-4 but thats their standard rush... if you rush 4 and get no pressure, pennington will pick them apart and Ronnie will run wild... i think they need to bring others on pass and even run blitzes... but we shall see... is it sunday yet
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the two were, for all practical purposes, mutually exclusive; that is, that it was almost impossible for a team to blitz a lot and maintain gap control. Or am I missing something here?
no they are different... blitzing can be used as gap control... if you have a MLB who will blitz an A gap, and a DT hits the other A gap, and the DE hits the B gap, and the outside linebacker hits a C gap, etc... those are their gap responsibilities... when they get undisciplined is when you have the A gap assignment, and perhaps you see that gap filled up with bodies, and you try to get through the B gap to penetrate on a run... then you lost your assignment and if the RB can squeeze through that A gap, you blew that assignment...
I think we win this game as long as we don't turn the ball over. I think Schaub is actually the guy we want in there for the Texans, rather than Rosenfels. Rosenfels played a great game for 57 minutes and then had probably the worst 3 minutes as a QB in NFL history. We need to not let Slaton or A. Johnson beat us. I think we win it by a score of : Phins: 27 Texans : 17
i have a bad feeling about this game, but if any team is due for a win against a team, we are vs. the texans.
Thanks arsenal. One thing that you forgot when it comes to "how the texans can beat the dolphins"....quit turning the ball over. or win the TO battle. 6 INTs and 3 lost fumbles....we have 1 and 1.
To be honest, we dont have a corner to match Johnson, but thats OK. If we keep the rest of the offense in check we will do alright. They love to go deep, so we need to be alert for that, they WILL take their shots, we must not give up much there. They will send both Andres deep and let Walter (and TE Daniels) shred the middle and short sides. The best way to defend their pass game is to pressure the QB. Their line has come a long way these last two games, but they can be beat. A physical team matches up well with them to power through them and surge into the backfield. That disrupts their running game and creates pressure on the QB. And both Sage and Matt are very prone to make big mistakes when pressured and flushed around. Against Slaton we just need to make good reads and not allow big cutback lanes. Keep a body on Leach and not allow him to blow up our secondary. Defensively, our big powerful OL should be able to power their smaller DL off the ball. They specialize in speed and penetration (yeah haha) and will disrupt you if given the chance. But put a big G on them and they will be driven off the ball. Help Jake out against Williams, hes turning into a monster. They dont blitz much or well, so if we can handle the line we will be able to move the ball. Their secondary is pretty weak. Fred Bennet can make some plays, but aside fom him they dont have anyone to talk about. LB wise, Ryans is a beast if free to make plays, but again, if we control their DL and have our players get to the second level blocking, we will be able to run all day. Momentum wise, they are realizing they can score finally. Johnson is getting involved and Slaton is running well. We need to play physical disciplined ball and not give them good field position. Take away the big play as much as we can. They dont sustain drives well, but are capable of gaining big big chunks of yards at a time. Get up on them early, make them feel like they are being dominated and they will start beating themselves. Keep them in the game or give them a lead and they will put points on the board.
i expect that against the 4-3 the wildcat steeler and counter will be used more since there are only 3 LBs. So i would see Ricky getting the ball alot and going around the edge. same with the counter where Ronnie fakes the hand off and follows david martin to the left side. This could depend on where Mario lines up too as Sparano might want to target his opposite side. I think this is also where Ginn gets unleashed into the wild cat. I think they might have specifically waited to face a 4-3 to put Ginn in Ricky's place to run the steeler and have the option to throw since Ginn played some QB in high school. I think Houston has no chance against the wild cat.
Yes, we should be able to run against them. Ronnie actually had alot of success against them last year. Hopefully we can get the R&R train rolling early to have some ball control. I have a feeling we might need to put up some points. I also forgot in my earlier post SPECIAL TEAMS. The Texans have very very dangerous return men. Our showing against SD and Sproles was great practice for these guys. Their K Chris Brown, is insane. Anything inside of 55 is almost automatic for him, so they score a fair amount. If we can limit their field position, and keep them to FGs over TDs we should do very well if we can punch the ball into the end zone a few times. Texans red zone D has been horrible so far.
