Some stats can be misleading. Sacks are one of those. Even Barwin acknowledged that two of his sacks were direct results of Antonio Smith and J.J. Watts’ efforts. Despite that, Connor Barwin had the best game by a Texans’ defensive player not named Brian Cushing that I can recall ever witnessing. Hopefully, we can finally get some video up this week and show some of his awesomeness. Despite a game lacking in 1st downs, there are a lot of things to be excited about from the game yesterday. Here is a nearly exhaustive list of those:
1. Connor Barwin- Barwin displayed a very good spin move. His first sack resulted from an up and under move. One of his sacks displayed his speed an agility as he ran Gabbert down from behind. Barwin’s final sack came from a dead bull rush on the RT. The guy did it all. Not only that, he had multiple tackles for a loss. He dropped into coverage a number of times very effectively. He chased plays down from behind. He was quick to recognize screens and draws. He played with discipline, always setting his edge and taking care of his responsibilities. Normally, guys with games like Barwin had are freed in the defensive scheme to adlib. If you watch guys like Jared Allen and Dwight Freeney, it is clear that there only responsibility in the defense is to make a play. Not so yesterday with Barwin. His energy and effort was constantly apparent. It is no surprise that he considers Antonio Smith to be a mentor of sorts.
2. Glover Quin- Easily the best game he has had as a safety. He was very good in run support yesterday. Also, he single-handedly busted up two screen passes, knifing through blocking to upend the running back. Quin also had three passes defensed and would’ve had a fourth had he not been called for a pass interference on Mercedes Lewis.
3. Sherrick McManis- Umm, wow! All of a sudden, this guy is a special teams’ stud. In addition to an excellent kick return, he forced a fumble in kickoff coverage and was dominate as a gunner in punt coverage. Quietly, he had a marvelous game and seems very fresh and healthy. I’d like to see him play some cornerback in our dime defense.
4. Antonio Smith- Though not up to the standards he set early in the year, Smith was much more physical and active and appears to have worked through most of his shoulder problems that plagued him the past few games.
5. J.J. Watt- Man, he has a great motor. He is still limited with his pass rush moves. However, he is very physical, good with his hands and relentless. Those attributes are enough to make him very disruptive. He and Barwin both are very disciplined and aware of where the ball is at all times. After rushing past the play, Watt turned around on a dumpoff to MJD and chased him down from behind, possibly saving a long TD. He had one sack and had one stolen from him by a questionable personal foul penalty. He nearly had a safety, beating the guard and fullback into the backfield when Jacksonville was backed up to their 2 yard line in the 4th quarter. He is wonderful at shedding blocks in the run game and stuffed a number of plays after tossing the guard or tackle aside to do so.
6. T.J. Yates- is quite good. He is very poised. He’s not afraid to get hit. He throws the ball well. He’s accurate and has a good arm. He was rather brilliant in the two minute offense before the half. On 3rd down, he stepped into an A gap blitz and throw a perfect pass to the crossing OD for a big gain to the 8 yard line. He handled pressure extremely well. I think he’s going to be excellent.
7. Shaun Cody- Yeah, he had an excellent game. I’m not sure he’s ever played as well as he did Sunday. I sure hope it keeps up though.
On the flip side of that coin–
I think the O-line, tight ends, and receivers crapped the bed. I understand that the playcalling was intentionally conservative as Kubiak did not want Owen taking snaps from center to finish out the game, but Jags were constantly in the backfield.
I didn’t see many cutback lines opening, on the Foster fumble, Dre got blown up (hell he may have caused the fumble himself), OD was whiffing on his guy all day, and I hold Wade Smith personally responsible for Matt Leinart’s broken collarbone.
I hope (lay in bed and pray) that Yates can loosen up that box just a little because we won’t see anything but 8 and 9 man fronts until he does.
Is Antonio Smith’s lack of quantifiable production a result of Mario being gone or his shoulder injury? or both?
He just doesnt seem as disruptive as I saw him in the beginning of the season…and there seems to be a lack of interior penetration from him
Nice post John, good to have you back in the mix.
I’ve been most impressed with Watt. I always thought Barwin was special but who would have thought a rookie DT would look so good, especially this late in the year. No “rookie wall” for Mr. Watt!
I’m curious what you guys think. I’ve read others speculating we could get 2 first round picks in trade for Mario. Is that realistic? Seems fanciful to me, but boy if we could get that or something close….