Can we all agree now that this defense needs tore the fuck up?

[Clevfan4life]

The difference between the Browns and Houston is that you'll still see those guys on that defense make NFL caliber plays on the ball. Watt still beats his guy with regularity..they just double him and trap away from him, he can't do it all. In Houston it probably is a large part to do with the coaching/scheme.

That defense knows the offense is going to be historically bad so they've already shut it down. They're in 2016 mode.

[Tim Couch Pulls Out]

@mudfly said:

No doubt....the Texans were down 42 -0 in the third quarter....with Watt and Clowney(2 defensive gods? that every wishes we had)...Couldnt stop the run, so I guess they suddenly suck nuts and probably should clean house on these bums too....

And their Coach, who people here also wanted, has waffled and pulled his QB after one game, then waffled and pulled his other QB and now is back to his first QB.....

Its not just Cleveland folks......fans are crying and whining alllll over the place....Miami, Houston, Seattle, Philly, Detroit, Tampa, Buffalo etc etc etc.....

Because Houston doesn't have a QB who can distribute. Mallet is forcefeeding Hopkins the ball (hey, which I love since I have him in fantasy) and defenses are keying to that. Since Mallet got the starting nod, Hopkins' targets have progressively increased - 11 targets against Carolina, 14 against Tampa Bay and 22 against Atlanta.

Houston is a prime example of what plenty of people on here have been saying - you can stock your team chock full of talent, but it's all for naught if you don't have a QB who can effectively distribute the ball. Hopkins is the only Texans receiver who has been targeted at least once in every zone of the field every single game since Mallet became a starter. Against Tampa and Carolina (games where they weren't instantly blown out), Houston attacked down the field 13 times...only 3 of which were caught. Hopkins was targeted 8 of those 13 times and only managed to bring down one of them.

If I were an opposing defensive coordinator, I'd key my gameplan around Hopkins and let the rest fall into place. Stack the box every play and force Mallet to think about audibling. Man lock on Hopkins with a safety shaded over him every single play. Off zone the opposite side. Zone blitz the rest of the team, If they're going to attack deep, they're going to Hopkins. If they don't go deep, you've got at least two of the three zone underneath zones covered.

With Houston, the logjam is at QB. Mallet has all of the athletic talent in the world, but his distribution isn't even. He's not finding open receivers, therefore his receivers' talent is rendered useless.

[Tour2ma]

Mallet is goofy as shit. Game is way too fast for him. Actually had his feet set properly for one throw and moved them before making the throw they had pointed to. Throw sailed high and wide.

Also bounced one short pass that brought the description "worm-burner" to mind... a phrase that had not seen the light of thought for maybe two decades...

@mudfly said:

And their Coach, who people here also wanted, has waffled and pulled his QB after one game, then waffled and pulled his other QB and now is back to his first QB.....

O'Brien is sticking with Mallet as is starter.

[Tim Couch Pulls Out]

@tour2ma said:

Also bounced one short pass that brought the description "worm-burner" to mind... a phrase that had not seen the light of thought for maybe two decades...

You should play golf with me more often, then. You'll hear that term at least 8 times.

[BaconHound]

My point has been for quite some time, this team isn't very talented. Somehow in June, July & August many in here forget that. Then in December when it shows it automatically becomes the coaches and the schemes. Sorry guys it's the lack of talent on this team.

[Tim Couch Pulls Out]

@baconhound said:

My point has been for quite some time, this team isn't very talented. Somehow in June, July & August many in here forget that. Then in December when it shows it automatically becomes the coaches and the schemes. Sorry guys it's the lack of talent on this team.

You're right, to an extent, if by "talent" you mean first round picks.

Every single guy that makes it to the NFL is talented. You're telling me Kenbrell Thompkins, Danny Amendola, Aaron Dobson, Shane Vereen, Davante Adams, and Andrew Quarless are so much more talented than the group of WR's and TE's we have now?

The only talent differential that matters is the one behind center. The best QB's can get any WR the ball, as evidenced by Rivers' performance without any of his top wideouts. As evidenced by the Patriots being able to be consistently good regardless of who's lined up at WR. As evidenced by the fact that Aaron Rodgers can make a 65 year old James Jones into a top-10 WR like its 2009 again.

McCown is nowhere near that talent level, but he's effectively getting our guys the ball when they are open...and that's at least better than any QB we've had recently.

On the defensive side, we're chock full of "talent" and they can't put together a complete performance if their lives depended on it.