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Monday, September 08, 2008

Texans post-game thoughts

Many of the AFC's so-called heavyweights lost Sunday but the biggest loss came in New England, where the Patriots will likely be without quarterback Tom Brady the rest of the season.

Some would call it karma for the Patriots' apparent running up of the score last season during their march to a 16-0 season.

But really, the Super Bowl they didn't win was that.

Brady's knee injury is more about what happens in football.

Not long after Brady went down, Ben Roethlisberger took a shot from Amobi Okoye at the end of the first half that could have knocked him out for the season.

That's why you don't cheer about those kind of things. Don't mess with karma.

© The James Harrison-LaMarr Woodley tandem looks as good as advertised at outside linebacker.

© Any questions anyone had about Willie Parker were answered Sunday.

© Same goes for the offensive line – at least as run blockers.

The pass blocking was mostly OK, but Marvel Smith had his hands full with Mario Williams – not that most tackles don't.

© After Sunday's games, the Steelers supposedly toughest schedule in the NFL doesn't look quite as difficult as it did on Saturday, does it?

14 comments:

Patrick said...

I can't agree with you more- especially about not cheering another's injury. But the fact remains it puts NE at a serious disadvantage.

Besides blowing Houston out of the water, Clev, SD, Jax and Indy all lost. Clev looks horrible, SD always starts slow, and Jax and Indy will find its stride.

But as it stands, couldn't of asked to be in better situation in the AFC after week one.

alexrkirby said...

I think the Ravens defense looks better than last year but hopefully we can handle them.

Bengal are gonna have a high pick this year.

Browns just aren't good enough on either side of the ball.

Anonymous said...

Dale, you didn't mention the great game Casey Hampton played. He looked like the dominant NT of 3 years ago.
The play where he just shoved #55 backward for 5 yards and right into Slaton was awesome. Maybe Coach T
knew something when he made the Big Snack lose weight and get in shape.

Really, the whole defense was very good, though.

Anonymous said...

Dale,
Is Troy P. 100%? He didn't look so well out on the field. It's almost like he is a little scared to tackle.

Anonymous said...

Troy had a nice hit on the first drive of the game. A Texan caught the ball in the right flat and Troy "pulled a Troy" and came from outside the view of the TV screen to make the hit and tackle. Woodley and someone else kinda piled on, but it was a healthy and once again fast Troy making the initial hit. Couple that with the pick and a few other plays and its hard to say anything but, "he's back".

Dan G. Switzer, II said...

@Anon: Timmons is also taking over some of the Polamalu-like duties when he's in there. I suspect when Timmons is in the game, we'll see Troy playing more coverage. Timmons has that an explosive first step like Troy and can close in a hurry.

Dale Lolley said...

Polamalu looked fine to me. As somebody mentioned, he had the big hit early in the first quarter that kind of set the tone.
That said, I think he got his bell rung a little on that play. It was a very violent collision.
I waited around for Troy in the locker room after the game, but he never came out to his locker.
That means he was likely getting treatment for something.

Jamie said...

nick eason! all over the field.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Dale on the Troy question.
I also saw the hit after that I didn't see much of him. It looked as though Farrior was making sure he was ok afterwards. I hate the way he tackels. He hits hard but his head is always down and it scares me. Well like I said I didn't see much of him after that. The locker room tells me that he will take it easy this week.

Anonymous said...

Dale,

Any word on why Anthony Smith was deactivated? Is he still a little dinged up or was it a coach's decision to sit him? I thought he did a nice job at Strong Safety in the preseason and is a better overall backup than Tyrone Carter.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I second the comment about Eason. He was much, much better than last year.

I could see the improvement in the OL from having Hartwig instead of Mahan at center. Hartwig didn't have to have double team help on every play.

It was reported Anthony Smith didn't dress because Tomlin wanted Madison and Woods for ST duty to contain Andre Davis.

Dale Lolley said...

That was it with Smith. There will be weeks when he's active, weeks when he isn't. Madison and Woods made that decision a good one against Houston.

Anonymous said...

Just great, one game and Troy is already banged up for the season.

Dale Lolley said...

Don't get carried away. We won't know anything for sure until Tuesday.
It may be nothing. He never left the game, after all. And he was sticking his nose in the middle all day long.