Month: September 2022

Texans didn’t get a win against the Bears, but this is the first time in many years I’ve seen them consistently line up in formations that make actual sense. If you want to run the ball better (with this roster, at least, but it applies for many NFL teams), get out of shotgun, which the Texans finally did and they stuck with it. Mills didn’t throw as well from under center, but that doesn’t matter—the team needs to play a certain way and Mills either gets better or gets replaced. The gameplanning and resultant playcalling needs more work, but the formations the Texans preferred against the Bears at least give hope that they might start using the proper tools for the roster they must work with.

What work does the gameplanning need? Texans need to throw more in the first several series out of those run-looks; they have to keep doing it until the opposing defense is conditioned to expect it. That eventually takes a slight edge off the defensive front in both run defense and their pass rush—that fraction of a second of indecision adds up across all the defenders on a given play and adds up over the course of a game. The o-line that many keep criticizing won’t look so bad then: they’re an average unit that needs such help, not a terrible one where help wouldn’t matter.

Once the opposing defense isn’t so sure they can key off against running plays, standard running plays will start getting the decent yardage that wears out a defense—and a worn out defense will be less capable of quickly getting to the QB or maintaining coverage on longer receiving routes. That opens up the whole playbook: passing plays that take longer to develop, play-action that actually works as misdirection, draws after shotgun formations are actually used for what it’s good for, eventually even the bubble screens that never get any yards because we’re running them at the wrong moment. People might forget that football isn’t a video game—there’s a psychological aspect to performance that often gets overlooked because it doesn’t show up on a stat line.

As a note of caution, all of this depends on Davis Mills demonstrating actual accuracy—an ability to consistently put the ball where he intends to throw it—which he has not yet demonstrated, but which I think he might be capable of if he would set his feet before he throws. He’s not Mahommes; he cannot make good throws with his arm alone and needs to practice a routine where he quickly sets before he makes a throw … where he always sets before he throws even if he’s had to maneuver a bit first (yet another reason why getting him out of frequent shotgun is a good thing for his development). He also needs to be on time with his throws—I am not talking about how quickly he throws, but about throwing “on time” for given routes. Against the Bears he seemed late on more throws that he usually does and that was already an area where I thought he needed improvement.

Realistically, the Texans don’t have the talent to win that many games, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t be playing the right way, irrespective of the talent on hand. That’s how you build for the long-term and prevent yourself from becoming a team that only sniffs at the playoffs in years of favorable scheduling.