Now I’m Actually Concerned – Postgame Thoughts

Our offense has struggled and generally looked worse than last season all year.

However we were 6-2 and making enough clutch plays down the stretch to where I figured our offense would eventually breakout of its early season woes and be dynamic again.

Last night we obviously were without Nico/Diggs, but for the first time I fear our offensive struggles are due to regression across the board.

Overall we still have a healthy divisional lead and should be getting our best playmaker back soon so there's reason to be optimistic going into the 2nd half of the season but its starting to sink in that we might not be a real contender yet.

Here are my post-game thoughts:

• Yesterday's game sucked, but there were some positives. The defense looked good and it took two insane 1-handed Garrett Wilson catches and a ballsy 4th down playcall to Adams for them to score. They also benefitted from a BS penalty on Sting. Our pass rush and secondary are elite
• Denico Autry looked great last night with 2 sacks. We have a 3 headed monster on the Dline
• The Jets have a top 10 roster and really are much better than their record. Every game they've played has been close and they would've been 4-4 or 5-3 had they made several critical late game kicks. We're better than them at full strength but we shouldn't view this loss as humiliating. Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson, Davante Adams, Breece Hall, Mike Williams, Tyler Conklin, Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams, Hasaan Reddick..etc this team is stacked and was hyped for a reason
• Thursday Night Football sucks and the quality of play was noticeably lower than regular Sunday/Monday games. Players are banged up and there's sloppier play and more injuries because of it. MetLife's turf is also horrific. Glad we got out of there with no major injuries outside of Kenyon (which sadly is a good thing)
• Our Oline play is awful and I'm now concerned its a problem we cant fully fix with current personnel. Patterson's one drive last week was promising, but the issues are bigger than just Kenyon Green. We're not scheming protections well or calling plays that get the ball out of Strouds hand quickly. Pass protection from the interior line has been bad all season and its unclear if we can fix it. Its holding us back so much
• We battled Oline injuries all last season and did a wonderful job scheming around it. The Steelers and Jags wins in the beginning of the year were masterclasses from Slowik. We were down 4 / 5 starters against Pitt and got the ball out quick and rolled protections properly. We're not doing anything like that now
• Last year CJ was incredible at avoiding pass rushers and making quick throws in the face of pressure. After his first two starts I was amazed at how well he diagnosed blitzers and helped shift protections pre-snap. CJ was incredible at situational football last year and we never took sacks at critical moments. The ball got out even if there was bad protection. This year we've taken so many sacks that pushed us out of FG range on 3rd down. We've also had a bunch of QB fumbles. I LOVE CJ and am not trying to call him out, just saying he did a better job last year at creating good outcomes in the face of pressure
• CJ's missing more throws than he did last year and had several pretty uncharacteristic misfires last night. Metchie, Schultz and Hutcheson didn't do him many favors, but CJ also didnt put the ball on them when they were open on some critical plays. Last year we pretty much witnessed perfection out of CJ from week 3 onwards and we're not seeing that this year (which is fully understandable)
• Mixon is incredible and carried us the first half. Love that he's on our team
• Slowik and the playcalling is just off this year. The Philly-Special play call on a critical red zone possession was stupid and every game theres a few really weird situational decisions. On top of this the playcalling has generally been more conservative and less dynamic. Poor Oline play and WR injuries are holding us back but so is playcalling. This part can maybe be fixed at least…Slowik was genuinely great last year
• Was awesome seeing Dell step up and have a big game. Was concerned he also had regressed post-injury but he looked good last night. Him and Nico can still be a great duo
• Its obvious, but we REALLY need Nico back. I'm optimistic his presence alone can make our offense contending caliber again, but with current line play idk if we can realistically expect more than a 1st round loss
• Our defense is really good and deep. Can't wait to get Al-Shaair back and others
• We have 3 remaining games against Titans/Jags but rest of schedule difficult. Real chance we're 6-5 after the upcoming Lions and Cowboys primetime games
• Our division blows and despite concerns I think we'll still end up hosting a 1st round playoff game again, but its hitting me that we're probably still only the 4th or 5th best AFC team and that there's a real chance the Colts could end up surpassing us if Flacco plays well and we don't improve things
• Despite increasingly clear reasons for negative sentiment, there still a very real 'bull case' for us as a contender. Our defense and running game are very good and with Nico back we could return to being a dangerous passing team. I fully trust Demeco and CJ still and can see a path to us getting to the AFC Title game or possibly further if the right things happen..it just seems less likely
• We're 6-3 and have a chance for a badass home win against Detroit in primetime next week. Lets keep vibes high and root for this team…GO TEXANS