Jacksonville@Houston Game Preview

Battle Red Sunday! There is blood in the water and they can smell it. After a crushing home opening game against the Jets, the Texans are coming off a great spoiling of Tennessee's opening home game. The Titans were vanquished , the Colts are on borrowed time and a win against the Jaguars means 2-0 in the division and 2-1 overall.  Bring in the lambs, it is time for the slaughter.  We are the Houston Texans and this is our  time to shine (or so they think).

Make no mistake about it, the Jaguars face a real test this week.  Still smarting from last week? As Vic pointed out, "there is no time for this", we face a new battle in front of us.  Let's get on with it and begin our battle analysis by looking at why our opponent is so pumped up from last week.

Matt Schaub! They always believed he could do it but there he was doing it! Look at his play from the game against the Titans:

M.Schaub pass deep right to 80-A.Johnson for 19 yards, TOUCHDOWN
M.Schaub pass deep middle to 80-A.Johnson for 72 yards, Touchdown (view)
M.Schaub pass deep left to 12-J.Jones for 29 yards, TOUCHDOWN
M.Schaub pass deep left to 12-J.Jones to TEN 24 for 44 yards
   K.Brown 23 yard field goal is GOOD
M.Schaub pass deep left to 81-O.Daniels to TEN 45 for 33 yards
M.Schaub pass short middle to 80-A.Johnson to TEN 22 for 11 yards
M.Schaub pass short middle to 81-O.Daniels for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN

Of his 39 pass attempts, those six big plays I highlighted accounted for 60% of his 350 yards passing. OK, two things; first, there had to be no pass rush on Matt Schaub, he isn't that good under pressure. Second, what the hell was happening to Tennessee in the backfield? 

Lets look at how the Tennessee Titans scored:

C.Johnson left end for 57 yards, TOUCHDOWN
K.Collins pass short left to 28-C.Johnson for 69 yards, TOUCHDOWN
C.Johnson up the middle for 91 yard Touchdown

On the 57 yard and 91 yard touchdowns, Tennessee was in a third and long situation and Houston backed way up in pass coverage. They are actually vulnerable in third and long because they don't trust their secondary.  The 69 yard touchdown, Chris Johnson split out into a wide receiver spot and no one covered him.  He jogged 69 yards.

The Houston Texans played stupid on defense. The only thing that saved them was so did Tennessee.  Things aren't all that rosey in Houston.

Houston running the ball. Huh? How do you do that?  Houston does not know how to run the ball. They have a total of 100 yards in two games. Running for 50 yards a game is the same as running for zero yards. The have run the ball 42 times in two games and can barely get 2 yards a carry.

Houston Pass Defense. Mark Sanchez, in his rookie game, picked them apart by nickle and diming them for 275 yards. He did cash in for a 30 yard TD when no one covered Chansi Stuckey.  Get the pass off and past the linebackers and it is off to the races. Houston has no real secondary.

OK I think we are ready for our game analysis.

Houston Defensive Plan.   To them, Maurice Jones Drew is the only credible threat. Mario Williams rushes David with Brian Cushing and DeMeco Ryans covering the run.  Those three account for almost all of Houston's tackles.  Put pressure on David, stack 8 in the box and pray the backfield isn't forced to cover anyone.  Houston will come hard and fierce. Jailbreak rushing until we can show how to stop it. Meester with an injury is raw meat to Houston.

Jaguar Offensive Plan. Get behind the linebackers. Last game David took 7 step drops while Eugene let his man go wide on him.  Learn from Kurt Warner and get the ball out quickly. Keep the linebackers in pass coverage and move faster than Mario Williams. When they are playing pass, hit them up the middle with MJD. Make the linebackers sweat the play call.  I expect more plays to Marcedes Lewis again as he looks to be helping Eugene and then breaks quickly over the middle.  The opening sequence against the Cardinalsis the plan for this game. Marcedes, MJD, Holt.  Mike Thomas on a quick left side slant running past Brian Cushing.  Call the right plays and win this game.

Jaguar Defensive Plan.   Blitz Matt Schaub and make him sweat being in the pocket.  Mathis and Cox can cover and there is no running threat The Jaguars run defense is stout and will not be beaten in this game.  Force Matt to throw early and get ready to pick off a couple.  Without pressure, we are vulnerable. This is a must get to the QB game. Although we haven't capitalized, we have been forcing near turnovers. The Jaguars have been hitting hard enough to force the ball out. Hit very very hard. Please. The other thing is TACKLE. Everyone watched the Arizona game and will come with the same thing. We have to show we can stop the short quick pass before we can win any games. Take the run away and shut down the short pass and we have another Indy game without Peyton Manning,

Houston Offensive Plan.   Depends on how stubborn Gary Kubiak is.  I don't think much of his ability and believe we can out coach him. He will want to get off the bottom of the rushing list and may think the Jaguars are a team to work running the ball against.  Houston is a 2-1 pass over run team right now. I don't believe they want to be that.  If the run begins to work, then play action follows and then the long ball strike down field. If we take the run away early they will turn it into an air attack game.  That is ok with better coverage in the backfield and a hurried QB. Expect Houston to work the run and short pass hard in the first quarter. If it works, then we are in another Arizona game and will see it over and over until we learn. If we shut it down, we can play jail break rushing on them.  Wouldn't that be fun!

Possible (if God is with us) Game Summary.  The Jaguars win the toss and defer. Houston runs Slaton for one yard. Quick toss to Johnson for 5 yards. Slaton off left tackle for no gain, punt. Underwood runs it back to mid-field. David hits Marcedes for 20 yards. Play action to Maurice and a toss over the middle to Torry for 15 yards. Maurice up the middle for 8 yards. David hits Dillard in the corner of the end zone for six.  At this point the Texans see red and Battle Red Sunday turns into Blood Red Sunday.  Expect the injury cart to get five carries for 85 yards. This will not be easy, but if the Jaguars show their strength, they can earn their respect back.  Next up, an 0-3 snorting mad Titans in Jacksonville.  As Martin Luther King said... "I have a dream". Go Jaguars.