Well we are 12 games into the Texan's season and we are sitting on a 4-8 record with wins over Jacksonville (twice), Miami, and Oakland. Of those the two against Jacksonville are the most pleasant surprise. However at the same time we have lost a Washington team that we should have beaten, as well as 2 close loses to the Giants and Buffalo that could have very well been wins. So the question that is sitting out there is this team better than last years joke of a team? In a word yes, how much better is up for discussion. The two things that I have seen that are an improvement over last year, are the fact that the defense is better, and as a team they are not giving up if they are down. Other than that this team has both a lot of question marks as well as holes in it, and if the season were to end today they would have the 5th pick in the NFL Draft, and as of this posting there is speculation that they would take Adrian Peterson the Oklahoma RB in the first round. But enough of this dreaming, I intend to take a look at the 2006 Draft, as well as how certain individuals have played.
Starting off with the draft, I would for the most part give the class an incomplete grade. There are several reasons for that. First of the players drafted half of them are out with injuries. Second it sometimes takes a couple of years to have some players develop. That being said on an individual basis here are the grades for the Texans 2006 Draft Class.
Rnd 1 Mario Williams C+: He has shown at times that he can be as good as Julius Peppers, and at other times he looks like Dr. Pepper. Granted he is young but he is also shown a great amount of talent and athletic ability. He is the one who tipped the game tying 2 point conversion away in the Miami victory. He is a keeper and will benefit from a full off season of conditioning and training.
Rdn 2 DeMeco Ryans A+: This guy is a player, plain and simple. He started out on the outside and moved inside and has started from day 1. He is with out a doubt the Defensive Rookie of the Year, and hopefully the QB for the defense for a long time.
Rnd 3 Charles Spencer Inc: Broken leg ended his season early. Showed a nasty streak and some skills in the early part of the season. Look forward to seeing him be able to play the full year.
Rnd 3 Eric Winston C: This grade would have been an Incomplete if not for the injury to Weigert which has forced him into playing time.
Rnd 4 Owen Daniels B-: has taken over as the starter at TE, would like to see him get a little bit stronger, but other than that he is a good talent. He runs good routes and just about catches everything thrown his way.
Rnd 6 Wali Lundy D: he has shown moments of promise then has reverted to a timid back. He may well become the third down back if the Texans do get Peterson in the draft.
Rnd 7 David Anderson Inc: was supposed to be the 4th wr and return man, has not seen much time other than on special teams, so cannot say what his value is or going to be.
Now as far as the team, I am happy with the progress that I have seen with the defense, They are playing better, their biggest problem is the lack of play makers. They have a solid group but out side of Ryans, Robinson, Weaver, and Williams they do not have enough people that the other team fears. We are close but need 1 or 2 more star level players to make this defensive unit a top 10 unit.
The offense on the other hand still has so many holes it looks like Swiss cheese. Part of the problem is the fact that it seems that the offensive line breaks like a frozen candy bar. If Winston, Hodgdon, and Pitts can play together for the rest of the year and stay healthy we could be onto something. Add Spencer back next year and draft a couple of young nasties to try to work in we could have a solid offensive line. That being said then we can look at seeing what a real running back can do to both help David Carr, and make defenses play a more honest scheme, which will open things up for Andre, Owen Daniels, Eric Moulds, and crew..
This year so far has been a step in the right direction, however we need to see how things progress over the final 4 games and how free agency and the draft are handled before I will say they are on the right track. But right now things look promising.
1 comment:
Don't worry bout the Texans they are going to continue to stink up the place for a looonnnngggg time.
Any team that passed up on two of the hottest prospects in the last draft (remains nameless) and kept David "wild" Carr "d" after proving for 5 years he is no leader and at best a second string QB to the tune of 12 (how are they going to get rid of that) million dollars ain't going no where fast.
Now on to the (L)Astros. They just shot their wad on a yet another pass through pitcher. Trading Willie "T" in the deal will as usual come back to haunt them.
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