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cobrajet

cobrajet

Hall of Famer
I was reading on NFL.com that the Texans offense can't stop the pass rush of Jadeveon Clowney and with Watt coming back strong, how great the Texans defense is going to be. That defense is going to give quarterback's fits this year.
 
rossihunter2

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
cobrajet said:
I was reading on NFL.com that the Texans offense can't stop the pass rush of Jadeveon Clowney and with Watt coming back strong, how great the Texans defense is going to be. That defense is going to give quarterback's fits this year.
Click to expand...

on passing snaps they rush 5 and put 5 defenders on 5 lineman and they've never had clowney and watt together properly so they are gonna be nigh on impossible to block with watt and clowney coming off the edges and mercilus rushing over the centre
 
cobrajet

cobrajet

Hall of Famer
rossihunter2 said:
on passing snaps they rush 5 and put 5 defenders on 5 lineman and they've never had clowney and watt together properly so they are gonna be nigh on impossible to block with watt and clowney coming off the edges and mercilus rushing over the centre
Click to expand...
That defense seems pretty potent to me! If they had an offense, the Texans would be a very good team.
 
2

29BmoreBird22

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rossihunter2 said:
on passing snaps they rush 5 and put 5 defenders on 5 lineman and they've never had clowney and watt together properly so they are gonna be nigh on impossible to block with watt and clowney coming off the edges and mercilus rushing over the centre
Click to expand...
I'd imagine you'd see Watt over the middle and Mercilus off the edge, but moot point.

It's a very scary defense when you factor in how good Clowney is becoming. Yeah, he didn't put up numbers like a Mack or a Miller, but he played just as well, if not better, than both. Clowney is becoming exactly who he was drafted to be now that injuries are behind him. The arrow is only pointing up. And with Watt and Mercilus there to draw attention? That's scary.
 
Dom McRaven

Dom McRaven

Hall of Famer
cobrajet said:
I was reading on NFL.com that the Texans offense can't stop the pass rush of Jadeveon Clowney and with Watt coming back strong, how great the Texans defense is going to be. That defense is going to give quarterback's fits this year.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, we play them this season along with the rest of the AFC South. That division is gonna be a dogifght.
 
rossihunter2

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
29BmoreBird22 said:
I'd imagine you'd see Watt over the middle and Mercilus off the edge, but moot point.

It's a very scary defense when you factor in how good Clowney is becoming. Yeah, he didn't put up numbers like a Mack or a Miller, but he played just as well, if not better, than both. Clowney is becoming exactly who he was drafted to be now that injuries are behind him. The arrow is only pointing up. And with Watt and Mercilus there to draw attention? That's scary.
Click to expand...

it was interesting going back and watching how they rushed those 5 and used mercilus over the nose like we used mcphee in his contract year - quickness and burst that centres cant deal with and guards cant help out and chip because they have their own 1v1 block to deal with

you may be right that watt takes that role but he has always looked most effective to me as a pseudo 5tech/edge guy - and now that the texans arent playing clowney as a pure edge guy and in fact are playing him also like a 5tech it is paying dividends

andy benoit explained it really interestingly:

"What Houston as done which that's been revolutionary, and more teams are going to do it, and I've asked a thousand coaches and I haven't heard anyone with a good answer fow how we're going to combat this as an offense ...

They line up their five pass rushers right across the line, and they put two guys in the B gaps, the Gerald McCoy type of position, with two wide edge rushers, and then they put Mercilus right over the center. And what you do with that alignment, because an offensive lineman has to block the man in front of him; you can't let a guy who's lined up right over you become someone else's responsibility, not very easily, it's very complicated to do that; you force the center to block Mercilus one-on-one that way. And that has nothing to do with JJ Watt or Jadeveon Clowney being on your defensive line with you. You could line up Brian Cushing at defensive end, and if he's closest to the tackle the tackle has to account for him initially. So the Texans create one-on-one matchups for their guys with just how they align people. It helps that they've got great people to align, but Mercilus does a tremendous job of capitalizing on that. Mercilus is a better interior pass rusher than exterior, outside pass rusher. Because he goes right over that center. He dominates centers and he dominates on blitzes with stunts that send him right up the middle. He is a great interior schemed pass rusher."
Click to expand...

so essentially they create 1v1s just with their alignments despite the fact that they have 3-4 guys on that defensive front who probably deserve more than just 1v1 coverage: watt, mercilus, clowney and wilfork
 
cobrajet

cobrajet

Hall of Famer
rossihunter2 said:
it was interesting going back and watching how they rushed those 5 and used mercilus over the nose like we used mcphee in his contract year - quickness and burst that centres cant deal with and guards cant help out and chip because they have their own 1v1 block to deal with

you may be right that watt takes that role but he has always looked most effective to me as a pseudo 5tech/edge guy - and now that the texans arent playing clowney as a pure edge guy and in fact are playing him also like a 5tech it is paying dividends

andy benoit explained it really interestingly:



so essentially they create 1v1s just with their alignments despite the fact that they have 3-4 guys on that defensive front who probably deserve more than just 1v1 coverage: watt, mercilus, clowney and wilfork
Click to expand...
That is a nightmare pass rush right there.
 
rossihunter2

rossihunter2

Staff Member
Moderator
cobrajet said:
That is a nightmare pass rush right there.
Click to expand...

it absolutely ruined the pats offensive line during the playoffs even without watt - what's scary is they could probably do it with 4 rushers when watt is back given that wherever he is lined up on the line he will attract double teams from the two closest linemen

and the crazy thing is they didnt actually have to send all 5 guys to get the 1v1s because simply by lining them up they draw the blockers

here's an example of that alignment even though only 4 guys actually rush: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-...rcilus-uses-slick-spin-move-to-sack-Tom-Brady
 
2

29BmoreBird22

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Writer
rossihunter2 said:
it was interesting going back and watching how they rushed those 5 and used mercilus over the nose like we used mcphee in his contract year - quickness and burst that centres cant deal with and guards cant help out and chip because they have their own 1v1 block to deal with

you may be right that watt takes that role but he has always looked most effective to me as a pseudo 5tech/edge guy - and now that the texans arent playing clowney as a pure edge guy and in fact are playing him also like a 5tech it is paying dividends

andy benoit explained it really interestingly:



so essentially they create 1v1s just with their alignments despite the fact that they have 3-4 guys on that defensive front who probably deserve more than just 1v1 coverage: watt, mercilus, clowney and wilfork
Click to expand...
That's very interesting. It seems counterintuitive to me since Watt can dominate at any level and Mercilus and Clowney have better athleticism off the edge, but I guess why not take that skill set and put it to use against guys who can't match it?
 
rossihunter2

rossihunter2

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29BmoreBird22 said:
That's very interesting. It seems counterintuitive to me since Watt can dominate at any level and Mercilus and Clowney have better athleticism off the edge, but I guess why not take that skill set and put it to use against guys who can't match it?
Click to expand...

It's the idea that you only need one cog in the offensive line to fail to make a positive impact and then focusing on making one cog fail on each snap - I reckon the Texans will use this alignment with different personnel 2-3 times in each game
 
rossihunter2

rossihunter2

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