(09-15-2019, 06:25 PM)Bullseye Wrote: Marrone possibly losing/lost the team is a legitimate concern for me, and it has been since last year.  That's a legitimate reason fir letting him go.

But if he has lost the team, it's stunning how quickly it happened.

He is the one the implemented a more serious tone in the locker room...taking out the ping pong tables, etc., then actually producing a winning season that first year.

But last year everything went south in a hurry with the injuries and the discipline seemed to go with it.

Couldn't have said it better myself.  And once a team is lost, it's almost impossible to get back.  It's not as much Ramsey's blow up as it is what is not seen that has me concerned.  Ramsey is a flamboyant player and he's going to display what's on his mind.  What concerns me is if the players have lost their belief in who is leading them.

1.  As for as the two point conversion, I'd be lying if I didn't like the guts to try to win the game and hand the Texans another heartbreaking loss, but like others have said, Minshew should have gotten the chance to make a play.

2.  At this point, Fournette is what he is.  He's an average back.  He can be productive and he's flashy when he gets to full speed, but he doesn't create yards and often times he doesn't even get the yards that are there to be had.  But we're compounding the issue by making him the focal point of our offense.  It's just too predictable and puts us in third and long far too often when we run on nearly every first down.  Why we are not giving some other running backs carries is puzzling although I think our running back depth is worse now then it was with Yeldon and a healthy Grant.  Neither were complete backs, but Yeldon had a knack for making people miss with lateral quickness and picking up first downs and Grant just had the type of speed that is a mismatch and often resulted in defenders taking bad angles.

3.  I had a feeling the defense would play well after last week, but they played even better than anticipated against a Houston offense that looked very high powered against the Saints.  You could argue they really only gave up 3 points if not for the Minshew fumble and Marrone not challenging Hopkin's catch.  I just wish it didn't take an embarrassing week to get this defense motivated to play well.  However, there was something different about the Xs and Os this week.  I liked the blitzing and I think our defense not being predictable is needed against the better offenses in this league.  You can get away with just being more talented against a lot of teams, but if they can be more creative without creating busted assignments, it makes this defense scary.  Hopefully it continues.  The run defense still leaves a lot to be desired especially with the upcoming game against the Tacks, but I'm more confident in the safeties than I was a week ago and saw more good things from Quincy Williams.

4.   There is just something about Minshew that screams "leader".  If he can back that up with his play, we may have something.  With that said, I still see some limitations that hopefully can be overcome by the things he does well.  He's the anti Borltes.  He came down to earth in this game but kept us in the game.  There was a lot more pressure from the Texans defense than last week and I think that was a big reason the production dropped.  The oline needs to give him some time to throw to truly see his potential.  He seemed more aggressive throwing downfield in the 4th quarter when we needed some points.  I wish he would take more chances earlier in the game.  He does need to do better hanging on to the ball when taking hits although on the lost fumble the defender was there so quick I hardly blame him for that.  Let's hope he's the Tack killer that we've desperately longed for.

5.  Chark has made strides although I still think the quarterback play and improved ball placement is also bringing out what was already there.  This team has no clear go to guy or number one receiver, but if anyone has the chance to be that, it's Chark imo.  Conley may not be as fast as Moncrief or jump as high, but he's better at everything else that has to do with being a receiver.  He catches well, runs good routes, seems to be physical in the running game, and plays winning football.

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