Battle Red Blog
How are fans reacting to the Week 7 loss to the Packers?
Week 8 is a huge week for the Houston Texans as they meet division rivals the Indianapolis Colts for the second time. A victory essentially puts the Texans up by two and a half games because of the head to head tiebreaker. A loss drops them to even. Before we get there though, let’s take a look back at the week that was.
We show this poll every week and obviously the results are going to be a little worse following a loss, but they are still pretty high and the honeymoon period for DeMeco Ryans is alive and well. However, not all of the opinions are necessarily positive when we get to the action of last week.
This one doesn’t surprise me much, but I feel like the poll responders are letting Bobby Slowik and the coaching staff off the hook. Unfortunately, sometimes your original game plan isn’t working and you need to pivot during the game. Slowik still has not demonstrated that he is able to do this effectively. When you look at the game you can see Ryans’ defense improving as the game went on. The fourth quarter was their best quarter.
He did this in spite of having any healthy starting linebackers and a couple of guys in the back end missing as well. Next level coaching requires you to adjust to missing personnel and adjust to what the other team is doing on the fly. DeMeco Ryans does that really well while Slowik still struggles.
I actually participated in the poll and I voted for Henry To’oto’o. I did so for two main reasons. First, I am always more impressed when guys come into the league, struggle, and then show tremendous growth from their first year to their second year. There is a mental toughness there that isn’t there for guys that enjoy immediate success.
However, the biggest reason is that when we look at player rating systems like PFF, To’oto’o is just a better football player right now. I don’t mean to take away from Bullock’s three interceptions, but he has also blown some coverages in the early going. The former Alabama linebacker has been steady with the exception of this recent week where he missed due to injury.
While the question did not address this directly, you could also say he has been the most important Texan on defense in the early going. When Christian Harris went down with an injury everyone was understandably concerned about linebacker play. To’oto’o has stepped up and while he won’t make anyone forget Ray Lewis or even Brian Cushing, he has been solid.
