Houston Texans At Arizona Cardinals: Know Thy Enemy Edition Part One

by Pyromnc on Oct 6, 2009 11:39 AM MDT

In week three, the Arizona Cardinals played absolutely horrible on both offense and defense. To their credit, they were playing a very good Indianapolis Colts team who's offense has been one of the best for the past several years. Their defense has also been one of the best against the pass, in part because of their pass rush. In week five the Cardinals will face more of that with the Houston Texans coming to town, who have a very good offense and a pretty good pass rush. One of the players that will have to be watched and game planned around, is wide receiver Andre Johnson.

Andre Johnson is a product of the University of Miami where he was a standout wide receiver. Johnson was red shirted his first year, and did not get much playing time in his freshman season just catching three passes for 57 yards and one touchdown. His sophomore year is when he started to breakout, catching 37 passes for 682 yards that went for 10 touchdowns. That same season Johnson would help his team win the Rose Bowl, and would end up being Co-MVP with quarterback Ken Dorsey. In that game Johnson caught seven passes for 199 yards (28.4 ypc) and also had two touchdowns. In Johnson's final season, his junior year, he would have his best season catching 48 passes for 1038 yards (21.6 ypc) and 9 touchdowns. Johnson would leave Miami as one of their best receivers ever, ranking fifth in overall receiving yards (1,831) and tied for third with 20 touchdown catches.

After such a successful college career, Johnson was rewarded by being drafted with the third overall pick in the 2003 draft by the Houston Texans. There wasn't much fall-off from his college career, as Johnson has been one of the best receivers in football, and has been considered by some to be the best in football right now. Over his seven year career he has had over 506 catches for 6715 yards (13.3 ypc) and 35 touchdowns. He has been one of the bright spots of a team that hasn't been all that successful in it's short history.

The Cardinals will have to worry about how Johnson can beat them. He can beat you with his size 6-3 225 pounds. He can beat you with his speed, 4.41 40-yard dash time. As a testament to his speed, he was a college track and field star where he won the 60 meter dash with a 6.83 time, and won the 100 meter dash with a 10.29 time. Johnson is the complete package when it comes to his position.

If the Arizona Cardinals want to win this game they will have to figure out their coverage problems and stop Johnson from scoring. That will be a daunting task considering the past two games, opposing team's top receivers burnt our defensive backs. Who ever lines up across from him, whether it's Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie or Bryant McFadden, they'll have to be more physical and can't attempt to cheat to get a pick. They will have to play nearly perfect. Thoughts?

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Comments

We need to use some TE's to help stop the pass rush.

The O-Line probably can’t stop them, so they need all the help they can get.

by JoeCB1991 on Oct 6, 2009 12:10 PM MDT reply actions

besides AJ....

you also have to contend with OD (Owen Daniels, our TE) as well as our other reciever, KW (Kevin Walter) who are also “big play” guys as well.
on defense…..
we drafted Brian “Cush Lash” Cushing to shore up our LB core, and im pretty sure you guys have heard about “Super” Mario Williams. our d showed up against the Raiders, but that’s like beating up a retard… you get no credit for it, no matter how magnificent the ass whupping was. besides that…. here’s to an injury free game this week.

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You are banned from Blogging The Boys.

by chrisd21 on Oct 6, 2009 12:12 PM MDT reply actions

Another Unique Set of Challenges

If you look at Houston’s stats, you’ll find that – after you account for Johnson, their RB (Slaton) and TE (Daniels) no one else on their roster is averaging more than 1-2 catches a game.

Which suggests that we should (a) bracket Johnson with 2 DB’s, (b) account for Slaton and Daniels and then © play “twist & shout” with an aggressive pass rush.

The only other cautionary word would be to employ “Barry Sanders or Marshall Faulk Rules” to contain Slaton and keep him from escaping for big yardage – i.e. “stay in the right gaps, hold contain and let him come to you.”

GBR

by jeffgollin@aol.com on Oct 6, 2009 12:50 PM MDT reply actions 1 recs

triple recommend on the doubling of Johnson

I honestly don’t know who I’d put on him because he’s too strong for DRC and he’d probably catch short pass after short pass then just run right over DRC for 10 yards. If you put McFadden on him though, Johnson can probably get deep whenever he wants. It’s going to take a complete effort from the secondary to slow this cat down. Rolle is probably the guy that they’ll use to double him and he’d better focus on Johnson and forget about supporting the run.

Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

by Bezekira on Oct 6, 2009 12:55 PM MDT up reply actions

I disagree.

Although Walter didn’t show up on the raiders game because our offense shutdown after the first half, he still needs to be accounted for. Didn’t yall see what he did to the jags? The focus was on stopping AJ and they pretty much did, but Walters made a killing. He’s back to full strength now. Doubling AJ would be a disaster. Dont forget about Jacoby Jones and Andre Davis. Both are very legitimate deep threats.

by Jordann on Oct 6, 2009 1:59 PM MDT up reply actions

listen no one is calling Walter or Jones or Davis or Daniels dog meat but

Johnson is clearly the #1 threat in the passing game and it’s not even close. We’re not saying to put the entire secondary on AJ and leave everyone unaccounted for, but we are saying that extra attention needs to be paid to him every time the ball is snapped.

Be careful....to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

by Bezekira on Oct 6, 2009 2:04 PM MDT up reply actions

+1

Especially when DRC is giving up the big play week after week, it helps to double up Rolle and DRC on AJ and stick B-MAC on Walter. The question still stands after how bad the Colts TE Clark killed us, who will be the best to cover Daniels? Hayes maybe?

Section 102, Row 18

by CardsFan08 on Oct 6, 2009 10:43 PM MDT up reply actions

I understand.

Yeah AJ and Walters isn’t as dangerous as Fitz and Boldin. Especially against our craptacular secondary. Geez. This is gonna be a shoot out if AJ breaks loose and Walter manages a big game for us. And if our CB’s keep missing tackles like they’ve been doing the past couple of games.

by Jordann on Oct 6, 2009 2:30 PM MDT reply actions

This sucks.

Obviously I am a huge “U” fan and AJ is one of my top 3 fav WRs. I also have him and Daniels on ny FF team. Oh well. What to do.

Life's too short. Be a fan. Orlando Magic, Arizona Cardinals,Tampa Bay Rays and of course "the U"! What a winning combo.

by hevchv on Oct 6, 2009 3:56 PM MDT via mobile reply actions

Start them.

This game SHOULD be a shootout. Hell I think the over/under is 45. In reality, I’ betting the final is 38-35.

"An open mind is like a fortress with it's gates unbarred and unguarded."

The ROSENFAIL : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKAKE-uq-8&feature=related

by TexansForever on Oct 6, 2009 4:19 PM MDT up reply actions

It would be a great game is it's 38-35 in either direction

I’m just hoping it’s not another Colts game….

Here’s to hoping the Cards use their home field advantage and that Warner can make plays this week.

Also, the turnover battle will as we’ve seen be the number one key to the game for the Cardinals.

Section 102, Row 18

by CardsFan08 on Oct 6, 2009 10:45 PM MDT up reply actions

Johnson is a beast

The first key to stoping Johnson is to deny entrance into the stadium. Short of that, a consistent pass-rush on Matt Schaub is key. Dockett and Branch are going to have to bring their A games, especially Dockett .

Davis can help the secondary by being creative with his pressure packages(zone blitz and some zone exchanges), sending defenders into the A-B gaps to force Schaub out of the pocket. He is a lot less accurate outside the pocket. Watching the Jet game tape he has shown a propensity to get rattled when pressured and hit often. He showed signs of a player that was perceiving pressure (anticipated getting hit) and seeing color (Jet jersey’s).

The Texans employ a zone running scheme and Slanton can take it to the house if he gets to the second level. Dicipline with respect to individual run fits (staying in gaps) while in pursuit is vital as Slaton does have some cut-back knack. Sure tackling is a must by the DL and LB’s. Keeping Slaton in check will limit the Texans passing game as they like to take calculated shots down the field off the play-action to Andre Johnson deep.

On Johnson, outside of Anquan Boldin their is not another WR in the league who I would trust more to run the smash route or the shallow crossing route more than Johnson. His courage is unquestioned. As a WR, you just know that the LB’s and Safety’s are going to hit you in the mouth. Yet, the truly great one’s maintain their focus and concentration any way and make the catch. Johnson is a stud, a blue-chip player. An excellent blend of both of our guys, Boldin and Fitz.

Slowing Johnson is not impossible. If Davis employs a lot of Cover 2 with a LB flooding the underneath short and intermediate zone where Johnson will be, his effectiveness can be minimized.

Owen Daniels is their # 2 option in the passing game and a terrific TE who may not get the recognition he deserves because the Texans do not get a ton of Nationally Televised games. Top five guy in the league at his position. Complete and a very good route runner with the ability to get some separation doing a lot of his damage down the seam. When he is not buzzing down into the box……..Wilson will have his hands full with this guy in coverage.

Very winnable game by us if dicipline is maintained. Our DB’s can’t get caught looking into the backfield. If that occurs, it’s bye bye Johnson for six.

by Cardsfan81 on Oct 6, 2009 10:44 PM MDT reply actions