Smoot Lays The Smack Down (Redskins vs. Colts)

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by SirClintonPortis

Matt Schaub attempted forty 20+ yard passes last season out of 574 attempts. He attempted 48 20+ yard passes in 2009 out of 583 attempts, which was Kyle Shanahan's last season there.

Andre Johnson's also had a 1500+ yard season in 2009. What this means is that a hell of a lot of the yards he got were from short and intermediate passes.

The Texans had a remarkably efficient passing game, and they didn't go deep that often.

Besides, with the touchback off kickoffs as king this season, teams will have to be able to move the chains or suffer in the field position battle.

So in 2009 Schaub averaged 3 deep balls a game and 2.5 deep balls a game last year.

We've thrown maybe 2 deep balls in 2 games (I say "maybe" because the Stallworth throw was right about 20 yards and thus not that deep). Even if we count the Stallworth throw, we thus average 1 deep ball per game.

1 per game vs. 2.5 or 3 per game. There's a difference here.

If Houston's offense is the standard - which is debatable - then we have a lesser vertical element in our offense so far. That was my point.

As I said above, things may change with time.