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---NOT QUITE A MOP, NOT QUITE A PUPPET---
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ABOUT ME:
Home to a half Mexican who now lives in Silverdale, WA and who supports the Hawks, Sonics and Mariners along with the alma mater (WSU). I also post wacky links, pictures of insanely hot women and what have you (if you don't want to read my ramblings), so enjoy. FAVORITE LINKS My Place Of Biz Miss Eva MISTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ROSSER! Mr. T! He Don't Pity No Fool, Dig? Mr. Spaulding Mr. Gonzo Mr. Rampsberger Pop Life HEART PUNCH'D! Flux Blog Oh NO THEY DIN'T! Support Your Weed Carrier U.S.S. Mariner Sports And Bremertonians Kissing Suzy Kolber Superficial Cake And Ice Cream Oh, Word? Young, Black and Fabulous SuperSonic Soul! Sports Filter Nah Right FIRE JOE MORGAN! Football Outsiders College Football News All Music The Breaks
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Sunday, August 10, 2003FOR JOSH0-line must give Carr time to grow By John Clayton ESPN.com Friday, August 8 Updated: August 8 8:21 AM ET The Texans are right on schedule as the franchise enters its second season. Four wins should turn into five or six, but the most important thing is that general manager Charley Casserly is filling the franchise with potentially great players at key positions. Training Camp Tour: The defense is solid. The offense is building around young franchise players such as David Carr, Andre Johnson and others. With Dom Capers in charge of directing the actions on the field, the Texans may not jump into the playoffs by their second season like Carolina and Jacksonville, but the team is much further ahead than the Browns were at this time. It took four years for the Browns to make the playoffs as a wild-card. By the fourth season, the Texans may contend for a division title. Best case The best case scenario won't take this team to the playoffs. They are too young on offense. A six- or seven-win season would be the best case. If the Texans can pass Jacksonville for third place in the AFC South, it would be a monumental achievement. For that to happen, though, the offensive line has to overcome injuries and solidify itself this season. That might be tough. The Texans have to count on three rookies from last year -- Chester Pitts, Milford Brown and Fred Weary -- to grow into their jobs. Last year, they found out that David Carr is the perfect player to build a franchise around. What they have to do this year is find a running back. Stacey Mack has the best chance of getting them through this season, but the future falls into the hands of three young backs -- Tony Hollings, Jonathan Wells or Domanick Davis, who recently suffered a broken hand. A 1,000-yard season from Mack would be helpful because it would take a lot of pressure off Carr. Should Mack get 1,000-yard, the Texans would have the option of re-signing him or letting him get a starting job elsewhere so they can give one of the three young players the job next year. Hollings offers the most potential because of his speed, but he is still less than a year removed from his knee reconstruction. Defensively, the unit should create more turnovers. They had only 10 interceptions and forced only 11 fumbles. They need Kailee Wong and Charlie Clemons to develop as pass-rushing linebackers to put more pressure on the quarterback. Worst case The worst-case scenario would be for the offensive line to struggle and Carr to be exposed to another 76-sack season. Carr's body is bigger and stronger, but that's a lot of hits to take and the offensive line needs to take that type of pressure off of him. It would also be a problem if they can't establish a better running attack. There were way too many second-and-9 situations, which is one of the reasons the Texans converted only 59 of 229 third downs. It would be a major setback if the defense drops from 16th. Thanks to the defense, the Texans were able to stay competitive in 14 of their 16 games last season. Dom Capers uses the defense to keep this team in games by the fourth quarter. Normally, 3-4 schemes are hard to run against, and last year, opponents averaged only 4.1 yards a carry. The Texans have decent size along their three-man front, but it would hurt if they give up more per carry. But more than anything else, Carr is the key to the franchise. The future of the franchise is watching Carr throwing the ball to Andre Johnson, Jabar Gaffney and Corey Bradford. Long term, he needs to get through the growing pains that young quarterbacks usually go through in their second year. He needs to be healthy to continue his development. John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
etch-a-sketched by john at 3:41 PM
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