Houston is THAT bad...

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by hesscl34

Is that why Moss was in the backfield catching balls? Because Saunders really wanted Brunell to throw downfield? .... right... give me a break.

Sorry, bud, no break allowed here.
Watch the game films, break them down. Sure there were plenty of actually planned plays involving ARE and Moss on the short plays, but are you seriously trying to tell me that Lloyd, Moss and ARE (as well as Patton) did not have any downfield routes? WOW? How about the play when everyone was set up on curl routes (downfield) and Brunell hesitated too long to hit anyone. Moss stood there waiting, but Lloyd decided to keep moving, and Brunell hit him in stride after a long delay. Had it not been for the protection, that would have been a loss on the play.
So I ask you again to watch the film, watch how many plays had receivers doing crossing routes downfield, or deep outs, and Brunell not giving them a chance and checking down to the short passes. The problem is, we only remember the deliberate short passes / dumps. Of course those are planned, but what happened when they were not planned?