Nothing we didn't already know, maybe the Texans fans would like to chime in.

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog...e-exploitable/


Houston: Limited by Yates

By Rodney Hart Jr.

It may seem unfair to Texans fans to list T.J. Yates (-2.2 overall) as a weakness in a world where Tim Tebow (-7.1 overall) has been hailed by many as the reason the Broncos made it to the playoffs despite his glaring deficiencies. Yes, in light of season-ending injuries to both Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart, it might be more appropriate to commend Yates for not only helping the Texans clinch their franchise’s first postseason berth, but win their first postseason game.

After outshining fellow rookie Andy Dalton in last week’s 31-10 victory, he now moves on to the more formidable, veteran-laden Baltimore Ravens. Consider that he will be trying lead the Texans’ offense past a Ravens defense with guys like Ray Lewis, who’s been playing linebacker for Baltimore since Yates was in middle school. To this point, there is nothing about his play to suggest he can’t do it, but more importantly there is nothing about his play that suggests he can either.

To date in his very brief career, Yates has had moments that suggest eventually he could be a player that causes a lot of head scratching when trying to figure out why he wasn’t drafted earlier than the fifth-round. I stress, eventually. After winning the first two games he started, the second of which was his best (+1.2) and clinched a postseason berth with a critical touchdown pass, he started to look a little more like a mistake-prone rookie then the savvy game-manager he appeared in his first few games.

One such game was his (-3.1) performance against Carolina in Week 15. After the Panthers jumped out to an early lead, Yates was forced to be less reliant on play action, and without the threat of the run he finished 9-of-18 passing after starting 10-of-12–that’s a drop-off from 83% completion to 50%. Additionally, Yates threw two interceptions to end the game, the most egregious being one he threw in the end zone late in the fourth quarter that sealed the loss. He may be ready to manage games, but if the Texans fall to an early deficit, their future will be in a precarious position.

Another concerning factor is Yates’ performance under pressure. In total, Yates has dropped back to pass 178 times. Below are his stats when under no pressure compared to when he is challenged by a rush:

Pressure.......Dropbacks.......Completion %....Touchdowns......QB Rating...PFF Grade

No Pressure .....121.................61.7% .................4...................89.9........+2.4

Pressure............57...................56.4% ................0....................63.0.........-3.1

Among the 47 quarterbacks who have played at least 100 snaps this season, Yates’ 17 sacks on 57 plays under pressure (31.3%) is the second-highest rate, topped only by Caleb Hanie’s (34.5%). Even in last week’s 31-10 victory over the Bengals, on eight plays under pressure, Yates took two sacks and completed just two passes. Fortunately for the Texans, it was only eight plays.

The bad news this week is that the Ravens are a team capable of forcing Yates into facing either one or both of these issues. Collectively, the Ravens are PFF’s highest-rated run defense team at (+159.6) led by the likes of Terrell Suggs (+22.1 run grade) and Ray Lewis (+17.7 run grade) among a list of many others. If they’re capable of limiting Arian Foster (+19.7) and the Houston O-line, Yates won’t have the play-action threat to help open up his receiving options.

Given his struggles against the Panthers’ pass defense (-28.5) a few weeks ago, it could be ugly against a stingy Ravens pass D (+30.9). Oh yeah, the Ravens also have a few pass rushers like Suggs (+10.3 pass rush grade) and Pernell McPhee (+17.1) who will likely put Yates’ pocket presence to the test. Unless he proves better against the rush then he’s shown so far, the Yates fairy tale will end Sunday in Baltimore.