Lions-Bills snap counts: James Houston flashes in brief debut

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I agree with the author of the article, Houston cannot be allowed to hit the practice squad for the remainder of the season. Kid showed up, looked absolutely driven to make an impact. Showed outstanding effort on limited snaps. Even if he’s a one trick pony, it’s one heck of a trick.

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How???

How did they give him only 5 snaps???

He had a sack on his 40% of his snaps!!!

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And they weren’t super late in the game. And Austin Bryant was the alternative. :man_shrugging:

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I’m confused here as well. My assumption is that’s an Aaron Glenn decision.

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The decision is made during the week.
How much did they put on his plate to begin with?

Here’s a little reminder of where he was (learning-wise) this summer.

Houston is a project that was prepared for limited snaps. Hopefully HE is capable of an expanded role, but that will begin with knowing how to play the position.

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I remember talking to @BigNatty about the pass rush chops of our incoming draft class this past May. Ooooh Weee! Houston… this man’s Da Problem!

It is too soon to call him a star. But I for one am super happy for the kid. He ate a whole Thanksgiving dinner in just 5 snaps.

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You could see in his highlights that he could pose problems.

Just a really unique combo of being sudden, bendy, low
to the ground and with an unreal wingspan.

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They scaled his role back from having him practice edge & off-ball … to just an edge guy… and that was in June before training camp.

I’m just surprised that no adjustment was made in game to work him in more after he made 2 impact plays. He had earned more snaps IMO…

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If he was playing baseball, he’d be in the hall of fame!! Shit I didn’t realize he only had 5 snaps. Well I bet he has more next week. They will probably keep him for 3rd downs and passing downs though, he’s very undersized vs the run.

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Haha! I definitely want to see more, and I still want us to draft angry pass rushers…but this is fun to watch the evolution of the Defense

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I doubt he will, but not sure it matters. Unless I misunderstand the rules, the Lions can block any claim like they did with Rudock a few years ago.

Just looked this up… in those 5 snaps Houston is now tied for 2nd in sacks on the Lions with 2. haha that’s how bad the pass rush has been other than Hutch.

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Thats all well and good, but something like that is screaming for an in-game adjustment to get the guy more snaps. Unless he’s getting beaten in every other aspect of the game, holding a guy out like that when he produces like he did is bizarre.

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The Longest Yard Waterboy GIF

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He’s a rookie coming off IR. They’re easing him in.

Inexcusable, if a guy is playing that well with that few snaps that means you don’t trust yourself as a coach. If a guy is making plays-play him.

Side note: Playing dline (mentally) is one of the easiest positions to play from an assignment standpoint

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I’m pretty sure he wasn’t on IR. He has been on the practice squad all year though and never called up.

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Every once in awhile a guy who doesn’t show much in practice becomes all that in game time. Kurt Warner had tryouts where teams passed because that’s who he was. Not saying that’s what we have here, just open to the possibility and hope that’s who he is.

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This weekend has shown the depth of lionization for us fans.
The number of criticisms boggle the mind.

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