It’s only preseason football. Keeping telling yourself that. The Texans dropped the preseason opener to the Los Angeles Chargers 27-7 on Thursday night. The opening drive was a good one for the Texans starting offensive line. Everything after that was mostly forgettable. Of course, none of the premium first string skill position players saw the field. It is hard to get any good data overall from the preseason by design. No coach wants to show anything they will actually use in the regular season.
When the NFL moved from four preseason games to three, the games increasingly became about finding those last few roster spots and finding those key practice squad guys that can be elevated throughout the season when injuries occur. So, much of what we do here is focus on individual guys and whether their stock is up or down. I’m sure DeMeco Ryans wants the scrubs to play better because it means his overall program is working. Yet, we are looking at an overwhelming majority of guys that will be selling insurance and bagging groceries when September roles around.
The stars of the game will likely be Kamari Ramsey on defense following a near pick six and a successful interception later in the second quarter. He has been making plays throughout camp and as a fifth round pick looks like a pretty good bet to make the team. Jared Wayne is the star on offense as he hauled in the game’s only touchdown for the Texans as one of his team leading three catches. Noah Whittington also had a nice game with eleven carries and 35 yards. It won’t make anyone forget Arian Foster, but he probably at least gets to play another game or two before he is cut.
It’s been a long and lonely slog since the Texans last played in January. So, it is just good to see any football at this point. The number one rule for the preseason is to get out healthy. The Texans lost Graham Mertz in the first half and Joshua Pitsenberger in the second half. Neither of those guys are likely to make the final 53, but Mertz likely will be a practice squad guy. Otherwise the team lives to fight another day. The Texans will play the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday August 20th and the Carolina Panthers on Friday August 28th. After that, we get to look forward to real football.