Looking back at ‘5 Players to Watch’

Oct 13, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (10) walks off the field after the game against the St. Louis Rams at Reliant Stadium. The Rams won 38-13. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

Before Sunday’s game with the St. Louis Rams, I wrote an article about five players to watch for the Houston Texans. Now lets look back at what those five players did in the Texans’ 38-13 loss.

The first player I listed was Matt Schaub and I’m saying he played well. He left in the third quarter with a right ankle injury, but when he was on the field he played reasonable.

I wrote before the game, “Schaub MUST make better decisions, avoid costly interceptions and play a clean game, or we’ll be seeing more of T.J. Yates under center.”

Schaub made better decisions, he was interception free, but his game wasn’t clean due to the injury … so we saw more of Yates.

Seeing more of Yates was like watching Schaub the previous few weeks as the backup quarterback showed why he needs to stay on the sideline and off the field. Yates in under two quarters had two interceptions, one going for a touchdown and was sacked twice.

Oh I almost forgot, Yates also had a fumble as he finished 12-of-17 for 98 yards.

Schaub was 15-of-21 for 186 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He was also “cheered” by the home fans when he was injured. I don’t understand why the “fans” cheered their quarterback getting injured. Makes no sense to cheer when one of your own get injured. Karma visited Reliant Stadium when Yates threw the pick-six, which added to the rout.

To sum up Schaub, he did OK, but nothing great. He was OK because he didn’t have any touchdowns, which really needs to be fixed team-wide.

Next on my list wasn’t a player, but a group in the Texans’ offensive line. For the second time this season they blocked well enough for Arian Foster to gain over 100 yards (20 carries, 141 yards) but did give up five sacks.

Not their best game, not their worst, but like everywhere on the Texans improvement could be used.

Now to look at my third pick in Daniel Manning. I wanted to see if Manning was going to able to gain an interception (he didn’t) and I figured he could have a nice game for the defense (he really didn’t).

Manning finished with four tackles, sadly tied for the Texans’ lead against the Rams. Like we all know, the defense wasn’t any good, plain and simple against the Rams.

The biggest letdown for me was tight end Garrett Graham. I really though he was going to be able to breakout today, he didn’t. Graham finished with two receptions for 25 yards, one going for 20 yards. That was it and sums up the entire day.

My final player to watch was DeAndre Hopkins. The rookie wide receiver had three receptions for 47 yards (including a 22-yard reception). He also had a fumble, which he lost. He needs to play better than that if he wants to follow in the footsteps of Andre Johnson.

All-in-all it was just a horrible day for the Texans.

Enough said.