The Houston Texans are a few days away from starting training camp, and here are some things to watch for, along with other news about the franchise.
There is a lot to look forward to for the 2019 Houston Texans because they are one of the best teams in the AFC, even with some of the roster losses they had this offseason. The losses from the roster have been replaced, but there are more than a few questions that remain, and there is a lot to watch for from this team during the upcoming training camp.
Houston’s top concern has to be whether they did enough to improve their offensive line from last season. Granted it was good enough to get them to the point where they won the AFC South championship, but it wasn’t enough to give the team momentum down the stretch or even in the playoffs.
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The Texans offensive line not only allowed 65 sacks (including playoffs) last season, but overall as a unit they didn’t show up, which caused a lot of breakdowns in the overall play of the unit. Some of the breakdowns were caused by quarterback Deshaun Watson, but he was pressured more than most quarterbacks, which caused a lot of the issues within the offense as well.
Not only are position battles between offensive linemen on the radar, but will the offense as a whole look different with Tim Kelly as the offensive coordinator as he’ll work even closer with head coach Bill O’Brien this season? It will be interesting to see what type of freedom and control O’Brien lets Kelly have with the offense, because to be honest, the offense looked stale at times last season, and that is inexcusable with the likes of Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and others on the roster.
The defense has some “must-watch” aspects to the unit too, especially with the secondary and the changes made with that as Tyrann Mathieu and Kareem Jackson are gone, while Tashaun Gipson and Bradley Roby were added in free agency. Also, once he is healed up, Lonnie Johnson Jr., the second-round pick from Kentucky will be “must-watch” at cornerback.
There is a lot to watch this training camp as the rookies will be needed at some point soon in the future, the veterans will be needed right now and even the coaching staff has to be on top of their game, too. Last season’s ending was a disappointment, and the old saying is “you are only as good as your last game.” For the Texans, that game was a playoff loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
More headlines about the Texans include:
• Deshaun Watson wasn’t included on the Pro Football Focus Top 10 QBs list headed into the 2019 season. Do you agree with that? The omission of Watson meant players such as Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns and Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons were ranked ahead of Watson. Do you agree? Click here for the article.
• ABC 13 News in Houston repeated on Justin Reid was involved in a car accident on Saturday night. Katherine Marchand of abc13.com wrote this of the incident:
"“Reid said that the crash was “scary stuff” and urged people to “make good decisions out there on the road.”"
It is good to see nobody was seriously injured and that Reid and all involved were OK. Reid is entering his second season with the Texans, and going into this training camp, expectations are high for the second-year player as he had a successful 2018 rookie campaign, where he collected 10 passes defensed, three interceptions and one touchdown.
• Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle reported on Sunday that J.J. Watt and DeAndre Hopkins will start training camp on the PUP list, writing the following on the occurrence:
"“They can be activated at any time. And both players are expected to begin practicing at some point and be ready in time for a Sept. 9 season opener against the New Orleans Saints.”"
This is not a huge deal for either player, but actually it will just give them some extra rest time before they really get going in the grid of training camp.
Neither player probably needs a full training camp, and it probably is for the best they are getting that extra rest before the start of the season.