Houston Texans: Studs and duds from preseason loss to Green Bay Packers

Dud: The decision to play Keke Coutee

It is understandable the Houston Texans wanted to get second-year player Keke Coutee back on the field as he missed much of last season with hamstring issues, but being this is just the first preseason game, Coutee shouldn’t have been playing in this game.

That said, Coutee left the preseason opener with a leg injury as he was carted off the field, and for what, a few extra reps in the preseason? This wasn’t a great decision by the Texans decision makers, and now they are already down a wide receiver of their big-three receiver trio of Coutee, DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller.

Coutee finished his preseason outing with two receptions (two targets) for 13 yards, including one of his receptions going for nine yards, as that was the play he suffered what was reported as an right ankle sprain. Those few forgettable yards weren’t worth the risk of Coutee being on the field in a game that doesn’t count in the standings with the history he had with injuries last season.

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle wrote this about Coutee on Thursday night following the injury:

"“After being examined in the locker room, Coutee tweeted about his injury, calling it “minor, nothing major” before he took down the tweet.”"

The Texans should hope the injury wasn’t major, because that isn’t the best way to start the season by seeing one of your better offensive players injured in a game where the win or loss really doesn’t matter.