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Texans vs. Saints: 5 Players to watch in Week 1

By Stephen Forsha

LANDOVER, MD - NOVEMBER 18: Brennan Scarlett #57 of the Houston Texans reacts after intercepting a pass in the second quarter of the game against the Washington Redskins at FedExField on November 18, 2018 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD - NOVEMBER 18: Brennan Scarlett #57 of the Houston Texans reacts after intercepting a pass in the second quarter of the game against the Washington Redskins at FedExField on November 18, 2018 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – AUGUST 09: Michael Thomas #13 of the New Orleans Saints runs with the ball against the Minnesota Vikings during a preseason game at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on August 09, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – AUGUST 09: Michael Thomas #13 of the New Orleans Saints runs with the ball against the Minnesota Vikings during a preseason game at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on August 09, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

5. Michael Thomas, WR, Saints

The test won’t be for Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas when it comes to the first game of the season, but for the Houston Texans secondary. If Houston wants to win this game they better hope they have made the correct changes on their roster needed to be competitive against a wide receiver like Thomas.

Also, if the Texans want to win this game they’ll have to come up with a game plan to stop Thomas, and that my friends is no easy task.

Thomas in his first three seasons in the league has proven he’s going to catch the football multiple times in game. Since ’16, Thomas has had no less than 92 receptions in a season, and for his carer he’s already collected 321 receptions for 3,787 yards and 23 touchdowns.

The Saints star wide receiver is coming off a season where he caught 125 passes for 1,405 yards and nine touchdowns. Thomas averaged 11.2 yards per reception (his career-high is 12.4 his rookie year) and his longest reception was 72 yards.

Looking back at last season the first three games for Thomas were outstanding as he had reception totals of 16, 12 and 10. For the season Thomas collected six 10-plus reception games and in no game in ’18 did he have less than four receptions.

Houston better put more than one defender on Thomas, and force the rest of the Saints offense to beat them. If Thomas gets hot and has a game of 100-plus yards receiving — he did that four times in ’18 — it could be a long night for Houston in the season opener.

Thomas has a favorable matchup against the secondary of the Texans, but for a player like Thomas, that can be said basically every game he plays in.

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