The Houston Texans won their preseason opener against the New England Patriots by a score of 20 - 9. There were certainly some highlights and players that flashed but there are also some concerns the team will need to address before pre-season Week Two.
Houston didn't play some of their projected starters, including some of their offensive line and maybe they should have. But whatever your opinion was going into the game, should not be changed simply by what we saw in this first preseason game. Take it with a grain of salt and understand, there is a long way to go still.
The Texans came away victorious and now get ready to join the Miami Dolphins for a few joint practices this week on August 16th and 17th. They will face off against each other for Week Two of the preseason on August 19th in Houston.
We don't know the plan as far as starters in the next game and with only three preseason games, teams seem to be random as far as when they play their starters and for how long. My hope is that Week Two will give us a sneak peak of what will likely be the starting unit going forward.
The Texans played a solid game all around and most importantly got out of the game with minimal injuries. Only fullback Andrew Beck limped off the field early in the second half; however, we don't know the extent of the injury and he was able to walk off on his own.
Let's get into the ups and downs from the Houston Texans' performance against the New England Patriots in the preseason Week One.
Tank Dell looks like he's ready to be a star
Tank Dell was ready to play, and he put on a show. He's been great in training camp and it showed on the field. His six-yard touchdown grab in the second quarter was a thing of beauty. He showed athleticism and focus, as he brought in the catch lying on his back, inches from the sideline.
Dell played through the first half and had five receptions and 65 yards, with one touchdown. He’s been getting rave reviews from training camp and brought the same to the field in his first NFL game, albeit against the Patriots' backups. Still, he made the plays and took advantage of the opportunity.
If Dell can stack performances like that both in practices and in these preseason games, he will only build that confidence, not only within himself but his teammates, coaches, and more importantly with his quarterbacks. If he becomes a reliable go-to target, I’d expect him to put up some impressive numbers in his rookie year.
I hope the Dolphins play their starters for a little while next week and we get a chance to see Dell against some better competition, but the young man is off to a great start and looks poised to become a star in the NFL.
Davis Mills looked more comfortable
I know it’s just preseason, as I already mentioned in the opening to take these games with a grain of salt. But all you can ask of the players is to take advantage of what’s in front of them and that’s exactly what Davis Mills did.
If we are going to applaud Tank Dell for his performance against the Patriots backups, then we should do the same for Mills. He played very well in this game, helping guide the team to the lead, a lead the team would maintain throughout the game.
Mills completed nine of his passes while throwing 12 passes. He totaled 99 yards with one touchdown pass and a quarterback rating of 126.7. He still has a lot to prove and will need to continue performances such as this, if he is going to win the quarterback battle.
Unfortunately for him, he’s not only battling Stroud for the role but he likely feels like he’s battling the fans too. Most fans don’t want anything to do with Mills and will probably revolt if he starts this season over the number two overall pick, Stroud.
I will say this though, many players have had their breakout seasons in year three, and Mills showed promise his rookie year and had very little help last season. People were already writing off Josh Allen with the Buffalo Bills before his breakout, which came in year three. I’m not saying Mills is Allen but give the kid a chance, let’s see what he can do and get behind him if he wins the job.
Defense looked fantastic
These preseason games are hard to evaluate, given that starters may or may not play and if they do, it’s not for long. But it’s all we have to go on right now and the Texans defense looked for real. They were flying to the ball and making plays, and recorded three sacks in this game.
They held the Patriots' quarterbacks to only 86 passing yards on 21 total attempts. The Patriots completed 16 of those 21, which shows the Texans did a great job of tackling and keeping everything in front of them.
The Patriots were only able to manage 78 yards on the ground too, averaging a paltry 3.1 yards per carry, on 25 total carries. 34 of those yards came from quarterback Malik Cunningham in the fourth quarter too.
I have confidence the Texans defense will be the strength of this team and they showed us an early glimpse of what they could be in 2023. A stout defense will keep this team in contention week in and week out and keep them alive for a possible division title.
Rookies Henry To’oTo’o showed he can play as well, recording five combined tackles and could be a solid middle linebacker for this Texans team that already seems solid and has talent at all levels of the defense.
C.J. Stroud struggled in his preseason debut
For starters, let’s not overreact to C.J. Stroud’s performance in his preseason debut but still, hopefully, we’ll see improvement next week. The one bone I will throw for Stroud is the offensive line did not do him any favors. He was constantly under pressure and that will affect any quarterback’s play.
Stroud completed only two of four passes, with 13 yards and one interception. An abysmal stat line and I would expect to see more from him in Week Two of the preseason. I do feel they should have kept him longer, at least given him one more drive, call some screens or quick slants, something to give him some high percentage throws and easy completions.
For whatever reason, they pulled him after only two drives and maybe they were protecting him from the pressure he was seeing because the offensive line certainly wasn’t protecting him. Or maybe that was the team’s plan from the beginning, which makes little sense given he’s in the middle of a quarterback battle with Davis Mills who played the rest of the first half.
C.J. Stroud will go back to the drawing board and learn from his mistakes and his interception was definitely a mistake. The coaching staff will use this game to teach and further develop him. I think we’ll see a different Stroud next week and hopefully, the coaching staff will give him a few more snaps.
The Texans running game never got on track
I’ve been saying for a few months now that I think the Texans will be at the very least a top-ten rushing team. Well, despite a poor performance in this game, I will stand by that but they better get it going. The one caveat here is the Texans did not play some of their starting offensive linemen and it showed.
It showed not only throughout the game and their inability to open any rush lanes but also early on with the pass protection. Stroud was running around a little more than you want your quarterback to have to do.
That said, the backs only managed 89 yards on 30 carries, that’s less than three yards per carry. They did have the one touchdown run from Dalton Keene from one yard out. The team’s leading rusher was Mike Boone with 25 yards on four carries.
The Texans' free-agent acquisition Devin Singletary had five carries but for only 14 yards. Dameon Pierce did not play in this one and I would expect to see him next week and possibly the team’s expected starting five offensive line. If so, that could be a solid test and if we’re lucky, the Dolphins will roll out their starting defense to begin the game.