STOOTS ON TEXANS
11 observations from Houston Texans 24-20 win over Rams
Aug 22, 2022, 9:21 am
The Texans are 2-0 in the preseason. Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images.
The Houston Texans win again late in their second preseason game. Here are 11 observations from the game.
1. Derek Stingley made his preseason debut. There wasn’t much action in Stingley’s way, but he got beat early. The Rams would rechallenge him only for Stingley to make the correct read and showcase some of the closing speed he has shown off in practice.
2. It is ok to make a mistake if you are Derek Stingley. The nature of the cornerback spot requires the ability to bounce back. Stingley, he can’t make the same mistake very many times. He’s shown the ability to learn from the mistakes in practice and now in a small way in this game.
3. Davis Mills and the almost-first-team offense stunk. I don’t believe this unit scores a touchdown if there wasn’t a personal foul penalty that gifted them some yards.
4. Davis Mills took a totally unacceptable sack for him and this team. Mills saw a wide-open Chris Moore and ignored him to try to make a bigger play. Mills was caught from behind and sacked. Moore easily has a few yards and maybe more. It is first down, in the first quarter. Take the easy play and keep moving. This offense, and team, aren’t built well enough to pass up on easy yards.
5. Max Scharping didn’t play well. The left guard for this game let a Rams defender work him and blow past him to sack Mills and force a fumble. Later, Scharping got pushed around again. The goodwill he built in camp is gone for me.
6. Kenyon Green needs to get back in a hurry. And when Green is back, he needs to be good. Max Scharping nor Justin McCray are suitable full-time left guards for the Texans.
7. Nico Collins caught what I thought was a bad ball from Davis Mills for a touchdown. The involvement of Collins mirrored what usually is the Brandin Cooks role. It will be interesting to see how the team uses Collins when Cooks is playing.
8. Jonathan Greenard might be a menace for this defense. There were spin moves, bull rushes, physical plays, and just general ass-kicking from the defensive end. I am much more excited for his season than I was before this game.
9. Kurt Hinish and Thomas Booker should make this team over Ross Blacklock. Blacklock is inconsistent and hasn’t showcased what Hinish or Booker has in these preseason games. With Roy Lopez and Maliek Collins as the starters at defensive tackle, Hinish and Booker can hold down the backup spots. Again, I don’t believe Hinish would make it to the practice squad if cut.
10. There were a few blitzes that led to sacks. Lovie Smith didn’t blitz much last year, it will be interesting to see if with a deeper and more talented set of defenders he will employ a few more blitzes.
11. The preseason games conclude Thursday with the 49ers in Houston. Lovie Smith has hinted this will be the most starter-heavy game. Hopefully, it includes more than 15 plays of Derek Stingley and a lot more offense from the likely first team of the Texans.
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Jun 5, 2025, 11:59 pm
All-Star balloting opened up this week for what used to be known as the Midsummer Classic in Major League Baseball. I guess some still refer to it as such but the All-Star Game has been largely a bore for many years, though the honor of being selected on merit remains a big one. As always, fans can vote at all positions except pitcher. The fan balloting has resulted in mostly good selections for years now, though pretty much all teams still do silly marketing stuff trying to drum up support for their players. The Astros’ part in that silliness is their campaign to make it the “All-’Stros” game on the American League squad in Atlanta next month. It’s one thing to be supportive of your team, it’s another to be flat out ridiculous if voting right now for Yainer Diaz, Christian Walker, Yordan Alvarez, Mauricio Dubon, or Cam Smith. The Astros tried to game the system in submitting Jose Altuve as a second baseman where the competition is weaker than it is in the outfield, but given Altuve has played only about 25 percent of the games at second base this season he should not be an All-Star second baseman selectee for what would be the tenth time in his career.
Isaac Paredes’s recent freefall notwithstanding, he has a legitimate case as a backup third baseman, especially with Alex Bregman likely missing more than a month of games due to his quad injury. Jake Meyers is having a fine season but is obviously not an All-Star-worthy outfielder unless he is sensational for the rest of June. That leaves Jeremy Peña, who is simply the best shortstop in the big leagues so far this season. To be clear, no team in baseball (including the Astros) would rather have Peña going forward than the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., but we’re talking about the here and now. There are another 100 games to be played, but Peña not only is about a lock to deserve his first All-Star nod, but he is in contention to put in the books the greatest season ever by an Astro shortstop.
Over his first three seasons, Peña was a consistently mediocre offensive player. His highest batting average was .266, best on-base percentage .324, top slugging percentage .426. He is blowing away all those numbers thus far in 2025. While unlikely to come close to reaching his preseason goal of 50 stolen bases, Peña is swiping bags at the best success rate of his career. Add in Peña’s stellar defense and that he has played in every Astros’ game so far this season, and Peña has been irrefutably one of the 10 best and most valuable players in the American League. You could certainly argue as high as top three.
If Peña's productivity holds up for the rest of the season there are only three other seasons posted by Astro shortstops that are in the same league as what would be Peña’s 2025. Carlos Correa has two of them. Lack of durability may be the biggest reason Correa is not tracking to be a Hall of Famer. In only two seasons as an Astro did Correa play in more than 136 games. He was fabulous in each of them. 2021 was his peak campaign, playing in 148 games while compiling an .850 OPS, winning a Gold Glove, and finishing fifth in AL MVP voting. Correa’s Baseball-Reference wins above replacement number for 2021 was 7.3. Peña is at 3.6 with nearly 20 games still left before the midway point of the schedule.
For the other great Astro shortstop season you have to go back to 1983. Dickie Thon turned 25 years old in June of ‘83. He put up a .798 OPS, which gains in stature given Thon played his home games in the Astrodome when the Dome was at its most pitching-friendly. Thon won the Silver Slugger Award as the best offensive shortstop in the National League, and played superior defense. His Baseball-Reference WAR number was 7.4. He finished seventh for NL MVP playing for an 85-77 Astros’ squad that finished third in the NL West. Dickie Thon looked like an emerging superstar. Then, in the fifth game of the 1984 season, a fastball from Mets’ pitcher Mike Torrez hit Thon in the left eye, fracturing his orbital bone. Thon missed the rest of the ‘84 season. While Thon played in nine more big league seasons, his vision never fully recovered and he was never the same player. It’s one of the biggest “What if...” questions in Astros’ history.
Arms race
Players and the Commissioner’s Office pick the All-Star pitching staffs. Unless he suddenly starts getting lit up regularly, Hunter Brown can pack a bag for Georgia. Framber Valdez wouldn’t make it now but has surged into contention. Josh Hader’s first half is going vastly better than last year’s, so he is in line for a reliever spot.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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