Costly miscues & injuries aside, Houston Texans have plenty to build on in these critical areas

TEXANS TAKEAWAYS

Costly miscues & injuries aside, Houston Texans have plenty to build on in these critical areasplay icon
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A new era of Houston Texans football kicked off over the weekend with DeMeco Ryans and company falling short against the Baltimore Ravens on the road.

While the outcome wasn't what the team and fans wanted, there were some positives to take away from the contest. Despite an abundance of injuries to the Texans in the preseason, the team was able to keep things close, with the Ravens up 7-6 at halftime.

The start of the third quarter is when things started going sideways for Houston. At this point in the game, both of the Texans backup safeties were in the game with Jimmy Ward ruled out earlier in the week, and Jalen Pitre leaving the game with a bruised lung right before halftime.

The Ravens capitalized, getting their run game going and eventually winning the game 25-9. The Texans couldn't get anything going on offense, with the running game struggling and CJ Stroud taking big sacks in crucial situations.

Texans running back Dameon Pierce only had 13 touches over the course of the game, with Mike Boone getting work on third down, and Devin Singletary adding 7 rushes for 15 yards. This felt all too familiar with Pierce. He was limited to 12 touches in the season opener last season, with Rex Burkhead get way more opportunities.

While the Texans don't want to run Pierce into the ground, 13 total touches in Week 1 doesn't seem like enough. And not having one of your best weapons on the field on third down, feels like a mistake.

Finally, we discuss some encouraging flashes from Texans rookie pass rusher, Will Anderson.

Be sure to watch the video above as we share our top takeaways from the game, and examine the areas the Texans can improve on before facing the Colts at NRG this Sunday.

Catch Texans on Tap (A Houston Texans podcast) every Monday on YouTube!

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Christian Walker delivers late heroics to push Astros past Rockies

The Astros beat the Rockies, 4-3. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Christian Walker homered twice, capped by a tiebreaking solo shot in the eighth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.

The game was tied 3-3 with no outs when Walker sent the first pitch from Luis Peralta (1-2) into left center field. Walker also homered in the first inning to make this the 15th multi-homer game of his career.

Jose Altuve also homered for the Astros, who won a second straight after dropping the series opener.

The Rockies had a chance to take the lead when they loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh. Jordan Beck reached on a catcher’s interference call on César Salazar, but Kaleb Ort struck out Brenton Doyle to leave everyone stranded.

Bryan King (4-3) threw a scoreless eighth for the win and Bryan Abreu allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.

Altuve and Walker hit back-to-back homers with two outs in the first inning to put Houston up 2-0. Mauricio Dubón scored on a bunt single by Salazar to push the lead to 3-0.

The Rockies loaded the bases with one out in the third and made it 3-1 when Mickey Moniak grounded into a force out that sent a run home.

Ezequiel Tovar homered into the seats in right field with two outs in the fourth.

Yanquiel Fernández tied it when he belted his second homer this season to right field in the fifth.

Key moment

Walker’s second home run.

MLB.com's Brian McTaggart caught up with Walker after the big win.

Key stat

The Rockies left 10 men on base.

Up next

Colorado RHP Germán Márquez (3-11, 5.67 ERA) is expected to come off the injured list Friday to oppose RHP Cade Horton (8-4, 2.88) in the opener of a three-game series against the Cubs.

Houston RHP Cristian Javier (1-1, 5.40) opposes LHP Tyler Anderson (2-8, 4.73) when the Astros open a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels Friday night.

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