TEXANS PRESEASON
11 observations from the Texans' 26-7 win over the Packers
Aug 15, 2021, 8:25 am
The Texans won their first preseason game, 26-7. Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images.
The Houston Texans earn a win in Green Bay as plenty of positives jumped off the screen.
1. Despite the depth at tackles being depleted, Tyrod Taylor took care of his work in his brief appearance. The team's top quarterback was perfect on the evening hitting Chris Conley for two of his three completions. The drive stalled out and led to a field goal, but Taylor looked solid in his little bit of work.
2. Chris Conley continued his strong preseason with a handful of catches. The four snags netted him 51 yards. It will be interesting to see if Conley gets on the field with Brandin Cooks and Keke Coutee in the preseason or if that look is reserved for the regular season.
3. Davis Mills got plenty of action as he took over for Tyrod Taylor after Taylor's lone series. The results were mixed from the rookie quarterback. Mills' best toss of the night saw him find Keke Coutee on a nice strike.
4. Mills blew a few easy throws and tossed a red zone interception. Mistakes are to be expected but basically throwing a groundball on a screen and going too high on some easy tosses need to be cleaned up faster than other tosses.
5. Second-year player Jonathan Greenard forced a fumble as he dispatched the Packers offensive lineman and knocked the ball loose from Jordan Love's hand. Greenard would leave the game with what head coach David Culley called an ankle sprain.
6. Wide receiver Anthony Miller has a shoulder injury. He left the game on a cart. Miller has had a nice camp and hopefully isn't out too long.
7. Vincent Taylor continued his success on the practice field in this game. Taylor is a load for defenders but knifes through offensive lines with surprising quickness. Taylor was in on more than a few plays including almost sacking Packers quarterback Jordan Love.
8. Camp standout Roy Lopez did get a sack. Lopez earned it but DeMarcus Walker helped force it. There wasn't a tremendous amount of pressure from the defensive line, but the line was much more solid against the run.
9. Rookie tight end Brevin Jordan had a few nice plays. Jordan also had a drop as well, which is something that has popped up in camp a few times. Jordan should be trusted in the receiving game ahead of every tight end besides Pharoah Brown and Jordan Akins.
10. The linebackers, led by Kamu Grugier-Hill, had a solid night chasing the ball and stuffing the Packers in the running game. Green Bay rushed for just three yards in the first half.
11. Overall, a solid night for the Texans without many gaping holes. Not many, if any, Packers starters played significant snaps. The Texans had a fair amount of their own players set to be starters sitting as well. Preseason game two should see a few more expected starters on the field.
How 3 major x-factors could tip the scales in Texans-Colts: Week 1
Sep 5, 2024, 7:27 pm
Each football game of a season carries much more weight than one game in a 162 Major League Baseball schedule. That reality, combined with the National Football League campaign opening and with it the most anticipated season in Texans’ history, the Astros are relegated to second banana this weekend. Just the way it goes despite the Astros’ phenomenal extended run from 10 games out of first place in mid-June to now having control of the American League West race and a likely (though definitely not yet certain) eighth consecutive year of postseason play.
It is reality that getting swept out of Cincinnati cost the Astros two games in the standings to Seattle the last two days and trimmed their division lead to four and a half games going into this weekend. There was nothing shameful about getting swept. It’s not as if they choked. They got outplayed and beaten in all three games. Stuff happens within a 162-game season. The 2019 Astros were vastly better than the 2024 Astros. The 2019 ‘Stros posted the best record in franchise history at 107-55. In Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole they had the two best pitchers in the AL. The Reds finished 75-87 in ’19. In the lone Astros-Reds series five years ago, Verlander and Cole started two of the three games. The Reds swept the Astros out of Cincy by scores of 3-2, 4-3, and 3-2. Stuff happens. The following week the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez. There is no Yordan coming to fortify the offense now, but wait! Is that Kyle Tucker's music?
The Astros host the NL champs this weekend
It’s highly unlikely but it’s still a possible World Series preview at Minute Maid Park this weekend with the Astros home for three games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The reigning National League Champions woke up under .500 July 11, but since then have been sizzling with 33 wins against just 15 losses. Over the same time frame the Astros are 27-21. The Diamondbacks by a large margin have scored the most runs in MLB this season, and that’s while playing the last nearly three weeks without Ketel Marte because of a high ankle sprain. Marte has been far and away the best second baseman in the game this year. He may return this weekend in a designated hitter role. The Arizona offense overall has been sensational, however it has vulnerability against left-handed pitching, in significant part because it typically takes lefty-hitting platoon beast Joc Pederson out of the lineup. The D’Backs are 55-35 in games facing right-handed starters, just 24-27 in games started by opposing southpaws. The Astros have lefties Framber Valdez and Yusei Kikuchi set to go in the first two games this weekend. While the Astros deal with the Diamondbacks the Mariners are in St. Louis for three against the Cardinals.
Eleven Diamondbacks have had at least 200 plate appearances this season. Only one of them has an OPS below .725. The Astros also have 11 guys with at least 200 PAs. Five of them lug around sub-.715 OPSes: Jeremy Pena (.714), Jake Meyers (.664), Mauricio Dubon (.645), Jon Singleton (.697), and Chas McCormick (.566).
Maximizing Tucker's return
Speaking of returns, Tucker fiiiiiiinally should see action for the first time since his June 3 bone bruise. Oh wait, broken leg. Shame on the Astros for their BSing over this and other injuries. Yeah, Alex Bregman slept funny. Whatever. To boost the lineup Tucker doesn’t have to be the .979 OPS MVP candidate he was when felled. Ben Gamel has done some good work, but over time he’s Ben Gamel. Same for Jason Heyward. If Tucker's legs are under him his power is a B-12 shot and only Yordan is in his league in on-base percentage. Joe Espada has decisions to make as to how slot the batting order. Against a right-handed starter Jose Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, Bregman one through five makes sense with Tucker dropping down below Yainer against a left-handed starter. No question those are the top five in some order. How much of a workload Tucker is ready for bears watching. Presumably he doesn’t initially play the outfield day in day out. When Tucker DHs obviously Bregman (and Yordan) can’t so Alex’s ailing elbow holding up is key. One might say hopefully the bone chips don’t fall where they may. Tuesday the Astros start a stretch playing 16 days in a row.
Keep hope alive!
If you’re an Astros fan holding out hope of chasing down the second seed to avoid having to play the best-of-three Wild Card series, say it with me, whatever nausea it may induce: “Go Dodgers Go!” Hurt as it might, business is business. The Dodgers play host to the Guardians. The Astros trail Cleveland by five games with just 22 to play, but do finish the regular season with three games at Cleveland. It's pretty much over for the Astros to catch both the Orioles and Yankees.
Season-long trends mean nothing once the playoffs start, and that’s a good thing for the Astros provided they are in the playoffs. They continue to flat out stink in close games. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Reds has the Astros record in one-run games at 15-24. In two-run games they are 10-14. Correlatively, the Astros also continue to routinely fail late in close games. The Astros have played 14 games that were tied after seven innings. They have lost 11 of the 14. In games tied after eight innings they are 7-13. Every team loses an extremely high percentage of games when trailing after eight innings, but the Astros haven’t pulled out a single game they’ve trailed going to the ninth. 0-50. Oh and fifty. But hey, the White Sox are 0-92!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.