TEXANS PRESEASON
11 observations from the Texans' 20-14 win over the Cowboys
Aug 22, 2021, 1:35 pm
The Texans are 2-0 in the preseason. Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images.
The Houston Texans earn another win in the preseason game as players begin to separate themselves in the quest to make the roster.
1. Jacob Martin's strip-sack on the first drive was a welcomed sight. Martin is a speed demon off the edge so in clear passing situations these are the types of plays the Texans need from him to make his reps have meaning. Martin beat the Cowboys starting right tackle on the rep as well. It should be expected Martin will be in the defensive line rotation.
2. It's a small criticism, but in a quick-change scenario like a fumble, the Texans can do more. The first play out of the takeaway wasn't a deep shot or attempt at the end zone. A quick change like a fumble allows you to take a shot, but offensive coordinator Tim Kelly ran a play with a handful of shorter routes. It would have been nice to see a shot to the end zone or a potentially bigger play.
3. The fourth and short aggressiveness was nice to see. The Texans will have to win some of those risk-taking situations to beat teams this year. The play calls on the two fourth and short plays though left a lot to be desired. I won't be too critical since you don't want to show your good stuff in the preseason, but I would've liked to see a throw on the second attempt.
4. Mark Ingram is the first running back who will play for this team, and he has plenty of juice left in the tank despite his long NFL career to this point. Ingram will surprise some opponents this season with his catching ability, he's flashed it in practice. Ingram being in a rotation should keep him fresh all year.
5. Maliek Collins flashed more than a few times in his first preseason action. 97 looks like a weird number, but get used to seeing it as Collins will be an important piece of this Texans defensive line.
6. The Texans could have some tough decisions to make on the interior defensive line. It feels like almost every player on the defensive line has had some good stretches. Perhaps the team can store someone they cut on the practice squad as the expanded practice squad rules are in effect this year.
7. Speaking of first preseason action, how about the eye-popping play of Charles Omenihu? The former Texas product annihilated a tight end and took down the Cowboys quarterback. Omenihu must be great this season for this defense to be good. His growth as a pass rusher is one of the most important aspects of 2021's season.
8. Desmond King has flashed more than a few times as the returner for this team. There could be some thought given to keeping an additional wideout, someone like Chris Moore, instead of Andre Roberts who was signed as a returned specialist. King's success in games, and practice, is hard to ignore.
9. Davis Mills, nor Tyrod Taylor for that matter, made very many highlight-reel plays. Mills locked onto his receiver far too much but had a few nice passes. The whole offense felt disjointed most of the night. Third down was putrid, and Texans head coach David Culley mentioned blitzes affected how they were operating in the money down. The team needs to be efficient and make third downs manageable. They don't have the talent to overcome long third downs.
10. Lonnie Johnson's interception was one of the many takeaways the team had. Don't call them turnovers, not to defensive coordinator Lovie Smith at least. This team will have to capitalize on takeaways almost every time to beat most teams. Johnson's interception is a huge play for the third-year player who has to play well for this team in 2021.
11. The tight end group is an easy decision at this point, as I see it. Cornerback is shaping up pretty well too. Most of the other positions will come with some difficult decisions. It will be a fight to keep certain players in the organization while some will easily find themselves looking for a new team.
With overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s this week in Houston, it seems good timing to have the warm thoughts of baseball being back, at least spring training games. The Astros have more shakiness about their squad than they have had in nearly a decade, but the Astros still have a nucleus of an American League West contender. With the exits of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, it’s just a notably different nucleus than in recent years.
Jose Altuve is the last remaining mainstay of the greatest era in Astros’ history, and he is one of the biggest stories of their preseason as he for the time being at least is left fielder Jose Altuve. By every indication he is embracing the challenge with class and energy. The obvious impetus for test driving the move is the soon-to-be 35 years old Altuve’s defensive deterioration. It can be tough for the player himself to notice that his range has declined. The voiding of defensive shifts after the 2022 season shined a brighter light on Altuve’s D decline. Still, last season Altuve made his ninth All-Star team and despite also displaying some offensive decline remained the clearly best offensive second baseman in the American League. It’s part of the tradeoff of reducing the defensive workload on Yordan Alvarez, and hoping to upgrade defensively at second with some combo of Mauricio Dubon, Brendan Rodgers, or other.
The natural comparison in Astros’ history of a franchise icon losing his defensive spot and making a late-career position change is to Craig Biggio. Biggio’s All-Star days were behind him when the Astros moved him from second base to center field for the 2003 season because of the signing of free agent Jeff Kent. It spoke to the athlete Biggio was that at 37 years old he could make the move at all. After not quite a season and a half in center, Biggio moved to left when the Astros traded for young stud center fielder Carlos Beltran. Both Kent and Beltran left in free agency after the 2004 season, and Biggio moved back to second for the final three seasons of his career.
Second basemen are often second basemen and not shortstops in part because of their throwing arms. Altuve’s throwing arm will be an issue in left field. Even though Daikin Park has the smallest square footage of fair territory in Major League Baseball because of its left to left-center field dimensions, Altuve’s arm will be a liability. In understandably wanting to put an optimistic spin on things, manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown have talked of how Altuve will be able to get momentum behind throws more so than when playing second. That’s true when camping under a fly ball in the outfield. That is not true when Altuve will have to cut off balls hit toward the left field line, or cutting across into the left-center field gap. There will be balls that would be singles when hit to other left fielders that will become doubles when Altuve has to play them, and baserunners will go from first to third and second to home much more readily. As an infielder Altuve has always been outstanding at running down pop-ups, so there is reason to believe he’ll be solid tracking fly balls in the outfield. However, the reality of a guy who is five feet six inches tall (in spikes) is that there will be the occasional fly ball or line drive that is beyond his grasp that more “normal” sized outfielders would grab. Try to name a good outfielder who stood shorter than five-foot-nine...
Here’s one: Hall of Famer Tim Raines (also originally a second baseman) was (and presumably still is!) five-foot-eight.
Here's another: Hall of Famer Hack Wilson was five-six. Four times he led the National League in home runs topped by a whopping 56 in 1930 when he set the still standing record of 191 runs batted in for a single season.
And another: Hall of Famer five-foot-four “Wee” Willie Keeler. Who last played in 1910.
Just a bit outside
Another element new to the Grapefruit League in Florida (and Cactus League in Arizona) this year is the limited use of what Major League Baseball is calling the Automated Ball Strike System. The ABS is likely coming to regular season games next year. This spring will be our first look at its use in big league games. Home plate umpires making ball and strike calls will not be going the way of the dinosaur. Challenges can be made until a team is wrong twice. Significantly, only the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge and must do so within two seconds of the pitch being caught. No dugout input allowed. No time to watch a replay.
The Astros’ spring park in West Palm Beach is not among the 13 facilities set up with ABS cameras. That seems silly given that the Astros share the place with the Washington Nationals. More use would be gotten from, and more data collected there than will be from a park with half the spring games played in it.
The countdown to Opening Day is on. 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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