STOOTS ON TEXANS
11 observations from Houston Texans 17-13 win over Saints
Aug 15, 2022, 9:01 am
Davis Mills didn't see much action on Saturday. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.
The Houston Texans played their first preseason game and turned in a winning effort. Here are 11 observations from the victory.
1. The initial and early offense felt scarily familiar to last season. It seemed like vanilla was the emphasis, but a negative play doomed the Texans on each of the Davis Mills led drives. This is an offense in training camp that has overcome bad plays, that wasn’t the case Saturday night.
2. Penalties showed up in force for the Texans. I disagreed with a handful of them, but it is clear there needs to be a little more work on these. It also could be simply the referee emphasis as well. The officials at practice have called offensive pass interference, and Chris Moore got dinged Saturday for that. The team currently doesn’t have the talent to regularly overcome a holding or other offensive penalty.
3. I’m not going to read too much into the first-team offense or the defense. Too many players who will play in games didn’t play in this one. I tend to focus more on individuals than teams in these situations.
4. Jalen Pitre has a nose for the football. It looked like almost every Baylor game out there from his college career. The safety was in on what felt like every play. It will be exciting to watch him assess his game film and build on it. Lovie Smith mentioned how important it was for players to get their first game out of the way. Well, mark that step down for Pitre.
5. Blake Cashman flashed plenty. His athletic deflection on a long-third down throw was a lovely play. He was getting his nose into a lot of the action as well. Cashman has a chance to make this team as linebacker depth. If he can build off the success from Saturday, he will be in a position to make the final roster.
6. Kurt Hinish is a name you may not know just yet. His name is worth learning though. The undrafted defensive tackle from Notre Dame has flashed in camp and he sacked his old teammate Ian Book on Saturday night. Roy Lopez and Maliek Collins are the team’s two defensive tackles, but there is room for someone like Hinish. I don’t believe he would make it to the practice squad.
7. Rookie defensive lineman Thomas Booker had some nice plays. He hasn’t stood out much in training camp to this point. It isn’t out of the question he is on the roster bubble, but there’s still time to find his way.
8. Jalen Camp scored a touchdown and did the crane celebration as a nod to teammate John Metchie who is dealing with cancer. Camp had a few flashes in training camp, but it isn’t consistent. There is an opportunity for a couple of wideouts, but nobody has separated to the point where I can say they have for sure earned the spots on the depth chart.
9. Dameon Pierce wowed on Saturday. It was great to watch the rookie rip off big physical runs. Pierce will be a factor for the Texans in 2022. The consistency of his work will determine how much of a factor. He is exciting, more than Marlon Mack, and if the team starts to trust him more, he has the talent to make it pay off for the Texans.
10. The special teams looks like it might be one of the best aspects of this team. Cam Johnston can absolutely BOOM the ball as a punter and could be one of the best in the league. The coverage on kicks was very good. This is something that will have to be great for the Texans as this is still a team that lives in the margins.
11. I’d guess the second preseason game will look a little closer to what the third preseason game used to look like. A little more from the expected starters would be a welcome sight. I would like to see a little more Davis Mills and a few more of the top players in the game for a stretch and see if Pep Hamilton wants to get a bit more creative.
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.