And Paul Gallant's other "In A Nutshell" thoughts on Texans - Lions

Uh, What's Going On At Texans Tackle?

Paul Gallant
Aug 20, 2019, 6:44 am

To fully get in the mood for the coming hot Texans takes, you're going to need to go back to 2001. To a place of angst, sadness, and alternative metal post-grunge. STAIN[d] YOURSELF.

But I'm going to change the lyrics up for you:

"It's been a while . . . since I could . . . trust the Texans offensive line to not be an accomplice to QB murder!"

"It's been a while . . . since they had Duane Brown."

Songwriter Aaron Lewis said that this song was about addiction and failed relationships. That it's an acknowledgement of the past. And considering the Texans have had a plus starter at left tackle for just 1 of the last 33 games they've played, this song really hits home.

  • They've got an addiction to trying young linemen out at multiple positions from the get go, usually confusing them
  • And they've been through failed relationships with Brandon Brooks and Duane Brown, who have thrived in Philly and Seattle respectively
The Texans seemed to acknowledge their recent past - an offensive line featuring zero blue chip caliber players - by drafting Tytus Howard and Max Scharping in the first 2 rounds of April's draft.
But things haven't looked very improved for the unit thus far this preseason, especially when they've involved left tackle Matt Kalil. That said, Saturday night against the Lions, the Texans had a completely different starting offensive line:
  • Left tackle: Roderick Johnson
  • Left guard: Tytus Howard
  • Center: Zach Fulton
  • Right guard: Max Scharping
  • Right tackle

And the results of this unit? On the Texans first drive of the season featuring both Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins? Well . . .

. . . It looked good! Deshaun had plenty of time, and led the Texans on an easy 11 play, 75 yard touchdown drive that ended with a 4 yard touchdown pass to Hopkins.

I don't know much about Roderick Johnson, and he was only out there for one drive. But based off what I saw Saturday (against a very vanilla Lions defense without its best player: Trey Flowers), and what I've heard from some ex-player colleagues of mine, he's looked better than Matt Kalil this off-season. That said, after the game Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said that Kalil "is the starting left tackle" AND that Kalil will play next week.

Even more unfortunately:

Football coaches are notorious for being misleading and vague, if not outright lying. And Bill O'Brien has been no different. Take the way that he handled Deshaun Watson his rookie season, constantly declaring Tom Savage the team's starting quarterback until just one half of football had been played in 2017. I'm hoping that O'Brien is doing that again, because Kalil sure as hell hasn't looked likesomeone who should be trusted with defending Deshaun Watson's blind side.

[Also, for the love of Tom Brady, please trade for Trent Williams. He will never play another down for the Redskins because they have an incompetent training staff and misdiagnosed a tumor that he had on his head. McClain was probably told by someone in the organization that there's no interest in him on the Texans front, and if that's true, that's simply dumb.]

My other thoughts on Texans - Lions . . .

PLEASE DON'T GET HURT, THANK YOU.

Seeing actual starters playing in the preseason is just a LITTLE traumatizing. The games are meaningless, and even though I enjoy seeing them on the field, I'd MUCH prefer that none of them you know, die.

The Good:

D-Hop gets it. While his teammates were busy being show ponies lightly jogging through a tunnel of cheerleaders onto the field, Nuk took a diagonal path and walked the shortest distance possible to the Texans sideline. He's already the best wide receiver in the NFL. And after further minimizing the risk for a freak accident injury he CLEARLY deserves a 100 awareness rating in Madden.

The Bad:

On a third and 8 from the Lions 12, Deshaun took off on a scramble . . .

[Paul nervously bit his lip]

. . . and when a defender came up to stop him . . .

[Paul frantically began pull his own hair]

. . . he dove . . .

[Paul murmured "no"]

. . . headfirst . . .

[Paul screamed "NO!"]

. . . only to end up a yard short of the first down.

[Paul heckled "DO YOU WANT TO TAKE ANOTHER BUS TO PRESEASON GAME NUMBER 3 IN OKLAHOMA????"]

Tytus Howard already had an uphill battle as a rookie offensive lineman who might be a day one starter. Throwing a broken finger at him will make things even more difficult for him this year, even if it's something he can play through.

That said, maybe now the Texans will keep him at left guard and stop giving him reps / possible confusion by sometimes sliding him over to left tackle.

QUICKIES:

  • He hasn't gone up against any receivers of note. But in 2 games, Bradley Roby has been giving opposing receivers practically zero separation while in man coverage. And Saturday, he deflected a key pass on third down. Was it a poorly thrown pass by a not so good quarterback? Yup. Still, having ANY cornerback who can make plays on the ball is an upgrade.
  • Whitney Mercilus also looked good out there. I'm hoping that the Texans continue to put him in spots where he can get after the passer, because he's pretty damn good at that. But that may depend on whether or not Jadeveon Clowney rejoins the team.
  • There may be an early season roster spot as a receiver up for grabs with Keke Coutee's ankle injury. Unfortunately, Vyncint Smith and Tyron Johnson may have let that opportunity slip through their fingers with a couple of drops. Luckily, DeAndre Carter looked very much like he can still be trusted should Coutee be out a prolonged period of time.
  • The Texans love Joe Webb's versatility. But if backup QB A.J. McCarron's thumb injury lingers into the regular season, they've got to find an actual backup quarterback. Webb can scoot, but between the interception he threw into triple coverage and the one pass he threw left handed, I want zero part of him coming into a game should Deshaun Watson get hurt.
  • And this was awesome...

Paul Gallant hosts the "Gallant Says" podcast (Tuesdays & Fridays), "Just Sayin'", Friday nights at 10:30 on Kube 57, and contributes to SB Nation Radio. Have any questions? Get after him on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

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Houston gets another victory in Anaheim

Astros overpower Angels again as magic number dwindles

Kyle Tucker had 3 of Houston's RBI on Tuesday night, including a two-run homer. Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images

After a beatdown of the Angels on Monday in the opener, the Astros entered Tuesday's game looking to replicate that success. Though Los Angeles would put up more of a fight, Houston still used their potent offense to keep the game out of reach.

Final Score: Astros 10, Angels 5

Astros' Record: 90-61, first in the AL West

Winning Pitcher: Jose Urquidy (8-3)

Losing Pitcher: Packy Naughton (0-3)

Houston's bats keep connecting to back up Urquidy

The Astros picked up on Tuesday's game where they left off on Monday, launching homers to take and extend a lead. A leadoff walk by Carlos Correa in the top of the second set up Kyle Tucker, who drove a two-run shot. Aledmys Diaz was next, making it back-to-back jacks to push the new lead to 3-0.

That gave Jose Urquidy a lead to work with, which came in handy as former Astro Jack Mayfield cut the lead to two runs with a leadoff solo homer in the bottom of the second. Other than that, Urquidy did well through five innings, allowing just two other hits over that span. LA got to him in the sixth, getting two singles to set up a three-run homer to end his night. His final line: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2 HR, 79 P.

The runs keep coming

He would still leave in line for the win, though, as before that bottom of the sixth, the Astros had put up seven more runs across the fifth and sixth. A leadoff walk in the top of the fifth was followed by a two-run homer by Jose Altuve, then later in the frame, an RBI single by Aledmys Diaz made it 7-1. They pushed that to double digits in the sixth, with a leadoff solo shot by Martin Maldonado, a sac fly by Carlos Correa, and an RBI groundout by Kyle Tucker, putting them up 10-1 before the homer allowed by Urquidy cut that to 10-4.

Astros win to reduce magic number again

In the sixth, Cristian Javier took over for Urquidy, finished that inning, and returned for a scoreless seventh. He ran into Shohei Ohtani to lead off the bottom of the eighth and left a fastball in the zone, which Ohtani turned around 445 feet to make it a five-run game. Javier still got through the inning, leaving just the ninth for Houston's second reliever of the night, Josh James. James would get through a scoreless inning, erasing a leadoff walk as the lopsided win paired with an A's loss reduces Houston's magic number to 4.

Up Next: The third of this four-game series will be another 8:38 PM Central start on Wednesday. Janson Junk (0-1, 2.25 ERA) will make his third career start for the Angels, while Luis Garcia (11-7, 3.37 ERA) will have the ball for the Astros.

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