The Texans fall to the Saints 31-23

The Texans went into their third preseason game against the Saints undefeated. After beating the Dolphins and Vikings, the Saints would be the best offensive team they've faced yet this preseason. And with it being week 3 many of both teams starters played at least one quarter to get them ready for week 1 of the regular season. While the Texans starters looked good on both sides of the ball they fell to the Saints 31-23 on Sunday, and suffered their first loss of the preseason.

Texans QB Matt Schaub had another efficient game this week when he was on the field. He was 15-26 and threw for 213 yards in just one half of work. Schaub is likely done for the preseason and played really well. He'll finish up 28-42  for 339 yards and 1 TD. Schaub said during an interview that this team's next step is a Super Bowl championship, and for them to get there he'll have to continue playing efficient smart football going in to regular season.

WR Andre Johnson and RB Ben Tate had a monster games as well this week. Johnson had 131 yards on 7 catches. Like Schaub, Johnson only played the first half. He looked like he did to finish the season last year when he finished with close to 1,600 yards and had yet another season over 100 catches. Tate had 74 yards on 11 carries and 1 TD. With Pro Bowl RB Arian Foster not playing again  this week Tate took advantage of his time. After fumbling on his first carry of the game he rebounded and had his most impressive game of the preseason yet. His rushing TD was the lone TD by the Texans starting unit in the game.

Along with the Texans first team offense the defense was really good to start this game. Most of the starters played the whole first half. They didn't allow a TD in the first quarter of the game. They were putting pretty regular pressure on Drew Brees. The biggest standout for the Texans to me was rookie OLB Willie Jefferson. He was a constant disturbance off the edge for the Texans. Jefferson started this preseason looking to secure a roster spot on the team, but may have already played well enough to be the backup to starting OLB Whitney Mercilus. Second year DE Jared Crick also looked good, he got the start with a resting JJ Watt and suspended Antonio . He made a big play early in the game, getting a sack on Drew Brees.  Next week the Texans play the Dallas Cowboys, and will be looking to finish up their preseason with a winning record for the 3rd consecutive year.

Texans hold on to beat Dolphins 24-17 in Cushing's return

After opening the preseason with a win over the Vikings last week the Houston Texans played the Miami Dolphins in week 2. This would be a good test for the Texans offensively and defensively with many of their starters playing this week. RB Arian Foster was still out with soreness in his back, but other than that every other starter on both sides saw time in the game against Miami.

Offensively the Texans looked really good, scoring a TD in each of the first 3 quarters. Each one thrown by a different QB. The Texans QB trio of Matt Schaub, TJ Yates, and Case Keenum were a combined 26-38 for 326 yards, 3 TD's, and a QB Rating of 110.2. The QB's were in fine form as they all found a different target for each of their TD's. Schaub finding TE Owen Daniels, Keenum hitting WR Lestar Jean on a fourth down conversion, and yater hitting TE Garrett Graham. Though the offense clicking the Texans did lose rookie WR DeAndre Hopkins to a concussion from his head being bounced off the turf after a hit. Hopkins was drafted to be the weapon on the other side of the field opposite Andre Johnson. In week 1 he showed he could be that guy when he made a spectacular catch over a defender against the Vikings.

The RB battle was something to watch in this game with Arian Foster still not playing for the Texans. Veteran RB Deji Karim took full advantage of the time he got on the field. Karim finished the game with 55 yards rushing on 9 carries and looked solid making his cuts in the Texans zone running scheme. Karim is battling to get the thits RB spot behind Arian Foster, and Ben Tate. Coming into this game Karim's competition was rookie RB's Cierre Wood and Dennis Johnson. But after his performance he may be in the lead now, as he also has the ability to return kickoffs when needed.

The Texans had a lot to look forward to this week on defense with the return of Brian Cushing. The team's emotional leader on defense, and it showed when he was on the field. 208 total yards was all the Texans defense gave up against the Dolphins. And they were able to get the QB 6 times in the game. The Texans were able to do all this without starting OLB and pass rush weapon Whitney Mercilus who was out due to injury. With Mercilus out rookie OLB Willie Jefferson got more time on the field and looked good coming off the edge. Cushing looked to be back to his old self, as shown when he leaped 5 yards in an attempt to sack Ryan Tannehill in the first quarter of this game. That's a great sign for the Texans, they're hoping a healthy Cushing will return this defense to the top 5 rank they had when he was injured last season.

The Houston Texans open preseason with a win over the Vikings

After a long off season the NFL has returned and the preseason is now in full swing for every team I'm the league. The Texans opened up their campaign against 1 of the 4 teams that actually beat them last season in the Vikings. There was plenty to watch for during the game. Whether it was the battle at RB to determine who'll take the teams 3rd and final RB spot, or maybe you just wanted to see the Texans 1st rd pick WR DeAndre Hopkins in his first action as a pro, in which he didn't disappoint. The Texans won the game 27-13 on Friday night against the Vikings to open up their preseason.
First thing first, QB Matt Schaub has been scrutinized all off season by analysts who say he's got to step up.this season for the Texans to be successful. He was limited to just one drive but was an efficient 5-5 for 34 yards, and led the Texans down field the drive which ended with a field goal. Schaub did this without All-Pro's Arian Foster and Andre Johnson as they both sat on Friday.
Even with Schaub having decent outing on his one drive, the QB's that shined the most were his backups. Both TJ Yates and Case Keenum had solid games against the Vikings. Yates finished with 151 yards passing, a TD, and a QB rating of 99.5 while Keenum had 125 yards passing, a TD, and a rating of 109.7. Both know either could end up.being the backup for Schaub and are playing like they want it. 
Rookie WR DeAndre Hopkins was as advertised as well during the game. He was drafted in the 1st rd to compliment Andre Johnson. Johnson who's the franchises all time leading WR hasn't ever really had a threat like Hopkins on the other side of the field since being drafted 11 years ago. On a deep ball thrown by TJ Yates Hopkins showed his big play and big catch ability when he went up and too a ball at it's highest point from the Vikings defender. Hopkins had this to say about the play: "TJ put the ball where it needed to be. I came down with the play. I knew it was mam-to-man so I felt like I was going to get the ball. It felt great having my first preseason touchdown."
With Arian Foster out Ben Tate got the start for the Texans. After Tate was done the battle for that 3rd RB spot started. Rookie RB's Dennis Johnson and Cierre Wood both are working hard to show they deserve the spot. But on Friday night one did out play the other as Cierre Wood had a great game. He made the most of his 10 carries as he racked up 59 yards while Johnson got only 11 yards off his 7 carries. Wood looked more comfortable in the zone scheme and made nice moves to get himself some nice runs in the game. Wood looked to be a better downhill runner in this game, and gave himself the early advantage with his performance Friday night.
Without JJ Watt and Brian Cushing among others the defense was definitely short handed. But they still had a good showing only allowing 296 total yards for the game and getting 2 turnovers off INT's from safeties Eddie Pleasant and Shiloh Keo. The linebackers looked good after having depth issues all last season it seems the signing of Joe Mays and finally having Darryl Sharpton healthy could solve the Texans problems. Sharpton and Mays were the starters at ILB on Friday and did a great job. Both are playing for the starting spot beside Brian Cushing, and both made really strong cases for themselves in the game.