Battle Red Blog
The Houston Texans 2025 campaign is not off to the hot start third-year head coach DeMeco Ryans & staff anticipated. After an efficient and effective first offensive drive, the Texans offense stalled out for the remainder of the game.
Familiar woes consumed the Texans throughout the game. False starts, holding calls, and poor run blocking stymied the Texans from defeating the Vikings in their first action of the 2025 preseason.
Houston racked up eight penalties and rookie QB Graham Mertz threw three interceptions in the Texans’ territory in the fourth quarter. It was a thoroughly forgettable outing for the rookie QB in his first game back since tearing his ACL at Florida in mid-October.
Davis Mills started the game while C.J. Stroud sitting out the entire contest. He looked efficient in an offense reminiscent of Gary Kubiak’s west-coast scheme. Mills diced up the Vikings defense on his first drive which culminated in a 14 yard pass to Braxton Berrios.
The first-team defense mostly sat out, but the backups severed themselves well. The Vikings completed two field goals to start the game on 12 and 13 play drives respectively. Casey Toohill and newly added Haggai Ndubusi recorded the team’s only sacks. However, the Vikings offense pointedly targeted the pair in the ground game in the second half.
In the second half, the Texans secondary, which was pinned back against its own goal line for the majority of the half, conceded multiple throws to Max Brosmer and Minnesota’s third-string receiving corps. Injuries to C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Jaylen Reed in training camp left the secondary thin.
The big winners from the game were Davis Mills, Jaylin Noel, and Braxton Berrios. The two receivers caught five total passes from Mills and Slovis and looked effective in short-yardage plays.
Houston refused to throw the ball downfield, something which has been noted by the media in training camp. When second-year QB Kedon Slovis took over for Mills in the second quarter, the Texans offense opened up a bit, but was still ineffective moving the ball down the field. Slovis went 11/15 on the day had an above-and-away better day than Mertz.
Houston’s next preseason matchup is against the Carolina Panthers next Saturday, August 16 at NRG Stadium. The team will hope to bounce back against the 2023 first overall pick Bryce Young, selected just before Houston’s two picks C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr.
