Battle Red Blog
It is certainly better to win football games than lose football games and your Houston Texans defeated the Detroit Lions 26-7. There were no starters playing in this one on either side. What remained was some young guys and journeymen fighting for jobs. So, while the final result might not have been important for either team, there certainly some individual plays and performances that were important to the coaching staff as they make the final decisions on the 53 man roster.
The focus on most of training camp has been on the offense in general and the offensive line specifically. They kept the quarterbacks fairly clean and opened up enough holes for the running backs to experience some success on this day. Both Graham Mertz and Kedon Slovis had good days behind the center in what will ultimately be the battle for the third quarterback slot. The Texans probably don’t keep a third quarterback on the 53 man roster, but one or both should be on the pracrice squad. However, 31 other teams could look at them and potentially snag them if they want to carry three quarterbacks.
The other two positions of interest in this game were the backups at running back and the backups at wide receiver. It’s hard to know where exactly the depth chart stood before the game, but it is clear who was flashing on Saturday. Quintez Cephus wins the Keystone Light player of the game award with his six catches six balls and a nice contested touchdown pass from Graham Mertz.
Defensively, the game was a lot like the Panthers game before. The second drive was an impressive drive for the Lions, but otherwise there wasn’t a ton going on. I’m sure the coaches will have some comments and some plays they will want to clean up, but very few of the players missing those plays will be Texans following Tuesday. Yet, most of the plays made from the defense were positive plays and that might have gotten those guys on the final roster.
All in all, it was a good day for your Houston Texans. They made it through the game without any apparent major injuries. There could be some *wink wink* injuries that could allow them to stash a player for the future, but there were no genuine injuries. There were also some great plays for young players to put on tape for a future NFL or UFL team. We make light of that, but this is these player’s lives we are talking about. Everyone deserves that moment of glory. What did you think? Which players stood out to you?
