Grading the 2012 Texans’ Rookies
The season is over and now it is time to look at the Houston Texans rookies and give our grades for them this season. The Draft Picks Jared Crick- A spot player but made the defensive line rotation after Tim Jamison went down for the season with an injury. He showed he can play against the run and played both defensive end and nose tackle this season. Still some learning to do, he was called in to spell Antonio Smith in run situations. Expect a bigger workload for Crick in 2013. Grade: C+ Brandon Brooks- Silent for the majority of the season,…
Texans First Cuts Announced
The Houston Texans have released their first cuts of the preseason and getting to the league mandated 75 by Monday. The biggest surprises with the current list is Brett Hartmann, Derrell Smith and Nick Mondek. Nick Mondek was drafted in the 6th round in the 2012 NFL draft and was considered a project coming into the season. He never really impressed at any level to get to the second round of cuts. Derrell Smith, who was making a position change from linebacker to fullback, never got going with the offense. Below are the first major moves of the preseason. First Cuts of the Preseason (12) Omar…
Randy Bullock Lands on Injured Reserve
Head Coach Gary Kubiak gave a bit of bad news pertaining to rookie kicker Randy Bullock, when he informed the media Sunday afternoon that Bullock would be placed on injured reserve. Bullock’s season will come to an end before it ever started and the starting kicking job might go to Shayne Graham, barring any moves within the week. An injured groin, described as “black and blue” by Kubiak, is what sent Bullock for tests this morning. According to reports, Bullock has been battling this injury since camp started and kicking through the pain. Bullock did the majority of the kicking last night and was 3 of…
Texans: Back Burner Issues
Houston Texans’ fans were concerned with two big situations when first coming into camp, the wide receiver situation and the right side of the offensive line. Now heading past the halfway point of the preseason, the recent play of young wide receivers Keshawn Martin and Lestar Jean has calmed the wide receiver worries a bit. As for the right side of the offensive line, it looks like Antoine Caldwell has the right guard position under control while the right tackle position is still being sorted out between Derek Newton and Rashad Butler. If you have been keeping up with the Texans, you have been paying attention to those story lines and know what is…
Texans Players to Watch: New Orleans Edition
The final real tune up for the Houston Texans’ starters will be this coming Saturday night, and they will encounter a good test with the New Orleans Saints. The accurate arm of Drew Brees will be a good test for the Texans’ secondary, who were torched in the 2011 regular season by the Saints’ passing attack. A new season and new issues, the Texans have some kinks to work out on both offense and defense before decisions are made on personnel when the Miami Dolphins come to Reliant in week one. Despite a good showing against the San Francisco 49ers, there were a…
The Rundown: Texans vs. 49ers
The second preseason game is in the books and the Houston Texans came out with a win over the San Francisco 49ers, 20-9. As always, there was plenty news and notes from the game and some players making some noise to stay with the Texans into week 1. Game two of the preseason has helped separate some players from others and let fans get a better idea on how the coaches and front office might be thinking with personnel. After a slow start offensively, Head Coach Gary Kubiak left the offensive starters the entire first half to get them some rhythm, which they responded…
Inside the Box Score: Carolina Edition
While watching the game on Saturday and reviewing the box score and play by play on NFL.com, I noticed some positive and negative numbers for the Texans. Positive: While the Texans’ longest run was only 15 yards, it was good to see them make a few big pass plays. They had 4 pass plays go for over 20 yards, and only one of these plays was made by a significant piece from the offense last year (Owen Daniels). Lestar Jean, Keshawn Martin, and Garrett Graham had the other 3 big plays. Hopefully they can keep that up in the…
The Rundown: Texans vs. Carolina
The first preseason game is in the books and the Houston Texans looked good on their opening game of the 2012 preseason. Despite some turnovers and red zone issues that should work themselves out, the Texans beat the Carolina Panthers 26-13. It was a good start for the Texans even though the starters were limited and the reserves saw the majority of the playing time starting in the second quarter. Here are a few thoughts from the Preseason Opener. - Tim Dobbins (pictured above) was all over the field against the Panthers and played like the seasoned veteran he is. He was…
Training Camp: On the Mend
Entering Day Seven of Houston Texans training camp, the big story in camp was the recent injury to J.J. Watt and the excused absence of wide receiver Lestar Jean. Here are some camp notes from today. – There were plenty of rumors flying around on the absence of Lestar Jean from Thursday’s practice, but on Friday he was the first one on the field and was working with assistants on the jugs machine. Jean looked like a totally different player, almost rejuvenated from the previous days. He caught plenty of passes and caught a deep bomb from the arm of T.J. Yates on a play…
Texans Training Camp: Another Scare
Full pads were on for the 6th day of camp and the Houston Texans did receive a scare to one of their star players. - Duane Brown, starting left tackle, got kicked on his left ankle when he got rolled up from behind. Brown played two plays after the incident but couldn’t continue. After evaluation they shut him down for the day and he headed in for an MRI. The MRI came back negative and was only deemed a bone bruise. He has been listed as day-to-day. Rashad Butler will fill in at the left tackle position until Brown comes back….
