What was the good, bad, and ugly from the preseason finale?
At long last, fake football is over for another season. For most fans, the preseason is way too long and way too dull to pay full attention to. As a former coach, I absolutely get the need for it. You want as many game situations as you can get your hands on. This is why we see so many joint practices in addition to the preseason games. Coaches can’t get enough of it.
There are always two main objectives for all of the preseason games. The most important objective by a wide margin is to escape healthy. The Houston Texans have accomplished that feat for the most part. We will get to more on that later. The second objective is to find those guys that will occupy those last few roster spots. As I write this, no decisions have been made there, but by the time you read it some news will start trickling out.
Notice that I didn’t say winning or losing. Oh sure, we would all rather win games than lose games, but won-loss records in the preseason predict success about as well as good penmanship in stock car racing. So, I present the following numbers not because this individual game matters, but we do so in the furtherance of studying what impacts winning and losing.
The Key Numbers
Total Yards: Houston Texans 329, Los Angeles Rams 193
Rushing Yards: Texans 27/155, Rams 34/121
Passing Yards: Texans 36/174, Rams 16/72
Sacks: Texans 0, Rams 0
Turnovers: Texans 1, Rams 0
Penalties: Texans 9/85, Rams 6/64
Time of Possession: Texans 31:22, Rams 28:38
We will get to the good, the bad, and the ugly shortly, but it is pretty clear that the final score did not indicate how thoroughly the Texans dominated this game. Some of that was the one muffed punt. Some of that was key penalties that killed drives. Some of it was just the product of a game with third and fourth string players playing out the game.
The Good
If there was one nagging question on the offensive side of the ball this training camp it was a nagging question of whether the Texans will ever be an effective running team. We still don’t know the ultimate answer to that question until we see Joe Mixon in action, but this game went a long way in at least making you feel good about the possibility of some depth behind him.
Granted, this was third stringers against third stringers for the most part. I’m not going hog wild over Cam Akers potentially leading the NFL in rushing. The fact is that he can be a useful option to spell Mixon on occasion. The linemen in the game actually opened up a few holes, but this was a demonstration that we need backs that can make guys miss. The days of having a hole you could drive a Buick through aren’t here and aren’t likely to be here for awhile.
All of the other backs had good looking runs as well even if their overall numbers weren’t as impressive as Akers. Another encouraging thing this preseason has been the commitment to receiver runs that give the defense different looks. Steven Sims went for a 38 yard scamper. It shouldn’t be a regular feature, but one or two of those a game can keep the defense honest.
The Bad
I mentioned avoiding injuries and I should simply state that I meant “major” injuries. The Texans did not leave this game injury free. Thankfully, there were no starters on the field, but that doesn’t mean you are okay with anyone getting hurt. Sometimes these injuries are real things and sometimes they are wink-wink deals with players you want to keep, but don’t have a spot for.
Of course, I am not accusing the Texans of this or any specific player mind you. That would be irresponsible and inflammatory. Let’s just say it has been known to happen. In particular, the secondary was hit pretty hard as Kris Boyd, Brandon Hill, and Lonnie Johnson all seemed to be banged up in the game. Boyd and Hill were carted off the field, so those injuries look worse.
I have no way of knowing whether any of those three were set to make the team much less be a part of the rotation. Perhaps their injuries just provide the Texans with acceptable cover to move on from them. Maybe it means they will be scouring the waiver wire looking for quality depth. The next few days will tell us a lot.
The Ugly
There are certain rules of thumb I like to employ in life. One is that you cannot be a good human if you enjoy this week in the NFL. Is it fascinating on some level? Is it something we want to pay attention to? We can answer both of those questions in the affirmative, but I can’t enjoy it. We should take a moment to ponder that hundreds of players league wide will see their NFL dreams come to an end. Others will see it on life support as they may have to travel half way across the country to a new team and new city.
Yes, some of them make a lot of money. Yes, it is the business they signed up for. I’m not shedding any tears for any of them, but I am also not taking glee in whether a player makes the team or gets sent packing. Something can be interesting and important without being enjoyable. We at BRB are ramping up our coverage for the regular season and we enjoy things on that level. We are not rooting for NFL dreams to die.