How fast can you pronounce...
The preseason is over. It's time to painstakingly put together the initial 53-man roster. We say 'initial' because, once it's out, this thing will change faster than you can properly pronounce Haggai Ndubuisi.
Just taking the day as 'football for football sake,' the Texans' 26-7 win at Detroit was a very entertaining preseason game. Yes, most of the would-be starters sat but those who took the field played with regular season intensity.
Maybe even career-changing intensity.
Runnin' Hot
But we're here to talk about getting the squad ready for September and, today, the running backs were the story. Operating behind a line that was determined to show that their position group cuts should give the Texans brass sleepless nights, the backs made play after play on their way to a 150-yard afternoon.
We haven't seen much of Dameon Pierce all preseason, but here he was starting and moving the pile. Rookie Woody Marks came in and crashed the party with some bruising runs including a nine-yard touchdown that got Texans fans out of their seats.
As they say in infomercials, "But wait, there's more!'
Jawhar Jordan entered the game and led everybody with 55 yards. Plus, British Brooks showed why he made last year's initial 53-man roster. Of course, Dare Ogunbowale was productive when he was in, but that's hardly breaking news.
Add all this up and you get what's called a 'crowed room' at RB.
If you can correctly predict the exact 53-man roster, along with IR and PUP designations, you should definitely enter your next NCAA Bracket contest, because this is almost as difficult.
What About Wideouts
Let's talk receivers – There were three wideouts, two of which joined the team this week and another who joined just two and a half weeks ago, combined for 11 catches for 140 yards and a touchdown. Quintez Cephus, Cornell Powell and Juwann Winfree put on a power trio show reminiscent of a RUSH concert. Cephus was with the team last August but the other two weren't – and the collective effort today was impressive.
Graham Mertz, who took home player of the game honors, and Kedon Slovis handled the signal-calling duties, combining for 256 yards, two TDs and an overall QB rating of 107.8.
The defense featured front-liners like Foley Fatukasi, Derek Barnett and Christian Harris. They forced a three-and-out on the opening possession, including a sack by Tommy Togiai, who my colleague John Harris has been spotlighting all camp. They did give up a Kyle Allen TD pass for the only Detroit score before pitching a shutout for the rest of the day.
This game will go down in no history book other than a stat file and my crowded brain of Texans memories. Yet, several of these players will contribute mightily to the team's success this season. A few might be doing that for other teams. Some who we say goodbye to this week might be back at some point. And I'll be the first to remind you of any plays they made on this day.
