Josh Keyes finished Thursday night's win over the Chiefs with four total tackles.
But the hit the Texans linebacker delivered on Kansas City's Kerwynn Williams late in the third quarter was ferocious.
"Basically the quarterback looked my way, I saw the receiver coming in, I just put my shoulders down and I hit the running back," Keyes said.
On 2nd-and-7 at the Texans' 17-yard line, the Chiefs' Matt McGloin zipped a pass over the middle to Williams. As he caught it, Keyes drilled the running back into the turf. It was fierce hit, but a clean one.
"From the view that I had of it, just from the sideline, I definitely think he made an effort to try to hit him with his shoulder," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "I think obviously the officials saw it the same way. We will see more detail in the film, but I thought that that was what I saw."
Keyes, who signed with the Texans as a free agent this offseason, has spent time with five different organizations since entering the NFL in 2015. He's not been a Texan for long, but his hitting ability was nothing new for quarterback Deshaun Watson.
"It's something that we've been seeing for a long time and now we get to see it in live action," Watson said. "It wasn't a surprise for us, but it was a big hit – it was a great hit. Of course we'll watch film on it and laugh about it."
On the whole, Keyes thought his night went "pretty well". He played mainly in the second half.
"I made some mistakes here and there, but I think I played pretty solid overall," Keyes said.
Keyes and the Texans will practice against the 49ers this week at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
Take a look as the Houston Texans led the city to their first win Game 1 of the preseason in Kansas City against the Chiefs.
