This is KPRC 2 Sports Director Randy McIlvoy with the latest on the Houston Texans
COUNTDOWN TO THE OPENER
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The days and weeks are flying by and now we are about to reach game week in the NFL. As this newsletter goes out today (Friday), we are now only 9 days away from the regular season opener for the Texans when they host the Colts at NRG Stadium on September 11 at 12 p.m. It’s the first of 17 games, and we will find out a lot about this group from opening week. Colts will bring QB Matt Ryan who begins his first season in Indy after a long run in Atlanta along with one of the NFL’s top running backs in Johnathan Taylor.
EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SEASON
In my opinion, it all begins with the development of QB Davis Mills who starts his second season. After Mills, I’d lean on the progress of the offensive line and how they can protect Mills and run block to get the running game going.
Rookie Dameon Pierce will be the starter. He was a fourth round pick out of Florida and shined throughout the offseason and training camp before really impressing in preseason outings vs. the Saints and 49ers.
Defensively, up front the D-line has to bring pressure and let the secondary make plays. I can’t wait to see rookie safety Jalen Pitre develop and prove he’s a big time playmaker in the NFL. I think we’ll see that vs. the Colts. Kenyon Green will bring a lot to the offensive line at the left guard position and learn plenty alongside Laremy Tunsil.
TOP QUOTES FROM TEXANS HEAD COACH LOVIE SMITH THIS WEEK
ON THE STATE OF HIS TEAM AFTER THE PRESEASON SLATE
“We’ve gone through a lot, all season, training camp. Then you get down to the last practice before the guys throughout the league have three days off. In my time in sports, a lot of times this hasn’t been our best practice, where guys are one foot in the car, thinking about the weekend. Complete opposite today. Maybe our best practice we’ve had. It was a grind. It was hard and padded and they’ve done the way they’ve done throughout everything we’ve asked them to do. We feel like we’re in pretty good shape, got a few bumps and bruises. You have an idea of what our roster is going to look like right now. A lot has been said about the 53-man roster, but it’s really about the 69-person roster. That’s what we were trying to do, whatever we were trying to do to get those 69 guys together. Some of our guys are vested, we ask them to come in a little bit different way, whether it’s practice squad or whatever. We’re choosing for the Indianapolis game, from that entire group and we like what we’re choosing from.”
Are you planning on keeping three running backs for Week 1 or are you looking to add more?
“Those are flexible numbers. I’d say at least three. You look at what we did last year, I think we had three-plus every game and I don’t see that changing much.”
Going into 2022, what are your expectations for this team?
“I understand most head coaches are going to say the same thing right now. I like ours. Every step along the way, we’ve evaluated in detail. We’ve liked a lot of the things we’ve seen. I know we need to get to the game and play it, but I like where we are right now. We’ll be able to tell in a little over a week exactly where we are, but we feel like we’ve improved over last year’s team. That’s what we wanted to do, start with that. I know we’ve done that.”
When did you first see that RB Dameon Pierce was a special player?
“I think it’s a lot of all the things you’ve said, off the field first off. He comes into the room, you start talking to him, he’s got a little confidence. Then, he went to the field, special teams, what do I need to do coach, everyday. He loves football. I did know a little bit about some of his highlights before, run the football. Thought he would meet our personality that we’d like to be and that’s what we’ve seen. Then he starts playing in games and we’ve seen every step along the way. We’ve seen the same thing from him. We’re excited about him being on the team and that running back room is a lot stronger with him in it.”
We’ll talk more about the Texans and I’ll run some of my sitdown with Head Coach Lovie Smith on SPORTS SUNDAY this Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. on KPRC 2. Then we hit game week and it all leads to the opener a week from Sunday!
See ya at NRG all season!
Texans storylines from Pro Football Network reporter and KPRC 2 Sports contributor Aaron Wilson