STEPPING IT UP
Gamble pays off
Solomon: Clowney plays a lot without injury in victory.
They don’t count in the standings, but the real truth is these fake football games count for more than just money in the owners’ pockets.
A second preseason victory in a row, 16-9 over the New Orleans Saints on Saturday night, won’t matter in the least when the regular season begins, but the Texans showed something in their second dress rehearsal of the 2016 season.
Most of it was positive. One thing was a bit surprising.
Seeing oft-injured linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, running around with the second unit was interesting. Having No. 90 in the game in the third quarter when most of the Texans’ key players were done for the night was odd.
A week ago, when the Texans were in the third quarter against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif., someone posted an unauthorized picture of Clowney or a Clowney look-alike at a Louisiana casino. (Hey, it was his day off.)
This week, the Texans were the ones gambling.
Maybe the No. 1 overall pick of the 2014 draft, who missed the first preseason game and a week of camp with a sore knee, needed the conditioning work. If so, the Texans should put him on a treadmill.
Perhaps coach Bill O’Brien was trying to send a message to Clowney, who has started only 11 games in two seasons due to a series of unfortunate injuries. If so, O’Brien was playing a dangerous game.
Even factoring in my immense disrespect for exhibition football, there is little good that could come from having a prospective starter and difference maker on the field against fringe NFL players in a meaningless game.
Clowney comes out OK
Counter to their Schleprocklike luck, the Texans appear to have gotten away with it. Clowney looked good and walked off the field midway through the third period uninjured.
There is logic behind the risk. O’Brien said he wants his top defenders to see more live action this preseason than they did a year ago. The Texans’ defense got off to a poor start in 2015, with tackling issues leading to a rank of 27th against the run through seven games.
Most of the Texans’ starters left the game in the second quarter with a 10-0 lead, and it could easily have been more if not for an end-zone interception.
The Texans had 214 yards in the first half and held the Saints to 57, including a measly 23 yards on 12 rushes, as it took a 13-0 edge into halftime.
For teams like the Texans, who aside from injuries have maybe one undecided starting position on each side of the ball, preseason games are more about the bottom of the roster than the top. It’s not like Tom Savage is going to beat out Brock Osweiler at quarterback.
After a sluggish start in his first preseason game, Osweiler shut down the noise with his play Saturday. The offseason free-agent pickup completed 12 of 19 passes for 124 yards, with a touchdown and an interception.
QB looks comfortable
He looked comfortable under center, and when he had time to pass, he seemed to make good reads and definitely threw the ball with confidence.
He connected with Will Fuller on a gorgeous toss-and-catch early in the first quarter for a 19-yard touchdown to give the Texans an early lead.
Osweiler might have been a little overconfident midway through the second period, when he dropped back on fourth-andgoal from the Saints’ 3-yard line and threw a ball toward Fuller, who was well-covered in the back right corner of the end zone. It was picked off by P.J. Williams.
Osweiler promised he wouldn’t make that mistake again.
That didn’t erase an otherwise good outing for him, which came despite the Texans’ still conservative approach at this early juncture and a banged-up offensive line that isn’t nearly ready for the regular season to begin.
Two preseason games into the year is when one would typically insert a comic line comparing the players in a youth football game on the NRG Stadium field at halftime to the Texans.
But you can’t do that with this squad. Solid is the key takeaway from this one.
The defense was live and active, forcing a couple turnovers and nearly capturing a couple more.
The Texans’ second unit wasn’t as crisp as the starters, but that just gives O’Brien and his staff somebody to yell at.
That’s another reason they’re pleased with what they’ve seen.
Room for growth isn’t a bad thing in mid-August.