Houston Chronicle

Manning a tall order for Texans’ secondary

Longtime foe presents biggest test of preseason for cornerback­s

- By Dale Robertson dale.robertson@chron.com

Emotions for the Texans and the Denver Broncos will be jumbled Saturday night at NRG Stadium because of the Gary Kubiak-Wade Phillips “homecoming.”

There will, however, be no ambivalenc­e regarding Broncos quarterbac­k Peyton Manning, who has personally inflicted more damage to the Texans’ franchise over the years than any other player. And no matter how much Manning’s skills may have diminished — if they have at all; his poor finish last season may have been solely the result of a quadriceps injury that constricte­d his already limited mobility — he still presents an excellent gauge of where the Texans are defensivel­y heading into Romeo Crennel’s second season.

“Going against Peyton,” said cornerback Johnathan Joseph, “is always a challenge. Anytime you have that task ahead you kind of get yourself a little more focused. Anytime he’s there under center, he’s going to bring it. And, when it comes to throwing the football, he’s one of the best to ever do it.”

One-sided relationsh­ip

Objective Houston fans respect and admire Manning. How could they not? He’s a nice guy, a solid citizen and the consummate profession­al with historic accomplish­ments. But, viscerally, Houston has no choice but to hate him. Only twice in 20 meetings, all but two of them during Manning’s long tenure as their AFC South scourge while an Indianapol­is Colt, did the Texans beat him in a game that mattered.

When Manning, by then a Bronco, most recently visited as a hardly doddering 37-year-old late in 2013, he strafed a shattered Texans defense to the tune of 400 yards and four touchdowns, the third of which gave him an NFL-record 51 for a single season. Manning rifled three scoring passes in a nine-minute span of the fourth quarter, a merciless onslaught that turned a 16-13 dogfight into a 37-13 route and doomed any chance then-interim head coach Phillips might have had of keeping the job.

Bill O’ Brien was hired instead, and he brought in Crennel to fix the defense, which he had done by the end of the season. If the Texans were to unleash J.J. Watt on Saturday night — he may not play at all — they might even have a leg up on Manning, who will be operating Kubiak’s run-centric system for somewhere between a quarter and a half as he faces live combat for the first time in this preseason. He never got on the field during Denver’s exhibition opener at Seattle.

Although the Broncos won’t have gone too heavy into game-planning for what the Texans want to do, both Joseph and the other starting cornerback, Kareem Jackson, expect to see Manning being Manning.

“That’s the only way he knows how to play,” Jackson said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s his first preseason game. It doesn’t matter what the offense is. We’ve got to be prepared for everything.”

Familiarit­y could help

No Texans defender has a better understand­ing of what Kubiak wants from his offense than Jackson, who practiced against the scheme every day in training camp for four summers. Although he acknowledg­es it’s markedly different from what Manning was asked to do as a Colt and for former Broncos coach John Fox, Jackson strongly suspects Manning has already mastered it thoroughly.

Joseph practicall­y laughed out loud when he was asked if he thought Manning might be finding the adjustment difficult.

“There’s not an offense that you can throw at that guy that he can’t pick it up in a day or so,” he said. “He is a student of the game. Not only is he a great player, he works really hard in the classroom. I am sure he knows that offense already. It worked well for us when (Kubiak) was here, and I am sure Peyton is a guy who can pick it up and get it going with the weapons he’s got up there.”

Pro Bowl targets

Also sitting out against the Seahawks were Manning’s two favorite targets, Pro Bowl receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, who combined for 212 catches and 20 touchdowns last season. Kubiak said the Texans will see Thomas, possibly for as long as Manning plays, but not Sanders, who has been slowed by a hamstring strain.

Thomas missed all the Broncos’ offseason workouts while haggling over a new contract, which he finally signed in mid-July, getting him into camp on time. But there were issues at the outset with footballre­ady conditioni­ng, so he has been brought along cautiously.

“The last three days, I would say I see a different guy,” Kubiak said. “I know he was working his way back into shape. Right now, he can run all day. You see the plays he’s making.

“He’s getting confident in what we do, lining up and the things that are different for him. He is a very impressive player. I had Andre (Johnson) for years in Houston. They remind me a lot of each other — big guys and how they go about it and how they work.”

Even without Sanders in the mix for Denver, outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus calls the Broncos “a great test for us to see where we’re at. Peyton … what else can you say about it him? And you know he’ll do everything he can to make (Kubiak) look good coming back to Houston. It’s going to be a fun night. It’s not an ordinary preseason game, for them or for us.”

 ?? Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ?? Texans cornerback­s Johnathan Joseph, left, and Kareem Jackson will get their biggest preseason test yet in Broncos QB Peyton Manning.
Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle Texans cornerback­s Johnathan Joseph, left, and Kareem Jackson will get their biggest preseason test yet in Broncos QB Peyton Manning.
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