News and notes for those of you jonesing for some pre-game action:
- The Texans will be playing the starters for the majority of the game, probably around three quarters. This will be the most important game of the preseason in terms of evaluating how the Texans look, and the defense is (rightly) under fire after their performance in New Orleans. I’m a bit nervous about them after last weeks performance, particularly since Dallas is so good at misdirection on their draw plays. This will be a big test for the defense to prove that they can stay disciplined.
- Don’t look for a lot of the preseason battles to be put on display tonight. Kicker is one place where both sides will see equal time. Yesterday in his live chat, Nick Scurfield thinks that the difference between the kickers may be how they kickoff. Wade Smith will be your starting left guard over Kasey Studdard and Mike Brisiel. If you’re looking for a game to decide the backups and the few starting positions that are up for grabs, look no further than next Thursday against Tampa, which should be the Final Exam for the roster battles.
- A quick spin around the Texansphere for takes on this game:
Alan Burge says he’s looking at the pass rush, to see “if there is one”, ouch!
Texans Bull Blog is focusing on how the offensive line deals with Dallas’ 3-4. That should be a nice litmus test to see if we should buy extra strength bleach for the Jets and Ravens games.
Battle Red Blog has a quick take with Blogging The Boys on Dez Bryant and the offensive struggles in the pre-season. Dave Halprin is looking for the offensive line to show him something and for the Cowboys to pick up the run game.
- The first roster cuts take place between this game and the Buccaneers game, on Tuesday. The Texans will be tasked with cutting the roster down to 75. This shouldn’t be too hard of a task, however, because injuries have already done a lot of the dirty work for the Texans. Their current roster on houstontexans.com lists 80 players, but it hasn’t counted Trindon Holliday or Ben Tate as IR’ed yet. That means the Texans will be chopping a minimum of three players, so look for guys like Brett Helms, Nicholas Polk, Torri Williams, Jack Corcoran, Derrick Townsel, and London Crawford to have their heads on a swivel this week. If only to avoid having to stare at the red tag in their lockers.