looks like fangupo will make the roster

We need to see somebody step up tonight on the defensive line against that explosive Saints offense inside the Superdome. J.J. Watt is out again at DE and two of our nose tackles are out. This is the perfect time for Hebron Fangupo to catch the eyes of the coaches once he gets in the game.

I'm confident in Earl Mitchell playing well with Shaun Cody being out, but it would be nice if I didn't have to worry about Sunny Harris being out for the year. Fangupo was battling him for the third-string NT job but he'll get it by default.

The Texans defense played well against the 49ers last week but it wasn't dominating by any means. Alex Smith is just an inconsistent QB who made some poor decisions and failed to exploit some of our mistakes. It was also a home game with the loud crowd on our side. Playing Drew Brees on the road is going to be a totally different story if the Texans make the same mistakes on defense tonight.

On the plus side, Gary Kubiak says J.J. Watt would play tonight if it were a regular-season game. He'll be ready Week 1 in 15 more days against Miami.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Aug 25 2012 06:39am

Jesus Ryan its a preseason game.

The third one and most important for the starters in terms of extended playing time. I still have that bad taste in my mouth from when the Texans lost 40-33 at the Superdome during Week 2 last season. Drew Brees lit us up for 24 points in the 4th quarter. Not to mention that is the site of Super Bowl 47, which is where the Texans want to ultimately be on February 3, 2013. I think it's an interesting game tonight for a few different reasons.

I want to see the offense picking up tonight as well. Matt Schaub looked better in the last game playing for a full half but it wasn't until the end of the first half when he threw a red zone TD to Lestar Jean. Schaub will play three quarters tonight and that will be his longest played game in roughly nine months. That's a long time for any player especially one as important as Schaub. This will be his last chance to shake off the rust before the games that count.

The Texans' red-zone efficiency is what they need to improve this season. Scoring more Touchdowns and not settling for too many Field Goals They struggled in that area last season. All of the injuries to Schaub, Foster, Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels didn't help though.

Tonight is their last chance to get ready for Week 1.

CBS was wise to make tonight's game a nationally televised game. It's going to be two of the best offenses in the league.

Matt Schaub only played the first half but looked great. 15-for-18, 194 passing yards with 1 TD and 0 INTs. That's what I was hoping to see (the first-string offense doing well). The running game looked good. Arian Foster had a Touchdown run, Ben Tate ran hard and Justin Forsett continued to impress. Grimes had a few good runs but I think Forsett beat him out for the third-string RB job. We'll see. That's it for the starters until Week 1. You have to believe none of them will play at all against the Vikings on Thursday. One series at best.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Aug 25 2012 09:27pm

i wonder why kubiak put grimes on the last drive and not forsett

forsett is faster and the better catcher imo.

It was a great pre-season for the Texans. Nobody of importance got seriously hurt, the key starters on offense played incredibly well and both J.J. Watt amd Shaun Cody will be ready to start Week 1 against Miami. I'm excited that the first game of the season is in two more weeks from tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing a heavy dose of Case Keenum and Justin Forsett on Thursday's final pre-season game against the Vikings.

We had to lose one game to bring us back down to earth; I honestly didn't want to go 4-0 in the preseason. Next week we playing the Vikings, and we'll finish the preseason 3-1.