Brian Cushing practiced all week and he wants to play tonight at Denver. It's Bill O'Brien's decision though.

“I’m not sure,” Cushing said about playing Saturday night. “For the most part, I’ve been practicing a good amount. I’m excited to be back out there. Any game-time situation, obviously, I want to play and play a good amount, but that’s not up to me. That’s up to the coaches.”

Cushing wants to play, but he’s comfortable if he has to wait for the Redskins to play for the first time since suffering a torn lateral collateral ligament in his knee and a fractured fibula in his leg last season.

“Football is football, but at the same time, you want to get out there, and you want to get some game-time experience, especially against a very good team,” he said. “Whatever the situation is, I’m ready to play or what not.”



Brian Cushing, Andre Johnson and Arian Foster: I'd like to see all three of them play tonight. If not, it's unlikely any of them will play Thursday Night against the 49ers during the final preseason game. Week 1 against the Redskins is only two weeks away so that's still the most important timetable for a return.

It's all about having some luck staying healthy. If the Texans are lucky in that department I feel optimistic about their chances to make the playoffs even with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback. The backbone of the team has to be dominating on defense. With Watt, Clowney and Cushing the Texans have a strong core.

The Texans at Broncos game is about to kick off. Brian Cushing and Andre Johnson are going to play but Arian Foster and Jadeveon Clowney are wearing street clothes and sitting out. I guess it will be Week 1 against the Redskins in two weeks when we see everybody on the field. I doubt any significant starter is going to play against the 49ers on Thursday Night.

Ricardo Mathews sacked Peyton Manning. I hope this guy makes the team. Former state champion wrestler in high school and college. Brian Cushing had a nice tackle for no gain on a rush. Not bad considering he hadn't played in a game since last October 20.

The Texans held the Broncos to a field goal on their first drive. J.J. Watt just missed a sack and drove the Broncos' offensive lineman three yards back. This is why we need Clowney, to clean up the other side. Peyton Manning lucked out tonight.

I bet old Peyton will have a big game tonight if he plays for three quarters. Time for Andre Johnson to catch some passes.

3-0 Broncos after the first quarter. Looks like Bill O'Brien already took J.J. Watt and Brian Cushing out of the game. Both are smiling on the sideline wearing a cap. I guess that I've seen what I needed to see. The Texans defense is going to be really good this year. I can't wait for Week 1.

Now if only Ryan Fitzpatrick can not turn the ball over, like Schaub did last year, this team may be good enough to win a lot more than two games. Andre Johnson has one reception so far tonight. I'm a little put off by Arian Foster not playing. He's been the one guy who's been out since forever.

Peyton Manning is going to destroy us now. He's still in the game to start the second quarter with our five best defensive players not in the game. Johnathan Joseph and Brooks Reed also didn't play tonight along with Clowney. And Watt and Cushing are done for the night. Kudos to Peyton Manning for putting up big stats against these guys the Texans have on defense now.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Aug 23 2014 07:45pm

LOL Peyton Manning. He just threw an interception off a play-action pass. I thought it would be 17-0 Broncos by now. Still 3-0. The Broncos have no run game. Even our bums on defense aren't going to fall for it.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Aug 23 2014 07:49pm

Man I'm liking the way we are looking tonight.

Peyton Manning doesn't look good. I guess that means he'll probably play in the third quarter?

Texans lead 7-3 and it's almost halftime...

Alfred Blue and C.J. Fiedorowicz: Two rookies and fantasy sleepers in 2014?

Honestly. I believe C.J. Fiedorowicz has won the starting tight end job. Ryan Fitzpatrick targets him a lot. He's a big target with good hands. If the Texans run double TE formations then he can be in there along with Garrett Graham. Seems like Ryan Griffin is the guy not taking advantage of his opportunities.

Also Jonathan Grimes has won a roster spot. Third-string RB. We all expect Arian Foster to miss games so I expect to see a lot of Blue and Grimes in 2014.

I expected the Broncos to win 38-6 at home tonight. Their crowd is quiet nearing halftime.

Texans won 18-17 but the end of the first half was pathetic. Peyton Manning delivered two quick TD passes to Emmanuel Sanders with 1:05 left in the second quarter. We had all backups on defense, except for D.J. Swearinger at safety, but there is no excuse for that lapse. This should have been an easy 18-3 win.

They called a bogus penalty on Swearinger during that sequence - he never hit Wes Welker illegally. Peyton Manning even taunted Swearinger after the second TD pass which was uncalled for. But oh well. All things considered I liked what I watched especially from the starters on defense minus Clowney, Joseph and Reed (Cushing and Watt were fantastic).