Category: Preseason

WATCH: Texans LB Christian Kirksey sacks Rams QB John Wolford

Houston Texans linebacker Christian Kirksey sacked Los Angeles Rams quarterback John Wolford in the second preseason game.

The Houston Texans defense may feature some blitzing after all.

With 13:24 to go in the first quarter of the Texans’ preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, linebacker Christian Kirksey came through the middle on a blitz to drop quarterback John Wolford for a 5-yard loss on first-and-10 from the Rams’ 32-yard line.

Kirksey did not record a sack with the Texans last season as he had 93 combined tackles, six tackles for loss, and two quarterback hits. The last time Kirksey had a regular season sack was in 2020 when he had 2.0 sacks with the Green Bay Packers.

Bears rookie Kyler Gordon reflects on preseason debut vs. Seahawks

Bears CB Kyler Gordon’s preseason debut served as a homecoming for the Washington native. The rookie reflects on his performance.

Bears rookie cornerback Kyler Gordon made his preseason debut Thursday night against the Seahawks, which served as a bit of a homecoming for the Washington native.

Gordon, who grew up around Seattle and attended the University of Washington, had a group of family and friends in attendance.

“It was extremely exciting,” Gordon said. “It was super nice to have everyone there supporting me, and seeing my family out there and my friends, I just really appreciated that.”

Despite the excitement of his first NFL action, Gordon said he was locked in on the game.

“I really wasn’t that nervous,” he said. “I was more excited to be on the field and do something. Just having an opportunity to get out there, it was what I was waiting for.”

Gordon, who’s been playing both outside and in the slot, played nickel cornerback during Thursday’s game. Despite some tackling issues, Gordon was all over the field and showcased his speed and instincts, which included an almost-sack on Geno Smith.

“The game flow was nice,” Gordon said. “I felt comfortable. It wasn’t anything crazy; nothing too fast for me.”

While Gordon played exclusively at nickel during Thursday’s game, head coach Matt Eberflus said Gordon will continue to split time outside and in the slot.

“We’ll look at putting him on the outside and still keeping him on the inside,” Eberflus said. “We really like him on the inside, but certainly he’s going to play on the outside too.”

[listicle id=513979]

[listicle id=513992]

Texans coach Lovie Smith says RB1 will sort itself out

Houston Texans coach Lovie Smith says that the starting running back competition will be decided by the players themselves and how they perform.

Lovie Smith has a straightforward approach to determining who will be the starting running back for the Houston Texans in 2022.

“I think you let guys play,” Smith told reporters on Aug. 17.

The Texans have five running backs on the roster in Rex Burkhead, Marlon Mack, rookie Dameon Pierce, Dare Ogunbowale, and Royce Freeman, but the top three truly are the only ones vying for the starting job.

“They kind of tell you who should start, who should be on the roster, how many plays they should get,” Smith said. “We’ve been going through training camp, practice, we’ve seen a lot, but to see guys finish, I thought that was a big game.”

In the 17-13 win over the New Orleans Saints on Aug. 13 at NRG Stadium, Pierce was the talk of the backfield as he generated 49 yards on five carries. Even with his initial 20-yard run taken out of the equation, the rookie from Florida tallied 7.25 yards per carry — a tantalizing preview for Texans fans who had to watch their team average 3.4 yards per carry and 83.6 rushing yards per game last year.

Said Smith: “Of course, we talked a lot about Dameon. Then you have history a little bit, too, on what we’ve seen from some of the veteran players. It’s good competition there. They all have a certain strength, and we’ll let it play out.”

The running back competition will continue to play out as the Texans face the Los Angeles Rams Friday night at SoFi Stadium.

[pickup_prop id=”25095”]

Texans rookie DL Thomas Booker says Stanford helped him learn to study himself

Houston Texans DL Thomas Booker says that going to school at Stanford helped him learn how to study, not only in academics, but in football.

Houston Texans defensive lineman Thomas Booker is another Stanford product on the roster.

The fifth-rounder says that going to the prestigious school in the Pac-12 Conference helped him discover how to study, not only in academics, but also in football.

“Throughout college, both football wise and academic wise, I had like an iPad that I would write on with notes, so, I kind of carried that on to the league,” Booker told reporters on Aug. 17. “I treat all my meetings like classroom sections because that’s kind of what it is.”

Where the studying is also concentrated is on Booker himself. The rookie says that he uses his study to also examine how he processes information.

“You’re studying yourself,” said Booker. “I try to keep those study habits the same way, so during our meetings I take notes on what everybody is saying. Then when I go back to the hotel room, I go take a look over the tape again for like 45 minutes to an hour and just go down and write everything that I could have done better.”

Booker generated four combined tackles and 1.0 sack in the 17-13 win over the New Orleans Saints in the preseason opener Aug. 13 at NRG Stadium. Part of how Booker was able to be effective was by measuring the steps he takes when rushing certain gaps.

Said Booker: “When I’m rushing the B-gap, a lot of times I feel like I don’t take enough steps up field, so, I’m not really selling that guard on the fact that I’m going to be rushing outside so I can come inside. So that’s one of the things I write down a lot that I’m still working on.

“But to be honest, I probably write down like 10 to 15 things every day. I try to underline like three or four of them because I know that I can’t focus on 10 to 15. I don’t have that much mental bandwidth, but I try to focus on three or four.”

Booker will have plenty of material to work with after the Texans face the Los Angeles Rams Friday night at SoFi Stadium in their second preseason tilt.

Bears injury updates following preseason win vs. Seahawks

The Bears avoided injuries to their starters, but there were some injury updates following Thursday’s preseason win vs. Seahawks.

The Chicago Bears defeated the Seattle Seahawks 27-11 in their second preseason game. But they didn’t escape without some injuries.

While Chicago avoided injuries to their starters, there were some notable players who were banged up on Thursday night. Rookie running back Trestan Ebner, who had 9 carries for 29 yards, suffered an ankle injury in the first half that sidelined him for the remainder of the game.

Linebacker Matt Adams, who’s competing for the starting SAM linebacker job, suffered a shoulder injury that also kept him out of the game. Linebacker Caleb Johnson (knee) was also sidelined.

There were also some apparent injuries near the end of the game as rookie cornerback Jaylon Jones and defensive end Charles Snowden went out with apparent injuries. But there weren’t any updates provided.

One injury that didn’t happen in the game but bears monitoring is fullback Khari Blasingame, who was spotted in a cast on the sideline.

While players who returned to practice made their preseason debuts, including tight end Cole Kmet, there were others who were held out Thursday. That includes running back David Montgomery, cornerback Kindle Vildor, defensive tackle Justin Jones and defensive lineman Mario Edwards. Rookie safety Jaquan Brisker was also held out with an undisclosed injury.

The Bears return to the practice field Saturday for their final open practice of training camp.

[sendtonews_embed video_id=”FPyGKoHDTM-2185440-7498″]

[listicle id=513979]

[listicle id=513992]

The Morning After…the Bears’ preseason win vs. Seahawks

Our Bears Wire staff is sharing their thoughts about Thursday’s preseason win against the Seahawks.

The Chicago Bears defeated the Seattle Seahawks 27-11 in their second preseason game on Thursday night. And, to be honest, it wasn’t close. Even as Seattle attempted to mount a comeback in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

Chicago’s starters played even less than the preseason opener, but we still got to see progress on offense in their lone series — which resulted in a field goal on their opening possession.

There was plenty to breakdown following Chicago’s preseason win over Seattle. Our Bears Wire staff is sharing their thoughts on the game, including what stood out.

The Bears’ preseason win vs. Seahawks

Bears’ Teven Jenkins assesses his debut at right guard vs. Seahawks

Bears OL Teven Jenkins fared well in his debut at RG vs. Seattle. But he recognizes he still has work to do as he transitions from tackle.

With the regular season less than a month away, Bears offensive lineman Teven Jenkins finds himself pushing for a starting job. There’s no doubt that his clearest route to cracking the starting lineup is at right guard, a position he just started taking reps at during last week’s practice.

It’s clear the Bears are encouraged by Jenkins’ potential at right guard, which is why he got ample time inside during Thursday’s preseason win over the Seahawks. That also included reps with the first-team offense, where Jenkins held his own and made the case for him to start. But he still recognizes that he’s got some work to do.

“I felt like I did good,” Jenkins told NBC Sports Chicago. “It’s just, overall, I have some good things, bad things to clean up, and that might be because of my adjustment period going to guard.

“The NFL is about production now. They don’t care how long it takes, it needs to happen now. I need to ramp up my process to go from tackle to guard.”

As Jenkins continues to make the rapid transition from tackle to guard, he pinpointed what he still needs to work on.

“Still getting the playbook and learn all the guard’s responsibilities, steps, and all my responsibilities because, at a certain point, I was still a little hazy at certain things,” Jenkins said. “But I know that I trust Sam Mustipher, I trust Larry Borom to always put me in a good spot. Having trust in those guys and them having trust in me is just assuring myself that I can be able to do it.”

Earlier this week, offensive line coach Chris Morgan pointed out how Jenkins’ skillset makes him a good fit at guard in this scheme. But for Jenkins, there are still difficulties when making then transition on the fly.

“The use of my eyes,” he said. “Because at tackle, you get so fixated on, like you’re on the outside and you can the whole thing basically out there because there is nothing blocking you. Now you have a defensive end and a corner that you have to watch out for too, and that’s from like an all-closed stance. Just basically trying to use my eyes is what I’m trying to do.”

For his first NFL game at guard, Jenkins did well. To the point where it didn’t look like he had only a couple of practices at right guard under his belt. The expectation is Jenkins will get plenty more looks at right guard in practice and in next Saturday’s preseason finale against the Browns.

[sendtonews_embed video_id=”FPyGKoHDTM-2185440-7498″]

[listicle id=513979]

[listicle id=513992]

7 takeaways from the Bears’ preseason win over the Seahawks

From Justin Fields’ fit on offense to Teven Jenkins impressing at guard, here are our takeaways from the Bears’ preseason win vs. Seattle.

The second week of the preseason is just beginning for the rest of the NFL but for the Chicago Bears, it’s already concluded with a victory in hand. The Bears traveled to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Seahawks and made quick work of their opponents on a short week, winning 27-11.

The Bears starting offense only played one series, netting three points before they gave way to the reserves. But it didn’t matter who was on the field because the Bears capitalized at every turn, whether it was offense, defense, or special teams. It wasn’t until the very end that Seattle mounted any sort of comeback, but it was far too late to spoil a win.

Because the starters on both sides saw limited playing time, it can be difficult to find key takeaways but there was more than enough to dissect. Here are our takeaways from Thursday’s win.

Best photos from the Bears’ preseason win vs. Seahawks

The Bears defeated the Seahawks 27-11 to advance to 2-0 in the preseason. Take a look at the action:

The Chicago Bears dominated the Seattle Seahawks in a 27-11 victory on Thursday night in their second preseason game. Chicago advanced to 2-0 in the preseason.

While the Bears starters saw limited action, it was their rookies and veterans further down the depth chart that made the most of their opportunities with some strong outings.

Here’s a look at the best photos from Chicago’s preseason win over Seattle:

Bear Necessities: Matt Eberflus explains why he didn’t challenge Isaiah Coulter catch

Why didn’t Bears HC Matt Eberflus throw the challenge flag on the Isaiah Coulter catch? Eberflus explains:

This is our online morning newsletter, Bear Necessities. Subscribe to get the latest Bears news delivered to your mailbox every day.

The Chicago Bears defeated the Seattle Seahawks 27-11 on Thursday night to advance to 2-0 in the preseason. It was a dominant effort on all phases for Chicago. But it was far from perfect, including for head coach Matt Eberflus, who’s learning on the job.

While Eberflus has been solid in these first two preseason games, there was one missed opportunity for Eberflus in the first half of Thursday’s game.

Facing third-and-8 from their 33-yard line, Bears quarterback Trevor Siemian got control of a high snap and managed to get off a pass to wide receiver Isaiah Coulter for an impressive first-down conversion. But the catch was ruled incomplete.

Upon replay on TV, it was abundantly clear that Coulter had managed to haul in the ball for the completion. So it was a shock that Eberflus didn’t throw the challenge flag.

Eberflus explained why he didn’t throw the challenge flag on the play.

“A couple coaches on the sideline thought it bounced on the ground,” Eberflus said. “We got one good look upstairs, and that was it. We didn’t have a second look at it, so we just decided to let it go.”

With that in mind, Eberflus said that, had it been a regular season game, that things would’ve been different.

“In real time, in a real game, maybe I would’ve thrown (the challenge flag),” Eberflus said. “But we didn’t have the second look.”

[pickup_prop id=”19712″]