Lovie Smith will allow play to determine Texans’ starting running back

The question of who will start for the Houston Texans at running back has been a hot topic throughout the off-season when discussing the team’s offense.

The group starts with veteran Rex Burkhead, who helped to carry the offense at the end of 2021 and was re-signed before the end of the season. However, his age at 32 years old doesn’t exactly fit the mold of your average starting running back. As such, most of the discussion around the competition has shifted to free agent signee Marlon Mack and fourth-round rookie Dameon Pierce. Both come with their own degrees of uncertainty.

Mack ran for over 1000 yards in 2019 before tearing his Achilles early in 2020 and riding the bench for most of the 2021 season. After losing out on opportunities to Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines, Mack chose a team with a clear avenue to a starting job. The question around Mack will be if he can return to form from injury and just how big of a role he’s able to carry post-Achilles. Meanwhile, Pierce was relatively underutilized throughout his career at Florida but flashed in a big way during the pre-draft process. He’s never had the opportunity to function in an offense as the featured running back but is injury-free and has all the talent in the world.

Lovie Smith says preseason play will determine the starting RB

“I think you let guys play. They kind of tell you who should start, who should be on the roster, how many plays they should get….It's good competition there. They all have a certain strength."#WeAreTexans

— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) August 17, 2022

On Wednesday, Lovie Smith was asked about the competition and what exactly each of these three running backs would need to show to secure the starting job. The head coach pointed toward play on the field as the most important factor

“I think you let guys play. They kind of tell you who should start, who should be on the roster, how many plays they should get. 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. Of course, we talked a lot about Dameon (Pierce). 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.”

Pierce is the darling of Houston after a 5-carry, 49-yard performance last Saturday that flashed his entire skillset and more against the New Orleans Saints. He’s considered the head-on favorite by those covering the beat simply due to the talent difference that can be observed on the field.

Under this criteria, one has to imagine that Pierce opens against the Indianapolis Colts as the starter.

However, with Lovie mentioning the pedigree of what veteran players have accomplished before, it’s hard to call this competition anywhere near over. Mack took 3 carries for just 6 yards in the same contest but will almost certainly be given a chance to bounce back on Friday against the Los Angeles Rams.

Whoever wins the competition, they’ll have a huge role in offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton’s offense and be asked to take pressure off of second-year quarterback Davis Mills. The ability of Houston to run the ball could be the difference between 4 and 7 wins and just how well the offense is able to operate as a whole.