Tag: NFL Week 1

Report: Texans WR Isaiah Coulter going to injured reserve

Houston Texans fifth-round receiver Isaiah Coulter is going to injured reserve, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle.

The Houston Texans are moving Isaiah Coulter to injured reserve to start the season.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the Texans are placing their 2020 fifth-round receiver on injured reserve to start the 2020 campaign. However, unlike previous seasons where players had to wait eight weeks before they could be placed on the active roster, Coulter won’t have to wait that long to rejoin the active roster. The NFL injured reserve rules this season allow for players to return to the active roster after three weeks. Furthermore, clubs can recall an unlimited number of players from injured reserve.

The former Rhode Island Ram was having a productive training camp with the Texans as he acclimated to the NFL, but he was near the bottom of the depth chart when it came to production.

“I think the big think with Isaiah, he’s very talented,” coach and general manager Bill O’Brien told reporters on Aug. 21. “He’s got good size. He can run. He can catch. He’s got all the tools that you need but it’s just totally different. You go from playing at Rhode Island to the National Football League, it’s just different. The coverages are different. Obviously, the talent level is different. He’s getting better, though. He improves every day. He works at it. We’ll see.”

Coulter could still make contributions to the Texans in 2020, but they have placed their resources in the receiving corps in Randall Cobb, Brandin Cooks, Kenny Stills, Will Fuller, and DeAndre Carter.

Bears are trusting in Mitchell Trubisky’s success against the Lions for Week 1

Trubisky has been fantastic against the Matt Patricia Lions

Mitchell Trubisky will be the Chicago Bears starting quarterback when the rival from the Windy City visit Ford Field in Week 1. The Bears bequeathing the starting job once again to Trubisky, at least against Detroit, is both a blessing for the Lions but also a potential curse.

Most of the football world expected free agent Nick Foles to resoundingly beat out Trubisky when the Bears signed Foles this offseason. Trubisky’s struggles are well-chronicled: his iffy accuracy, his frazzled pocket presence, the legend of his inability to throw to the left. The fact that Foles didn’t beat out Trubisky after the Bears opted to decline the fifth-year option on the youngster’s contract is widely viewed as an indictment of Foles and not a feather in Trubisky’s cap.

Yet for all the joyous reactions from Lions fans, there is a curious fact with Trubisky against Detroit. He’s been great in his matchups with the Lions under Matt Patricia. And that should scare Lions fans more than it excites them.

Trubisky’s last three starts against Detroit, all with Patricia as the coach:

Week 10, 2018: 23-for-30, 355 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 148.8 QB Rating and he also ran for a TD in Chicago’s 34-22 win at Soldier Field

Week 10, 2019: 16-for-23, 173 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 131.0 QB Rating in Chicago’s 20-13 home win

Week 13, 2019: 29-for-38, 338 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 118.1 QB Rating in the Bears 24-20 comeback win at Ford Field on Thanksgiving

The two matchups last year were the two highest QB Ratings Trubisky recorded while going 8-7 as the Bears’ starter in 2019.

While he’s been generally ineffective against the rest of the NFL, Trubisky has proven to be a massive problem for the Patricia-era Lions. He went 0-2 against Jim Caldwell’s team in 2017, Trubisky’s rookie season, but he’s looked like Steve Young reincarnate against Patricia’s passive defenses.

All the Lions’ joy, all the optimism, all the Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid being gulped for the season is instantly trashed and burned if Trubisky does his magic once again in Detroit in Week 1. If the revamped, new-look Lions defense falls flat against arguably the worst QB on the entire season schedule in Week 1, the “Same Old Lions” switch is going to get flipped on mighty early in 2020.

I’d have rather faced Foles…the guy who wasn’t better than Trubisky all summer.

 

Report: Saints pushing to sign former Texans DE/OLB Jadeveon Clowney

The New Orleans Saints are making a strong effort to sign former Houston Texans 2014 first-round pick Jadeveon Clowney.

If Jadeveon Clowney was the Houston Texans’ emergency edge defense kit, then the New Orleans Saints have found the stash and are about to abscond with it.

According to Tom Pelissero from the NFL Network, the NFC South club is “sending an all-out blitz” to convince the former 2014 No. 1 overall pick to sign with them. There are also at least two mystery teams involved that seek Clowney’s services.

Much like Clowney’s franchise tag holdout with the Texans last season, the saga is appearing to wrap up as the regular season draws nigh. For the third time in as many seasons, the three-time Pro Bowler will be playing Week 1 with another team.

According to Pro Football Focus, Clowney is the 14th-best edge defender in the NFL. Now, the Saints will be pairing that talent with defensive end Cameron Jordan.

Jadeveon Clowney is one of the best run defenders in the league, regardless of position. But as a pure pass-rusher, he flashes dominance more than he brings it every single snap. Over the past three seasons, 12 edge rushers have more total pressures than the 171 that Clowney has racked up. Yet, in run defense, his grade is over 90.0 and he leads all edge rushers in tackles for a loss or no gain on the play. Clowney remains unsigned likely due to his asking price, but he is certainly a quality player.

On Aug. 31, the Texans traded Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks for edge defenders Barkevious Mingo, Jacob Martin, and a 2020 third-round pick. Houston later used that third-rounder to send to the Oakland Raiders for former 2017 first-round cornerback Gareon Conley, who now figures to be in the secondary’s starting rotation at cornerback. Martin also finished the 2019 season with 3.5 sacks, more than Clowney had during his one-season stay in the Pacific Northwest. The Texans have been pleased with Martin’s progress during training camp.

Texans coach Bill O’Brien won’t back down, would take a knee if players asked him

Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien says he would still take a knee during the national anthem if the players asked him to join them.

Houston Texans coach and general manager Bill O’Brien stated in June that he would join his players in kneeling during the national anthem if asked.

The 51-year-old reaffirmed Thursday after the team’s virtual kickoff luncheon that he would take a knee if the players asked.

“I think you asked me if the players asked me to take a knee, would I take a knee, and I said yes,” O’Brien said. “I’m not going back on that. I think now moving forward here we’re going to talk about those things as a team.”

O’Brien, who enters his seventh season as the Texans’ coach, pointed out it is a conversation that will be had after more pressing football matters dictated by deadlines.

“I think right now we have some things that we have to get done,” said O’Brien. “We have to get the roster down here by Saturday. We’ve got to review last night’s scrimmage. We’ve got several other things that are going on.”

O’Brien mentioned that the Texans could coordinate with the Kansas City Chiefs, their hosts for Week 1, on making a statement that would raise awareness of social justice causes across the league.

Said O’Brien: “I know we’ll get to that subject and we’ll talk about it and we’ll put a lot of thought into it and we’ll make the right decision, maybe along with Kansas City as to what we want to do to continue to really make people aware of the social justice initiatives that are taking place across the NFL.”

O’Brien, who has told players since his 2014 arrival that he will always have their back, is considered a partner with the players in their off-field advocacies. Social justice advocates receiver Kenny Stills, safety Michael Thomas, and safety Justin Reid have spoken highly of O’Brien’s willingness to listen.

Chiefs back to representing the Texans offensive line with trash cans

The Kansas City Chiefs used trash cans in practice to simulate the Houston Texans offensive line.

The Kansas City Chiefs have entered a whole new phase of training camp, and could be getting ready for Week 1.

According to an image from Adam Tiecher on Twitter, the Chiefs put five trash cans on the practice field to represent the Houston Texans offensive line. How is anyone sure it is the Texans’ offensive line? Because plastered on each individual trash can are Houston’s mainline starters from last season.

The Chiefs used the trash cans to simulate the Texans’ offensive line ahead of their Week 6 showdown last year, which Houston got the better end of the encounter, 31-24. It isn’t clear if the Chiefs employed the same tactic ahead of their AFC divisional matchup, or at least it wasn’t as widely reported.

Houston’s offensive line is hardly garbage with all five starters returning for the first time since 2011, and left tackle Laremy Tunsil earning his first career Pro Bowl. Additionally, right tackle Tytus Howard earned a place on the Pro Football Writers of America’s all-rookie first team. The Texans’ offensive line may have been suspect in years past, specifically 2018 when quarterback Deshaun Watson took a league-high 62 sacks, but those days are in the rear view mirror.

The Chiefs will get an up close experience with the Texans’ offensive line on Sept. 10 at Arrowhead Stadium. They can find out with the rest of the NFL if the blocking unit stinks.

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Texans’ Bill O’Brien says ‘anything is possible’ regarding an NFL player walkout

Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien says “anything is possible” regarding players staging a walkout and postponing games as the NBA, NHL, and MLB did.

Houston Texans coach and general manager Bill O’Brien is not ruling out the possibility of NFL players staging walkouts during the NFL regular season.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, O’Brien is keeping an open mind when it comes to the chance that NFL players could walk out of games as the entire NBA, the NHL, and some of Major League Baseball did on Thursday and Friday.

“I would say anything is possible,” O’Brien told reporters on Saturday during his meeting with the Houston media. “Just speaking for the Houston Texans, I’m really proud of these guys that are on our team. We have a lot of really good veteran guys that are really passionate about football, really passionate about what’s going on in the world.”

The Texans’ first scrimmage at NRG Stadium took place during the first night of walkouts. While the team had a discussion earlier that day about the circumstancing plaguing the country, most notably the turmoil in Kenosha, Wisconsin, stemming from the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back.

“The thing that really strikes me as a coach is you’re always in a rush you want to make sure everything is going well you’re thinking about the next play, the next three plays from now, but these players they’re not in a rush,” said O’Brien. “Our players are really thoughtful. They want to think about things. They don’t want to rush to make any decisions on anything. It’s been really enlightening to me.”

For NFL players to have a walkout would be impactful as there are only 16 such games throughout the entire season. If NFL players were to have a walkout during sweeps for television, it would be even more of a hit than the NBA and NHL playoff games being postponed.

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Saints announce no fans for 2020 season-opener vs. Buccaneers

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will kick off against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in an empty Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The New Orleans Saints will kick off their 2020 season in an unusually quiet Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The team announced Wednesday evening that their Week 1 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be played without spectators in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though whether fans will be allowed at subsequent home games is still under discussion.

After hosting Tom Brady’s Buccaneers on Sept. 13, the Saints will not return for another home game until Sept. 27 — when they’re scheduled to play Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in prime time on Sunday Night Football. Louisiana has been a hotspot for COVID-19 infections throughout this public health crisis, leading decision-makers to make tough calls like this one.

It’s a big blow to the Saints, who have enjoyed an unparalleled streak of success on offense over the last two decades in their home venue. That’s thanks in large part to a welcoming crowd, with the rowdy Who Dat Nation making communication difficult for opposing squads.

But at the end of the day, its been Drew Brees and his Saints teammates scoring points. And that’ll remain the case no matter how many fans pack the stands. It’s just a shame that few people will be part of the beginning to such a highly-anticipated season.

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Bill O’Brien: Key to the Texans’ fast start will be ball security and tackling

Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien says the key to having a fast start in 2020 will be whoever can tackle and protect the ball the best.

Bill O’Brien coached the Houston Texans through an 0-3 start in 2018 and turned it into an 11-5 finish and an AFC South title.

Like surviving a car wreck, it can be done, but it would be better to find ways to prevent future accidents than repeat history in any fashion.

The Texans seem destined to have a slow start with the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Minnesota Vikings right out of the gate. However, coach and general manager Bill O’Brien knows the best prophylactic for a slow start.

“I think early in the season, I think the team that does the best job with tackling, with penalties, with ball security is going to be the team that has the advantage,” O’Brien told reporters Thursday.

Houston is still in Phase 1 of the offseason program. When the Texans are able to start Phase 2, which still doesn’t permit padded practices, O’Brien believes they will have the opportunity to start working on tackling.

“We have a plan in place, really starting with Phase 2 even without pads, to really start honing in on angle tackling and proper tackling and things like that — as much as we can do,” O’Brien said. “We can’t actually do it, obviously. Leading up to when we have pads on, continuing to work the same drills although they won’t be live, so to speak. We don’t do a lot of live tackling.”

The Texans have been able to work on pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball, which are penalties O’Brien believes the team can control, unlike a judgement call such as offensive holding or pass interference.

“We’ve worked a lot on operation in all three phases and we’ve got to do a better job than we did last year on that in that phase,” said O’Brien. “Once we get to Phase 2, we’ll begin to work more ball security drills, takeaway drills and things like that. That’s going to be a big part of the early part of the season.”

If the Texans can be one of the teams having already found its legs in September, it should give them a head start while the rest of the league adjusts to pro football in the new normal.

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Texans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly looking forward to play-calling against the Chiefs

Houston Texans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly will get his first shot at play-calling in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs.

When coach Bill O’Brien named offensive coordinator Tim Kelly at the NFL Scouting Combine in February, the expectations was Kelly would have four preseason games to ease into the role.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic happened. Then, preseason games were slashed from four to two, then from two to none.

Kelly will have to play-call when the downs count on Sept. 10 against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

“Being a first-time play-caller is obviously — as elementary as this may sound, you’re doing everything for the first time,” Kelly told reporters on Wednesday. “Being able to put yourself in those situations with live bullets — okay, the first time that happens in Kansas City is going to be the first time that I’m doing it where it actually counts.”

When Kelly was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019, there were rumblings that he could take over play-calling duties from O’Brien. The former tight ends coach was even seen during preseason games with the play sheet, mouthing plays into his headset. However, it was only practice, as O’Brien ultimately took the reins in the regular season.

Nonetheless, the experience was invaluable.

Said Kelly: “We were able to get some experience doing that last year during the preseason, but now doing it in a regular season game — that’ll be the first time.”

While the Texans get ready for the regular season, Kelly will also be taking a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the Chiefs’ defense and figuring out how to create the best matchups for quarterback Deshaun Watson to exploit.

“Knowing the roster, it’s good to be able to know what the strengths and weaknesses are of the different players so you can take advantage of what they do well, try to capitalize on their strengths and the different matchup issues that they may present,” said Kelly.

Kelly will be the second offensive play-caller in the O’Brien era. Offensive coordinator George Godsey took over play-calling when he was the offensive coordinator from 2015-16.

What is the Texans’ toughest 4-game stretch of the 2020 schedule?

The Houston Texans have a challenging four-game stretch to start the 2020 season. What are their chances for victory in each game?

Every team has a challenge four-game stretch to their season, and the Houston Texans are no different. In fact, their four-game straits are easy to identify as they occur in the first quarter of the 2020 season.

According to NFL.com’s analytics expert, Cynthia Frelund, the Texans’ have a 37% or less chance to win each of their first four games.

“The Houston Texans’ toughest four-game stretch of the 2020 season comes right out of the gates starting with the season kickoff on Thursday night against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead.

“My model gives Houston a 35.6% chance of winning that game. It does not get any easier for the Texans from there as they return home to host reigning MVP Lamar Jackson and the 14-2 Ravens.

“After opening against the last two MVPs, the Texans travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers and a healthy Ben Roethlisberger. Houston’s toughest stretch is capped off by hosting the Minnesota Vikings. Starting the season with their toughest stretch puts Houston at a disadvantage considering they will be revamping their offense this season after trading DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona. I project the Texans with less than a 40% chance to win any of these games.

“If Houston can get through this incredibly difficult start where they face three playoff teams from a season ago and a future Hall of Fame quarterback in tact, they will have a chance to win the AFC South for the third straight season.”

Frelund gave the Texans a 36.5% chance at the Chiefs, a 37.1% chance in the home opener against Baltimore, a 36.9% chance at the Steelers, and a 37.0% chance against the Vikings at NRG Stadium.

The games that give Houston a chance to win the AFC South are actually the division games, not the intra- and inter-conference games. In the Bill O’Brien era, a 4-2 division record has been good enough to win them the division two out of three times, and a 5-1 division record has secured the AFC South on two occasions. The non-division games help a division winner’s playoff seeding more than anything else.

The Texans started 2018 1-3 and won the AFC South with an 11-5 record. Houston may start out flat in 2020, but how they respond will tell the tale for the rest of the season.