The third game being the regular season dress rehearsal in a four-game preseason made sense. Coaches could look at their starters into the third quarter, if necessary, and then put bubblewrap back on them until September. The fourth game was used to evaluate the bottom of the roster and make the hard decisions to get at 53 men for the final roster.
Since the NFL did away with the fourth preseason game and moved it to the end of the 16-game season to create the new 17-game season, which game has become the new dress rehearsal for the Houston Texans?
Coach David Culley provided some insight as to which game might be the dress rehearsal when he met with reporters before practice at Houston Methodist Training Center.
“This week will basically be the last week we feel like we’ll be in training camp mode,” Culley said. “Next week we start into — because next week is going to be the same as this week going into Dallas. We’ll approach it as if it is a game week and we’ll use the last week of preseason the same way as we are in — in a regular game. So it gives us a chance to do that.”
The way the Texans look at it “dress rehearsal prep” is as important as the game itself. According to Culley, it appears the Texans will have two weeks of rehearsals to get their regular season preparation correct.
However, the Texans will stay in “training camp mode” ahead of the bout with the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night.
Said Culley: “Green Bay hasn’t played a game. It’s their first game, it’s our first game, and we’re going to go up there and play each other and take it from there.”
The Texans start the regular season at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 12.