The Texans’ preseason opening 20-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings last Saturday gave some good insight as to what the Houston Texans should look at this coming weekend.
While neither C.J. Stroud nor Nico Collins played in the first game, there was a lot of good that came out of the offense under Nick Caley’s system. The defense showed a lot of potential as well, getting after the Minnesota quarterbacks and putting pressure on their offense. The Carolina Panthers are this weekend’s opponent, so what do the Texans need to examine in their matchup?
The Offensive Line
Backup Davis Mills looked extremely comfortable behind the offensive line against Minnesota. He was in full control of the offense.
While preseason schemes are incredibly vanilla, being poised in the pocket is important. The offensive line has to show growth week to week leading into the regular season. The unit only allowed two sacks against the Vikings. Rookie Aireontae Ersery showed out at left tackle, and he has shown great progress in camp. His development is going to be key going forward.
The team needs to see more from second-year lineman Blake Fisher. Fisher has had a rough camp to say the least. His mechanics are all over the place and he hasn’t been the Swiss army knife that he was in his rookie season. His growth is needed to keep familiarity on the line for C.J. Stroud going into the regular season.
Running Game
Dare Ogunbowale showed a lot of positives as a runner last weekend with five carries for 29 yards — we haven’t seen much of that from him as mostly a pass-catcher out of the backfield.
Nick Chubb is still questionable going into this matchup, so Ogunbowale will get more opportunities to show off his stuff. The team also needs to give rookie Woody Marks more opportunities, as he only had three carries for four yards. The running game needs to find out what they look like without Joe Mixon; Marks has the potential to fill those gaps, he just needs to capitalize on his chances.
Other Backup Quarterbacks
Davis Mills is entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Texans might not end up re-signing him. Houston drafted Graham Mertz out of Florida in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and signed Kedon Slovis at the end of the 2024 season.
Mills showed poise and control in Week 1, which, even as a backup, a fourth year player should. Mertz and Slovis, on the other hand, did not. Slovis went 11/15 for 71 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions, and was sacked twice. Mertz looked like a sixth-round rookie, going 7/14 for 27 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions.
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Case Keenum left for the Chicago Bears in free agency, so one of these gentlemen needs to show more against Carolina than they did against the Vikings. Mills is the clear-cut backup quarterback. Mertz or Slovis needs to prove they are worthy of being the third-string/emergency quarterback, just in case something goes sideways during the season.
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