(by Ross Jacobs)
Shocker. More backups. There has just been a complete lack of anything interesting going on in these preseason games this year, and Week 3 has been the absolute worst. Nobody worth their salt is playing right now and thus there is nothing interesting to be learned in almost any of the games.
This was a dull, sloppy, defensive affair in a steady rain for much of the game. The Panthers squeaked it out, but I don’t think we can draw any conclusions from that.
Player Notes...
-- The one overarching thing I will take away from this game is that it doesn’t look like anything new or intriguing is coming from this Houston offense. I had some hope that perhaps they might dial it up a notch this year, let Stroud off the hook in Year 2 of the offense, but if this game was any indication (and I believe it is), the offense is going to be even more boring and predictable than last year. The plan is going to be David Montgomery runs up the middle on first and second down and hope Nico Collins bails us out on third and long.
I understand the thinking on one level. Houston has this dominant defense that will hold the opponent to sub 20 points every week. All we need to do is play conservative and score a handful of times to win. But come on…you can’t at least try to help out the defense a little? There’s no need to play 1970’s style football on offense just because you have a great defense. Look at Seattle last year. They were conservative, ran the ball a lot, but they supplemented it with play action and attacking down the field with JSN. Houston could absolutely do the same, but I don’t see any signs of that. Instead, they are going to copy the early 2000’s Patriots play for play.
-- I better not hear another person say Davis Mills is better than CJ Stroud simply because Nico Collins has better fantasy stats with him (because Mills forces the ball to him at the expense of the greater good of the offense). It is just patently absurd, and I will no longer tolerate that blasphemy.
-- The same thing goes for saying Kenny Pickett is better than Bryce Young and a threat to take over. No he most certainly is not, and I don’t have to like Bryce to say that. Not every backup is automatically better than the starter just because the starter doesn’t live up to your expectations.
-- And while we’re on the subject, no AJ Dillon is not a threat to Jonathon Brooks. Again, just because you don’t love Brooks, it does not mean that washed up AJD is better. I liked Dillon when he came out years ago, but his best days are behind him and his best days were never all that great anyways. He played deep into this game and did absolutely nothing to suggest he’s a part of the primary offense. He’s depth, nothing more.
-- Every time Jimmy Horn takes a speed sweep he seemingly rips off a good run, and yet he’s almost never used in the passing game, at least not consistently. It seems like there’s some issue there, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.
-- Texans first round pick Kayden McDonald played in this game signalling he’ll be brought along as a backup at first. He was just a big body holding the point of attack here. No sign of any pass rush to his game. Hopefully that’s something he can develop with time.
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