Normally, when the calendar flips to the month of August, it’s a sign that actual football games are on the horizon. Sure, they are preseason games, and at least half the guys playing will be working at Walmart in a month, but still! It’s freaking football!
Well, this August is a little different here in Houston. As we flip the calendar from July to August, we crash right into an actual football game TONIGHT, on August 1, in Canton, OH. It’s the annual Hall of Fame Game, pitting the Houston Texans, who have Andre Johnson getting inducted into the Hall this weekend, against the Chicago Bears, who have Steve McMichael, Devin Hester, and (part time Bear) Julius Peppers going into the Hall this weekend.
If you’re tuning into the game tonight at 7 p.m. on ABC locally (or listening on SportsRadio 610, including hearing yours truly on the pregame show at 4 p.m. and the postgame show following the game), do not expect to see a lot of the big names. Bears head coach Matt Eberflus has outright said that his starters won’t be playing tonight. Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans wasn’t quite as transparent, as you’ll see in the video below:
There have already been reports since that press conference that QB C.J. Stroud and many other starters will not play in this game. I would expect all of the rookies, even forecasted starter CB Kamari Lassiter, to play in the game, most of them a substantial amount. However, if you’re trying to figure out who sits it out, I would assume almost anyone listed as first string in the depth chart graphic below:
So, with that said, here are a few people and aspects of the game that I’ll have an eye on tonight, beginning at 7 p.m.:
4. Dameon Pierce
We all know that Pierce’s 2023 season was one of the bigger disappointments surrounding the Houston Texans, a team that honestly did not have many disappointments! Pierce made no bones about the fact that he was a little overwhelmed with the new offensive scheme, and that the team wouldn’t get the best version of him until 2024. Well, 2024 is here now, and with starting RB Joe Mixon nursing a leg injury in camp, Pierce has been getting copious reps with the starters in camp. Now, here comes an actual opponent, so let’s see if Pierce’s offseason work translates into something much closer to the 2022 version of Pierce, a version that may have been the best player on the Texans that season.
3. John Metchie III
It would appear that Metchie is indeed going to play in the Hall of Fame Game, which has me very excited. Like Pierce, 2023 did not live up to expectations for Metchie, but for completely different reasons. Metchie underwent cancer treatment in missing the 2022 season, so when he returned in 2023, he was not the best version of himself physically. He appeared to be half a step slow. Well, Metchie is now getting his sea legs back, and he has looked explosive throughout training camp. He looks much more like the player the Texans expected to get when they drafted him 44th overall in 2022. In particular, his route running has been crisp and, at times, damn near ankle breaking on some of the Texans defensive backs. Now let’s see him do it against an actual non-Texans opponent.
2. New kickoff rules
In perhaps the most significant rule change in many years, the NFL has completely revamped what a kickoff looks and feels like. Without giving a major description of how the new kicks are executed, here is a video from Jets camp:
My biggest questions are about the types of players that get deployed in this new, far more compact space in which kicks are returned. Are returners going to be small, quick guys (like, say, Tank Dell), or bruising running back types (like Pierce, who’s listed as the top kick return guy on the depth chart). This should be fascinating to watch all preseason long, as more and more trial and error take place.
1. Davis Mills
While I expect C.J. Stroud to be in street clothes, I expect that Davis Mills will get at least a handful of series as the starter in this game. Mills has had kind of an up and down camp. He’s had a few days where he’s looked like a solid NFL starter, and he’s had a few days where he’s looked like, well, Davis Mills. Mills is theoretically a quarterback that several other teams may have their eyes on, in case there is a catastrophic injury at quarterback for their teams. Mills being in this Texans offensive system makes him a very marketable commodity, if the right opportunity arose to move him. If I were to bet on it, for now, he will be the Texans’ backup quarterback, but if he puts up some big numbers, and looks like he is comfortable running Bobby Slowik’s offense, Nick Caserio may get a few texts from his peers around the league, just “checking in.”
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
