Is it just me or did you think Matt Schaub should have played another series or two?? I know ... I know it's pre-season, but this is the Texans new "guy". I would like to see if this guy can really get it done or not. Also ... is it just me or did you think Mario Williams spent most of his time playing "patty-cake" with the Bears offensive tackle instead of just taking off and putting some pressure on his opponent to collapse the pocket???

Here are my impressions of the 2007 Texans after one pre-season game.

I thought Matt Schaub looked like a real NFL quarterback. That's important. But he still has some developing to do. Late in the first quarter he had a wide open Kevin Walter streaking up the sideline for a certain touchdown ....but he overthrew him by at least 5 yards. I'm not expecting him to make all the throws early on ..... but I am expecting him to hit wide open receivers when he finds them. All in all though I like what I see in Schaub.

Elsewhere on the offensive side of things I liked what I saw in rookie receiver Jacoby Jones.... who caught 4 passes for 47 yards. Plus he looked good returning punts. Wide receiver Kevin Walter showed he can get open .....but he dropped a key 3rd down pass. I also liked the way Jerome Mathis worked at wide receiver. He had two receptions and looked good running his routes. Mathis was also the best return man the Texans had on the field. With an "ouchy" hamstring ...he returned a kickoff 78 yards and nearly took it to the house. Also it should be noted ... the mix and match offensive line did an all right job also ...not allowing any sacks until Bradley Van Pelt was in the game. The run blocking needs to improve though.

Defensively .... I was again dissappointed in what I saw in Mario Williams. He is an impressive physical speciman .....but doesn't get it done if you don't use the talent that you possess. Just like last season ... Mario spent waaaaay too much time playing "patty-cake" with the offensive left tackle of the opposition than he did trying to collapse the pocket on pass plays and disrupting the blocking scheme on running plays. Amobi Okoye however showed flashes ...as he got some pressure up the middle. The best defensive line play though was turned in by some non-starters. Jason Babin looked good ... getting to the quarterback twice. Veteran N.D. Kalu looked good .... as usual. Plus ... Earl Cochran ..... a 2nd year defensive end out of Alabama State looked good. Cochran has been making plays in practice ...and he brought that to the field Saturday night.

The defensive backfield looked pretty good for much of the time. Free Safety backup Von Hutchins looked good and returned an interception deep in to Chicago territory setting up a Kris Brown field goal. Dunta Robinson saw only limited time ....but he also made one of the best open field tackles of the game. I love the way he plays the run. The biggest negative defensively came when starting strong safety Glenn Earl was injured. It didn't look good at the stadium.

As for the special teams .... Kris Brown is back to being Kris Brown as he kicked 4 field goals. But Chad Stanley looks to be skating on thin ice at the punter spot. Chad had an early punt go 50 yards ....but most of it came on a lucky roll after the ball hit short. Former Rams kicker Matt Turk has so much of a stronger leg than the incumbant punter ...... that Chad must feel inadequate at times. I was telling someone at the game that Chad must be feeling something like you or I would feel if we were at the driving rance hitting balls ....and Tiger Woods shows up to work on his swing. Texans General Manager Rick Smith says this competition will go down to the wire .....but I think they already know who they want at that position. As for the returners ....I mentioned earlier in this story that I thought Jones looked good returning punts and Mathis looked great during his one kickoff return.

All in all I will give the Texans a letter grade of "C" for their 1st pre-season game of 2007. First off ....if you lose the game you should receive no more than a "C" grade. Now in the NFL regular season ....if you lose the game a team should never receive more than a "D"....but again this is pre-season. In conclusion ... I saw some real positives with the team ....but I also saw some real negatives .... but I still believe this is a better team than the 2006 club already.

What do you think? Just e-mail me at mmusil@khou.com and let me know.

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