Houston Texans show they have major problems in Dallas

With Andrew Luck shockingly retiring from football, the Indianapolis Colts are no longer favorites in the AFC South. That mantle now belongs to the Houston Texans. Maybe.

We know that the preseason is largely meaningless. However, the Houston Texans at least made all of us do a double-take on Saturday night. Houston was pummeled 34-0 by the Dallas Cowboys, and potentially lost running back Lamar Miller for the season due to a knee injury. Without Miller, the newly-acquired Duke Johnson will become the feature back with no proven depth behind him.

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Furthermore, guard Zach Fulton was carted off the field with turf toe. A diagnosis on his timetable remains to be seen, but Fulton could miss time. This for an offensive line that is already downright offensive. First-round rookie tackle Tytus Howard is working his way back from a broken finger, while second-round pick Max Scharping struggled throughout the night at AT&T Stadium. All told, star quarterback Deshaun Watson was running for his proverbial life.

In short, the dress rehearsal for this season looked an awful lot like last season, when Watson was sacked league-high 62 times.

While Luck’s retirement may put Houston into the driver’s seat, the line and the continued failure to fix it have to be major concerns. Head coach Bill O’Brien has run the show for some time now, both on the field and in the front office. The offseason firing of general manager Brian Laine only hammered that point home. Still, O’Brien and the Texans can’t figure out how to block for one of theme’s young stars, and they’ve done little to provide him with top-shelf weapons. When you consider DeAndre Hopkins was already in-house when Watson arrived, who is the biggest addition? A rental of Demaryius Thomas? Will Fuller? As the saying goes, not great, Bob.

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Then there’s a matter of the defense. J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus are All-Pro caliber players, but what else? The secondary essentially traded Kareem Jackson and Tyrann Mathieu for Bradley Roby and Tashaun Gipson. Not an upgrade. The front seven aside from Watt and Mercilus has a ton of questions, especially considering Jadeveon Clowney still hasn’t signed his franchise tag and when he does,  it could be to facilitate a trade out of Houston.

This group could be good enough to win the AFC South. It won’t be good enough to win anything of significance come January if Saturday’s performance is any indicator of what is coming down the pike.