Official Texans vs. 49ers Fake Game Thread, 8/28/2014
 

Time to watch Case Keenum, coog fans.

Eh, he's a Texan. How can you not root for him to do well?.... ;)

Looks like Keenum makes the team as O'brien said he was "most likely" gonna have 3 QBs on his roster, and those 3 QBs would "most likely" be the 3 who are presently on his roster. That's about as definitive as this coach gets so looks like it's gonna be Fitz, Keenum, & Savage and I would have never bet on Keenum to make it.

Is the Ryan Mallett game still afoot though? I imagine the Pats are struggling with whether to keep him, knowing the Texans have first shot at him on waivers. I wonder whether O'Brien keeps all three if he also has Mallett available to him.

I could see the Pats trading him or trying to, I don't see them cutting him outright.

But stranger things have happened....

Like trading your Pro Bowl guard?

Texans receive kockoff. None of starters in on OL and it shows.

Texans get the ball first and "EZ" brings the kickoff out to about the 22.

With Keenum in at QB, Texans move down the field but the drive stalls at the Texan 45.

Punt, and nice ST coverage on the punt. Niners ball with 12:14 left in the 1st qtr.

Drive goes for two first dows out to 47 and stalls. 49ers lost challenge on Martins first down catch.

Keo nice punt coverage tackle on 8 yd line.

Gabbert starting QB goes 3 and out. SF looks flat so far.

Niners go 3 and out and punt. Labhart fair catches at the Texan 34. Texans ball w/10:45 left in the 1st qtr.

Finally, a deep ball but it goes inc.

Texans go 3 and out and will punt.

Keo with another fine tackle on the coverage...

Looks lilke refs letting em play tonite, few flags so far.

Keo another good ST tackle on punt.

A couple of passes, a couple of nice runs by Grimes has the Texans in FG range....

Grimes is running pretty goodm. Case starting to hit receivers.

Clabo flagged for rollo blick to knees.

Nice passes to martin then posey.

Now FG try from 25, 41 yds Boswell good

Texan drive stalls and Boswell comes on for the 41 yard FG.

FG is good.

Texans 3, Niners 0

2:20 left in the 1st qtr.

Mercilus putting on a show.

Tackle on. Kick return.

Now two sacks in a row.

Savage in at QB drive starts at 44 yd line.

Two 3 yd runs by Grimes. Savage sacked but defense flagged hands to face so first down

I like the moxie Savage displays, he looks very relaxed in there.

Bullock makes it 6-0 with a 53 yard FG w/6:46 left in the half.

Gabbert's pass to Cleveland goes for the 14 yard TD. Eddie Unpleasant gets beat on the play.

Niners 7, Texans 6

1:18 left in the half.

Ooops, Cook of the Niners INT's Keenum's pass and brings it back to the Texan 13.

42 seconds left in the half.

Very next play, QB Josh Johnson hits Ellington for the score.

Niners 14, Texans 6

34 seconds left in the half.

Niners take the 2nd half kickoff and go deep into Texans territory but have to settle for the 28-yard FG.

Niners 17, Texans 6

9:04 left in the 3rd qtr.

Texans 1st play of the half, Savage does the pick 6.

Niners 24, Texans 6

8:45 left in the 3rd qtr.

Yay! Andre Hal returns the favor and does a pick 6! 77 yards.

Niners 24, Texans 13

2:19 left in the 3rd qtr.

J Johnson hits Nelson for the 5 yard TD pass.

Niners 31, Texans 13

10:19 left in the game.

Texan punt gets blocked into the endzone for a Safety.

Niners 33, Texans 13

About 9 minutes left in the game.

Johnson hits Nelson again for the 2 yard TD pass.

Niners 40, Texans 13

6:20 left in the game.

Niners running out the clock.

Final Score:

Niners 40, Texans 13

---------------------------

Man, not many positives from tonight......

This week's game is always the hardest game to watch every year and the biggest FU to paying fans. Not to mention Thursday traffic getting into the stadium with amateur fans (i.e. those that aren't regulars during the season) make this a tough one for those in attendance.

Can't argue with the logic to protect key starters, but I think there are some players (like Brooks Reed?) who probably could've still started this one.

Hard to even get excited about Mercilus since he should be good enough to be on the sidelines with Reed, too.

The internet went down tonight - as far as I can tell the outage affected the entire country - some time during the third quarter. I don't think I missed very much.

My internet was fine but mine is through Time Warner Cable, the ones who had a major national internet f-up on Wednesday. Texans started the fake season poorly and ended it poorly but did some good things in between.

Some observations:

No way Keenum wasn't going to make the club. You don't want Savage thrown to the wolves should Fitz go down so Keenum is the buffer. He is short-term insurance for injury or ineffectiveness from your starter. Savage looked more "not ready" this week than last week which was probably a good thing for both coaches and player to see and understand.

I think the Texans want to keep Labhart (#19) but may not with the number of players ahead of him so having him return punts was his chance to prove his versatility. I doubt he has much experience running back kicks but he at least looked surehanded even if he wasn't sure when to fair catch and when not to. If it came down to Labhart or EZ for the final roster spot, I think EZ wins ever so slightly on talent and versatility but Labhart might still sneak onto the practice squad.

Sua-Filo (#70) showed why he won't make it in this league as an OT. The Niners abused him with speed rushers. I hope he's better inside than he was outside or he's a wasted pick.

Elbert Mack (#43), turn in your playbook. If Clemons is on the bubble, it probably went pop.

Again, late draft picks looked good. Hal is a definite keeper. Pagan made plays. Blue looked good when there was a hole and at least once when there wasn't. The absence of Ronnie Brown means he's either definitely in or definitely out. Does O'Brien keep four RBs plus the Auburn FB? I don't think they can sneak either Blue or Grimes through waivers.

IIRC, Foster did not take a snap the entire preseason. Is he toting the rock Week 1 without any work in the new offense?

I hope Bullough (UDFA) is kept at ILB. It's a thin position and he plays well.

Never a doubt who the kickers were going to be. That will be two easy cuts to make.

We got through the pre-season without any major injuries. The only worries are regarding players with pre-existing conditions (Foster, AJ, Cushing...)

Can't wait for the real thing and still unsure if we're an 8-8, 6-10 or 4-12 team. You'll be able make comparisons with the 2002 squad, though as they will have roughly the same schedule. Like then, this might be a good year to have the NFC East as opponents. The Cowboys looked worse than the Texans did last night.

Before last night I thought for sure Keo was history in these parts, but what a game he played vs the 49ers. And how about Mercilus, that was encouraging.
But the second half for the Texans really sucked, glad it was in the most meaningless of all preseason games with nothing but backups.

Want an example of how meaningless the final preseason game is?

In last year's Week 4 of preseason, the Texans won 24-6, capping a 3-1 preseason en route to a 2-14 campaign.

After last night I'm thinking Texans might be fairly active with that first pick on the waiver wire, but who knows.

It was nice to see Hal get his second pick 6 of preseason, but he also got defensive holding and big receptions against him.

Same opponents as in 2002 when we went 4-12. Hmm, I think we have a few better players than in 2002 and likely better teaching coaches so I believe we will do better than 4-12.

Oh I think that's been the expectation all along. I sure hope they can pick up a swing-tackle, after D.Brown and Newt (who's playing better), they got nothin from I can see.