The way the preseason in the National Football League has evolved over time, the preseason games have not only become more scarce — just three of them after decades of four — but they’ve diminished in importance. Turns be told, if you had access to the Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers in a joint practice last Thursday, you probably got a better show than those who had tickets to the Texans’ 20-3 win over the Panthers on Saturday at NRG Stadium.
However, if you did choose to attend the game, you got a rare look at the Texans’ starters, for at least a couple of series, and the show was a good one, as the Texans were the clearly superior team all afternoon long.
Again, the final score was 20-3, but the more important stories center around the individual battles to either climb the depth chart or be on it at all, come the end of the month. To that end, we had some winners and losers yesterday, let’s get to those, shall we?
WINNERS
4. Irv Smith, Jr.
With Brevin Jordan’s season ending knee injury last week, the back end of the tight end room has become one of the more interesting decisions for Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans. Dalton Schultz and Cade Stover are going to make the team, but after that, Jordan was the sure fire third tight end. On Saturday, Smith, who’d missed the better part of the last few weeks with an injury, made a nice statement, leading the team with 5 catches for 46 yards. Last season, in limited duty, Smith proved to be a viable blocker in the run game. He put himself firmly into the mix on Saturday. It should be mentioned that the Texans did get tight end Harrison Bryant back in the John Metchie trade on Sunday, so this will be a competitive situation down to the wire.
3. Woody Marks
Marks is going to make the team, we’ve known that from about the time the team traded a future third round pick to take him in the fourth round of the draft back in April. However, the team might need to lean on him more than they’d anticipated, with injuries to Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce keeping both out of action. Pierce has returned, but has been limited, and Mixon has yet to make an appearance on the sidelines at practice, let alone in actual practice action. Marks had seven vibrant carries for 40 yards on Saturday, and has looked very well acclimated in pass protection and blitz pickup. The Texans picked a winner with this one.
2. Damon Arnette
Arnette is in a dog fight right now to make the roster as a backup cornerback and perhaps a gunner on special teams. The former first round pick of the Raiders was out of football altogether, when he was picked up by the Houston Roughnecks of the UFL last season. His off-field rap sheet from 2021 through 2024 is lengthy and littered with words like “guns” and “meth,” but he appears to have turned his life around, and the Texans are giving him a shot. On Saturday, he had an interception, and was able to flash some of the athleticism that got him drafted in the first round back in 2020.
1. Nick Caley
There are plenty of individual players we could list here as winners, based on the touchdown drive that the first string put together — Nick Chubb, C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins, to name a few. Let’s just put this accolade all at the feet of new offensive coordinator Nick Caley, whose background in drilling fundamentals has shown up in the way the first string offensive line has gotten a nice push in their two games so far, shown up in the way running backs have picked up blitzes, and shown up in little things like the blocking in wide receiver screens, which was putrid last season, but was excellent on Saturday.
LOSERS
4. Bryce Young
The number one overall pick in the draft back in 2023, Young has had a much bumpier entry into the NFL than his fellow highly drafted quarterback, C.J. Stroud. Things got better for Young down the stretch last season, as the Panthers actually won a few games, and he reclaimed his starting role that he’d lost after Week 2 last year. Well, on Saturday, the Texans defense made Young look like the overwhelmed rookie from 2023. In his two series, Young was 0-2 passing, gained two yards rushing, and took a sack.
3. Braxton Berrios
The wide receiver room got a little less crowded on Sunday afternoon, with the Texans deciding to move on from John Metchie, trading him to the Philadelphia Eagles. That essentially leaves seven players for what will likely be six spots. Last week, it was Berrios making a nice statement with a touchdown catch against the Vikings. This week, Justin Watson, who is battling with Berrios for a roster spot, had two big chain-moving catches, while Berrios was shut out. Onto this week against Detroit, as this battle goes down to the wire!
2. Hat-gateSo, the Astros are currently in a neck-and-neck street fight for the AL West with the Seattle Mariners. Houston fans are anxious right now over their baseball team. It’s not been good of late. Then, C.J. Stroud, their football team’s quarterback, showed up at the stadium wearing a Mariners hat:
Stroud pulling up to the first Texans game in Houston in the hat of a team that the Astros are in a heated battle for the AL West with? Wild. pic.twitter.com/t96jXeH09S
— James Roy (@JamesRoyNFL) August 16, 2025
Then, the internet, which is where most of the “care” about this topic seemed to reside, went nuts. Then, Stroud was asked about his choice of headwear after the game:
Yikes: CJ Stroud has gone viral for his response when asked about wearing a Mariners hat:
“I still love the Astros, but it’s all good, I understand. It’s all about the swag, baby.”
Many fans are extremely upset by this 😬😳
pic.twitter.com/JtKEBDDHWd
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 17, 2025
Then, the whole thing turned into people giving deep thoughts and explanations to irrational angry people about why it’s okay that Stroud wore this hat. Somehow, the topic skewed racial, and in the end, I really just hated how much everyone cared about this. I acknowledge this just might be me who hated every side of this discourse. I am passionate about some inane things, as well. But, man, do we need real football games. Badly.
1. Los Angeles Rams
The Houston Texans’ Week 1 opponent has a quarterback issue right now. Their starting quarterback Matthew Stafford has a disc issue in his back, and while some NFL insiders have tried to minimize the severity of the injury, saying that is the season started this week, Stafford would start, the fact of the matter is Stafford isn’t even working out at this point. He hasn’t practiced all of camp, and is reportedly receiving epidurals for the injury. The bottom line is that we are dangerously close (dangerous for the Rams, that is) to the point where there is no good scenario for the Rams. Either Stafford plays and he is rusty and injured, or backup Jimmy Garoppolo plays and he throws four interceptions to Derek Stingley.
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