The Houston Texans finished up their long business trip to Detroit on Saturday afternoon by disposing of the Detroit Lions (well, the backups on the Lions, at least) by a final score of 24-7. Truth be told, we probably would have learned more about how these two teams will fare this season by watching the joint practice they conducted on Thursday, where the starters for each team got in two hours of work with each other.
Unfortunately, they don’t televise those practices. They do televise the preseason games, and while most of the players on each side in Saturday’s game will wind up getting their walking papers by Tuesday afternoon — the deadline for NFL teams to get their rosters to the 53 man limit — there were definitely some winners and losers. Here are four of each:
WINNERS
4. Tommy Togiai
Togiai was an in season pickup for the Texans in 2024, and he actually acquitted himself well during the last couple months of the season. The team invited him back for camp in 2025, and he’s had a very good camp. DeMeco Ryans called him the team’s “most consistent player” a couple weeks ago. Togiai is in a dogfight to make this roster, but the sack he had on the first series of the game certainly left a favorable impression. I’m rooting for Togiai to make the squad.
3. Quintez Cephus
Cephus is another player who spent some time with the Texans last year. He was one of several wide receivers vying to make the team, but unfortunately, he was cut at the end of August. He’s got an uphill climb to make the ball club again this summer, but it won’t be for a lack of effort. Cephus reportedly had one of the best touchdown catches of the joint practice on Thursday, and then replicated it in the game on Saturday. He finished with four catches for 51 yards and a touchdown.
2. Graham Mertz
Nobody made a bigger comeback in game-play than Mertz, who had a horrific debut in the first preseason game against the Vikings, throwing three interceptions in the fourth quarter of the 20-10 loss. On Saturday, Mertz looked like a different player, completing 14 of 16 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. Mertz won’t make the 53 man roster, but he made a very compelling case to be brought back on the practice squad, where he would likely be the emergency quarterback each week.
1. Nick Caley
None of the starters on offense played in this game on Saturday. It was all second and third string guys, and other than a spate of procedural penalties during a stretch in the second half of the game, the offense was well executed throughout the day. The offensive line opened holes and looked well coached. Both quarterbacks who played, Mertz and Kevon Slovis, were efficient and protected the football. The Caley Effect is being seen across all layers of the depth chart, and that should excite Texan fans.
LOSERS
4. D’Angelo Ross
Somehow, D’Angelo Ross has managed to hang around on the Houston Texans since 2022. He’s been in the league since 2019. While he certainly is a useful piece on special teams, it’s football tragic when he tackles the field as a cornerback. On Saturday, this was on display as he got cooked for the only Lions touchdown of the game on a deep ball to Isaac TeSlaa. If I had to guess, I’d guess Ross makes the team again, because he just keeps hanging around, and will never die, but man oh man, is he a tough watch at cornerback.
3. Justin Watson
There is a crowded house in the wide receiver room. It thinned out a bit this past week, when the Texans traded John Metchie to Philadelphia, but the conventional wisdom says the Texans will keep six receivers, with Braxton Berrios and Watson battling it out for the sixth and final spot. If that’s the case, Berrios has not only had the better overall camp, but Watson didn’t do much in his final chance to make an impression. He wasn’t targeted at all on offense, and in his opportunity to impress in the return game, his indecision on a punt return almost pinned the Texans down on their own one yard line.
2. Browns fans
Two weeks ago, they were celebrating Shedeur Sanders as the second coming after his outstanding performance in his preseason debut. On Saturday, Shedeur was doing stuff like this:
Good lord pic.twitter.com/UjBl3sCxUT
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) August 23, 2025
Sanders finished the game competing 3 of 6 passes for 14 yards, and took five sacks, including the one in the above video. Life comes at you pretty fast.
1. Blake Ferguson
For some reason, after 15 seasons, the Houston Texans decided to move on from longtime long snapper Jon Weeks this past offseason, despite the fact that he literally never had a bad snap. He’s been replaced with rookie Austin Brinkman, who’s been fine throughout camp. However, Brinkman is dealing with some sort of issue that’s keeping him out the last week or so. Thus, the Texans brought in Ferguson so they’d have someone that can snap a football. Well, I sure hope Ferguson wasn’t viewing this as an audition, because for the first time in a decade and a half, Texan fans got to experience poor snapping, with at least two questionable snaps by Ferguson. Get well soon, Brinkman!
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