Countdown To Kickoff: Texans - Rams

Our beloved Houston Texans are in Los Angeles today to face the Los Angeles Rams, and we’re prepping for a late game this afternoon.

The Texans will begin the second game of our scary post-DW4 world having regained the services of TE C.J. Fiedorowicz and having lost the services of TE Ryan Griffin. C.J. had been on IR due to a concussion since the first game of the season, while Griffin’s second concussion of the season has ended his season. Our team isn’t what we hoped it would be but, despite the bog-standard play we witness at times, the Texans’ stats aren’t as awful as we’d believe.

The Rams have completely surprised the NFL with their performance. After years of watching this team under Jeff Fisher essentially not GAF about scoring or even looking decent on offense, the Rams, under first-time and first-year head coach Sean McVay, look like real contenders. Of course, this is cold comfort to the team’s St. Louis-based fans, who had to suffer years of Stan Kroenke’s complete lack of concern about the product on the field, but the casual NFL fan is likely enjoying the turnaround.

What are you expecting to see today? Any players we should look out for? How will the offense work with C.J. and without Ryan? Any change expected at all? Or is TE a position so disappointing for our offense that it’s basically rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?

This is your Countdown to Kickoff. Chill here until the first quarter’s open thread is available around 2:45 p.m. CST.