At this point in Tyrone Poole’s career he’s probably nothing more than a backup but the Texans needed depth after their latest bout with injuries in the secondary.  Poole played in 12 games last season with the Raiders and he made 15 tackles, defensed 4 passes, had 1 sack and 1 interception.  He will likely try to win a job in the nickel or dime defense for the Texans this season.  He has now played in 142 games in his career and he has made 477 tackles, defensed 121 passes, has 6 sacks, forced 9 fumbles and intercepted 18 passes.

Jason Simmons will battle Von Hutchins and Brandon Harrison for the starting job at free safety for the Texans.  Simmons is a little short at 5′9″ but he weighs 204 pounds which should help him against the running game.  Simmons played in all 16 games last season for the Texans and he made 47 tackles and intercepted a pass.  In his NFL career Simmons has now played in 120 games and he has made 227 tackles, has 2 sacks, 2 interceptions, defensed 8 passes, forced 6 fumbles and recovered 3 fumbles.  This will be a battle to focus on the rest of Training Camp and the Pre-Season for the Texans.

The Houston Texans have placed starting strong safety Glenn Earl and reserve DB Jason Horton on the Injured Reserve list ending their seasons.  Earl has a Lisfranc Injury in his foot and that’s ended a lot of players’ careers.  Earl played in 15 games last season for the Texans and he made 74 tackles, had 2 sacks, 1 interception, defensed 3 passes and forced a fumble.  Jason Horton did not play last season and he was trying to make the Texans as a reserve defensive back/special teams player.  He has played in 23 NFL games in his career and he has made 27 tackles and forced a fumble.  The Texans won’t miss Horton too much but losing Glenn Earl is going to leave a big mark in the secondary.

The Texans are going to move last season’s starting free safety (C.C. Brown) to strong safety to replace Earl.  Brown is a solid football player and he should be able to handle the switch easy.  Brown played in 15 games last season for the Texans and he made 76 tackles, had 1 sack, 1 interception, defended 4 passes, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.  He has been a solid player in the NFL over his career which now covers 31 games.  In those games he has made 155 tackles, has 1 sack, 2 interceptions, defensed 5 passes, forced 2 fumbles and recovered 1 fumble.  The Texans are expected to start Von Hutchins at free safety to replace Brown there.  He is a small guy who likely won’t help much at all against the run.  He is only 5′9″, 181 which will also cause him problems in defending TEs.  He only played in 3 games last season and he made 5 whole tackles.  He has now played in 22 games in his NFL career and he has made 56 tackles, has 1 interception (he returned it 77 yards for a TD) and he has defensed 1 pass.  Rookie Brandon Harrison out of Stanford could put up a fight with Hutchins for the starting job.  Stay Tuned.

The Texans just couldn’t hold on last night as the Bears scored the last 13 points of the football game.  A big part of the problem was the play of Bradlee Van Pelt as he only completed 1 of 7 passes for 8 yards late in the game which allowed the Bears a chance to come back.  Matt Schaub made a brief appearance at the start of the game and he completed 3 of 5 passes for 25 yards.  Sage Rosenfels was definately the QB that looked the best for the Texans last night.  He completed 16 of 26 passes for 138 yards with a TD pass and he also ran the ball 1 time for 11 yards.  Wali Lundy was the leading rusher for the Texans last night with 24 yards on 8 carries (3.0 ypc).  Samkon Gado looked o.k. last night as he carried the ball 4 times for 14 yards (3.5 ypc).  Rookie WR Jacoby Jones led the way for the Texans with 4 grabs for 47 yards.  TE Jeb Putzier pitched in with 4 catches for 40 yards and a TD.  The Texans appear to have a lot of work to do on offense after watching last night’s game.  They ran the ball 25 times but only got 75 yards (3.0 ypc) and they completed 20 of 38 passes for 160 yards.

The defense played good against the run as the Bears only rushed for 57 yards on 21 carries (2.7 ypc).  But, the Bears completed 30 of 42 passes for 264 yards.  Lucky for the Texans that they have three weeks to clean up the pass defense.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/live/NFL_20070811_CHI@HOU

The Texans appear to be deep at fullback on paper.  Vonta Leach would be the starter if the season started right now.  He played in 12 games (5 starts) last season for the Texans and he has caught 6 passes for 61 yards (10.2 avg) with 1 TD catch.  For his career Leach has played in 34 games (10 starts) and he’s never carried the football but he has caught 11 passes for 80 yards (7.2 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Jon Abbate is converting to fullback from linebacker so it will be interesting to see how he does.  Jameel Cook has had a setback in his recovery from knee surgery so there’s no timetable for his return to action.  He played in 11 games (6 starts) last season for the Texans and he carried the ball 3 times for 18 yards (6.0 ypc) and he caught 18 passes for 107 yards (5.9 avg).  Cook has now played in 83 games (23 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 6 times for 19 yards (3.2 ypc) and he has caught 73 passes for 446 yards (6.1 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Patrick Pass is a veteran that could move up the depth chart given his experience.  Pass played in 3 games (0 starts) last season for the Patriots and he carried the ball 6 times for 21 yards (3.5 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 24 yards (12.0 avg).  Over his NFL career, Pass has played in 78 games (11 starts) and he has carried the football 128 times for 526 yards (4.1 ypc) with 3 TD runs and he has caught 66 passes for 570 yards (8.6 avg) with 1 TD grab.