Jacoby Shines, Grossman Calls The Plays In Texans 27-20 Victory Over Tampa Bay

Are there any more frightening words in all of football than “Rex Grossman is your starting quarterback”? I can’t think of any, except maybe, “Hi, I’m Michael Vick. Mind if I walk your dog?”

Yes, the Texans are down to this, Rex Grossman, starting at QB. Matt “I’ve got a boo-boo” Schaub sat out the final preseason game, which in and of itself is not a big deal, but given Schaub’s history of missed games due to injury it leaves the mind to ponder the horror of watching Rex Grossman start four or five or six games for the Texans.

Oh where art thou Rosenfels? Oh yeah, he has that greatest of all back-up QB jobs now, the one where you never have to break a sweat. He’s the number two QB at Minnesota behind Brett Favre, who has never missed a start ever in his one hundred years as a player. Okay, maybe it’s not 100 years, it just seems like it.

Back to Grossman, in all honesty he didn’t stink it up against Tampa Bay.  However, if Grossman is anything as a QB it is consistent; he is consistently inconsistent in his play.  At times looking like a world beater, and at other times he looks like a lost third-grader playing among the giants of the NFL, scrambling for dear life and flinging the ball wherever he may.

Last night, however Grossman played well, and the other contender for the backup QB job, Dan Orlovsky, went 5 for 7 for 51 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. So, is Grossman in? Will he even make the team? Gary Kubiak’s response, “I don’t know.”

Cuts are today, so we’ll have to wait and see who the Texans will pin their hopes upon for the entire season. Rex Grossman? Dan Orlovsky? Then let the office pools begin to see when Schaub will go down and how long he’ll be out.

The biggest highlight of the Texan’s victory last night was the play of Jacoby Jones. A star in 2007, Jones has just sort of hung around since then. Last night he showed a spark of brilliance. But was it enough to keep hanging around as a Texan?

"Hopefully, but if not, that's a hard thing not to do after three catches for 148 yards,” said Jones.

Kubiak’s take on Jones’ performance sounded encouraging, "He played very well. He made a big play. He had a little heat issue, had to leave the game, but came back the second half, played some more in the second half and obviously he's capable of making plays. I think he's had a good preseason and I think he's ready to go."

Jones’ set a preseason record for the NFL this year with 148 yards on just three catches. Jones also scored an 87-yard touchdown as part of those big numbers. Jones, who battled with chronic butter finger syndrome in 2008, also did not have any fumbles in the entire preseason.

Rookie tight end, James Casey, scored his first preseason touchdown last night on an 11-yard pass from Grossman. Other standouts included safety, John Busing, who was responsible for two of the Texans' four takeaways against Tampa Bay. One an interception with a 27-yard return which eventually led to a Texans touchdown.  The other takeaway by Busing was a fumble recovery in Tampa Bay territory during the third quarter of play.

All-in-all a good night for second-stringers and those on the bubble awaiting news of today’s cuts. As for the starters? We’ll have to wait for the real games to begin.