Houston Texans: Joe Webb has morphed into a reliable option on offense

Houston Texans quarterback Joe Webb was impressive in the team’s first preseason game. He has proven he’s a reliable option on offense. What went on?

The Houston Texans took on the Green Bay Packers last night in their first preseason game of the season and there were some interesting results that occurred. There were some surprises as well as some moments that we were expecting to see.

Nonetheless, the Houston Texans played some competitive football and they’ll work on making tweaks week-by-week until it’s fine-tuned before the start of the season next month.

With Deshaun Watson not likely getting any meaningful preseason action until likely later this month, it’s up to the backup quarterbacks to fill the time. However, A.J. McCarron recently injured his thumb rendering him out for possibly the entire preseason. This prompted the Houston Texans to prepare quarterback/special teams guru Joe Webb to get the bulk of the minutes.

His familiarity with the system made him easy decision to insert in the lineup but it remained to be seen as to how long he’d play last night. He ended playing the whole game and this left newly-signed undrafted quarterback Jordan Ta’amu on the bench.

Although Ta’amu was in rookie minicamp this past Spring, he still has to get up to speed on the playbook.

But seeing Webb have a lot of success on the field impressed me even more. He looked way better than his preseason action last season. He finished up throwing 25-for-40 (62.5 percent) for 286 yards and one touchdown to two interceptions. He also was the team’s leading rusher with 47 yards on the ground off six carries (7.8 yards per attempt).

Webb looks so comfortable out there — he was making plays with his legs, making difficult throws

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and was effective in moving the chains. His pass protection looked solid out there but I noticed some minor mishaps when Martinas Rankin stepped into the game.

There was an eight-yard sack that Webb took with 7:27 left in the third quarter that could’ve been prevented had Rankin not try to double-team. This seemed to confuse second-year offensive tackle Rick Leonard, who looked totally out of place and opened up the right side for Randy Ramsey to take Webb down.

But it’s a learning experience for both of those guys and Webb did a terrific job of improvising — like Watson does — when things don’t go as planned.

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All in all, the 32-year-old Webb looked a lot more refined one season later than in the past and he’s certainly a guy that the Houston Texans can count on. Although special teams will be his calling card when the season starts, it’s good to know we have a third quarterback that can be counted on if the situation arises.

I can’t wait for next week — go Houston Texans!

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