An early preview of the Texans and Chiefs

August 11, 8:09 PMHouston Texans ExaminerAlan Burge

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Texans fullback Boomer Grigsby will be in familiar territory Saturday night

Normally I do these on Wednesday but I'll toss this out a day early since the Texans and Chiefs square off on Saturday in their preseason opener.

Texans vs. Chiefs:  Saturday, August 15, Arrowhead Stadium, 7:00 p.m. CDT

What's at stake:  

• The first preseason game is nothing more than a test over the material that was covered in minicamps, OTAs and a couple of weeks of training camp.  First team players will play no more than a few series.  This one is all about the backups and keeping people healthy.  Both teams will enjoy hitting someone new for a change.

Chiefs changes: 

• Change is probably a good thing when you're coming off a 2-14 season.  The Chiefs brought in former Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley to replace Herm Edwards as head coach, and added former Cardinals defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast to replace Gunther Cunningham at defensive coordinator.
• The Chiefs have moved to a 3-4 which will be a good test for the Texans since they face at least four 3-4 teams this season.
• The Chiefs added some big names during the off-season, especially at linebacker with Mike Vrabel lining up at the right side outside linebacker spot and Zach Thomas at the left inside spot next to Derrick Johnson.
• Tamba Hali and Turk McBride are former 4-3 defensive ends that have been moved to outside linebacker.
• Former Bear Mike Brown was added to the Chiefs secondary.
• On the offense, Matt Cassel takes over the reins at quarterback with a shiny new contract that will pay him $28 million guaranteed and over $40 million over the first three years of the deal.
• Haley demoted the Chiefs best receiver Dwayne Bowe this week to 'send him a message.'  Mark Bradley, Bobby Engram, Amani Toomer, Terrence Copper, and Devard Darling form the rest of the WR corps.
• Tony Gonzales is gone so we'll see how much the new Chiefs incorporate the TE into their attack.

Matchups to watch: 

• Mario Williams vs. Chiefs No. 1 pick in 2008 Branden Albert during the first few series.  Connor Barwin should also get a few reps against Albert before the starters leave the game.
• Mike Vrabel, Glenn Dorsey and Derrick Johnson against Duane Brown and Kasey Studdard..  I would expect the Chiefs to dial up blitzes to see if they can confuse the Texans offensive line.  If the Texans can protect for two seconds, I would expect the short passes to be quite effective.  The Chiefs won't bring anything close to what we'll see against Rex Ryan in Week 1 but this is a good warm up.
• The Texans front seven against the Chiefs offensive front.  If Frank Bush's new 'aggressive' defense can't get to Cassel or backup Tyler Thigpen, it's not a good sign.

Eat 'em up Coogs: 

• Former U of H Cougar Jackie Battle will see action for the Chiefs at backup running back wearing #26.

Coming full circle:

• This will be a homecoming of sorts for Texans fullback Boomer Grigsby who spent the first three years of his career in Kansas City.

It's not the heat:

• I had to chuckle today when I read a Chiefs training camp report that talked about the "humid 85 degree day" they had to endure during practice.  They hold training camp in Wisconsin.

Gouge me: 

• Fans wanting to purchase a single game ticket to the Chiefs vs. Cowboys regular season game were also required to buy a ticket to the Texans - Chiefs preseason game.