This preseason, all eyes are on Houston as they take center stage in this Summer’s edition of HBO’s Hard Knocks. Everybody knows what to expect from J.J. Watt and the Texans defense. But 
as fans feast their eyes on the freakish athletic abilities of Watt, the progression of the up-in-the-air offense will be fully under the microscope.
Houston boasted one of the best defenses in the league last season, but the mediocre offense was only able to push them to a 7-9 record. With Ryan Fitzpatrick shipped off to New York and Brian Hoyer brought in from Cleveland, cameras will be focused in on the QB battle between Hoyer and Ryan Mallett.
Right now, both quarterbacks have been getting their share of first team reps. Hoyer seems to be a good fit with Bill O’Brien’s offense, and should be able to operate more smoothly now that he’s away from some of the Cleveland Browns drama.
Mallett, however, isn’t going to hand over the job so easily. Since his days at Arkansas, Mallett has been known for his incredibly strong arm, but the main critique throughout his career is that his decision-making is questionable. Mallett got a small chance last season with the Texans and didn’t do horribly, but the completion percentage left much to be desired.
Both Hoyer and Mallett have had impressive camps so far, and reportedly did very well in the joint practice sessions against the Redskins last week, but their job just got impossibly harder. They don’t have Arian Foster to lean on.
In the very first day of full-contact practice, Houston’s star running back suffered a tear in his groin, sidelining him for an indeterminate amount of time. It was already going to be a rough year for the running game without their center Chris Myers, but losing Foster will make it that much tougher.
Now the rushing responsibilities fall on Alfred Blue and a string of inexperienced backs while the quarterback position is still being fought for tooth-and-nail.
With Hard Knocks starting tonight on HBO, this Houston offense is going to have to work to pull itself together while under the microscope of national television.
