Battle Red Blog Groupthink: Most Affected By Hall of Fame Game Cancellation

Houston is just hours away from it’s second preseason game of the 2024 slate, but here at Battle Red Blog we wanted to quickly recap our thoughts on several players who were disadvantaged by the Hall of Fame Game being ended early due to weather.

The unforeseen circumstances, which ended the game late into the third quarter, did not allow several Houston Texans players to receive meaningful snaps. Let’s see what the staff writer’s thought of this week’s prompt.

The Texans Hall of Fame game was ended prematurely due to a thunderstorm. Which player do you think was most adversely affected by the game ending early?

VBallRetired:

Yeah, I’m disappointed for those guys that will be selling insurance or bagging groceries in a month. They deserved their moment in the sun. I wanted to see more from the backup running backs to see who can best support Joe Mixon in the regular season. The biggest loser overall was probably John Metchie III. He’s on the bubble and that performance didn’t help.

Kenneth L.:

With most of the starters out of the way, I was interested in how the running back position and depth in the defensive line would perform. Those are players who would have seen meaningful reps against that could be the difference between them making the roster of not. I think given the context of how well Cam Akers performed, I would have wanted to see more Jawhar Jordan. The rookie RB has talent, but teams rarely keep four running backs... and we already plan to have a fullback on our roster. There’s a legitimate chance Jordan doesn’t make the team as he’s easily the fourth or fifth string player.

Another player who I wish had more reps was Marcus Harris. He only had 14 snaps against Chicago. He is way, way down on the depth chart due to a litany of defensive lineman being added in free agency. He’s another late round draft pick who I'm wary of making the roster. THere’s a legitimate chance he ends up on our practice squad, but I’d be frustrated if he doesn’t get more opportunity in the upcoming preseason games. There’s a lot of mouthes to feed on defense and it certainly hurt that he wasn’t able to shine in the second half of the preseason game.

L4blitzer:

As far as disappointment about any specific players in the weather-shortened Hall of Fame Game not getting a long run, I can’t say there was anyone in particular. If anything, it is a major loss for those 3rd and 4th stringers that are fighting and clawing for those coveted few spots left on the Texans (or any other team’s roster). Since a game like this didn’t have any marquee starter-types, it was going to come down to roster depth players.

For a lot of guys playing in this game, especially in the second half, this might have been the only chance they were going to get to live out their life-long dreams. Granted, late in the second half of pre-season games, usually no one outside of the coaches and immediate family members really care about the on-field action. Still, a strong performance in a game situation could be the difference between a career continued or a dream ended. Disappointed for those guys, who will have that fewer opportunities to separate themselves from the pending roster cuts.

Patrick.H:

The first two that come to mind are there for different reasons. Jawhar Jordan, I think, got hosed by the storm because he never really got a shot to prove himself in an RB corps that’s already stacked to the gills with Mixon, Pierce, and now Cam Akers. The lack of playing time on Thursday cannot help his case for making the team.

The other is John Metchie III. He is expected to make the team but is in a battle with Xavier Hutchinson to do so. But Hutchinson balled out whereas Metchie was barely seen. As I said after the game was called, if this is a battle between Metchie and Hutch, after the HOF game, it’s Hutch 1 - Metchie 0. Not saying he’s toast by any stretch, but now he’s got a hole that he has to dig

FizzyJoe:

I have to agree with Patrick on both fronts. John Metchie III is in danger of becoming buried in the depth chart permanently unless he steps his game up, and this first preseason game isn’t going to help him. Jawhar Jordan is in similar peril, but his is less due to being overshadowed by a teammate and more because of losing precious snaps to a shortened game.

A few other players I would add to this list are LT Kilian Zierer and LB Jamal Hill. Zierer was one of the better pass-protectors of last preseason, so it was disappointing to see him floundering a bit in this game. Hill, a defensive back-turned linebacker that Houston took in the 6th round in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Oregon, didn’t perform well at all. He really struggled in this game, and it’s going to require a lot of work to be a contributor on defense.