HOUSTON -- With the news that center Nick Martin will miss at least four months with ankle surgery, the Houston Texans will look to the former undrafted free agent Greg Mancz to start in his place.
Martin was named the starter at center on the team's first two unofficial depth charts of the season, beating out veteran Tony Bergstrom and Mancz. In Martin's absence, Mancz has taken the majority of the reps in practice and in the Texans' first two preseason games.
Mancz has outplayed Bergstrom, so expect him to start at center in Week 1 against the Bears. After last Saturday's game against the Saints, head coach Bill O'Brien said he was pleased with what he saw from Mancz.
“Look, I think he had a solid night," O'Brien said. "A couple times he was having to block (Saints DT Nick) Fairley, who’s a very good player. He got beat a couple times, but he also held his own quite a bit against their front, and so for having not been out there a whole lot up until this preseason because of his injuries that he’s had, you’ve got to give the kid a lot of credit. He’s paid attention, he’s very smart and I’m glad we have him.”
Mancz has worked his way back after he missed the final two months of last season with a knee injury. He injured his knee in the Texans' Nov. 1 victory over the Titans.
Martin was drafted with the idea of replacing former Texans center Ben Jones, who signed with the Titans in the offseason and played the majority of the snaps at center for the Texans last season.
The offensive line is currently decimated by injures, missing Martin and starting tackles Duane Brown (quadriceps) and Derek Newton (hamstring). O'Brien said last week that Brown and Newton are both "making progress" with their rehab, but he was not sure when either would be able to return to the field.
O'Brien knows the importance of having the starting line working together, but he also sees the injuries as an opportunity for others to get more reps during training camp.
“There’s nothing more important than the health of the team," O'Brien said. "There’s no doubt about that. That’s for every team in the league.
"But I also look at the positive of it, that we’re getting a lot of guys opportunities that will probably have to play a lot of football for us this year, whether it’s (Kendall) Lamm, or Chris Clark, or (Greg) Mancz at center, Bergie (Tony Bergstrom) at center. I look at the positives that way, but eventually we want to have all five that are going to start working together, but we don’t have that right now, so these guys need to keep taking advantage of their opportunities.”
Against the Saints, the offensive line was solid in its protection of quarterback Brock Osweiler but had room for improvement in the run blocking, particularly for starting running back Lamar Miller. With just more than two weeks left until the regular season, obviously the Texans would like to have Brown and Newton out on the field sooner rather than later to get the new starting five some time playing together.
