Keyes drops the hammer on Chiefs

KANSAS CITY — If anyone was taking a nap during the third quarter of the Houston Texans against Kansas City Chiefs preseason football game on Thursday night, Chatham High graduate Josh Keyes woke them up.

Keyes delivered a massive hit on Chiefs’ Kerwynn Williams, who caught a pass over the middle from Matt McGloin.

With all of the talk about the new helmet rule, Keyes showcased how to deliver a clean hit on a receiver.

“From the view that I had of it, just from the sideline, I definitely think he made an effort to try to hit him with his shoulder,” Houston head coach Bill O’Brien said at the postgame press conference. “I think obviously the officials saw it the same way. We will see more detail in the film, but I thought that that was what I saw.”

Keyes had a standout night for the Texans, recording five tackles — three solos — which was good enough to be tied for second most on the defense.

Keyes is new to the Texans, but has seen action with a number of teams since entering the league in 2015, including Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Los Angeles (Chargers), Kansas City and Cleveland.

Anyone who has followed his progress wouldn’t be surprised of the former Panthers’ performance on Thursday.

“It’s something that we’ve been seeing for a long time and now we get to see it in live action,” Houston QB Deshaun Watson told Texans writer Drew Dougherty. “It wasn’t a surprise for us, but it was a big hit — it was a great hit. Of course we’ll watch film on it and laugh about it.”

Keyes described the play to Dougherty, saying, “Basically the quarterback looked my way, I saw the receiver coming in, I just put my shoulders down and I hit the running back.”

The Texans ended up winning the preseason opener, 17-10, and next face San Francisco on Aug. 18 at home.