Sean McVay is going to keep playing it safe on Friday night when the Rams host the Texans at SoFi Stadium. He’s not putting Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Jalen Ramsey or any of his important players at risk of injury, an approach he’s taken for years during the preseason. In fact, he won’t even play key backups such as Tutu Atwell, Ben Skowronek and Kyren Williams.

The Texans won’t be as guarded on Friday night. They’re going to give their starters some run, allowing them to get reps in a game situation. Exactly how much they’ll play isn’t perfectly clear, but coach Lovie Smith suggested they’ll play more than they did in the opener last week when they got about two series.

“The first preseason game, the plan is not to play (Davis Mills) a lot,” Smith said. “They play more the second, and then the third. We have a plan for a three-game preseason. I’ll just say that. That’s what we wanted Davis to get tonight. I understand he hasn’t played a lot, but he’s got more reps in practice than anyone. We feel comfortable with a healthy football team for the most part going in to play the world champion next week. He’ll get his reps in.”

Mark Lane of Texans Wire expects the starters to get about three series of action on Friday night, which could amount to around a quarter of snaps. Mills only threw three passes last week against the Saints, completing all three for 14 yards. Jeff Driskel took over and played the rest of the game, completing 16 of 26 passes for 162 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.

Backup quarterback Kyle Allen missed the game due to COVID-19, but he should be back in action against the Rams. That’ll give the Texans another passer to deploy.

The Texans’ willingness to play their starters is the primary reason they’re favored on the road in this game. So if you’re betting on the Rams, just know that it’ll be their backups against the Texans’ starters for part of the game.