[Arky]

31 observations from Wednesday's #TexansCamp

John Harris
Texans Analyst

We finally reached THAT stage in training camp. I call it Groundhog Day: Training Camp style. It feels like we’ve done this all before. Practice. Sun. Interviews. Observations. Rinse, lather and repeat, right? It also means that the regular season is one day closer and, more importantly in the interim, Saturday night vs. the Broncos is right around the corner. Or, so it seems. The team was in full pads again on Wednesday in front of another loyal and loud crew of fans. So, here are some observations from the day’s work.

1. The Texans signed two players prior to Wednesday’s workout - former Texan Quintin Demps is now a current Texan and former Colt Fili Moala was signed to the defensive line. Rookie TE Mike McFarland was placed on IR.

2. Demps made a splash in his first workout as he made an outstanding interception late in practice on a goal-line drill. He shared kickoff return duties during practice. He had four interceptions each of the past two seasons with Kansas City and New York, respectively.

3. An intriguing story line on Tuesday night’s Hard Knocks episode was Charles James talking with rookie safety Corey Moore. James’ passion for playing the game was evident, but his point to Moore was, essentially, that Moore needed to communicate with him consistently. James implored Moore to work better together. It was, to me, one of the most important moments of Hard Knocks. Of course, one of the first things I heard on the practice field today was secondary coach John Butler yelling out “TALK!” to his players. It was a point Bill O’Brien made to me at halftime with mostly young players on defense in the second half; he wanted to hear them communicate and talk to one another.

4. Today was Ryan Mallett’s day with the first offensive group and he started the day strong. He dropped a beautiful dime in the back of the end zone for a TD early in practice and a few of his other touch throws on the day were on the money.

5. When Mallett and the offense were backed up in the “going out” drill, he threw two darts - one to TE C.J. Fiedorowicz and one to Cecil Shorts III. That got the ball out of the shadow of their own goal line and a definitive win for the offense.

6. Brian Hoyer’s first throw out of the end zone was a check down to J.L. Grimes in the flat and he was met by ILB Akeem Dent, who has been back in practice this week. Dent let up just a bit at the last minute but, in the game, it would’ve been a highlight hit for sure.

7. The NFL is a different beast than any other level of football, but it’s amazing, even comforting in some sense, to hear this coaching staff harp on some of the most basic aspects of football. One in particular is the ability to play low. Starting in Pop Warner football as a seven-year-old, players hear all the time “low man wins.” That doesn’t change at any level, but I heard three different defensive coaches, within minutes of one another, all mention “pad level”, “bend your knees”, “play lower”.

8. This isn’t a cut and paste from the past few days/weeks, but Garrett Graham is still open. However, I did see someone finally stop Graham - Brian Cushing. The team’s ILB locked up Graham as he started across the middle and wouldn’t let him go. Graham tried to break free to no avail. That’s about the only way anyone’s been able to cover Graham.

9. Speaking of Cushing, he also had a pass break-up as he covered TE Ryan Griffin out in the flat. Oh, this was after Cushing threw up his breakfast during the team’s individual period. I guess he doesn’t agree with JJ Watt and Vince Wilfork that breakfast is the best meal of the day. As a side note, there’s no debate that breakfast or brunch is the best meal of the day. Anyone that wants to argue with me...well, take it up with my muscle - Watt and Wilfork.

10. Speaking of Griffin, later in the same 1-on-1 drill, he ran a go route on a safety up the sideline and made a fingertip catch in the North end zone. I hope we get to see a significant amount of Griffin on Saturday vs. the Broncos.

11. Blitz pickup has quietly become one of my favorite drills to watch in camp and not just because there’s a chance of a Cushing-Alfred Blue tete-a-tete. But, there’s serious competition between the RB and the ILB. The first rep of that drill, rookie LB Benardrick McKinney came screaming through and WHAM...he got met and stoned on the spot by Blue.

12. One rookie that has made steady improvement is TE Khari Lee. I’ve mentioned him the past few days and he continues to impress. It’s a difficult position to try to make this roster but the rookie has put some quality tape together lately. He ran a double move as a perimeter receiver today and just roasted one of the defensive backs. His blocking has improved to a point where TE coach John Perry is finding positive things to say about it as opposed to earlier in training camp.

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