Getting a leg up as training camp kicks off
Look of winner as players get back to business
Texans running back D’Onta Foreman (27), who missed most of last season with an Achilles injury, runs a drill during the first day of training camp Thursday at the Methodist Training Center. Also coming off injuries, star defensive end J.J. Watt (knee) and wide receiver Will Fuller (torn ACL) practiced on Day 1, too.
The Texans began their training camps practices on a gorgeous fall-like morning — a crisp 80 degrees with sub-50 percent humidity, plus an amazing breeze.
This is as close as they have come to bringing New England to Houston.
Seriously, this is how the Patriots’ Super Bowl seasons begin.
It felt weird with no crowd and country club golf course silence. Even the usually active Bill O’Brien was subdued on this day.
He wasn’t in the middle of the drills and loud as he so often is. Instead, he worked the outskirts. He appeared to be in a good mood.
O’Brien says he is excited every year when training camp starts. Even when Brock Osweil
er was his starting quarterback.
But this time is a bit different.
For the first time in his tenure, the sixth-year head coach has the same quarterback in the huddle with the first-team offense for a second consecutive season.
Despite that, O’Brien’s Texans have won three of the last four AFC South titles.
Some projections that the Texans might win only six games are odd. There is too much talent for there to be such a drop-off from last year’s 11-5 mark.
They walk and talk like winners. You can’t criticize O’Brien’s coaching until the games start.
Thursday, it was more than an hour into a smooth, controlled workout before music was played over the loudspeakers. Even that was subdued compared to the typically ear-aching level designed to prepare players for loud stadiums.
With the trap beat repeating like a mundane scratched record, the Texans jumped into red-zone work and though it isn’t game speed, one can see what a well-coached team should look like at practice.
Their first-string quarterback quickly threw a pass to a little first-string receiver.
It was nice. If that receiver stays healthy, opposing defenses will get a healthy dose of that this season.
According to the letter of the law listed in the team media policy, I’m not allowed to say who the starting quarterback is because “which players are practicing with individual units (first team, second team, etc.)” is among the “Topics To Avoid.”
I can say the Texans are happy Deshaun Watson is on the team. He plays quarterback. And I’m allowed to remind you that second-year receiver Keke Coutee quickly became one of Watson’s favorite targets last season and was No. 2 on the team in targets per game behind All-Pro DeAndre Hopkins.
Whoever starts, the offensive line is unproven as a unit. They do look good in shorts, which, sadly, hasn’t always been the case with the Texans.
When the snaps are real, Matt Kalil, a 6-7, 315-pound tackle, who has started all 82 games of his career and was a Pro Bowler as a rookie with the Minnesota Vikings in 2012, could be a game-changer for the group. He sat out the 2018 season with the Carolina Panthers because of a knee injury.
Defensively, even in a first practice, one can see the Texans could have one of the stingiest groups in football.
It helps to have No. 99 J.J. Watt on the field. Originally slated to start camp on the physically unable to perform list, Watt was revved up early and it was just a couple plays in before he swatted down an attempted pass. He always seems to be in midseason form.
One glaring absence from the beautiful day was Jadeveon Clowney, the energetic defensive end who has yet to sign a contract.
Give O’Brien credit for complimenting Clowney and saying the Texans want him on the team. A standard salty response of only talking about players who are at camp would not have helped.
“I can tell you unequivocally that we want Jadeveon Clowney here,” O’Brien said.
As for the team’s new management structure, one that CEO Cal McNair described to 610 AM as a “flatter organization,” O’Brien said he is thrilled.
“There’s a buzz in the building,” he said.
The opposite was the case for much of the practice, but that’s not a problem.
O’Brien’s goal is to have a level-headed squad — tough, smart, focused.
First-day-of-practice analysis that includes a projection of anything that will happen during the season is ludicrous.
It would be almost as nutty as suggesting July weather begets February championships.
But it really was a beautiful day for a good-looking team practice.
All organizations, flat or hilly, will take that.
The Texans are back in business.