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00:00The number one takeaway from the first day of training camp for the Houston Texans,
00:04the beginning of training camp for the Houston Texans,
00:06is to me the difference between last year and this year was blatantly obvious.
00:12If you remember up to training camp starting,
00:15we had this five-headed monster thing going on.
00:17And then we get to practice and we watch practice,
00:20and I remember vividly looking up and Stefan Diggs go route down the sideline,
00:24and it was either Nico or Tank go route down the other sideline.
00:27It was clear we're going to push the ball vertically.
00:31And then after practice, C.J. Stroud steps to the podium and is asked,
00:36how are you going to take your game to the next level?
00:41What's going to be different year two from year one?
00:43And it was, well, being aggressive and driving the football down the field,
00:47stretching the field kind of thing.
00:48I don't remember the exact terminology, but you get the point.
00:51This year, it is very clear.
00:55It was very clear what's going on.
00:57We have several coaches, several players talking about we are going to run the football.
01:03I'm watching practice today, and it was clearly a run-heavy day.
01:07Ninety percent of what they did at practice was the run game, right?
01:12There was some play action sprinkled in.
01:14There was a lot of quick games sprinkled in.
01:16They were an hour and 20 minutes into practice before one of the backups
01:20threw what I would call a low-percentage throw, and it was a corner,
01:23one of the higher low-percentage throws that you could possibly make.
01:27Easy corner, high-low read.
01:28There was two of those late in practice.
01:31Everything today revolved around establishing the run, communicating,
01:37getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands quickly, run after catch,
01:41high-percentage, stay-ahead-of-the-chain type stuff.
01:44And I'm sure there was an emphasis on, hey, we're going to run the football
01:46and we're going to communicate.
01:47We're going to run the football.
01:48We're going to communicate.
01:49I'm sure that's what it was.
01:50But the difference between the year was blatantly obvious as we look at the
01:56first day of training camp, both from the action on the field
01:59as well as the comments that were made leading up to and in post-practice.
02:05I think it's night and day, and I love the fact that that's the direction
02:09the Texans are taking.
02:10Well, that is absolutely a change.
02:13We talked about Nick Caley being a big part of what we're watching,
02:19and clearly we'll see if that continues moving forward.
02:23But that is clearly a shift from what we previously saw
02:27and probably closer to what we saw in year one of the C.J. Stroud experience.
02:36And that is what we've been wondering, if we will see things dialed back,
02:41if we'll see a difference.
02:41And I don't know if that's what the offense is going to be looking like,
02:46more or less, but it is at least a real difference from last year.
02:51Yeah, it's a huge difference from last year, at least out of the gate.
02:55And I firmly believe.
02:57I sat right here a year ago, after their first practice.
03:01A lot of multi-tight-ins sets.
03:03Yeah, I mean, I sat right here, Ron, and I said,
03:06this season is going to come down to how well C.J. Stroud juggles,
03:10what we just heard them talk about and watched them do,
03:13versus the way he played quarterback his first year.
03:15I'm sitting here right now telling you after the first practice
03:18that this year appears, the way that they're approaching it,
03:22to be more like C.J.'s rookie year than year two.
03:26A lot less focus on downfield, stretching the field, throwing the foot.
03:31But build a lot more focus around, we are going to communicate,
03:37we're going to know who the hell we have when we're supposed to block them
03:40in the run game, and we're going to run the football downhill.
03:43That was what today was all about.
03:45The pace was slow.
03:48It didn't look like they were doing a million different things.
03:51But, damn it, everybody was going to get reps communicating what the hell
03:55they are going to be doing in the run game.
03:57And they got that done.
03:58Did this offense, and we'll talk about this a little bit later on
04:01based off comments D'Amico had to make earlier today
04:05when he spoke to the media, does this offense,
04:08and you all can chime in on this too, 713-5724-16 YouTube and Twitch,
04:13when you think about what the hope will be,
04:16now we'll get to Joe Mixon here in a bit,
04:17but with Joe Mixon and Nick Chubb and Nico Collins
04:21and the size of Collins and Higgins and Knoll
04:25and then the inside threat that Christian Kirk is,
04:31the offensive line, Dalton Schultz and company,
04:34in your mind, does this fit the parts that you have here,
04:41like this style of going about it, does this fit the parts here better?
04:45Well, I'm not ready to go there yet.
04:50I mean, look, I think the right thing to do
04:53with so many young, unproven receivers, if you will,
04:57and let's be honest, some unproven offensive linemen
05:00that are getting a lot of reps, a lot of run,
05:03I think the right thing to do is to be simple, stupid,
05:07play fast, communicate well, and build on that
05:10versus try to decide before you ever try to do things.
05:14I do think it's the smart approach is,
05:17instead of being half-assed at a million things,
05:20let's be really good at one thing,
05:23and when we get that part figured out,
05:25then we can do some other things.
05:27And I think that's ultimately what they're trying to do here.
05:31I mean, I think D'Amico Ryan's made a statement today
05:33with how practice went of, hey, offensively,
05:35I don't need a bunch of fireworks.
05:37I don't need a bunch of explosive plays.
05:40I don't need a bunch of razzle-dazzle.
05:42What I need is for y'all's ass to figure out
05:44how to communicate the run game and get it done.
05:48Get a hat on a hat, less thinking, more playing, more reacting,
05:52and that's what it looked like today.
05:54It looks like D'Amico Ryan's made his,
05:56I mean, I'm sure he's going to push it to Nick Cayley,
05:58but at the end of the day, this is a,
06:00we got a great defense.
06:02Damn it, we are going to run the football,
06:04and we're going to be sound.
06:08Let's put it that way.
06:08I think today was a practice where offensively, Damon,
06:11we're going to be sound.
06:12We're not going to be sloppy.
06:13We're not going to not be able to communicate.
06:14We're not going to have three guys on the same page.
06:16The other two not.
06:18We're going to be sound, and that's what it looked like to me.
06:20Totally different than what we saw last year.
06:21Text line coming through saying,
06:23why is this good?
06:24Don't we want to get the most out of C.J. Stroud?
06:27No, you don't.
06:28I don't.
06:29I don't want to get the most out of C.J. Stroud.
06:31I mean, at the end of the day.
06:32You don't want to?
06:32No.
06:33I mean, at the end of the day, I know that C.J. Stroud,
06:35I mean, sure, I want to get the most out of C.J. Stroud.
06:38I mean, that's, but the question I think that's being asked is,
06:42do you want everything to revolve around C.J. Stroud
06:44and all the pressure be on C.J. Stroud,
06:46and C.J. Stroud have to carry the football team?
06:49No, I would rather that not be the case.
06:51I would rather boring the end of football
06:54and let the game dictate, hey, we got to get vertical.
06:58Hey, we got to get the ball down the field.
07:00Hey, we're in a shootout right now.
07:01Our defense is struggling.
07:02Okay, now we know.
07:03We've seen C.J.
07:04We know C.J.
07:05The one thing I'm confident about this offense
07:06is if we wanted to go out there and be bombs away
07:10and be super aggressive, if the O-line can hold up, damn it,
07:14C.J. can throw the ball down the field as well as anybody, right?
07:16And Nico is as good as anybody that mid-range game for damn sure,
07:20and he can get over the top.
07:21I don't, I don't, I'm not worried about that part.
07:23I think it's a, I think it's a bad brand of quarterback.
07:26I think it's a bad brand of football
07:28to just go out there and take all the risks
07:31that's associated with putting everything in the lap of your quarterback.
07:33If you can establish the run, and by the way,
07:36what I'm talking about doing,
07:38I'm not sitting here telling you they're going to be the best run team in the league.
07:41I'm not sitting here telling you they're going to be the Baltimore Ravens
07:44of Mark Ingram and them boys back in the day
07:46or the Tennessee Titans with Derrick Henry.
07:48What I'm telling you is, it is a, it is a down,
07:51it is going to be a, a, a priority number one for D'Amico Ryan's.
07:56They're going to run the football effectively.
07:58They're not going to get pushed around up front.
08:00And I think also these things are deals of, you got to help C.J.
08:04Right?
08:05Like, you got to, you got to help C.J.
08:07when it comes to, you know, protection.
08:11Yeah.
08:11Coverage.
08:12All, like, you've got to help C.J.
08:14And, listen, this offensive line is not the Eagles.
08:18Like, I don't think they're going to do that.
08:20I don't think they're going to become the Lions either.
08:22But, you know, if you open it up,
08:24and that's what I would think you're talking about when you say
08:27to get the most out of C.J., open it up and put the ball.
08:34Hurts.
08:34Probably hurts the chances of C.J. being able to be as,
08:40as productive as possible.
08:41Because last year we watched that.
08:43Well, it's C.J., C.J. has to, a lot like Nick Caley, right?
08:49We've watched Pat Mahomes do it recently, right?
08:51C.J. and Nick Caley have to kind of, kind of, they have to,
08:57what word am I looking for here, Ron?
08:59They have to conform, if you will, to whatever.
09:02Collaborate?
09:02Well, no, yeah, they definitely do that.
09:04But, like, they have to work together with whatever skill set.
09:07Like, right now, it would be silly as hell to go,
09:10I'm going to go heavy 11 personnel, heavy 10 personnel.
09:13With probably two rookies having to be on the field.
09:16In the wide receiver position, right?
09:18I mean, it would probably be silly to sit back there and say,
09:21we're going to throw this ball around the park with a tight end group.
09:24Your lead tight end that's on the field a good chunk of the time can't pass protect.
09:27And last year couldn't separate.
09:29It probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to do as you're trying to get your
09:32offensive line to improve their pass protection and go, okay,
09:35we're going to throw you to the wolves, damn it.
09:36We're going to throw this thing 45 times in the first game.
09:38But, no, like, this year,
09:41I think the Texans' identity is going to be a more conservative identity.
09:46Now, if there comes a time where you've got an offensive line that can protect,
09:50I mean, for an extra beat,
09:52and it's one of the better pass protecting offensive lines in the league,
09:55and you've got a couple of more wide receivers,
09:56let's say Higgins turns into something,
09:59and you still got Nico and you got Kirk,
10:01and all of a sudden Dalton Schultz is back,
10:02and they're lighting it up.
10:03Now you've got those weapons,
10:04you've got an O-line that can protect.
10:05Then you go out there and you spin it around the park
10:07and you play a little Joe Burrow ball
10:08and try to lead the league in scoring and lead the league in yardage.
10:13That's not who the Texans is.
10:14Yeah, I want to get the best out of C.J. Stroud.
10:16The best out of C.J. Stroud is over a 10-year period.
10:19Sometimes he's going to have to play a conservative brand of quarterback,
10:21and hopefully he wins a bunch of games that way,
10:24and that's their identity.
10:25There may come a time when he has to be a little bit more aggressive
10:27and they have different weapons.
10:28There was a time when Tom Brady had Randy Moss.
10:30They got real aggressive.
10:32I believe he set a touchdown record that year, I believe.
10:34Both of them did.
10:35Yeah, so, I mean, that's getting the best out of C.J. Stroud.
10:39This year's supporting cast is about being sound across the board,
10:45including C.J.
10:48And, in fact, that sound bus is driven by C.J. Stroud.
10:52So that's just where they're at right now.
10:54No, that is a definite sharp change from what they were doing last year.
11:02Real quick, I do want to pass this along.
11:05We'll give you more of what the, I guess, injury situation
11:09or guys who practiced who didn't, but the big one, Clint, was Joe Mixon.
11:14Joe Mixon did not practice.
11:16We didn't see him in OTAs.
11:17We didn't see him on the field at mandatory minicamp.
11:20And this one's interesting.
11:22The Houston Texans have placed Joe Mixon on the non-football injury list.
11:28And so you would wonder if this is an injury thing.
11:34There are guys who are on the pub list, including Damian Pierce,
11:38including Foley Fadakasi, including Trent Brown, including Danico Autry and others.
11:44But he was placed on the non-football injury list.
11:48Hell, Jimmy Ward is on the pub list.
11:51So that was one of the guys that we didn't see on the field
11:58and not sure when they will be back on the field in Joe Mixon.
12:01Yeah, no Joe Mixon and no Damian Pierce at practice today
12:05actually makes you think, what the hell's going on?
12:07But it made me get some warm and fuzzies.
12:09We'll talk about that later on, I'm sure.
12:12But, yeah, I mean, that is those two guys not being at practice today,
12:15I think, was a little bit of an eye-opener.
12:16I'm sure it didn't surprise the organization, but to me, it was like,
12:19well, I sure expected him to be out there.
12:20And we just haven't seen Joe at all in any of these.
12:23So hopefully he is somebody who is very important to this team.
12:26But it did feel different when you had Nick Chubb to be able to hand the ball off.
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