A few random notes from practice this morning:
- The roof at Reliant Stadium was open this morning. You can count on it being closed on Monday night.
- Trindon Holliday, Steve Slaton, Paul Williams, Johnathan Joseph, Antonio Baker and Jonathan Weeks all began practice on the exercise bikes and didn't participate
- Arian Foster, Ben Tate and Steve Slaton worked by themselves at the far corner of Field 3. Foster and Tate were running and later came back to the main practice field with ice on the hammys. Gary Kubiak said today that all the hamstring injuries to the RBs are Grade 1, which is the least severe. The Texans are being extra conservative with these injuries.
- Johnathan Joseph was held out for what Kubiak described as a tight grion. It doesn't appear serious.
- Jason Allen took Joseph's reps.
- Heard in the crowd: "Jeff Maehl looks like a high school kid"
- Reggie Herring worked with the linebackers on various pressures, stunts and drops during individual drills. Cushing and Barwin were working on stunts. As far as the outside LBs, sometimes you'd see them bring Barwin and drop Mario or vice versa, and sometimes they'd bring both while Cushing and DeMeco dropped. There are many different combos on LB movements and that's an exciting aspect of Wade's defense.
- Damione Lewis warmed up with the team but he was spotted on the side fairly early in the practice. Kubiak said they were all pretty worn out so I'm guessing Saturday's practice will be fairly light as well.
- Derrick Ward and James Casey lined up in the I-formation for the first rep of the day. That's probably your starting backfield Monday night.
- Jarvarris Williams (#40), who was signed yesterday to shore up running back depth, was thrown right into the fire and looked about as good as you could expect. he hasn't played ball in a while but he's obviously kept himself in shape.
- Devard Darling (#84) was also on the field for the first time as a Texan. Darling got some reps with the 3's and on kick returns.
- Second team linebackers: Brooks Reed, Xavier Adibi, Darryl Sharpton and Jesse Nading
- Owen Daniels has looked great every time I've been at practice. Smooth, finding seams, good hands. Looks like the old OD.
- One left-side offensive line combination had Derek Newton at LT, Shelley Smith at LG and Cody Wallace at center.
- QB coach Greg Knapp was standing on the side, calling in plays with the radio today
- I didn't see exactly what happened and only caught the tail end but backup OLB Brian Braman either missed an assignment or was mixing it up with someone and Wade Phillips got in his face big time. "Get in the huddle!" screamed Phillips.
- Terrence Tolliver had a nice catch on a ball thrown by T.J. Yates during 7 on 7. The ball was thrown behind Tolliver on a cross but he reached back and snagged it while in full stride.
- Jacoby Jones didn't look any worse for the wear today. He was running good on the ankle. Makes me wonder why they signed Darling, because it seems that Townsel, Jean, Tolliver and Maehl give the Texans quite a bit of quality depth behind the top four WRs.
- Kubiak was extra cranky today - chewing on guys left and right. His post-practice comments indicated that he wasn't real happy with the secondary play with Joseph on the sideline.
- Brice McCain is still running 1st nickel
- Another Kareem Jackson sighting today. Andre Johnson went up for a high ball on a 15 yard dig, Kareem had good position and went up with him, knocking it down for an incomplete pass.
- Rackers from 52: wide left
- Leinart threw a perfect back shoulder to Townsel on a sideline route for about 15 yards during 11 on 11. Townsel played off the defender perfectly at the last second and caught it with two feet in.
- Interesting dime package work today. One set had two safeties deep (Nolan, Barber) with another safety (Demps) lined up about 7-8 yards deep with three corners (Molden, Harris and McManis).
- What was very interesting was the blitzes and pressures out of the dime set. Created confusion in the offensive backfield, no doubt.
- Rackers from 46: wide right
- On another dime set, Maurice Rolle and Torri Williams were at deep safety and Molden, Keo, Harris and Jason Teague lined up at 7-8 yards deep. They sent the up-safety (Keo) out of that particular set. The Texans had one linebacker on the field in the dime.
- Rackers from 52: good
- James Casey got laid out by Maurice Rolle at the end of practice. Casey was running a cross and Rolle hit him high, causing Casey to go down awkwardly. Casey laid flat on his back for a few seconds but got up and walked off, limping slightly. I later read that Casey felt his knee buckle a bit when he got hit, but that it felt okay in the aftermath.
- Kickoffs will be quite boring this year with the new rule. Rackers and Brett Hartmann were kicking them out of the endzone routinely from the 35.
I suggest checking out @PHABMK6 and @BigRon281 on Twitter for more information. Both have good eyes, quick thumbs and posted some very good real-time observations during practice.
Part of the fun of camp is meeting up with other fans who share the same level of passion for your team. We have some great fans in the Houston area and it's fun how social media tools such as Twitter has brought some of us together.
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