00:00Because now, y'all, practice is rocking and rolling.
00:02Remember late last week, I may or may not have gone off on a rant a couple of times
00:07about them nine-period practices they're having.
00:10By the way, on the field, less than an hour today, T.
00:14On the field, less than an hour today.
00:16I'm sure they got that work in, you know.
00:18Inside, they did some work inside, to be fair.
00:21No, I'm with you, though.
00:21In the bubble, in the AC, T.
00:25They came out at 940.
00:28They were off by 1040.
00:30Give or take three minutes.
00:31It may have been 1045, so maybe they were there an hour in five minutes.
00:35What do you call it, AC babies?
00:37Oh, AC babies.
00:38I mean, this is crazy.
00:40Million-dollar AC babies.
00:42They want that free on, man.
00:43Oh, man.
00:44Boy, I amped it up a little bit.
00:46But they were out there today.
00:47And today, it wasn't one of them on nine-period, just patty cake type of practices.
00:51They put them pads on, y'all.
00:53And the fans were out there.
00:55That always adds a little juice to what's going on.
00:57They put the pads on.
00:58And I'm going to be honest with y'all.
01:04I've heard some reports from practice, just kind of like thumb social and kind of see things.
01:09And I may slightly disagree with, to a certain extent, with some of them.
01:17I thought today was a good day for the offense.
01:20You know, last year, when you put the pads on and you let this thing rip, the defense just absolutely
01:27dominated the offense.
01:28To the point where, I mean, it hit my confidence.
01:33It had to hit their confidence.
01:34You know what I mean?
01:35Right.
01:35And now, I will say this.
01:37When they went 11-on-11 at the end of practice, the defense was significantly better than the offense.
01:44But I think we're all here to expect that.
01:46I don't think that surprises anybody.
01:50I think we maybe hit a couple of runs, hit a couple of creases.
01:54But for the most part, it was contest throws that were batted down.
01:58It was interception.
01:59It was a quarterback floating out of the pocket.
02:02And, you know, in real world, Will Anderson would have been on his tail kind of deal.
02:07It was protection breaking down.
02:10So, it was more of kind of what you would expect having to practice against our defense every day.
02:16It wasn't as dominating, in my opinion.
02:20And it wasn't – the offense got beat, no question.
02:23But it wasn't as hopeless.
02:26It wasn't as clueless.
02:28It wasn't as one-sided as it was last year, if that makes sense.
02:35Last year was hard to watch.
02:37Last year, I felt sorry for people.
02:39This year, it's just like, hey, you're practicing against the best defense, man.
02:42You've got to figure some stuff out, you know.
02:45But I want to focus a little bit more on – because they went 11-on-11, good-on-good.
02:52Defense got the best of them.
02:53And then they went 11-on-11, good-on-good, and moved the football down the field.
02:57And defense got the best of them for the most part.
02:59But there was probably two or three periods before that.
03:04And I wasn't looking at down and distance and all that kind of jive.
03:07But as I'm watching practice – and this is all we can ask for, y'all.
03:12When I'm watching practice, there was two or three play actions, boom,
03:17where the quarterback's sitting back there.
03:19Whether he threw it, whether it was intercepted,
03:20he's sitting back there with more than enough protection against our defense.
03:24Right?
03:25Davis Mills a couple times as well as C.J. Stroud a couple times.
03:29And most importantly, I saw probably three or four runs, Luke,
03:38where there was a lot of space in there.
03:41There was a lot of bodies getting completely removed from where our running back
03:46was trying to run.
03:47Now, he may have got in there and tried to navigate it and make somebody miss and go.
03:50But it wasn't just running into a pile of human beings.
03:53It was clearly we're trying to run the ball off between the guard
03:57and the tackle on the left side.
03:59Boom, there's push right there.
04:00There's guys getting blocked and continuing to get blocked.
04:03There's offensive linemen that are getting on their guy,
04:06staying attached to their guy, and removing them from that area,
04:10not just hitting them and going, oh, I got my guy,
04:12and then letting him chase the running back down.
04:14It was get on him, attach, drive your feet,
04:17get him completely moved out of the hole,
04:19or get him completely removed from the play.
04:22There was three or four runs where you're like, that right there is –
04:25that improves this run game in a major, major way.
04:32Luke, I thought of all things that we can see,
04:34I'd love to see CJ throwing bombs.
04:36I don't think that I personally – and I was not there Saturday.
04:39I don't think I've seen a completion that was thrown over 20 yards down the field yet
04:44by anybody.
04:46But the reality of it is they're working on getting the ball out quick
04:50and doing this and that, but the number one thing that I want to see over anything
04:54is if we're going to commit to the run, if we're just going to –
04:56we are pot committed to being a better run football team.
04:59And if you're going to do that, there better be runs throughout a practice,
05:02throughout an 11-on-11 where you put Jawar Jordan
05:05or you put David Montgomery or Woody Marks up in there,
05:09and he's got one guy with room to work, he's going to make a guy miss.
05:13And I saw three or four runs like that today in team with the ones, man,
05:16and I'm telling you it was positive movement in the right direction.
05:20Yeah, it's good to hear.
05:21It's refreshing, promising.
05:23It's nice to hear this time of year about the offense
05:25and what they're able to do.
05:26I'm with you about the whole idea of leaning into that ground game,
05:29so then you need to see after all the work done,
05:31you need to see some of the fruit of that labor here in training camp
05:33where you can have success with this offensive line
05:36and being able to run the football.
05:38That is good.
05:40It's kind of like the Clowney thing where I love – it's all music to my ears.
05:45I'm not going to push back on any of that.
05:47But the offensive line, we know that they're designed to be able to –
05:50they're better at moving forward than maybe moving backwards
05:54and pass blocking as well.
05:56So happy to hear it.
05:57The next step, I want to make sure these guys can protect the quarterback
06:00and whatnot.
06:01But the first step is making sure that the running game
06:04or that there's room for the running backs because, like you said,
06:07they are leaning into that so much.
06:08I tell you, Luke, the way I like to think about it,
06:10and for the fans that care, this will be good.
06:14Like the way I like to think – like running the football is me versus you, man.
06:18I mean, you put your hand in the dirt, and I've got to block the guy across from me.
06:21I've got to get two hands on him.
06:23I've got to body up.
06:23I've got to drive feet.
06:24I've got to move him out of the way, right?
06:26If that guy slings you, if you miss that guy, if he's stronger than you,
06:30then we're going to have problems, right?
06:31The run game is really just about – it is execution technique and mechanic, obviously,
06:38but really me versus you and can I move you, right?
06:43And that's not the OC.
06:44The OC – I mean, they've said it multiple times.
06:46And this I do like about this offense, by the way,
06:48is that they're not trying to do a million things in a run game.
06:51They're going to do a handful of things.
06:52They're going to do them really, really good.
06:53So they're not asking these guys to execute 4,000 different run blocks
06:56and techniques and mechanics.
06:58They're going to do some of the same stuff.
06:59So really – and you look across the league.
07:01You've got inside zone.
07:02You've got outside zone.
07:03You've got G schemes.
07:04I mean, that's really – you've got some – everybody's running the duo now
07:07where you've got the two double teams in the middle.
07:09And, you know, you've got some that lean heavy into the zone.
07:12You've got some that lean heavy into the G scheme stuff.
07:15You've got some that do it all.
07:16I mean, there's not – it's not rocket science.
07:18There's not a lot going on up front at any level.
07:20The high schoolers down here, right here in Houston,
07:23are trying to run the same plays that the Texans are trying to run for the most part.
07:26And that is me versus you.
07:28The pass game you mentioned, that's where – and you and I have talked about this before.
07:33We've done enough radio together where that's why the whole time
07:35that everybody's been banging on this offensive line – and don't get me wrong.
07:38It's been bad.
07:40But there's also – that's where the play caller comes in.
07:44That's where the scheme comes in.
07:46That's where the quarterback comes in, which leads me to another deal today.
07:49Second play.
07:51First play of one of the team peers, boom, get a nice little run.
07:55I couldn't tell which running back it was.
07:56Get a nice little run.
07:57They come back, Luke.
07:59Boom.
08:00Boom.
08:00I pray, I think I'm right here.
08:02It was a hard count by CJ.
08:05Some kind of cadence thing.
08:07Will Anderson jumps, boom, the right tackle moves.
08:09When Will's across the ball, boom, we're moved.
08:11Those kind of things that CJ and Nick Cayley, they've got to do to help that pass protection.
08:18So I think that's a much more complicated piece.
08:21Hell, you add in defense and who we're having to go against,
08:23then you've got a really complicated formula to try to figure out.
08:26But that run game is just where it's got to be.
08:29If you're going to put all this stock into this run game and you're going to tell everybody about it,
08:32you're going to bring David Montgomery in here and you're going to bring all these offensive linemen in here
08:35that first and foremost are road graders, damn it, you better be able to road grade.
08:39And so today, to me, first day of pads, I saw multiple times where the O-line coach is going
08:47to get up out of his seat
08:48and be saluting some offensive linemen in that meeting room when they're watching.
08:53A couple of things real quick, other than that, Jawar Jordan's going to push Woody Marks, boys.
08:59Jawar Jordan's going to have a hard time keeping the ball out of Jawar Jordan's hands.
09:05There's something else there.
09:08There's a different wiggle.
09:10There's a different burst.
09:12There's a different change of direction.
09:14There's a vision.
09:16And I like all these guys, but I'm telling you, Jawar Jordan, to me, is the one that brings –
09:21and we saw it last year when he went over 100 yards in the game when he got some carries.
09:27But Jawar Jordan's going to be a problem.
09:29To me, he's one in this camp that's really moving.
09:32Kalen Bullock had an interception.
09:33He picked off C.J. Stroud.
09:34By the way, one of those interceptions where I know earlier in camp, first day,
09:40I said this has got to be the kind of stuff that drives D'Amico nuts.
09:42This was not one of those interceptions.
09:44It was a hybrid coverage.
09:45They disguised it perfectly.
09:46He rolled down.
09:47He jumped a throw over the middle of the field.
09:49It was one of those that, hey, it happens in football.
09:52It was a really, really, really good defensive play.
09:55It was a really good defensive disguise.
09:58And Kalen Bullock is just an absolute ball hawk.
10:01I'm going to talk about this a little later in training camp.
10:03I think Higgins is untouchable on this team.
10:08I think he's not Nico Collins, but we've had conversations about, boy,
10:13if Tankdale gets healthy, where does he fit?
10:15And does this guy come – Higgins, I saw something today at practice, boys,
10:20Higgins is untouchable.
10:22That damn Blankenship came down on a safety blitz, and Higgins was in that cut split,
10:29and it was a run the other direction.
10:35Higgins, he sets his base, slides inside on Blankenship.
10:40And Blankenship's not a big dude, but he's a safety that's used to physicality
10:44and, you know, used to run into the ball and blah, blah, blah.
10:46But he locked his ass down.
10:49He snatched him up and locked him down on the backside, and I just – I look at that
10:53and I'm like, wow.
10:56Man, but there's just – that is exactly what turns Nick Kaley on.
11:01I mean, going and making a dive and catch in the back of the end zone or something,
11:04cool, that's good.
11:05But if you can lock down the backside of a run like that, I think that damn Nick Kaley
11:09gets good and turned on.
11:10I mean, I think he gets worked up, brother.
11:12It's the same thing I said – or have been saying about Foster and Moreau,
11:15and credit to the in-the-loop guys that really turned me on to it.
11:18But when you hear people that are just going out of their way to praise somebody,
11:22I think that should sound alarms.
11:25And it's similar now where this past couple days, people are really singing the praise
11:30of Higgins these days, so I guess that is somebody that you certainly need to –
11:34if you weren't already, keeping an eye out for.
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