HOUSTON – Hello from the KPRC 2 headquarters in southwest Houston! This is KPRC 2 Sports Director Randy McIlvoy with your Houston Texans Newsletter for this week.
The offseason is flying by and there is still a couple of weeks left out at NRG Park. Let’s check some boxes to this point shall we?
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NFL Draft, Offseason Program begins, Rookie Mini-camp, OTA Week 1, OTA Week 2 all are in the books.
Still to come is another week of OTAs followed by mandatory Mini-Camp. Attending this is expected and hopefully the guys that have been out will report for duty. I fully expect to see Laremy Tunsil on the field. If not, he will have some explaining to do.
OTAs are daily at the Methodist Training Center and only once per week do they allow the media to come out and watch, shoot video and take part in interviews. This week was differeny as only the assistant coaches and Head Coach DeMeco Ryans were talking. Still, it was good to hear from new coordinators Bobby Slowik and Matt Burke and QB Coach Jerrod Johnson. Good insight on what they are seeing so far from the guys including top pick QB C.J. Stroud.
TOP QUOTES: DEMECO RYANS
Can you talk about the practices y’all have set up and the significance of them?
“Yeah, excited to go against the Dolphins here ahead of our preseason game, the second week of preseason. I think we can get a lot out of joint practices, especially a team as good as Miami, a playoff team, a team that has a ton of playmakers offensively and a really good defense, as well. It’s a good opportunity for our offense to go against a different defensive structure. They’re more of a three-down front where we’re primarily a four-down front. So it’s a chance for our offense to get different looks, and it’s also a chance for us defensively to get different looks from different players and compete at a high level. The Saints, as well, it’s our neighbor close by, so it’ll be fun to go down and compete against the Saints. Again, it’s just different offense, different defensive structures, different philosophies there, so it’s just good. As much as we can go against other people and not beat up on each other too much, it’s a good opportunity for us to go against them. Dennis [Allen] and Mike [McDaniel], two guys I respect really well in this league, have done a great job leading their teams, and so I’m excited to go to work with those guys.”
As a defensive player and coach your entire career, now that you’re a head coach, is it any different for you to be involved with the offensive side of the ball, especially when you’re out there?
“It’s a little different, but it’s funny, having a conversation before practice with some of the quarterbacks, and C.J is like, ‘is it only a good day if the defense does well’, and I said, ‘no, man, it’s a great day when the offense is doing well and we’re putting up points.’ We’re all in this thing together. It’s fun being able to work both sides, being able to coach up and help the quarterbacks, help the offense, and also help the defenses just seeing it all come together. Just for me in this position, it’s a role of service, and I’m just in position to help out either side of the ball as much as I can.”
With the joint practices, you’ve got a lot of young rookies, too. Was that part of the thought process of getting them multiple practices against players and teams
“The thought process behind joint practices just as a team, I think it’s great when you can just go against something different, see different plays. When you go against each other in training camp, you kind of get used to you know what plays the offense is running, you know the defenses that you’re going to see. So when you can break up that monotony in camp and go against someone else and get different looks, get different players to go against, it just helps you as a player to expand as a player, become a better player going against different. You may have different tails, different techniques that you have to use versus these guys. It’s just good competition all the way across the board going against another team. Doesn’t really matter, young players, older players, it really doesn’t matter. I think it’s just good collectively as a team when you can go out and compete against someone else.
TOP QUOTES: OC BOBBY SLOWIK
In teaching C.J. [Stroud] the offense and building it first, did you have an idea of what you wanted to build with him, and talk about that process of building and also teaching him and how have you approached that?
“Yeah, I think every player you have before you’re really empowered to teach or coach them, I think you have to have a vision for what they’re going to do and who they are and what’s going to make them the best they can be. So you kind of start there. Then you branch off into, OK, we need to attack this, this is your strength. Let’s make sure we emphasize this. We struggled a little bit with this aspect, let’s try to work on this to get that improved so that the totality of what we do then fits into what the guys around us are doing, which then fits into the offense. So it’s kind of been the same for everybody in that regard, C.J. included.”
The majority of the people you’re worked with have dealt with a young quarterback. Obviously I’m guessing you still talk to some of the guys in San Fran. What have you learned that you can apply teaching C.J. the quarterback position?
“Yeah, I’ve been fortunate in that, like you said, I have a lot of connections and people that I’m friends with that I know across the NFL that have been through this process and I’m also fortunate that I went through it really the last two years with Trey and with Brock in a different way, and just getting like the different ways and the different styles guys play, guys learn, they put things together, and the process they have to go through to get to where you envision them getting to and the patience that’s required when you do that, while at the same time like the urgency that’s required when you do that. It’s always a balancing act. Being able to bounce ideas off guys or have guys tell you their experiences and what they went through and what to watch out for, which may or may not apply to the situation you’re going through, but it’s always beneficial when you have people around you that have been through it.”
Early on in this process, what have you learned about WR Tank [Dell] and WR Xavier [Hutchinson]?
Yeah, again, it’s going to sound like a broken record, but the first thing that jumps off about all these guys is just they come in and they’re hungry and they are come in ready to work. Tank comes from a very different offense at Houston, very, very productive, efficient, but it’s just a different style to what we’re really doing here. There’s a bit of a learning curve, and when he’s out on the field, he doesn’t blink. I don’t think anyone has noticed how big of a leap it is because he’s been on it, and he’s been working. Same thing, he’s taking what we’re telling him as far as coaching, as far as what we see in the fundamentals of route running. He’s a pretty natural separator, but to also apply, OK, how does this fit within the offense when I know the quarterback has to look at me at this time, and there’s a lot that goes into that for him. It’s been hitting the ground running for him. It’s been not an issue.
TOP QUOTES: DC MATT BURKE
On working with Head Coach DeMeco Ryans
“Obviously now we’re working through that process from the off-season. Again, I just keep reiterating, it’s invaluable for me to have him around, and it’s been really collaborative. Again, just having sort of been in similar schemes but kind of bringing them together, obviously out there, you guys were out there a little bit today, just being able to kind of lean on him for me, too, just in between periods, sidle up to him and talk about what he saw or some things I saw, things I’d like to change. It’s been awesome for me to have that resource as we go through this installation and growth period here. Man, it’s been cool – again, I didn’t have a lot of personal history with DeMeco, so building that relationship as we go through this and obviously spending some long hours in the office trying to get up to speed has been really cool. I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been a collaborative process so far, so hopefully we just keep that going.”
You had a chance to watch CB Derek Stingley Jr. on film. This year when you’re watching him at practice, he’s added on some weight. Have you seen any difference in his fluidity, hip movement?
“No, I haven’t, and I’ll be honest with you, I don’t really look at the weight stuff much right now. A lot of those guys are heavy or fluctuating, working into it. That’s part of what this off-season program is. Sting has been able to do everything we’ve asked him to do. Again, another sort of position we’re playing some different coverages and some different techniques than he played last year, and he’s been good fitting into that stuff. I’m happy where he is, where he’s been working.”
Describe to the fan base what your scheme is like. A lot of fans are just now starting to pay attention.
We’re going to base out of a four-down front, and I would just say if you wanted to do the whole pick one word, it would be attack. We play our defensive line in a penetrating style, try to edge them up, play nine techniques, those sort of things to cause disruptions. Our goal is to be able to affect plays with our front by the style that they play, the attack mode they play in and penetrate and disruption and reset the line of scrimmage and those sorts of things. I would say if you just wanted to bottle it up, that would be the main thing. Again, the more that you can pressure a quarterback with four and not have to commit other resources to doing that, that helps kind of protect your coverage a little bit so you can play multiple coverages and change that element up if you can affect the quarterback and the offense with your front. That’s kind of the general approach and philosophy that I’d say we’re taking.”
It’s Friday, June 2, and we are 100 days away from the Texans Opener!