Houston Texans 2024 Training Camp Report, Practice No. 10

The Houston Texans had their final tuneup on Tuesday morning before heading to Canton, Ohio on Wednesday for Thursday night’s Hall of Fame Game, against the Chicago Bears. The weather was once again typical Houston weather in late July. After a week of a benevolent Mother Nature, she’s been bringing the heat now all week.

Here are my observations from the last practice the Texans will hold in Houston until August 11, as they plan to practice in Ohio the week of August 5, leading up to their second preseason game, which will be in Pittsburgh, on August 9. Here we go:

Defense wins the day, AGAIN
For the fourth straight day, the defense had the noticeable advantage over the offense, and it all starts up front. The defensive line, against all three strings of the offensive line, is dominating this camp, of late. On the one hand, it sucks the entertainment value from practice, because most of us there, media and fans, would love to see C.J. Stroud crushing it with Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins, and Tank Dell, and while there have been some beautiful throws from Stroud, many of them come after what would have been a sack in a normal game. (In practice, quarterbacks are not allowed to be tackled, just one hand touched.) On the other hand, though, this is a fantastic sign for the design of DeMeco Ryans’ defense, which is predicated on dominant line play, and good players winning one on one battles. My bigger concern with the offense is their inability to run the football. Maybe it looks different once a healthy Joe Mixon is out there in pads, but the running game does not look great right now.

DeMeco is not having any of your Hall of Fame Game interrogation!
It should be fun having an actual football game to watch (and do pregame and postgame for, if you’re me) on Thursday night. The Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus has already announced that the Bears starters will not play on Thursday night. I would expect the same for the Texans, but if that’s the case, Ryans is not revealing it. He got slightly testy (by his testiness standards) when asked about after Tuesday’s practice:

DeMeco Ryans once again ends his media availability by expressing that we’ll find out which players the Texans are playing on Thursday. No sooner. pic.twitter.com/hiTyRZAmsk

— James Roy (@JamesRoyNFL) July 30, 2024

I would expect anyone listed as first string on the depth chart, except for perhaps rookie Kamari Lassiter, to sit on Thursday night. I would expect to see a LOT of drives quarterbacked by Tim Boyle, which is code for “take the UNDER.”

Other practice notes and observations

* Once again, Joe Mixon, Laremy Tunsil, Christian Harris, and Andrew Beck were out of practice. Tunsil and particularly Mixon were getting in some strong workouts on a side field. Both look in great shape, and ready to go when the time comes.

* Noah Brown had what appeared to be a veteran’s day off, and tackle Charlie Heck to the injury list with a foot injury, the severity of which is unknown.

* Nico Collins left 11-on-11 drills twice to spend a few minutes in the massive “cool zone” trailer, as he appeared to perhaps get overheated at practice. After the second time, he came out without his cleats on and watched the rest of practice.

* Early in practice, in one on one drills between receivers and defensive backs, John Metchie III had two of the best reps of the day, absolutely cooking Calen Bullock and Mike Ford on pass routes. I’d actually like to see Metchie play in the Hall of Fame Game, just to see him get reps and targets in a game situation.

* It’s tough to gauge where the excitement level should be on Stroud’s camp so far, as he has made several gorgeous throws, but I’m fairly certain he’s only getting a chance to throw them, because the defense isn’t allowed to sack him. I guess I’ll go “glass half full” and revel in the elite arm talent, and pray that the Texans’ defensive line is just elite.

* Kamari Lassiter continues to impress, highlighted by a pass break up on a throw to Tank Dell, who continues to have a very quiet camp, thus far.

* The closest thing to a highlight sequence for the first team offense was in the final team session, where they started 1st and 10 at their own 35 yard line, down four points with 1:04 to play. Stroud completed 8 of 10 passes to work his way to 1st and goal at the 8 yard line with three seconds left. The only incompletions were a drop by Diggs on a 1st and 15, and a spike to stop the clock. On the final play, Stroud found Diggs in the back of the end zone, but Diggs couldn’t get both feet down, and the drive (and mythical game) ended there.

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