Houston Texans 2024 Training Camp Report, Practice No. 6

The sixth practice for the Houston Texans’ 2024 training camp took place on Wednesday morning, and it looked and felt a whole lot like the practice the day before. Like Tuesday, the Texans were in full pads, and the fans filled all the bleacher seats. Like Tuesday, there was some heavy rain prior to practice, but the rain held off once 9 a.m. rolled around, and the team practiced amidst very moderate temperatures.

The offense had its moments, the defense had its moments, the highlights of which we will get to in a moment, but the big spectacle out at camp on Wednesday — our first skirmish of the preseason! Texan on Texan violence!  Let’s start there….

Tempers boil over
WIth a team that packs this much energy, with this many alpha males on a football field at the same time, it was bound to happen — on Wednesday, we got our first fight of the 2024 Texans training camp. It stemmed from a Stefon Diggs catch and run, where safety Jimmie Ward brought Diggs to the ground, which is a no-no in training camp. Some moderate hitting is okay, that’s why there are pads on, but going to the ground augments the chances of injury exponentially. So the offense and defense pushed and shoved in a 20-headed scrum for about a minute. Once the two sides separated, then CB Derek Stingley went back in and gave TE Dalton Schultz a cheap shot from behind. It was quite the spectacle, and if I had to guess, other than the chances that Schultz could have been hurt by Stingley’s negligence, DeMeco Ryans probably loved it! He enjoys appropriate chippy-ness!

This is about as good as I can do for video of the skirmish, as the media is not allowed to film anything after the first 20 minutes or so of practice. So we all rely on fan video!

🚨🚨TRANINING CAMP FIGHT🚨🚨

Texans camp today was reportedly very
intense, starting with Stefon Diggs getting hit hard by Jimmie Ward when Dalton Schultz got involved. pic.twitter.com/tzWgDOGx2c

— Around The NFL (@AroundNFL23) July 24, 2024

Nick Caserio speaks on SportsRadio 610
The Texans EVP and General Manager, who’s heading into his fourth season in that role, joined me and Seth Payne on SportsRadio 610. You can listen to the entire interview on our station’s website, but here are a few highlights, with thanks to Texans content aggregator Houston Stressans for the assist:

Nick Caserio on Dameon Pierce:

“He was dealing with more that maybe people realize” in regards to last season

Highlights how he’s improved thus far pic.twitter.com/jDBqYtt7v5

— Houston Stressans (@TexansCommenter) July 24, 2024

Nick Caserio on Blake Fisher pic.twitter.com/MZBS8u5dDH

— Houston Stressans (@TexansCommenter) July 24, 2024

Awesome long-winded answer from Caserio on Kenyon Green: pic.twitter.com/2IrDPsthS9

— Houston Stressans (@TexansCommenter) July 24, 2024

Practice notes and observations

* Out from practice for a third straight day was RB Joe Mixon. This is allowing for some quality work for Dameon Pierce and the other young running backs, but I’d like to see Mixon out there. Also, not practicing was John Metchie (second straight day), Christian Harris (yet to practice this camp), and Laremy Tunsil (yet to practice, but working out on the side).

* The offense was a little inconsistent, but the good stuff was, man oh man, REALLY good. Nico Collins had a catch and run along the left sideline, where he shook a defender and likely would have gone for another 15 to 20 yards in a regular season game. Then, later in practice, C.J. Stroud threw an absolute drop in the bucket for about a 65 yard bomb for a touchdown to Collins. A reminder that Stroud is an elite arm talent.

* The offense worked on quite a bit in the run game, and one of the standouts was rookie RB Jahwar Jordan, the sixth round pick out of Louisville. He had a nice run up the middle for a big gain, and a couple nice outside stretch runs. I wouldn’t mind seeing him mixed in higher up the depth chart for a few plays, especially with Mixon out.

* The play of the practice was a Derek Stingley interception of a Stroud deep ball to Tank Dell, where Dell and Stingley both went up for the ball, and Stingley wrestled it away, but before Dell fought with him on the ground for the ball for literally 20 to 30 seconds. You could see Caserio wanting to get in and break things up before two of his best (and most oft injured players last season) injured each other.

* Aside from those highlight plays, Will Anderson had a pass break up, Henry To’o To’o had a tackle for loss on a screen pass, Calen Bullock was showing up once again at safety, and Jeff Okudah kind of whacked veteran WR Robert Woods on a pass break up, a little too hard for a camp practice. In other words, it was lively out there on Wednesday.

Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.