That was a Houston training camp practice.
No rain.
100% humidity (or so it felt that way).
Sun bearing down with ferocity for the first time in days.
That's what Houston football is supposed to be, right?
Well, either way, let's dive into my Harris Hits from Monday's practice, the last one with fans until we get back from our weeklong odyssey to Canton/Cleveland/Pittsburgh.
1. The offense seemed to click a bit better on Monday, especially on the first series of the day, led by QB C.J. Stroud. The Texans leader threw a dart to WR Stefon Diggs on the first play. Quick play action and as soon as he hit the last step on his drop, Stroud threw on time, cleanly to Diggs in the flat. After the catch, the fans egged Diggs on to give them a little dance on the sideline. I loved to see Stefon have some fun with his newest fans.
2. I've extolled the virtues of having LB Azeez Al-Shaair in the middle of this defense and the next play, inside the red zone, showed why. He met RB Dameon Pierce at the line of scrimmage, face to face on an inside run. Pierce cut back into what looked like a void from my angle and, all of a sudden, #0 popped into the hole to shut that run down.
3. Stroud looked up WR Tank Dell on the next play and a groan emanated from the fans in the stands as QB and WR couldn't quite connect. But there was a good reason, as Dell's jersey was held and rookie CB Kamari Lassiter was called for defensive holding. He had a handful of jersey, yanking on it slightly to pull himself back in phase with Dell. But the rookie would bounce back throughout the day again, having himself a strong practice.
4. To finish his series of plays, Stroud flipped one over the middle to RB Dare Ogunbowale for a touchdown. That was one of the most successful offensive series in a few days. The Groove was back.
5. After an Ogunbowale run and a RB J.J. Taylor catch on a checkdown from QB Davis Mills, the fourth year QB threw as pretty a pass as he's thrown in this training camp. He had WR Xavier Hutchinson on a slot fade on my side of the field. When I tell you he threw a DIME, he threw a freakin' DIME. He lofted the ball to a spot where Hutchinson was headed. The second-year receiver had a step on the DB and was pulling away as he sped into the catch. TD. BEAUTIFUL.
6. Rookie RB Jawhar Jordan was ever present throughout the day on Monday. With Joe Mixon out of practice, it's just opened up rep opportunities for all the running backs. It seemed Jordan was the recipient of some of those on Monday. A few plays after the Hutchinson TD, Jordan took a handoff and started to his left and then saw a hole back to his right side. He immediately planted his outside foot and cut back into the opening. Once he got there, he had a lane open up that led him right into the end zone for a TD.
From the far side of the field, Mixon ran over to celebrate with his fellow RB, giving him a huge high five, which I can imagine for a rookie is a big deal.
7. Another player who had a stellar day was CB Troy Pride, Jr. Domers (Notre Dame lovers) everywhere had to be rejoicing or should be after reading this Harris Hit. He knocked away the fade route to WR Steven Sims on the next play. He had at least two or three other PBUs throughout the rest of practice, including both of the final two plays of the day. Again, if you're looking for players in Thursday night's Hall of Fame Game to watch and cheer for, take a good look at #27.
8. Even though the linebacker group has been without Christian Harris during the first part of training camp, the remainder of the group has picked up some serious slack. When the first units came back onto the field, Pierce took a toss and made one initial great cut into what looked like an open hole. Immediately, that hole shut as Henry To'oTo'o stepped into the hole and faced up Pierce at the line of scrimmage for no gain.
9. S Eric Murray came up with a PBU on a go route to WR John Metchie III as Murray stayed right in the hip pocket of Metchie III all the way down the field.
10. But once the Texans offense drove inside the 5-yard line, Stroud threw to Ogunbowale for another TD. When Ogunbowale caught the ball, he was slightly up in the air and as he was, S Jimmie Ward essentially turned down a big hit to jar the ball loose...and just caught Dare in the air. Considering some of the, say, disagreements that have popped up between the two units, it was nice to see some love between the two groups, in the form of a funny Dare-Jimmie Hug-It-Out moment.
11. I mentioned Jordan a little earlier and on the first play of the next series, he showed those jump cuts and sudden movements on a run that was all kinds of chaotic. There were bodies all over the ground and Jordan was hopping and moving all around them, generating a small bit of yardage when most running backs would've come up empty or with a loss.
12. Two plays later, Jordan made a pretty catch on the sideline on a throw from Mills.
13. The linebackers pass coverage has also been much better too and it really showed on the first play of the next series. Stroud seemed to want the deep over route, but To'oTo'o had sprinted back into position to force Stroud to throw further upfield to avoid throwing a pick. That was great coverage from To'oTo'o to help force the incompletion.
14. OT Nick Broeker stepped into the first OL today when OT Tytus Howard was a bit banged up. As such, Broeker more than held his own when he was with that group. Two plays into the series, he was able to ride one of the DE up the field away from Stroud, who was then able to move into the void and throw a dart to Dell for a completion. I don't think Stroud would've been able to get that ball off for the completion without Broeker's block.
15. I don't know if there was some sort of focus for the quarterbacks in their meetings over the weekend, but they drew the defense offside at least three different times with their hard counts and cadence. Mills was on THAT game all day long.
16. I knew it was bound to happen sooner than later. Two bulls were going to meet face up and it finally happened today. I could hear the collision when FB Troy Hairston and LB Neville Hewitt met in the hole on an excellent run for Ogunbowale. Hairston and Hewitt collided and Dare sped through off of Hairston's hip for a big run.
17. Two plays later, RB Cam Akers hit the boosters up the field on a zone cut-up run. He started to the right and then planted his foot and ZOOM took off on a direct line up the field. Akers' comfortability seems to be showing a bit more and more each practice.
18. Al-Shaair came up with a pass breakup on the next series against the first offense. Stroud eyed Dell over the middle of the field and threw that way as he was leaving the pocket to his right. But Al-Shaair got a hand on the ball, keeping it from Dell in the middle of the field. Al-Shaair then completely ate up a zone run on the next play. Pass or run, Al-Shaair's been on top of everything lately.
19. Then Stroud dialed up a deep route. He had great protection from Broeker and RG Shaq Mason, both of whom handled a stunt beautifully. Those two blocks allowed Stroud time to throw deep to WR Noah Brown, but Lassiter was in Brown's hip pocket and knocked away the pass. GREAT pass breakup for the youngster.
20. I interviewed CB D'Angelo Ross on Saturday and that good luck must've rubbed off because Ross came up with a TFL on a wide run in his direction to start a new series. On the next play, Ross interrupted a pass in the direction of Sims.
21. To start the third team period, Stroud was able to throw complete to WR Robert Woods in the face of incredible pressure. The right side of the defense was able to get to Stroud clean and force an early throw. Regardless, Stroud was able to complete that throw to Woods.
22. Two plays later, Stroud eyed Brown, who had seemingly beaten his man on a deep over route. Stroud had a ton of room to float a pass to Brown, but out of nowhere, rookie S Calen Bullock flew in and knocked it away from the veteran receiver. That's not a play that this Texans defense could've/would've made in the past. But Bullock's CLOSING SPEED was apparent when he got to the ball as it arrived.
23. Skowronek continues to find his way into the trust zone of his QBs. Why? The final play of the period was Exhibit A. Stroud had to get out of the pocket due to pressure and as he ran left, Skowronek just kept working into an open area for his QB. Eventually, Stroud saw the numbers two and six and dumped it off to him for a completion on third down. That's the kind of thing QBs love to see - help me out, WR, and I'll get you the ball. Ben helped his guy out and was rewarded with a key first down catch.
24. Woods made one of the better catches of the day on an out route in front of me. He ran a quick out and Mills threw the ball where only Woods could catch it. But it was a little farther from Woods than he may have wanted, so Woods laid out and made the beautiful catch.
25. Mills then hit TE Teagan Quitoriano on a crosser as Teagan ran away from his defender for a sweet catch-and-run. On the next play, Quitoriano ran a curl in front of CB D'Angelo Ross and Mills let fly. Ross reached over and knocked it away for his second PBU of the day.
26. Two plays later, QB Tim Boyle found a WIDE ACRE OPEN WR Jadon Janke. I don't know who got lost, but someone was COMPLETELY lost out in the flat as Janke made the easy catch and turned up for a big gain.
27. For the final team period, Coach DeMeco Ryans designed a situation - one minute remaining, one TO, down by seven. Stroud seemingly just loves these situations; for the second consecutive day, he really got in a groove. After an incompletion with no one open on first down, he hit a sliding TE Brevin Jordan on an out route. Then, he hit Brown on an inside glance route. Then, he threw one of his best passes of the day when he drilled one to Jordan again on a seam route. Those three throws were pure C.J. Stroud and just awesome.
28. Mills started off his session with a handful of tremendous throws. He drilled one to rookie TE Cade Stover on a crossing route for a completion. Then, he completed an in route to Hutchinson. Two throws later, he completed a speed out to Sims, who then got out of bounds. Brilliant clock type stuff. Then, Mills hit Stover again for his fourth completion in five throws before S M.J. Stewart made a wonderful play, breaking up a pass intended for Woods, and coming down with it for an interception.
29. The best throw/catch of the day, though, came in the final series. Boyle threw to WR Quintez Cephus on the right side. Cephus had, essentially, settled up in between four Texans defenders so Boyle threw the ball a little higher than usual to avoid those defenders. Cephus went up and snatched it in the midst of that defender quartet for an AWESOME completion.
30. On the final two plays of the situation, the aforementioned Pride, Jr. had two pass breakups near the end zone to end that drive. He knocked away what looked like a sure TD pass to Cephus on the seam route and then he made a play on the out route to WR Johnny Johnson.
31. With one final play, Ryans wanted this group to work on a last second, rush-the-FG-unit-out-on-the-field play. Coach put 20 seconds on the clock and let Boyle go to work. The Texans QB played it beautifully, drilling Johnson for the completion. Johnson slid down and ran over to the refs with the ball as the team sprinted off the field. On the field came K Ka'imi Fairbairn and the kicking team. As usual, he knocked home the field goal in a beautifully executed situation.
So, that's going to do it for Monday's practice. We are inching ever so close to the Hall of Fame Game on August 1 at 7pm CT on ESPN/ESPN+, and Andre Johnson's Hall of Fame Enshrinement on August 3.
CAN'T WAIT, but there's one more quality practice to have before we get on that airplane on Wednesday. See you tomorrow, everyone!
