Football was back on Wednesday for the Houston Texans.

But so was 'four-square'.

Before the Texans took the field to warm up, the defensive linemen got loose by playing the popular playground game. Defensive end J.J. Watt helped organize it, and explained after practice why he and his teammates played.

"We were out to practice really early one day in OTAs and there were these squares set up that we have for the O line, D line and there were these balls that we were using for pass back downs, and we saw the setup and we were like 'we got extra time to kill, let's just play,'" Watt said.

Watt and the rest of the defensive line were batting around the ball at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, and said it's become an integral part of the pre-practice routine.

"We come out a half hour early just to play four square as our warm up," Watt said. "It's a great warm up because you stretch while you're in line."

It's become so popular, that defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel and defensive line coach Anthony Weaver even took part. Plus, it's one more thing to stoke the competitive fires of the team.

"It's fun and it gets heated quickly," Watt said. "But it's a great way to warm up and obviously we bust each other's chops pretty good."

Watt and the Texans will practice again on Thursday for the second day of training camp.