The Texans were back on the practice field outside at the Houston Methodist Training Center late Wednesday morning. They'll face the Jaguars in Jacksonville this Sunday, and here are a few nuggets of information from the day of work, the press conferences of Head Coach DeMeco Ryans and quarterback C.J. Stroud, and the open locker room portion with the media that followed.
Key returns
Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil missed Sunday's loss to Indianapolis with a knee injury, while Jimmie Ward was out the first two games with a hip injury.
Both were back today, and their returns were welcome ones by their teammates.
"It was so exciting to have him back out there today," defensive end Will Anderson, Jr. said of Ward. "He brings so much energy to our defense. Having him back there again, it just means a lot."
While safety Jalen Pitre was out and didn't practice, Ryans said the second-year defensive back remains in good spirits and has been helpful in meetings.
For more on their return from injuries, and the read THIS article by Deepi Sidhu. You can view the full injury report by clicking HERE.
Stroud's outlook
Stroud said he "feels good".
The rookie showed up on Friday's injury report as questionable for the game versus the Colts. Stroud then proceeded to throw for 384 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.
He was limited in Wednesday's practice but reiterated that he was fine.
"After Week 1 you kind of just get used to getting hit," Stroud said.
The Other QB
The Jaguars are led by Trevor Lawrence, who in two games has completed 63 percent of his passes for 457 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception.
Ryans is impressed with Lawrence's lightning-fast delivery.
"Trevor gets the ball out really quickly," Ryans said. "Fastest in the NFL. Whether it's the screen games, RPO games, it's coming out fairly quickly."
Because of that quick release, Ryans explained how the Texans defense must adjust.
"We have to be tight in our coverage, and we have to tackle well in space," Ryans said
Return of the Shaq
Along with running back Dare Ogunbowale, cornerback Shaquill Griffin is facing a former team this Sunday in the Jaguars. The former was there in 2020 and 2021, while the latter was there the last two seasons.
Griffin's looking forward to going back, and knows there'll be some new wrinkles to the offense he practiced against daily last season. But he also explained that they'll go after him the same sort of ways they did in practice in 2022.
"I'm more than sure some things are going to kind of stay the same," Griffin said. "There's some things that I definitely can look forward to that I'm pretty sure I'm going to be pretty familiar with."
