There's one big reason why HBO's award-winning series 'Hard Knocks' wanted to film in Houston this training camp and it wasn't just because of No. 99.
It was the Texans fan base.
Last year, when HBO filmed a week's worth of practice against Houston while covering the Atlanta Falcons, one thing stood out to NFL Films supervising producer, Ken Rodgers.
"That's something we look for strongly is a fan base that's interested in camp because the energy at camp is really great when fans are there," Rodgers said in Wednesday's press conference. "You can feel it through the microphones and cameras, you can feel the players are amped up when the fans are out there, and the fans just bring a great level. We've rarely seen a camp as exciting as the one when we came here last year."
The 'Hard Knocks' crew did not put microphones on Texans players last year, but they were impressed with the Texans fan base and the excitement surrounding training camp during open practices. This year, fans will have a chance to bring that energy level to the same number of open practices, according to general manager and executive vice president Rick Smith.
"We are in the process of finalizing all of those dates," Smith said. "We are still looking at exactly how we're going to organize practice, but we would have as many as we've had, it would be just as we've done it in the past. We'll have those open practices like we've done in the past."
'Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Houston Texans' kicks off its season with the first of five episodes on Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 9 p.m. CDT, exclusively on HBO.
