Be loud. Be safe. Be present, and don’t eat too many chili dogs at the concession stand. Dameon Pierce’s message to fans at NRG Stadium on Saturday
The Houston Texans wrapped up their second and final joint practice with the Miami Dolphins on Thursday. After a crazy finish to the first joint practice, the two teams returned to the Houston Methodist Training Center for more 11-on-11 and situational work ahead of Saturday's preseason game.
Here are the hottest headlines from Day 16 of training camp:
1. DeMeco Ryans says all starters will play in Saturday's preseason game
Head Coach DeMeco Ryans confirmed that all starters will see action in the second preseason game. In last week's preseason opener at New England, a number of starters, including Laremy Tunsil, Dameon Pierce, Jimmie Ward, Robert Woods, Jerry Hughes and Ka'imi Fairbairn did not play.
"With our game this week, we'll play all our players," Ryans said. "All of our players will see time in the game and that's how we'll go about it. C.J. [Stroud] will go first, again, as he did last week. We'll adjust the game as it goes along."
When asked how many reps he might get, Pierce had this to say.
"I have no clue," Pierce said. "I'm going to be live, though. I'm going to be live, though."
2. Joint practices were a success
The Texans held joint practice with another NFL team for the first time in four years. Not since 2019 against the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, have the Texans battled another uniform in camp. For Ryans, the week has been a success.
"I thought these past few days were very productive," Ryans said. "I think yesterday was good and we came back today and had a really good day of practice, and it went really well to me. We got really good looks – offensively and defensively – against different schemes, different players and we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish out of it."
One of the best parts of Thursday's practice were the 1-on-1 drills between wide receivers and defensive backs. On practice field #1, the Texans WRs battled Dolphins DBs. Nico Collins caught a tremendous deep ball from C.J. Stroud.
Meanwhile, on practice field #2, Dolphins WRs faced Texans DBs and Derek Stingley Jr. did this:
3. Don't overlook Tank Dell's skills in the run game
Rookie Tank Dell caught a touchdown pass in his preseason debut and regularly makes plays during training camp practice. Like yesterday, when he caught three touchdown passes during a redzone 11-on-11 yesterday against the Dolphins defense. But what about the run game? Veteran WR Robert Woods pointed out Dell's contribution to the ground game as well.
"As a rookie, not only being able to execute on the pass plays, I think you guys aren't really seeing what he does in the run game as well," Woods said. "Always fronting up and being a guy who is making sure his defender doesn't make the tackle, which is really good for a young receiver and a receiver of his size, being able to be involved in the run game and not only be a pass receiver. I think that's really good for our offense and for his career being so young."
4. Cal's Cookout
The Texans wrapped up their final open practice with a big cookout courtesy hosted by Cal McNair. The Texans CEO and Chair grilled up some burgers and hot dogs with some assistance from a few local media members and his family.
The Texans wrapped up eight open practices, including two joint practices this week, ahead of their preseason home game on Saturday against Miami. Kickoff against the Dolphins takes place Saturday from NRG Stadium at 3 p.m.
