(EDITOR'S NOTE: Some parts of Vandermeer's brain are still locked in the year 2007--or 1980, or 1965, for that matter-- which is why he included the word 'blog' in the title. Blogs aren't a thing anymore. But anyways, we'll humor him.)
The Texans concluded veteran minicamp and it felt like a cliffhanger!
I can't wait to find out what goes down when the Texans 'show' resumes with Training Camp in late July.
I saw thrilling stuff like two-minute drill execution, scintillating pass break-ups, breathtaking catches and backfield blasts by the pass rushers. The energy was palpable and it's clear an energetic new era is underway.
The cliffhanger part of it is basically a thirst for more. It's not one of those cliffhangers like Ross saying Rachel's name at his wedding to someone else (yikes!). Or when Hank realizes Walter White is his brother-in-law at the midway season 5 break of Breaking Bad. Or season seven 7 of Game of Thrones when the frozen dragon remodels the wall.
But there are things I need to know and will have to wait until camp to find out...like how will they divide up the quarterback reps? C.J. Stroud had a great series of completions in a two-minute situation and I said to John Harris "Remember, he's a rookie."
We just witnessed some really good proficiency to cap four full weeks of practice and it's encouraging, to say the least. That doesn't mean Davis Mills isn't doing well. He's made some sweet throws this month and it's easy to say he's getting better.
DeMeco Ryans isn't about to anoint any player as a starter as he gets peppered with questions about his young quarterback.
When the team gets back, they'll have two weeks to get ready for New England. They'll ramp up to being in pads and BOOM, we'll get to finally see how these guys hit. And you know Ryans loves the competition in practice.
On a week where J.J. Watt was announced to be joining Andre Johnson as the only Texans players in the Ring of Honor, Ryans said of the two: "It wasn't just the games, it was what they brought to practice."
I've always said the great ones love to prepare and Ryans was a stickler for knowing what he needed to do as a player and now making sure his players turn up the intensity and learn their jobs thoroughly, as a coach.
By now you're wondering why I didn't bring up 'Who Shot J.R.' as a cliffhanger. It was the greatest ever. Most of the business staff here wasn't born when Dallas was on the air. This is like talking to me about Jack Benny (Who!?).
I'll have a bit of time to catch up on some other things in life in the next few weeks but you can be sure that I'm on the edge of my seat to see what happens next with this crew.
The coach says "For right now and where we are, we're in a really good spot. We just ended on the field – like the way the guys are competing back and forth, offense, defense – both making plays, both challenging each other – iron sharpening iron. That's exactly what I wanted. And now I just told our guys, this just only sets you up to come back in training camp and compete for that job because we're all competing."
They'll be competing and we're all here waiting, with great anticipation.
