EDITOR'S NOTE:Tight end ****Owen Daniels*** will be providing periodic diary entries for HoustonTexans.com to give fans insight into the life of a rookie draft pick.
*Well we're done with the hardest part of the season, training camp. We're also halfway through the preseason at 2-0 after the win at St. Louis. The trip was a good one for me because aside from the win I got to see my family.
We left Houston at about noon on Friday and arrived at St. Louis at two. I got to meet up with my agent that evening and have dinner with him, but I had to get back to the hotel for pre-game meetings. Saturday was nothing new, at this point and after college, game day is routine. I tried to stay off my feet most of the day. I went to mass and pre-game meal before we got in the buses to go to the stadium. We got to Edward James Dome three hours before game time and just hung out trying to relax. I was able to do that by watching some golf. Tiger Woods was playing so that got me ready to play.
Playing on the road was fun just because the team really comes together. Everyone's kind of behind each other, even a little more than when we are at home. The Rams have good fans and they were loud, especially on the offensive side of the ball when we'd get down to the red zone. Their fans were up and cheering pretty loud to a point where it was hard to hear David and Sage. Fortunately for us, we expected it and practiced with crowd noise in the bubble, so we were prepared. I personally think it was louder at Reliant Stadium our first game, but I might just be biased to our fans.
I came in on the second quarter and played all the way through the fourth quarter. I was happy to get significant playing time because my parents, brothers, uncles and an aunt were a couple of rows behind our bench. They traveled about four hours to the game. My mom was very excited because, although we grew up in the Chicago area, this was her first NFL game. She'll be coming to a lot more now. I got to see them for a bit after the game before we hopped on the bus to go back to the airport.
The ride back was a little uncomfortable, as it had been on our way to St. Louis. I was sitting between Wali (Lundi) and John Chick, we're not small and with no seat in between us we were pretty crammed up. It's the pains of being a rookie. It didn't matter too much because I was working on my tight end test anyway. We have a test each week on our plays and I have to know all I'm doing in all of them. So far I've done well and hopefully I won't ever find out what happens when someone fails.
We got back to Houston at around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday and it was back to my hotel. A couple more meetings and one more practice and we were done with training camp. We had Tuesday off and I took advantage of the free time to move into my town home in Bellaire. I'm still not completely done because I'm having stuff delivered all week. Luckily, my girlfriend flew into town to help me out because I have to go back to practice and meetings all day. She's there hanging out by herself waiting for deliveries to come in.[
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Today we started with a regular work week, because we play on Sunday and we're trying to get used to that. I'm guessing every trip from here on will be the same as St. Louis, business as usual. And hopefully we can come back with the same results.
Take care,
Owen
Entry 1: Welcome to training camp (8/1)
Entry 2: Adjusting to the NFL (8/5)
Entry 3: Getting ready (8/10)
Entry 4: Preseason debut (8/16)
