A day for the D: The Texans ended the week with a strong showing from the defense Friday. Windy conditions contributed to an inconsistent effort by the offense, but the defense was flying around for much of the nearly two hour workout.
"I thought our defense practiced pretty well," head coach Gary Kubiak said. "Offensively, we didn't practice that well. We just have to continue to get better. It's been a good three days but we've got to get better."
Since Kubiak is offensive minded by nature, it's hard for him to accept a good performance from the defense and lackluster effort from the offense, but Dunta Robinson put it in pretty simple terms Friday.
"It's one of those things where if the offense comes out here killing then you know the defense had a bad day," Robinson said.
"Today we had a good day. We made plays, we were flying around and you have to give a lot of credit to us on the defensive side of the ball. I still believe that our offense is going to be a very powerful offense, but we just came out here and got the best of them today."
Robinson also said that the first three days of offseason workouts are going smoother than they did a year ago.
"Last year was all evaluation I think," Robinson said. "This year, I think it's sort of the same, but last year we came in with new playbooks on both sides of the ball. This year, we're doing things right the first time so you don't have to repeat a lot of things."
Robinson said that it's nice to have a good day defensively considering that on that side of the ball, it's hard to dominate without any pads on.
"Yeah, but it's one of those things where it should make it easier on Sundays. You come out here, you don't have a pass rush, the quarterback has all day to throw the football and you have to cover a little bit longer.
"Sometimes you will see that on Sunday so it just makes it easier."
Center of attention: One position battle that features two veterans is at center where Mike Flanagan and Steve McKinney have been splitting time through the first three days of OTA's.
Flanagan signed as a free agent prior to last season, enabling McKinney to move to guard. But McKinney filled in for an injured Flanagan at the end of the 2006 season at center when the Texans enjoyed some strong rushing performances.
That leaves the coaching staff in a bit of quandary heading into this fall.
"I think they are both battling for it," Kubiak said Friday. "They are two veteran guys that have both done it in this league and that have both battled injuries and had a hard time staying on the field full time.
"We're trying to make it a very fair situation to their bodies and to their abilities so to speak. What we're going to do, as we approach camp, they will probably both be one-a-day guys, and we'll split them. We're counting on both of them being ready to go."
Rookie adjustment: The adjustment to the NFL can be difficult for every rookie, but for Texans third-round draft pick Jacoby Jones it has to be a little harder.
Playing at Lane College, it's unlikely that Jones has seen many athletes like the ones he's seeing in person this week. To his credit, Jones has not looked intimidated during the first three days of OTA's and is quickly adjusting to life in the NFL.
"It's different, but fun," Jones said of his NFL experience so far. "Practices run a lot smoother. In college you might run the same play eight times, not out here, one rep and go. It makes you study."
As a third round selection, many believe Jones will be asked to make an immediate contribution. But if there's any pressure on the track turned football star, he's certainly not ready to admit it.
"I don't take it as pressure," Jones said. "I'm just trying to come in, learn the system, make a contribution or be a role player this year, no pressure at all."
More to handle: You would expect that the Texans would open up the playbook in year two of the Gary Kubiak era, but this fast?
Kubiak said Friday that the coaching staff has already increased both the offensive and defensive playbook and it's only May.
"We have really moved on with that playbook, its very, very expanded, and what we're doing is we're challenging them and I think that may have to do with why today got a little ugly," Kubiak said.
"Maybe we had too many things thrown at them in a three day period, but we want to see how far we can go. We want to step forward. So we are going to challenge them."
His reasoning for limiting both playbooks last year was pretty logical.
"We cut back on what we were doing last year offensively and defensively because I think it was more important that we were doing something well then doing too much not very well. So we cut back."
Two game plans: Two game plans go on sale Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. Single-game tickets are not guaranteed to be available to each game so if fans want to lock up seats to the Titans, Saints, Colts or Jaguars, Monday may be one of your last days to do it.
