Brian Cushing, Arian Foster, Andre Johnson all ramped up their work in practice this week, participating in team drills, though on a limited basis. It's more than what they could do last week, taking part in individual drills only, in practice against the Atlanta Falcons.
"I did some team stuff, some 11-on-11 stuff, got a rep in one-on-ones and stuff like that," Johnson said Tuesday. "I'm feeling pretty good. Like I said before, I've been getting better day by day. The whole thing is just not to have any setbacks. So I'll continue to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm pretty sure as time goes along I'll do more and more."
Johnathan Joseph, who did not dress for practice last week, took part in the individual drills on Tuesday. also dressed for practice but only took part in the individual drills.
"He's doing well," O'Brien said of Joseph. "He's another guy who's had a very good career in this league and anytime you have a corner of his ability--he's working through some things. He's able to come back out here today. It was a good thing for our team."
The Texans were in shells and shorts for the first of their three joint practices in Denver but will be in full pads on Wednesday. Heading into their second week of joint practices, it's possible that the third preseason game may not be a typical one. With veterans taking part in joint practices, a majority of their work is done before the preseason game is even played.
For O'Brien, each preseason game is "a step in the process headed towards the regular season." He plans to decide the starters for Saturday's preseason game against the Broncos (8 p.m. CT KTRK ABC-13, SportsRadio 610) as the week continues.
"We're going to determine that later in the week because we're going to get good work against Denver on the practice field for three days," O'Brien said. "We'll determine how much we do in the third game with our starters and things like that later in the week."
