KPRC reporter Aaron Wilson joins Next Up following the Houston Texans hosting the Los Angeles Rams for a joint practice Thursday. Quarterback C.J. Stroud displayed his "command and aggressiveness," and running back Joe Mixon, who missed a significant amount of training camp due to injury, "looks ready for the Colts game," Wilson said. However, "it just didn't look like the offensive line was on their A-game," which prompts concern for a position group that has dealt with multiple injuries in past seasons. Wilson also discusses Jalen Pitre performing well at the nickel and the Texans playing in their final preseason game against the Rams on Saturday.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The great Aaron Wilson, who joins us on a very
regular basis as football season is upon us. We follow
Aaron Wilson on social media at Aaron Wilson Underscore NFL.
I likely we'll see that face over at NRG tomorrow
for the final preseason game of the twenty twenty four
preseason for our Texans. Welcome here, Aaron. Good morning to you. Rams.
(00:23):
Were in town or are in town for a joint
practice yesterday? Off today preseason game tomorrow, Aaron, how did
you feel in what did you see yesterday?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good morning? Yeah. One of the things that I noticed
the most from this was TJ. Stroud's command and the aggressiveness.
He came out throwing fire that deep past the Stefan
Diggs really spread the ball over the field. I had
a lot of praise from Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford,
and Matthew Stafford is one of CJ's favorite quarterbacks to
(00:55):
Martch's a living fan of his toughness and command. I
thought at the offensive line had some issues with the
speed and athletics of a Jared Verse. It just didn't
look like the offensive line had their a game. There
was some pressure some sacks allowed. Not really alarmed by it,
but you can tell that they're not really right there
(01:18):
for the regular season form just yet, that some need
to ramp up more. It's one practice. We'll see how
they do. We won't see the starters in the game,
of course, but the backups actually did pretty well, especially
Blake Fisher. Good pass protection sets from him, and then
on defense. I was very encouraged by how Kamuri lasted
or locked up Cooper Cup. You probably saw that video
(01:41):
of him in physical with Cooper's former All Pro, so
that's a good sign. And there was a neat play
where Laster tipped the ball. Klen Bullock intercepted the football
on Matthew Stafford's on the interception that Matthew threw. Then
looking at Joe Mixon, I thought that was a highlight
(02:02):
showing on that wheel route, his ability to get out
in space, catch the football over shoulders, good timing with
him and CJ. So I know he's missed some practices,
but he looks ready for the Colts game to me.
Talking with Lareremie Kunsel, Larry said that the way they
ramped him up for this after our season arthroscopic knee
surgery was really smart and he's running into for him.
(02:24):
He's only had a couple of weeks under his belt,
so he's still getting himself into top football shape and
he's you know, looks good. He's paying free, which is
a big deal. Last year he had knee drained a
few times during the season and had to deal with
that and it held him back a little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
But I expect to see the real.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Laramie this fall and look around like guys like his
neighbor Hutchinson Robert Woods that are pushing for roster spots.
Both had good practices. Ben Scarnik needed to get back
out there and he is. He made some plays too,
so John Metchi also into that category of making plays.
I think overall it was a crisp work. There was
(03:04):
no fighting. It was about the work. And you can
tell that Demiko Ryans and Seawan McVay have a lot
of respect for each other and they're very friendly and
just you know, they competed against each other in NFCY
West for years, so I thought that was a They
were a good team for the Texas to have this
joint session with because you didn't have anything getting in
(03:25):
a way of the reps aarb to.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
You with this last preseason game. And there used to
be you know, the last preseason game you'd play nobody
and it would just kind of be a dud. And
you know, guys trying to make that last roster spot
or whatever. But in your mind, last preseason game for
the Texans, what give me the biggest question or two
that still needs to be decided with this team going
into this last preseason.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Game, I think we're still figuring out, you know, how
are they going to go with the third running back position?
So is this cam Akers cementing the spot? Is Dari
going to hold them off for that job? Targo Male?
Then you know, full back is kind of a mixed
up deal right now because Andrew back camp practice. This
(04:07):
is Nick Bawden, former Jets starter, his chance to audition
show what he can do. And you know they've even
looked at British Brooks at full back. Then, in addition
to cross training hit running back, we had a couple
of touchdowns last week for a lot of these guys. Really,
this is the audition for the practice squad. I think
wide receivers probably the one that will get on most
of our attention because if they play any of these guys,
(04:32):
it's obvious that they're still either having to show something
or they just needed to have bodies out there. So yeah,
it's possible. You know, we would see it, John met
you the third. Sure, we'll see Stephen Simmons, Babor Hutchinson,
Robert Woods. So this is the last performance to cement
anything or show the coaches, hey, I should get a
(04:52):
spot and that decision you know, will be made over
the weekend and then likely communicate all those guys by
two Tuesday on what they're going to do. And they
have a lot of tough decisions to make based on
special team skills, body types, who's going to be healthy,
hide receiver Noah Brown's still out, so he might be
(05:13):
able to make a decision based on, well, who's the
fourth receiver? Who do we feel best about being the
fourth receiver? If Noah's not ready or if he's not
one hundred percent for the Colts game. And on the
injury front, you know, there's still the same things, like
I think Will Anderson will be ready for the first
game from his ankle injury. There's some concern about Christian
(05:33):
Harris and whether he'll be ready for the first game
because he's reinjured the calf and now he's you know,
I'm able to practice, so you touch and go. I
think for the first game for Christian, you know, kind
of running out of time a little bit for him
to get back to one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Talking with Aaron Wilson, R Texans, an NFL insider here
at seven ninety he was at the joint practice over
the Houston Methis Training Center yesterday. JJ Watt and his
son and attendance along with the guys from the Pivot,
Ryan Clark, who is that Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and
Channon Crowded.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Covering the Jaguars, Yeah, yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
He and Joe Mixon spent a lot of time talking
to one another. I saw some video of the running
backs doing that deal. I see. Also, there are two things.
One Sean McVay was very complementary of c J. Stroud,
and also Jaylen Petrie. I thought that was telling any
insight that you have on that, and then also some
(06:38):
people freaking out Gordy, Sean McVay and c J. Stroud
appeared to be holding hands as they crossed the field,
gazing into one another's contacts there at the conclusion of right, Christopher,
they gonna be here much.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Longer when your deals up come on over here.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Zero Chan c J. Stroud leaves Houston in the next
eight years, Well, let me not say that anything can happen, Okay.
Sean McVay complimentary on Petrie as well as gazing at CJ.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Right, yeah, first, on Petrie and these all. Ryan's kind
of echoed this that they feel very good about what
he's done at Nickel. They think he's excelling. They're expecting
a great season from him. And Petrie, Sean said, he's
all over the place, thought he was very impressive, talked
about a lot of their guys, Thingley, Jimmy Moore, but
(07:27):
he singled out Jalen the most. So that's good to
hear for Texans fans that you know, another Super Bowl
winning coach thinks oly of him, and you know, it
looks like he's checks some boxes. Obviously we have to
say he does in the regular season, but I don't
see why he wouldn't be able to continue this ark
of improvement into the season. On and Sean, you know,
(07:51):
they were like, I think CJ talked pretty extensively about
this that you know, Shaun seems like a very good guy.
He was willing to give him some said he wasn't mean,
he was kind of joking, but he said, you know,
he was giving us.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
An honest feedback. That's what a lot of these young.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Quarterbacks I want to get better, they want to improve
and that actually really care about the game want is
honesty and the feedback from a respective coach like Sean.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And he loves the things they run. I mean, you know,
the Rams run a cool offense in my opinion. A
lot of the things that they do with motion and
things that McVeigh has you know from the Shanahang Tree
been able to do, and it very much. It looks
like the forty nine ers. It looks like a lot
of people that are running that offense. But he does
(08:40):
it really well.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And Sean is a I know Sean a little bit
no name, you know, since he was the Commanders or
the other former teams nicknamed there when he was an
assistant there. And yeah, good guy, a very smart, really
competitive person. So when you get respect from people like
that that are you they won a Super Bowl, it
(09:01):
does mean something. You know, the Texans are still an
emerging franchise. They're a young franchise. They're not you know,
they haven't won yet. They've made it to the division round.
They haven't gotten past that point. And as they you know,
have gained relevance, attention, all those sort of intangible.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
And immeasurable things other than like the ratings.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And you know, rankings and all that stuff and how
much media attention you get. You still want to be
respected by your peers. That means a lot more than
being on these TV shows or podcasts. Losing with that,
that's not what That's not what this game is. It's
about the respect of the coaches, the men that play
(09:44):
this game and coaches game, and that means so much more.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I would agree with you there. It does come down
to respect. At this point. Everybody out there is getting money.
All those dudes out there have made and what continue
to make money. It's not about money. It's about what
is your legacy, what is the mark in your respective organization,
and how you viewed among your peers across the league.
So I concur with that one thousand percent. We will
continue to monitor your reporting, Aaron, as I make my
(10:09):
way over to NRG tomorrow and I'll see you over there,
the great Aaron Wilson. Everybody, Yeah, man, he is as
Aaron Wilson underscore NFL dropping by. I think we had
him on Monday, then he was kind enough to come
back again here
The great Aaron Wilson, who joins us on a very
regular basis as football season is upon us. We follow
Aaron Wilson on social media at Aaron Wilson Underscore NFL.
I likely we'll see that face over at NRG tomorrow
for the final preseason game of the twenty twenty four
preseason for our Texans. Welcome here, Aaron. Good morning to you. Rams.
(00:23):
Were in town or are in town for a joint
practice yesterday? Off today preseason game tomorrow, Aaron, how did
you feel in what did you see yesterday?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good morning? Yeah. One of the things that I noticed
the most from this was TJ. Stroud's command and the aggressiveness.
He came out throwing fire that deep past the Stefan
Diggs really spread the ball over the field. I had
a lot of praise from Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford,
and Matthew Stafford is one of CJ's favorite quarterbacks to
(00:55):
Martch's a living fan of his toughness and command. I
thought at the offensive line had some issues with the
speed and athletics of a Jared Verse. It just didn't
look like the offensive line had their a game. There
was some pressure some sacks allowed. Not really alarmed by it,
but you can tell that they're not really right there
(01:18):
for the regular season form just yet, that some need
to ramp up more. It's one practice. We'll see how
they do. We won't see the starters in the game,
of course, but the backups actually did pretty well, especially
Blake Fisher. Good pass protection sets from him, and then
on defense. I was very encouraged by how Kamuri lasted
or locked up Cooper Cup. You probably saw that video
(01:41):
of him in physical with Cooper's former All Pro, so
that's a good sign. And there was a neat play
where Laster tipped the ball. Klen Bullock intercepted the football
on Matthew Stafford's on the interception that Matthew threw. Then
looking at Joe Mixon, I thought that was a highlight
(02:02):
showing on that wheel route, his ability to get out
in space, catch the football over shoulders, good timing with
him and CJ. So I know he's missed some practices,
but he looks ready for the Colts game to me.
Talking with Lareremie Kunsel, Larry said that the way they
ramped him up for this after our season arthroscopic knee
surgery was really smart and he's running into for him.
(02:24):
He's only had a couple of weeks under his belt,
so he's still getting himself into top football shape and
he's you know, looks good. He's paying free, which is
a big deal. Last year he had knee drained a
few times during the season and had to deal with
that and it held him back a little bit.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
But I expect to see the real.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Laramie this fall and look around like guys like his
neighbor Hutchinson Robert Woods that are pushing for roster spots.
Both had good practices. Ben Scarnik needed to get back
out there and he is. He made some plays too,
so John Metchi also into that category of making plays.
I think overall it was a crisp work. There was
(03:04):
no fighting. It was about the work. And you can
tell that Demiko Ryans and Seawan McVay have a lot
of respect for each other and they're very friendly and
just you know, they competed against each other in NFCY
West for years, so I thought that was a They
were a good team for the Texas to have this
joint session with because you didn't have anything getting in
(03:25):
a way of the reps aarb to.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
You with this last preseason game. And there used to
be you know, the last preseason game you'd play nobody
and it would just kind of be a dud. And
you know, guys trying to make that last roster spot
or whatever. But in your mind, last preseason game for
the Texans, what give me the biggest question or two
that still needs to be decided with this team going
into this last preseason.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Game, I think we're still figuring out, you know, how
are they going to go with the third running back position?
So is this cam Akers cementing the spot? Is Dari
going to hold them off for that job? Targo Male?
Then you know, full back is kind of a mixed
up deal right now because Andrew back camp practice. This
(04:07):
is Nick Bawden, former Jets starter, his chance to audition
show what he can do. And you know they've even
looked at British Brooks at full back. Then, in addition
to cross training hit running back, we had a couple
of touchdowns last week for a lot of these guys. Really,
this is the audition for the practice squad. I think
wide receivers probably the one that will get on most
of our attention because if they play any of these guys,
(04:32):
it's obvious that they're still either having to show something
or they just needed to have bodies out there. So yeah,
it's possible. You know, we would see it, John met
you the third. Sure, we'll see Stephen Simmons, Babor Hutchinson,
Robert Woods. So this is the last performance to cement
anything or show the coaches, hey, I should get a
(04:52):
spot and that decision you know, will be made over
the weekend and then likely communicate all those guys by
two Tuesday on what they're going to do. And they
have a lot of tough decisions to make based on
special team skills, body types, who's going to be healthy,
hide receiver Noah Brown's still out, so he might be
(05:13):
able to make a decision based on, well, who's the
fourth receiver? Who do we feel best about being the
fourth receiver? If Noah's not ready or if he's not
one hundred percent for the Colts game. And on the
injury front, you know, there's still the same things, like
I think Will Anderson will be ready for the first
game from his ankle injury. There's some concern about Christian
(05:33):
Harris and whether he'll be ready for the first game
because he's reinjured the calf and now he's you know,
I'm able to practice, so you touch and go. I
think for the first game for Christian, you know, kind
of running out of time a little bit for him
to get back to one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Talking with Aaron Wilson, R Texans, an NFL insider here
at seven ninety he was at the joint practice over
the Houston Methis Training Center yesterday. JJ Watt and his
son and attendance along with the guys from the Pivot,
Ryan Clark, who is that Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor, and
Channon Crowded.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Covering the Jaguars, Yeah, yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
He and Joe Mixon spent a lot of time talking
to one another. I saw some video of the running
backs doing that deal. I see. Also, there are two things.
One Sean McVay was very complementary of c J. Stroud,
and also Jaylen Petrie. I thought that was telling any
insight that you have on that, and then also some
(06:38):
people freaking out Gordy, Sean McVay and c J. Stroud
appeared to be holding hands as they crossed the field,
gazing into one another's contacts there at the conclusion of right, Christopher,
they gonna be here much.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Longer when your deals up come on over here.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Zero Chan c J. Stroud leaves Houston in the next
eight years, Well, let me not say that anything can happen, Okay.
Sean McVay complimentary on Petrie as well as gazing at CJ.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Right, yeah, first, on Petrie and these all. Ryan's kind
of echoed this that they feel very good about what
he's done at Nickel. They think he's excelling. They're expecting
a great season from him. And Petrie, Sean said, he's
all over the place, thought he was very impressive, talked
about a lot of their guys, Thingley, Jimmy Moore, but
(07:27):
he singled out Jalen the most. So that's good to
hear for Texans fans that you know, another Super Bowl
winning coach thinks oly of him, and you know, it
looks like he's checks some boxes. Obviously we have to
say he does in the regular season, but I don't
see why he wouldn't be able to continue this ark
of improvement into the season. On and Sean, you know,
(07:51):
they were like, I think CJ talked pretty extensively about
this that you know, Shaun seems like a very good guy.
He was willing to give him some said he wasn't mean,
he was kind of joking, but he said, you know,
he was giving us.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
An honest feedback. That's what a lot of these young.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Quarterbacks I want to get better, they want to improve
and that actually really care about the game want is
honesty and the feedback from a respective coach like Sean.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And he loves the things they run. I mean, you know,
the Rams run a cool offense in my opinion. A
lot of the things that they do with motion and
things that McVeigh has you know from the Shanahang Tree
been able to do, and it very much. It looks
like the forty nine ers. It looks like a lot
of people that are running that offense. But he does
(08:40):
it really well.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And Sean is a I know Sean a little bit
no name, you know, since he was the Commanders or
the other former teams nicknamed there when he was an
assistant there. And yeah, good guy, a very smart, really
competitive person. So when you get respect from people like
that that are you they won a Super Bowl, it
(09:01):
does mean something. You know, the Texans are still an
emerging franchise. They're a young franchise. They're not you know,
they haven't won yet. They've made it to the division round.
They haven't gotten past that point. And as they you know,
have gained relevance, attention, all those sort of intangible.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
And immeasurable things other than like the ratings.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And you know, rankings and all that stuff and how
much media attention you get. You still want to be
respected by your peers. That means a lot more than
being on these TV shows or podcasts. Losing with that,
that's not what That's not what this game is. It's
about the respect of the coaches, the men that play
(09:44):
this game and coaches game, and that means so much more.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I would agree with you there. It does come down
to respect. At this point. Everybody out there is getting money.
All those dudes out there have made and what continue
to make money. It's not about money. It's about what
is your legacy, what is the mark in your respective organization,
and how you viewed among your peers across the league.
So I concur with that one thousand percent. We will
continue to monitor your reporting, Aaron, as I make my
(10:09):
way over to NRG tomorrow and I'll see you over there,
the great Aaron Wilson. Everybody, Yeah, man, he is as
Aaron Wilson underscore NFL dropping by. I think we had
him on Monday, then he was kind enough to come
back again here
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