May 29, 2025 • 30 mins
OTAs are in full swing, so what's made Team Analyst/Radio Sideline Reporter John Harris go "Hmmmmm" so far? He shared those thoughts with Texans TV's Drew Dougherty, and the duo also discussed some joint practice news.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Here's Drew, Hey, John, what's going on. It's going on, Drew.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's good to see you and all of you guys
out there for listening.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Oh yeah, you right there and the three of us. Yeah,
three of us and you.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Listening watching just the three of us OTAs, dude, they're
in full effect now. The first one was on Wednesday.
We're shooting this on Thursday. There's another one today, you'll
be out there. There's another one tomorrow as well, and
then to next week and then after that the two
day mandatory mini camps. Right, really, just about everyone was
(00:48):
there or is here right now. So with all that
in mind, here on in the Lab, present by Inxfinity,
who were a few dudes that you saw at the
first OTA who made you go hmm in a whatever
sort of way, Because yeah, there was lots of talk
about who practiced, who didn't practice, who was there but
(01:10):
didn't do this, and blah blahlahlah blah. But the guys
who were out there doing stuff, I know the answer
to one of these, but one of the rookies in
particular look kind of nice to you, didn't he.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, there are a few guys that stood out.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I'll start with Kamari last year really and not a rookie,
but I think going into the second year of what
hopefully is a long career here in Houston, you can
see where we saw this last year, kind of this
transformation in Kamara, Like you know OTA's last year. I
remember the second week go t as we go out there,
(01:44):
and I remember the first thing that stuff they did
at Darill and I saw Jalen Petrie.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
He was at the nickel and I thought, wait a second,
if he's at the nickel, then whoa boy?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Okay, Kamari's out with the ones at Premier corner opposite
Derek Stingman. I thought, okay, I thought well and never changed.
And as you saw the season go on, you saw
Kamari seeming to get more and more comfortable playing on
the outside, just being himself, playing with a lot of energy,
(02:14):
a lot of.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
He got picks and he didn't have any interceptions.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Again, that's right.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I mean, it was kind of all you were seeing
it all, but to me. It was kind of energy
and you could tell Kamaria is just he plays with
his hair on fire. I remember when I was talking
to Derek Stingley after he signed a contract. I remember
sting just kind of shaking say like he crazy. I
was like, he does. But you like guys that play
that way. You know, that played kind of not so
(02:37):
much reckless, that's not the right way of saying it,
but just play with an energy and a fire that.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
You want to have. And he looked really good.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Now he was on our sideline, so I could see
him probably a little bit more. They did try and
throw it sting once. That didn't go well.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
So I mean, how many fewer times do you think
Stingley's gonna get targeted this year versus last year or the
year before. Well, it's based on reputation alone.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I think that's starting to increase.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I think I'm saying against other teams. Yeah, I think
it's starting to increase. I think it will increase. You
could see it a little bit at the end of
the season, like, man, we really don't want to throw
twenty four. We might throw underneath, we might throw short stuff,
we might do that, but we're really not gonna challenge
him with any intermediate or deep stuff. It's just you know,
kind of wasting time and you're threatening you know, turnovers
(03:30):
at that point to your offense, and so you kind
of I don't know, so I saw a little bit
of it as a season war on last year. I
think it will happen more and more often. The problem
is for defail for you know, posing offenses is all right, well,
you're gonna Seekamari last, so good luck.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I mean, we know that, right, but he's gonna get tested.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But then again, he got tested last year and I
think he really kind of rose up and showed, man,
you might want to go somewhere else with the football,
have a different plan so on. Fortunately, the Chiefs did
have a different plan, and that different plan was to
throw the Travis Kelsey and to throw to him often
in the middle of our defense. So linebackers and safeties
have got to improve in past coverage. But it was
(04:11):
pretty clear yesterday, yesterday and Wednesday whenever that was Kamara
Lasters is definitely definitely on it. I love watching Jalen Knowle.
In fact, most of the time I watched practice by myself.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I just like it that way. If I'm watching with
media members that are like, hey, what do you think
about this? Or they want to put you you know,
they want to ask me questions about certain things.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I want to watch.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I want to be able to talk about it like
we're doing here.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And so on Wednesday when I watched practice, I actually,
you know, Mark was there and so but he knows, uh,
he'll come over and say a few things to me.
And we were watching Jalen Knowle and he may catched
the end of practice where he's running kind of a
kind of a short corner would call sale route, not
quite an out route, not a seven out like a
(05:01):
corner route, but kind of in between that. And the
ball's gotta be kind of layered, and it's gotta it
can't be you know, lasered, it can't be floated.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
It's got to be kind of in between this.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And Buddy mine called a two ball, not a one,
not a three, but a two right between.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And so throw is great, and Jalen's got to just
run under that thing.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
And a ball is right at the sideline, so he's
got to run under it and then bang bang those
feet and it's right in front of him and you
can see it and it's like wow. But just watching
Jalen Nol move, it's so sudden, it's so it is
just so quick and so explosive. And one of the
things to notice Tea in Christian Kirk in particular, working
(05:41):
a drill with wide receivers, they do a lot with
their upper body, but they don't waste time with their feet.
So they'll give you shimmy shakes and all that the
line of scrimmage, and they'll swap and they'll swipe to
get loose. But they may take two steps and it
just goes boom boom, So you get all this activity
up above, but it's two steps and it's they're by
and they're gone. That to me is the secret to
(06:04):
really good receiving play. You see a lot of these
young guys doing all these kind of and one moves
and will take like eight steps like Travis Hunter, you know,
he was doing his pro day. He's working on a slant.
He took like eight steps to the right, eight steps
eleven and they're quick, but when you take that many steps,
it's slow. And you could tell Jalen Nole is economy
of movement, which I really like. So it was really
(06:25):
fun to watch uh Jalen nole Kawai Laster School. Seeing
Jalen Reid make a play back in his secondary he
was safety and stay safety the rookie.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I think it's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
A tough nut to crack back there once CJ is
back there with Kaylon and those two are back there.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
You got Petrie Nickel, you still have m J.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Stewart. He's an interesting one because when I interviewed him
right after the draft, Jalen Jalen Reid, Yeah, he was excited,
he was happy to be a Texan, but there was
an edge to him. Did I talk about this with you?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I don't know if we talked about it.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
There was an edge with him where he I think
he thought I should have been taken higher.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
And the loot guys do yeah, good thing. I thought
he should have been gone all the way higher.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
And I noticed that little edge with him. Not a little,
but I noticed that edge with him. And I think
that could be a nice bit of fuel for for
whatever he winds up doing this year and beyond. But
he's somebody that that was the overriding thing that I
noticed from him in my short zoom interview with him.
The one on one I did with him right after
I was drafted, So I'm fascinated to see what what
(07:29):
he makes of that.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
But sorry, yeah, I think he you know, he made
a play, which is nice. Nice to see rookies just
stepping up and making plays. Of course, everybody wants to
talk about the offensive line and the configureation.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Well hold on, what do you think? What do you
think of Jayden Higgins the other wide wide receiver the
first time that the Texans took I mean, did you
see much? I mean it was just kind of like, yeah,
I mean I thought looked advertised.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
You know, my my comp for him going into the
draft was Nico Collins.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And you know, you could see the differences when you
just watch them and you're like, you know, Nico's yoked up,
and not that Jayden isn't. But Nico has been in
you know, in this weight room for four years, right,
I mean you could see you can see it, like
you can see.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
How he moves and his size and just his physicality.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
We know that, uh, and we already know how Nico
plays as a professional. Jaden is still a little bit.
He's wiry, so he's not totally filled out yet and
he might might not. This might be, but then again,
you don't need every wide receiver to look like Nico.
But Jaden's very smooth for a guy his size, very
(08:41):
quick in and out of his breaks, very smooth in
and out of his breaks, catches everything thrown his way.
I think that's the one thing about Jalen and and
uh Jaden, the receivers really Now. I looked away a
couple of times, but at one point I said to
Mark Man, balls hit the even a seven, not seven
on seven and on air like ball to hit the
ground was like the ball got into the city of
(09:02):
the receivers. It was caught, which I think is a
great thing. Now, obviously there's no dbs, they're just running
routes on air.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
But we've seen plenty of times drew out of practice
where ball's thrown very well and you know, you know,
mittens for hands can't hang on to it. And then
we've seen times where receivers catch everything. And I think
over the last few years, I think we've seen more
of receivers that you have better hands.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
And better to catch in traffic things like that.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
It does help that you have a quarterback that is
very accurate and precise, so you know where the ball
is going to be, and right can put the ball
at different spots in your body to help protect you
from defenders making plays.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
But I know two rookie receivers.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
You know, we say this a lot as it pertains
OTAs when the team first gets together, do they belong?
Does it look like they belong? And I don't think
there's any question. It's funny because my comp for Jalen
Knowle was Christian Kirk and he's here and he's here,
and so you see the two of them next to
one another, and like you could see it like Christians
(10:02):
a little bit more filled out.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
He's a little thicker, Jalen's a little shorter.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
But you can just see kind of the same movements,
the way they move, how quick they are. And I
thought it was interesting, there's there's same the release pattern,
you know, instead of using you know, all these kind
of foot movements, they use kind of upper body movements
and it's very economy, like one two steps and then
they're gone. And I think that's to me, that's more
(10:27):
efficient than a lot of things you see now, especially
to see these videos on Instagram and all these young
receivers are like watch this release and it's like it
takes you ten seconds to get free, Like that doesn't
do any good.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Get free right now.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And I think that's seemingly what jaaln Mole's been taught
and he's caught on and the way that Christian Kirk
has evolved into that type of receiver. So it's good
to see Kirk as well and go, oh yeah, he's
a Texan.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Hell yes, finally, finally after you and I saw him
first game. Yeah, remember at Texas A and m Zigs
and Zags long punt return yep for a touchdown. That
was pretty cool back in twenty sixteen. All right, offensive line,
that's the big question work. I think by most heading
into camp, what's it going to look like? Who's going
(11:10):
to be what's the alignment left to right? We saw
a few combinations yesterday. I don't think you'll see those
combinations be the one that is out there in week
one yep, or if you do, it'll be a variation
of that. But how much can you really gain looking
at these guys right now in late May and judge
(11:34):
from what you've seen. I mean, I know you saw
some nice things, but how much do you have to
temper that with well shorts, it's may We don't what
happens if the bullets fly.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Well.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I mean a difference difference between a collision sport and
a contact sport is right there right now.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It's a contact sport.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
It's like basketball. Basketball is contact sport. People might not
think that, but it is.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
No, it is.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
But football being the ultimate collision sports that changes obviously
in spring training, I think, or training camp.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I think.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
The one thing I when I try, when I talk.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
About the offensive line and offensive linemen in in OTAs,
I talk about the things that you actually can see,
but that ended up being important. You know, this guy
transformed his body and look I heard, you know, Brandon
and Seth on Sports Radio six ten on Wednesday or
Thursday morning talk about this in a sense not gonna
(12:25):
fall for the banana of the tailpipe if you will.
And I'm like, some guys, you're talking about a guy's body.
Doesn't mean that he's going to turn out to end
he's gonna end up being a stud. But I think
everybody you know goes back to Kennyan Green and says, well,
you know, as I would say, Kenyan's first step is.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
A transform his body. He doesn't do that.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
He's got no chance he did that, but it just
didn't come together as a player, And so I think
people look at it as well, if he got his
body right, he was going to be a start and like, no,
that wasn't that wasn't the way, And I don't look
at it that way. But guys have made transformation's body
wise that I think can translate into better play out
on the field because they're a little bit stronger, they
(13:08):
can handle different movements by pass rushers and defensive linemen.
I mean, I think that's one of the things that
you can see, Like just looking at Blake, Fisher looks different.
Cam Robinson's a unit man. I mean, that's a big,
well put together guy.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Been good Cam Cam exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That is the difference between he and Blake right now,
Blake doesn't have a track record. He's played three or
four games, and you know, according to all the analytics
football nerdy nerdies, you know, he wasn't that good.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
But I saw some good things from.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Blake and I also realized that guy's a rookie trying
to play one of the most difficult positions. And once
he moved over to right tackle, he's facing Chop Robinson,
he's facing George Carlftis. He faced some dudes and and
that's not the easiest thing. All the while with an
offensive line that was kind of struggling as a unit.
(14:02):
So there were some guys you can tell they've been
in the weight room, they've kind of transformed their body.
How the front five is gonna look right now? Hey,
they threw five guys out there and away we go.
And I know there's been a lot of consternation, Well
there's no competition. Last year, you know, they put those
five in and they were just the five guys. And
(14:23):
I always would say that, well, yeah, because what was
behind them to push them?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You know, they got the job because they were the
five best. But I think now they've got.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I think it's like fifteen bodies, and there's an opportunity
there for a guy off the beaten path that Jayalen Thomas,
Ladarius Henderson, maybe even to Eli Cox, to show themselves
in training camp and show in the three preseason games.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And showing the two joint practices. Hey, this guy's got
a little something.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Make the decision hard, make the decision at center difficult,
make decision at left guard and right guard difficult. Make
Cam Robinson work for supper if you will. It's it's
going to be a work in progress until it isn't
that makes sense. It is, and you know, and even
in week one, it's still gonna be a week a
work in progress. But it can be a work in
(15:15):
progress together. It doesn't have to be five independent contractors.
It's gotta be five guys that fit together and fit
the best. As Herb Brooks said in the movie Miracle,
not looking for the best players, Whitey, I'm looking for
the right ones.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Team that's the right one. Okay, let's end with this.
Demiko Ryans announced yesterday that the Texans are gonna have
a joint practice here yes against the Charlotte or against
Carolina Panthers, and a joint practice up in Detroit against
the Lions. It's gonna be against each of or gonna
be before each of the preseason games. So with that
(15:53):
in mind, I want you to give me your three
favorite Texans joint practices of all time. I'll start my
favorite Texans and Patriots at the Green Briar twenty seventeen,
basically because it was at the Green Briar. That was
the best of all time.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
So that's my number degrees that practice, Man, that's my number.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
One because Tom Brady was out there, Bob Gronkowski was
out there, Danny Amidola I think was yeah, I know
he was out there. Uh and he came and had
a stint here. I used to cover him at Texas Tech.
That was a fun one. Ye. Texans were pretty we
thought gonna be a pretty good team that year. They
had the rookie quarterback and Deshaun Watson. Things were looking up.
So that's my number one. What's your number one? He
(16:36):
got one.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I just hit this very very recently, So what do
you think, Well, there's there's so many of them.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
The one that I tend to remember was the famous
Let's get the Bleep out of Richmond.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
That was a fun one.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
It was twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Bons to Cours against the Artists formally known as the
Redskins and Cool.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
It was raining, yeah night, it was you and I
were watching it.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
We were freezing, yes, and then fight broke out all
over the field. And then that's the year we were
on hard Knocks and the famous right, it's one of
the greatest endings of the first episode of Hard Knocks.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Ever, all this has happened, and all of a.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Sudden, there's a shot a Kareem Jackson and Jonathan Joso
on the sideline and Jjo's miked up and he's like, man,
let's get the bleep out of Richmond. And it goes
to dark, and I just remember, like, oh, pretty good.
That was that day with the fights and the rain
and the cold. There's a funny story about that training camp.
I'll tell it here now we can look back, and
(17:32):
it's kind of odd, but we got there and we
were still doing radio shows and so they had set
us up a tent. They kind of took us over
the tent, and then a little bit later they walked
over and said, hey, when do you guys kind of
need to be in here?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And we're like, well, we weren't like probably after practice,
you know kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
And they're like, okay, because RG three's Mom's radio show
has to be here on Wednesday or something. And we're like,
wait now, RGIE three RG Three's Moms Radio And I.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Was like okay.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
We just kind of like oh yeah, and then walked
away and Mark and I looked at each other and
thought what he was.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
He wasn't a starter by then at that point he
had already not he hadn't started.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
He was coming off the injury.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, so Jay Gruden, the thought was that he was
gonna come back and be that guy, and he kind
of got the first run and then they realized nope,
and then they went to Cousins. I think it was
they went the Cousins that year in fifteen. So that
was mine. All right, you got another one. I do
I have a good I have a good I have
a good story. I'd like to tell.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Well, you'll you'll tell it. Just let me tell this
one real quick. Let's do two.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It's actually because of you.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Three threes a little long. But my first joint practice
was back in twenty ten because that was the first
training camp that I got to. That's right, that's right work.
I started working here at the end of two thousand
and nine's training and actually had an in person interview
with Jamie Roots Rest in Peace where I'd gotten the job,
but like had to get the final blessing from the
(19:06):
president and then to make sure, you know, he didn't
think I was some sort of psycho. And it was
while the Texans and Saints were practicing out here in
two thousand and nine together, but it was the next
year in New Orleans when the Texans were practicing with
the Saints. Because you walk off the practice field and hey,
you think, okay, I gotta go cover the press conference,
(19:26):
I gotta do this, I gotta do that, and before
you do, there was a big grill. I know where
Tommy Stanovich of Drago's in New Orleans. He's got a
few locations there he's He's given out charred grilled oysters
and a piece of French bread to everybody walking off
(19:48):
the field, whether there's a player, a coach, where there's
a knucklehead like me covering them all. But that was
pretty good. I had a few of those, and I
kind of like went back for the free sample at HB,
you know, like had another round and then I went in.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
What he didn't catch me the first time he got
He gave me four. He hooked me up.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
But it was good and it led to it. Yeah,
we've been back and seen Tommy times over the years,
but I loved that one as well. And I love
joint practices. It's just good to break things up. See
another team, see how things work and see what goes down.
There's been a ton of them over the years. I
have a lot of other favorites, but those are my
two tip top favorites. What's your story you wanted to
tell you?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Okay, So I believe this was twenty Yeah, it was
twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
And so the year before we had gone to the
Greenbrier and we all stayed at the There was a
hotel we all stayed at. We were there for three weeks,
and I remember our good friend dB City complained every day.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
She hated it, hated it. I thought it was just fine.
I did two so she hated it and I kind
of got it.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
The next year, something got lost in translation and so
we end up having like, Okay, we can't get the hotel, right,
but we're not staying at the Greenbrier with the team,
so we have to go do airbnbs.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
And so you already travel.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, Doherty travel took care of everything traveling, charged us
up with places.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
We all got these.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
So it's probably about I don't know, a couple of days,
maybe a day before we're going to the Green Brier
in twenty eighteen, and.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Deep's like I'm panicked. I'm so worried, and we're like what.
She goes, well, just.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Drew got me this this place and apparently I'm staying
there and the owner just messaged me a guy named Marty,
and I have freaked out because Marty is this place
is like by the river, Like, oh my god, am
I gonna wake up this? So she got really panicked
about this Marty staying at the place where she was staying,
(21:58):
and so Drew and the ultimate you know, I'll take
one for the teams, like look, look I'll let me
stay there.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Dp's like I'm gonna go stay at the hotel. She
goes and gets the hotel like the Holiday Inn or whatever.
You go and stay with Marty and all's gonna be good. Well,
come to find out, Marty is like a mid sixties
woman who was like Drew, I'll do.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Your laundry, I'll do whatever you need, like the nicest
woman ever. Was so scared because it was like Marty
at this river cabin and she was gonna end up
like you know, James Connon misery.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Or something like that.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
I gotta tell you, when.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
We found out that Marty was a woman, I don't
think I laughed harder for that particular story. Yeah, And
it was so funny because she hated it so much.
And then she moved and it was like, Marty, Marty's
a woman.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
So I've got an iPhone and uh, I think you
do too. And on the weather part, the weather app
that I have, Yeah, yeah, you can, like at your favorites.
Houston is the one that pops up, but you can.
You can add a few other cities. And one of
the cities I added is Caldwell, West Virginia, because that's
where that place was. And it was a slice of.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Heaven, like it was this really nice place, like there's
a river right right in front of you.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
It was a river house on this property. It was
a private there's a private property dozens and dozens and
dozens of hundreds of maybe one hundred some acres, and
there are about fourteen to fifteen homes, each with at
least an acre or two of property. And this house
(23:40):
she she stayed downstairs, Marty did. Yeah, it's it was
almost totally detached from the upstairs, which was spacious and
really nice and a beautiful river house on this clear
river in the mountain in West Virginia. I mean I
drove in and drove out and it took about five
minutes to get from the entrance to where the house was.
(24:02):
And it's a rocky road, nice rocky road. And saw
at least a dozen deer going to and from every
single day. Shady. I mean, it's just it was perfect,
and so I always check them, like, I wonder what's
going on in called well, West Virginia right now. But yeah,
that was that was a good one.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, that was that was fun.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
You had a sweet house. You found a like the
top of a hill.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
We were we were the downstairs of probably like a
five six bedroom house and they had created two bedrooms
and it was enough space. It was the four of us,
my wife had two kids, and it was perfect. And
so for the first week my wife had I can't remember,
she had something going on. I sh had conference or something,
and so she was gone the first week. But me
(24:46):
and the kids we had a We had a tremendous,
tremendous time. We were like overlooking. We like walked out
on the ports. Like the first night, we look out
and there's a black bear.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Yeah, well, like you saw stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Wow, Oh, I mean you just it was. It was
odd in a sense. But I think I'm trying to
think the very first joint practice that I ever went.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
To might have been one of the Broncos ones up
in Denver.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
You know, it actually was the week before it was
the Falcons, the Falcons from here. Remember Hard Knocks was here.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
That's where Watt going over the bridge.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
That's one of the great scenes in Hard Knocks and
it's such a good scene. But that was Falcons, and
then the next week it was Broncos out in out
in Denver, which we talked to Chris Clark about. We
had Chris clarkins studio last week and we were talking
to him about that and was he with them or
was he with the Broncos at that time?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
And what I thought was and I asked him about
this because in the.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
One on ones they JJ and the Broncos o line,
particular Chris, they were getting after each other like they
were really it was really tense. There were a lot
of like chest to chest blow ups and things. And
I asked Chris about, like, you became JJ's teammate the
next year, and you know, so you could tell that
(26:01):
Chris is kind of like, yeah, you know, we didn't
talk a whole lot, But I always find that interesting
about joint practices because there were always guys catching up
that know each other, play together in high school, play together,
you know, on the same team, and weeks ago sto right,
and so there's always people that know each other. But
then there's always my moment last year when I knew
the Rams are going to be pretty good, and I
(26:23):
knew their defensive line was going to be pretty good
early on in that practice, I was going to spend
the day kind of with the defense, but the defense hadn't.
I don't know, there was something there still waiting on
the Rams offense to get down there. So I watched
the first few plays of the Texans offense and the
first play of team Jared Verse. Whatever happens a run,
I think, and Jared Verse start talking trash to Larimie Tunsel,
(26:45):
and I was like, oh, rookies gonna get it now,
Like that's you just that's probably not the thing you
do to Laramie Tunzel. I've seen people Laramie would get
cranked up when guys talk trash.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
The very next play was a pass and Verse beat
tunsls so badly, and I just remember going, well, he
talked it and then walked it against him, Holy smokes.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And then that defensive line.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Now, once CJ got the ball off, he's fine because
the secondary wasn't very good. But those defensive linemen for
the Rams, holy cow.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
And I was like that.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
I remember walking in and was walking in with a
guy Michael Hoyt. He's not with the Bills, I believe
played with the Rams. He played at Brown University and
so I had never met him, and so I met
him after practice. We were talking a bunch and talking
about Brown and that I was talking to him about
his defensive line. He kind of hit me, he goes,
we're pretty good now, and I was like, yeah, you
guys are pretty damn good. And it turned out to
be that way for the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
But I remember that last year from practice watching Stafford throw.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
That's one other thing Drew is seeing like the different
quarterbacks we've gotten to see and joint practice over the years,
Like we saw Matt Ryan and Peyton Manning that first year.
One year was Garoppolo his first or second year in
San Francisco, Stafford last year. Just seeing these quarterbacks, you
mentioned Tom Brady when we were up actually practicing at
the Greenbrier.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Just seeing him the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Hey man with the Broncos in fourteen, you know that
was that was uh yeah, yeah, those those are the
two quarterbacks. We saw that that offseason and you know
those things. In sixteen we were out in San Francisco
and Colin Kaepernick was trying to come back from.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
You know, an injury, and so Rogers, Yeah, that's right,
we were up in Green Bay. He was not happy
about that. That that kind of was.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
I mean, I think we maybe knew he was a
demon before that, but I remember after practice he's kind
of like, hey, Aaron, what's you think Droit practice goes
hate him?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Well, don't like him.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Somebody delivered the lumbered up one of his guys.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Your guy, Lonnie Johnson, Monny yeah, LJ Yeahlanie was good.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, piece of word.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
So that was fun. What you need to do now
with Mark is bring this up with him because he'll
have his own ball of waxe, yes he will, but
preface it and needle him just a little bit by
asking him the question, which I do this every once
in a while. Be like Mark Tome again was sticks
Sticks became led Zeppelin or led Zeppelin became sticks, like no, no, no, no,
(29:07):
it's to who that became led Zeppelin. His head was
like and he realized, who loses mind? Look who's walking
in That's perfect. So yeah, but bring that up with
Mark because I know he'll have his favorite band of
all time, that's a guess who. But a good answer
to favorite joint practices of all time with the Texans,
(29:30):
because he can probably go way he might have some before,
all the way back, all the way back, because you
got to put the first one between the Cowboys and
Texans probably oh two. You got to be in there pretty.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
High because there was there but there was a lot
of drama on that or for that first one.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
We'll we'll do that again, all right, John, Good stuff
you watching listening, good stuff from you. Appreciate you me.
We'll see you next time. He's been in the Lab.
Presented by Infinity
In the Lab, a Texans podcast that takes a different
look at things. Drew Doherty and John Harris have their
lab coats and goggles on and the Bunsen burners burning.
Here's Drew, Hey, John, what's going on. It's going on, Drew.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's good to see you and all of you guys
out there for listening.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Oh yeah, you right there and the three of us. Yeah,
three of us and you.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Listening watching just the three of us OTAs, dude, they're
in full effect now. The first one was on Wednesday.
We're shooting this on Thursday. There's another one today, you'll
be out there. There's another one tomorrow as well, and
then to next week and then after that the two
day mandatory mini camps. Right, really, just about everyone was
(00:48):
there or is here right now. So with all that
in mind, here on in the Lab, present by Inxfinity,
who were a few dudes that you saw at the
first OTA who made you go hmm in a whatever
sort of way, Because yeah, there was lots of talk
about who practiced, who didn't practice, who was there but
(01:10):
didn't do this, and blah blahlahlah blah. But the guys
who were out there doing stuff, I know the answer
to one of these, but one of the rookies in
particular look kind of nice to you, didn't he.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, there are a few guys that stood out.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I'll start with Kamari last year really and not a rookie,
but I think going into the second year of what
hopefully is a long career here in Houston, you can
see where we saw this last year, kind of this
transformation in Kamara, Like you know OTA's last year. I
remember the second week go t as we go out there,
(01:44):
and I remember the first thing that stuff they did
at Darill and I saw Jalen Petrie.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
He was at the nickel and I thought, wait a second,
if he's at the nickel, then whoa boy?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Okay, Kamari's out with the ones at Premier corner opposite
Derek Stingman. I thought, okay, I thought well and never changed.
And as you saw the season go on, you saw
Kamari seeming to get more and more comfortable playing on
the outside, just being himself, playing with a lot of energy,
(02:14):
a lot of.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
He got picks and he didn't have any interceptions.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Again, that's right.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I mean, it was kind of all you were seeing
it all, but to me. It was kind of energy
and you could tell Kamaria is just he plays with
his hair on fire. I remember when I was talking
to Derek Stingley after he signed a contract. I remember
sting just kind of shaking say like he crazy. I
was like, he does. But you like guys that play
that way. You know, that played kind of not so
(02:37):
much reckless, that's not the right way of saying it,
but just play with an energy and a fire that.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
You want to have. And he looked really good.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Now he was on our sideline, so I could see
him probably a little bit more. They did try and
throw it sting once. That didn't go well.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
So I mean, how many fewer times do you think
Stingley's gonna get targeted this year versus last year or the
year before. Well, it's based on reputation alone.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I think that's starting to increase.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I think I'm saying against other teams. Yeah, I think
it's starting to increase. I think it will increase. You
could see it a little bit at the end of
the season, like, man, we really don't want to throw
twenty four. We might throw underneath, we might throw short stuff,
we might do that, but we're really not gonna challenge
him with any intermediate or deep stuff. It's just you know,
kind of wasting time and you're threatening you know, turnovers
(03:30):
at that point to your offense, and so you kind
of I don't know, so I saw a little bit
of it as a season war on last year. I
think it will happen more and more often. The problem
is for defail for you know, posing offenses is all right, well,
you're gonna Seekamari last, so good luck.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I mean, we know that, right, but he's gonna get tested.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But then again, he got tested last year and I
think he really kind of rose up and showed, man,
you might want to go somewhere else with the football,
have a different plan so on. Fortunately, the Chiefs did
have a different plan, and that different plan was to
throw the Travis Kelsey and to throw to him often
in the middle of our defense. So linebackers and safeties
have got to improve in past coverage. But it was
(04:11):
pretty clear yesterday, yesterday and Wednesday whenever that was Kamara
Lasters is definitely definitely on it. I love watching Jalen Knowle.
In fact, most of the time I watched practice by myself.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I just like it that way. If I'm watching with
media members that are like, hey, what do you think
about this? Or they want to put you you know,
they want to ask me questions about certain things.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I want to watch.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I want to be able to talk about it like
we're doing here.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And so on Wednesday when I watched practice, I actually,
you know, Mark was there and so but he knows, uh,
he'll come over and say a few things to me.
And we were watching Jalen Knowle and he may catched
the end of practice where he's running kind of a
kind of a short corner would call sale route, not
quite an out route, not a seven out like a
(05:01):
corner route, but kind of in between that. And the
ball's gotta be kind of layered, and it's gotta it
can't be you know, lasered, it can't be floated.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
It's got to be kind of in between this.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And Buddy mine called a two ball, not a one,
not a three, but a two right between.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And so throw is great, and Jalen's got to just
run under that thing.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
And a ball is right at the sideline, so he's
got to run under it and then bang bang those
feet and it's right in front of him and you
can see it and it's like wow. But just watching
Jalen Nol move, it's so sudden, it's so it is
just so quick and so explosive. And one of the
things to notice Tea in Christian Kirk in particular, working
(05:41):
a drill with wide receivers, they do a lot with
their upper body, but they don't waste time with their feet.
So they'll give you shimmy shakes and all that the
line of scrimmage, and they'll swap and they'll swipe to
get loose. But they may take two steps and it
just goes boom boom, So you get all this activity
up above, but it's two steps and it's they're by
and they're gone. That to me is the secret to
(06:04):
really good receiving play. You see a lot of these
young guys doing all these kind of and one moves
and will take like eight steps like Travis Hunter, you know,
he was doing his pro day. He's working on a slant.
He took like eight steps to the right, eight steps
eleven and they're quick, but when you take that many steps,
it's slow. And you could tell Jalen Nole is economy
of movement, which I really like. So it was really
(06:25):
fun to watch uh Jalen nole Kawai Laster School. Seeing
Jalen Reid make a play back in his secondary he
was safety and stay safety the rookie.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I think it's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
A tough nut to crack back there once CJ is
back there with Kaylon and those two are back there.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
You got Petrie Nickel, you still have m J.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Stewart. He's an interesting one because when I interviewed him
right after the draft, Jalen Jalen Reid, Yeah, he was excited,
he was happy to be a Texan, but there was
an edge to him. Did I talk about this with you?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I don't know if we talked about it.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
There was an edge with him where he I think
he thought I should have been taken higher.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
And the loot guys do yeah, good thing. I thought
he should have been gone all the way higher.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
And I noticed that little edge with him. Not a little,
but I noticed that edge with him. And I think
that could be a nice bit of fuel for for
whatever he winds up doing this year and beyond. But
he's somebody that that was the overriding thing that I
noticed from him in my short zoom interview with him.
The one on one I did with him right after
I was drafted, So I'm fascinated to see what what
(07:29):
he makes of that.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
But sorry, yeah, I think he you know, he made
a play, which is nice. Nice to see rookies just
stepping up and making plays. Of course, everybody wants to
talk about the offensive line and the configureation.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Well hold on, what do you think? What do you
think of Jayden Higgins the other wide wide receiver the
first time that the Texans took I mean, did you
see much? I mean it was just kind of like, yeah,
I mean I thought looked advertised.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
You know, my my comp for him going into the
draft was Nico Collins.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And you know, you could see the differences when you
just watch them and you're like, you know, Nico's yoked up,
and not that Jayden isn't. But Nico has been in
you know, in this weight room for four years, right,
I mean you could see you can see it, like
you can see.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
How he moves and his size and just his physicality.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
We know that, uh, and we already know how Nico
plays as a professional. Jaden is still a little bit.
He's wiry, so he's not totally filled out yet and
he might might not. This might be, but then again,
you don't need every wide receiver to look like Nico.
But Jaden's very smooth for a guy his size, very
(08:41):
quick in and out of his breaks, very smooth in
and out of his breaks, catches everything thrown his way.
I think that's the one thing about Jalen and and
uh Jaden, the receivers really Now. I looked away a
couple of times, but at one point I said to
Mark Man, balls hit the even a seven, not seven
on seven and on air like ball to hit the
ground was like the ball got into the city of
(09:02):
the receivers. It was caught, which I think is a
great thing. Now, obviously there's no dbs, they're just running
routes on air.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
But we've seen plenty of times drew out of practice
where ball's thrown very well and you know, you know,
mittens for hands can't hang on to it. And then
we've seen times where receivers catch everything. And I think
over the last few years, I think we've seen more
of receivers that you have better hands.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
And better to catch in traffic things like that.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
It does help that you have a quarterback that is
very accurate and precise, so you know where the ball
is going to be, and right can put the ball
at different spots in your body to help protect you
from defenders making plays.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
But I know two rookie receivers.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
You know, we say this a lot as it pertains
OTAs when the team first gets together, do they belong?
Does it look like they belong? And I don't think
there's any question. It's funny because my comp for Jalen
Knowle was Christian Kirk and he's here and he's here,
and so you see the two of them next to
one another, and like you could see it like Christians
(10:02):
a little bit more filled out.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
He's a little thicker, Jalen's a little shorter.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
But you can just see kind of the same movements,
the way they move, how quick they are. And I
thought it was interesting, there's there's same the release pattern,
you know, instead of using you know, all these kind
of foot movements, they use kind of upper body movements
and it's very economy, like one two steps and then
they're gone. And I think that's to me, that's more
(10:27):
efficient than a lot of things you see now, especially
to see these videos on Instagram and all these young
receivers are like watch this release and it's like it
takes you ten seconds to get free, Like that doesn't
do any good.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Get free right now.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And I think that's seemingly what jaaln Mole's been taught
and he's caught on and the way that Christian Kirk
has evolved into that type of receiver. So it's good
to see Kirk as well and go, oh yeah, he's
a Texan.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Hell yes, finally, finally after you and I saw him
first game. Yeah, remember at Texas A and m Zigs
and Zags long punt return yep for a touchdown. That
was pretty cool back in twenty sixteen. All right, offensive line,
that's the big question work. I think by most heading
into camp, what's it going to look like? Who's going
(11:10):
to be what's the alignment left to right? We saw
a few combinations yesterday. I don't think you'll see those
combinations be the one that is out there in week
one yep, or if you do, it'll be a variation
of that. But how much can you really gain looking
at these guys right now in late May and judge
(11:34):
from what you've seen. I mean, I know you saw
some nice things, but how much do you have to
temper that with well shorts, it's may We don't what
happens if the bullets fly.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Well.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I mean a difference difference between a collision sport and
a contact sport is right there right now.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It's a contact sport.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
It's like basketball. Basketball is contact sport. People might not
think that, but it is.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
No, it is.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
But football being the ultimate collision sports that changes obviously
in spring training, I think, or training camp.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I think.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
The one thing I when I try, when I talk.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
About the offensive line and offensive linemen in in OTAs,
I talk about the things that you actually can see,
but that ended up being important. You know, this guy
transformed his body and look I heard, you know, Brandon
and Seth on Sports Radio six ten on Wednesday or
Thursday morning talk about this in a sense not gonna
(12:25):
fall for the banana of the tailpipe if you will.
And I'm like, some guys, you're talking about a guy's body.
Doesn't mean that he's going to turn out to end
he's gonna end up being a stud. But I think
everybody you know goes back to Kennyan Green and says, well,
you know, as I would say, Kenyan's first step is.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
A transform his body. He doesn't do that.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
He's got no chance he did that, but it just
didn't come together as a player, And so I think
people look at it as well, if he got his
body right, he was going to be a start and like, no,
that wasn't that wasn't the way, And I don't look
at it that way. But guys have made transformation's body
wise that I think can translate into better play out
on the field because they're a little bit stronger, they
(13:08):
can handle different movements by pass rushers and defensive linemen.
I mean, I think that's one of the things that
you can see, Like just looking at Blake, Fisher looks different.
Cam Robinson's a unit man. I mean, that's a big,
well put together guy.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Been good Cam Cam exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That is the difference between he and Blake right now,
Blake doesn't have a track record. He's played three or
four games, and you know, according to all the analytics
football nerdy nerdies, you know, he wasn't that good.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
But I saw some good things from.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Blake and I also realized that guy's a rookie trying
to play one of the most difficult positions. And once
he moved over to right tackle, he's facing Chop Robinson,
he's facing George Carlftis. He faced some dudes and and
that's not the easiest thing. All the while with an
offensive line that was kind of struggling as a unit.
(14:02):
So there were some guys you can tell they've been
in the weight room, they've kind of transformed their body.
How the front five is gonna look right now? Hey,
they threw five guys out there and away we go.
And I know there's been a lot of consternation, Well
there's no competition. Last year, you know, they put those
five in and they were just the five guys. And
(14:23):
I always would say that, well, yeah, because what was
behind them to push them?
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You know, they got the job because they were the
five best. But I think now they've got.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I think it's like fifteen bodies, and there's an opportunity
there for a guy off the beaten path that Jayalen Thomas,
Ladarius Henderson, maybe even to Eli Cox, to show themselves
in training camp and show in the three preseason games.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And showing the two joint practices. Hey, this guy's got
a little something.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Make the decision hard, make the decision at center difficult,
make decision at left guard and right guard difficult. Make
Cam Robinson work for supper if you will. It's it's
going to be a work in progress until it isn't
that makes sense. It is, and you know, and even
in week one, it's still gonna be a week a
work in progress. But it can be a work in
(15:15):
progress together. It doesn't have to be five independent contractors.
It's gotta be five guys that fit together and fit
the best. As Herb Brooks said in the movie Miracle,
not looking for the best players, Whitey, I'm looking for
the right ones.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Team that's the right one. Okay, let's end with this.
Demiko Ryans announced yesterday that the Texans are gonna have
a joint practice here yes against the Charlotte or against
Carolina Panthers, and a joint practice up in Detroit against
the Lions. It's gonna be against each of or gonna
be before each of the preseason games. So with that
(15:53):
in mind, I want you to give me your three
favorite Texans joint practices of all time. I'll start my
favorite Texans and Patriots at the Green Briar twenty seventeen,
basically because it was at the Green Briar. That was
the best of all time.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
So that's my number degrees that practice, Man, that's my number.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
One because Tom Brady was out there, Bob Gronkowski was
out there, Danny Amidola I think was yeah, I know
he was out there. Uh and he came and had
a stint here. I used to cover him at Texas Tech.
That was a fun one. Ye. Texans were pretty we
thought gonna be a pretty good team that year. They
had the rookie quarterback and Deshaun Watson. Things were looking up.
So that's my number one. What's your number one? He
(16:36):
got one.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I just hit this very very recently, So what do
you think, Well, there's there's so many of them.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
The one that I tend to remember was the famous
Let's get the Bleep out of Richmond.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
That was a fun one.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
It was twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Bons to Cours against the Artists formally known as the
Redskins and Cool.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
It was raining, yeah night, it was you and I
were watching it.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
We were freezing, yes, and then fight broke out all
over the field. And then that's the year we were
on hard Knocks and the famous right, it's one of
the greatest endings of the first episode of Hard Knocks.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Ever, all this has happened, and all of a.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Sudden, there's a shot a Kareem Jackson and Jonathan Joso
on the sideline and Jjo's miked up and he's like, man,
let's get the bleep out of Richmond. And it goes
to dark, and I just remember, like, oh, pretty good.
That was that day with the fights and the rain
and the cold. There's a funny story about that training camp.
I'll tell it here now we can look back, and
(17:32):
it's kind of odd, but we got there and we
were still doing radio shows and so they had set
us up a tent. They kind of took us over
the tent, and then a little bit later they walked
over and said, hey, when do you guys kind of
need to be in here?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And we're like, well, we weren't like probably after practice,
you know kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
And they're like, okay, because RG three's Mom's radio show
has to be here on Wednesday or something. And we're like,
wait now, RGIE three RG Three's Moms Radio And I.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Was like okay.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
We just kind of like oh yeah, and then walked
away and Mark and I looked at each other and
thought what he was.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
He wasn't a starter by then at that point he
had already not he hadn't started.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
He was coming off the injury.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, so Jay Gruden, the thought was that he was
gonna come back and be that guy, and he kind
of got the first run and then they realized nope,
and then they went to Cousins. I think it was
they went the Cousins that year in fifteen. So that
was mine. All right, you got another one. I do
I have a good I have a good I have
a good story. I'd like to tell.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Well, you'll you'll tell it. Just let me tell this
one real quick. Let's do two.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It's actually because of you.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Three threes a little long. But my first joint practice
was back in twenty ten because that was the first
training camp that I got to. That's right, that's right work.
I started working here at the end of two thousand
and nine's training and actually had an in person interview
with Jamie Roots Rest in Peace where I'd gotten the job,
but like had to get the final blessing from the
(19:06):
president and then to make sure, you know, he didn't
think I was some sort of psycho. And it was
while the Texans and Saints were practicing out here in
two thousand and nine together, but it was the next
year in New Orleans when the Texans were practicing with
the Saints. Because you walk off the practice field and hey,
you think, okay, I gotta go cover the press conference,
(19:26):
I gotta do this, I gotta do that, and before
you do, there was a big grill. I know where
Tommy Stanovich of Drago's in New Orleans. He's got a
few locations there he's He's given out charred grilled oysters
and a piece of French bread to everybody walking off
(19:48):
the field, whether there's a player, a coach, where there's
a knucklehead like me covering them all. But that was
pretty good. I had a few of those, and I
kind of like went back for the free sample at HB,
you know, like had another round and then I went in.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
What he didn't catch me the first time he got
He gave me four. He hooked me up.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
But it was good and it led to it. Yeah,
we've been back and seen Tommy times over the years,
but I loved that one as well. And I love
joint practices. It's just good to break things up. See
another team, see how things work and see what goes down.
There's been a ton of them over the years. I
have a lot of other favorites, but those are my
two tip top favorites. What's your story you wanted to
tell you?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Okay, So I believe this was twenty Yeah, it was
twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
And so the year before we had gone to the
Greenbrier and we all stayed at the There was a
hotel we all stayed at. We were there for three weeks,
and I remember our good friend dB City complained every day.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
She hated it, hated it. I thought it was just fine.
I did two so she hated it and I kind
of got it.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
The next year, something got lost in translation and so
we end up having like, Okay, we can't get the hotel, right,
but we're not staying at the Greenbrier with the team,
so we have to go do airbnbs.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
And so you already travel.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, Doherty travel took care of everything traveling, charged us
up with places.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
We all got these.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
So it's probably about I don't know, a couple of days,
maybe a day before we're going to the Green Brier
in twenty eighteen, and.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Deep's like I'm panicked. I'm so worried, and we're like what.
She goes, well, just.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Drew got me this this place and apparently I'm staying
there and the owner just messaged me a guy named Marty,
and I have freaked out because Marty is this place
is like by the river, Like, oh my god, am
I gonna wake up this? So she got really panicked
about this Marty staying at the place where she was staying,
(21:58):
and so Drew and the ultimate you know, I'll take
one for the teams, like look, look I'll let me
stay there.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Dp's like I'm gonna go stay at the hotel. She
goes and gets the hotel like the Holiday Inn or whatever.
You go and stay with Marty and all's gonna be good. Well,
come to find out, Marty is like a mid sixties
woman who was like Drew, I'll do.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Your laundry, I'll do whatever you need, like the nicest
woman ever. Was so scared because it was like Marty
at this river cabin and she was gonna end up
like you know, James Connon misery.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Or something like that.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
I gotta tell you, when.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
We found out that Marty was a woman, I don't
think I laughed harder for that particular story. Yeah, And
it was so funny because she hated it so much.
And then she moved and it was like, Marty, Marty's
a woman.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
So I've got an iPhone and uh, I think you
do too. And on the weather part, the weather app
that I have, Yeah, yeah, you can, like at your favorites.
Houston is the one that pops up, but you can.
You can add a few other cities. And one of
the cities I added is Caldwell, West Virginia, because that's
where that place was. And it was a slice of.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Heaven, like it was this really nice place, like there's
a river right right in front of you.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
It was a river house on this property. It was
a private there's a private property dozens and dozens and
dozens of hundreds of maybe one hundred some acres, and
there are about fourteen to fifteen homes, each with at
least an acre or two of property. And this house
(23:40):
she she stayed downstairs, Marty did. Yeah, it's it was
almost totally detached from the upstairs, which was spacious and
really nice and a beautiful river house on this clear
river in the mountain in West Virginia. I mean I
drove in and drove out and it took about five
minutes to get from the entrance to where the house was.
(24:02):
And it's a rocky road, nice rocky road. And saw
at least a dozen deer going to and from every
single day. Shady. I mean, it's just it was perfect,
and so I always check them, like, I wonder what's
going on in called well, West Virginia right now. But yeah,
that was that was a good one.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yeah, that was that was fun.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
You had a sweet house. You found a like the
top of a hill.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
We were we were the downstairs of probably like a
five six bedroom house and they had created two bedrooms
and it was enough space. It was the four of us,
my wife had two kids, and it was perfect. And
so for the first week my wife had I can't remember,
she had something going on. I sh had conference or something,
and so she was gone the first week. But me
(24:46):
and the kids we had a We had a tremendous,
tremendous time. We were like overlooking. We like walked out
on the ports. Like the first night, we look out
and there's a black bear.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Yeah, well, like you saw stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Wow, Oh, I mean you just it was. It was
odd in a sense. But I think I'm trying to
think the very first joint practice that I ever went.
Speaker 4 (25:07):
To might have been one of the Broncos ones up
in Denver.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
You know, it actually was the week before it was
the Falcons, the Falcons from here. Remember Hard Knocks was here.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
That's where Watt going over the bridge.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
That's one of the great scenes in Hard Knocks and
it's such a good scene. But that was Falcons, and
then the next week it was Broncos out in out
in Denver, which we talked to Chris Clark about. We
had Chris clarkins studio last week and we were talking
to him about that and was he with them or
was he with the Broncos at that time?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
And what I thought was and I asked him about
this because in the.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
One on ones they JJ and the Broncos o line,
particular Chris, they were getting after each other like they
were really it was really tense. There were a lot
of like chest to chest blow ups and things. And
I asked Chris about, like, you became JJ's teammate the
next year, and you know, so you could tell that
(26:01):
Chris is kind of like, yeah, you know, we didn't
talk a whole lot, But I always find that interesting
about joint practices because there were always guys catching up
that know each other, play together in high school, play together,
you know, on the same team, and weeks ago sto right,
and so there's always people that know each other. But
then there's always my moment last year when I knew
the Rams are going to be pretty good, and I
(26:23):
knew their defensive line was going to be pretty good
early on in that practice, I was going to spend
the day kind of with the defense, but the defense hadn't.
I don't know, there was something there still waiting on
the Rams offense to get down there. So I watched
the first few plays of the Texans offense and the
first play of team Jared Verse. Whatever happens a run,
I think, and Jared Verse start talking trash to Larimie Tunsel,
(26:45):
and I was like, oh, rookies gonna get it now,
Like that's you just that's probably not the thing you
do to Laramie Tunzel. I've seen people Laramie would get
cranked up when guys talk trash.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
The very next play was a pass and Verse beat
tunsls so badly, and I just remember going, well, he
talked it and then walked it against him, Holy smokes.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And then that defensive line.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Now, once CJ got the ball off, he's fine because
the secondary wasn't very good. But those defensive linemen for
the Rams, holy cow.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
And I was like that.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
I remember walking in and was walking in with a
guy Michael Hoyt. He's not with the Bills, I believe
played with the Rams. He played at Brown University and
so I had never met him, and so I met
him after practice. We were talking a bunch and talking
about Brown and that I was talking to him about
his defensive line. He kind of hit me, he goes,
we're pretty good now, and I was like, yeah, you
guys are pretty damn good. And it turned out to
be that way for the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
But I remember that last year from practice watching Stafford throw.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
That's one other thing Drew is seeing like the different
quarterbacks we've gotten to see and joint practice over the years,
Like we saw Matt Ryan and Peyton Manning that first year.
One year was Garoppolo his first or second year in
San Francisco, Stafford last year. Just seeing these quarterbacks, you
mentioned Tom Brady when we were up actually practicing at
the Greenbrier.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
Just seeing him the Broncos.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Hey man with the Broncos in fourteen, you know that
was that was uh yeah, yeah, those those are the
two quarterbacks. We saw that that offseason and you know
those things. In sixteen we were out in San Francisco
and Colin Kaepernick was trying to come back from.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
You know, an injury, and so Rogers, Yeah, that's right,
we were up in Green Bay. He was not happy
about that. That that kind of was.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
I mean, I think we maybe knew he was a
demon before that, but I remember after practice he's kind
of like, hey, Aaron, what's you think Droit practice goes
hate him?
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Well, don't like him.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
Somebody delivered the lumbered up one of his guys.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Your guy, Lonnie Johnson, Monny yeah, LJ Yeahlanie was good.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, piece of word.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
So that was fun. What you need to do now
with Mark is bring this up with him because he'll
have his own ball of waxe, yes he will, but
preface it and needle him just a little bit by
asking him the question, which I do this every once
in a while. Be like Mark Tome again was sticks
Sticks became led Zeppelin or led Zeppelin became sticks, like no, no, no, no,
(29:07):
it's to who that became led Zeppelin. His head was
like and he realized, who loses mind? Look who's walking
in That's perfect. So yeah, but bring that up with
Mark because I know he'll have his favorite band of
all time, that's a guess who. But a good answer
to favorite joint practices of all time with the Texans,
(29:30):
because he can probably go way he might have some before,
all the way back, all the way back, because you
got to put the first one between the Cowboys and
Texans probably oh two. You got to be in there pretty.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
High because there was there but there was a lot
of drama on that or for that first one.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
For sure.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
We'll we'll do that again, all right, John, Good stuff
you watching listening, good stuff from you. Appreciate you me.
We'll see you next time. He's been in the Lab.
Presented by Infinity
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