Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast discuss the themes of Texans training camp so far.
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00:00And I'm Sean Pendergast. He is Seth Payne. How was your weekend?
00:02It was great. We were out here Saturday on a very rainy morning to watch a practice where it was competitive.
00:09It was kind of sloppy. C.J. Stroud had his foot stepped on by Foley Fatakasi, which was a little bit scary
00:18because he was hobbled afterwards, limping around a little bit.
00:21But then I would say the final series the offense had, they probably looked the best they had all day, C.J. himself included.
00:28Nobody's overly worried about it, but on these sloppy days, the defensive linemen wear their 7 studs instead of their molded cleats.
00:35They're wearing their spikes.
00:36Do those hurt more when you get stepped on?
00:37It hurts a lot more. A lot more.
00:39Okay. Why are they 7 studs? Is that like the length of them or something like that?
00:45It is gauche.
00:46Oh, okay. Got you. Got you.
00:49I don't know. That's a good question, Sean.
00:53What are you, a 4-year-old asking me why the sky is blue? It just is, damn it.
00:57Where do babies come from, Seth?
01:00Because there's two on the heel and then five in the front.
01:03That's why, Sean. It just kind of spreads, spaces out that way.
01:07Got you. Got you.
01:08The linemen, you like wearing the moldeds because it's more cushiony.
01:11You know, it's just more comfortable, but there's times you got to...
01:14And I didn't see if Foley was wearing the 7 studs or not, but if he was, that's when it really hurts.
01:19I don't know what he was wearing, but I know he's 300 plus pounds and that would hurt if he stepped on your...
01:23If he stepped on your foot wearing Hey Dudes, it would hurt because he's 300 pounds.
01:29On a team full of large human beings, Foley Faticassi is one of the largest.
01:32He is one of the biggest.
01:33And at least among, you know, who's not a phato lineman.
01:36All right, so are we taking attendance then today with CJ to make sure he's out here in his red jersey and his pads ready to go?
01:42If he's not out here, I'll tell you one thing I won't be doing.
01:45I won't be Joe Espada-ing this thing.
01:47I won't be like, well, yeah, he's fine. Don't worry about the quarterback.
01:50Needed a rest day. Quarterbacks don't need rest days.
01:52So, yes, D'Amico was very dismissive of it afterwards, kind of playfully so.
01:57He had a good time with it.
01:58But he, yeah, I think the fact that it hurts, man.
02:03When you get, and it happens a lot with the linemen, so it's unlikely that it's a big deal.
02:08That's why a lot of my fellow defensive linemen used to get angry at me because I liked wearing the seven studs
02:13just because I was Joe Turbo and wanted to always have an advantage no matter where we were.
02:17You know, I just didn't want to slip one little bit anywhere.
02:20But I would, you know, you step on guys' feet a lot when you get angry.
02:23Yep. So, yeah, that happened on Saturday.
02:26But it looked like, you're right, it looked like by the end CJ was fine.
02:29I was watching him after he got stepped on, just even when he was off to the side.
02:33And he was still doing some of that thing where you kind of hop up and down a little bit to make sure it's okay.
02:38He was doing quite a bit of that.
02:39But it looks like he's going to be fine, as you pointed out, D'Amico dismissive.
02:43So what are the themes so far, man?
02:45Because this is the first time we've been back on since talking about a practice since Thursday.
02:51Because we didn't, you know, the practice took place after our show Friday
02:54and we had a whole other practice on Saturday.
02:56I know how the clock works, Sean, and the calendar.
02:58Yep.
02:59So, you're right, Friday though.
03:00They've had two practices since we were on the air on Friday.
03:03I'd say the offensive line took one on the chin.
03:07Sorry, there's water dripping down onto my phone.
03:10So the offensive line took one on the chin on Friday and Saturday.
03:14On Saturday especially, when the first team offense tried to run to the left,
03:18where, remember, you've got Blake Fisher filling it with Laramie Tunsell at left tackle,
03:21you've got Kenyon Green at left guard, then you've got Drew Scruggs at center.
03:24They couldn't get out of the backfield.
03:27The offense couldn't.
03:28Now, the big thing, and where I'm trying to take everything with a grain of salt,
03:33is that this defensive line for the Texans is hyper-aggressive.
03:36It looked like, and sometimes in practice that can be a little unfair.
03:40It's hard for me to admit that as a defensive guy.
03:43Bobby Slowik, through the course of that practice, he started to resort to some trickery.
03:48I think some things to try to take advantage of the hyper-aggression by the Texans' defense.
03:53With some success, it was a tank towel that hit that end around.
03:56So when your defensive end isn't paying attention to his responsibilities
04:00and he's just hell-bent for leather into the backfield,
04:02that's when you can get him with an end around, and they did.
04:05So I'm still pleased with the progress the offensive line has made,
04:11but they are facing a hyper-competitive bunch of really good football players over there on the defense.
04:16It hasn't looked great at times, but I want to see them out there versus actual competition
04:23that has to play it honestly.
04:25Your biggest concern, maybe with this team, but certainly on offense,
04:29was the interior of the offensive line.
04:31That's the area right now on this offensive line where the first unit has been trotting out
04:36the guys who presumably, if they had to play week one next week, would be the guys.
04:41Kenyon Green, Drew Scruggs, and Shaq Mason.
04:43Now Shaq has not been out there full-time, full-time.
04:46He's an older guy, so he's seeded some reps to Jalen Thomas at No. 72.
04:52He's gotten in there with the first stringers a few times.
04:54Kendrick Green has gone over there at times.
04:57Yeah, so there's been a little bit of shuffling,
04:59but what I was going to say was the interior of the offensive line,
05:03I can't remember if it was Friday or Saturday,
05:06but there was one of those two days where it was kind of leaky in there on the inside.
05:10There's a reason C.J. Stroud got stepped on by Foley-Faracasi.
05:14He was in the backfield in two seconds.
05:17As of right now, just based on the first week and a half of practice that we've watched,
05:22they're experimenting or they're at least considering having Blake Fisher be the swing tackle,
05:28be that first guy in.
05:30And look, he's no George Fant.
05:32George Fant ain't walking through that door.
05:34Got himself a nice contract with the Seahawks.
05:36Boy, I'm going through puberty again, Sean.
05:39George Fant gets you excited.
05:41That's what I'm into.
05:43George Fant.
05:45Now, this is important to remember.
05:47George Fant looked horrendous during training camp last year.
05:50I was very nervous about George Fant going into the season.
05:53And it turned out he was just shaking out the cobwebs
05:56because he ended up playing pretty damn well as the swing tackle
05:58when he had to play it right tackle.
06:00So Blake Fisher is a work in progress.
06:02And I would say that's what I feel about a lot of these offensive linemen at this point.
06:07Some of the errors have been mental,
06:09which theoretically is correctable.
06:11They've just got to get their assignments
06:15and how they pick up blitzes and stunts down a little bit better.
06:18But I do think that Blake Fisher has,
06:20100%, he has the physical ability to do it.
06:23He's just got some rookie glitches that he's got to learn.
06:26And it is one advantage of D'Amico and Bobby Slow
06:29expressing real competition as much as they do
06:32is that he's getting plenty of on-the-job experience.
06:34If this were a prize fight and we're 8 rounds in,
06:36because we've had 8 practices so far.
06:38Actually, you know what? Let's just use the padded practices.
06:40This is day 9.
06:42So we've had 8 practices.
06:44So there's been half of them, I think.
06:46Since the fans got here, they've all been padded practices.
06:48So we've had 4 of those.
06:50If it were a prize fight, who's winning right now?
06:52The offense or the defense?
06:54I'd say the defense.
06:56I think so too.
06:58The style of defense that the Texans play,
07:00where they're very, very aggressive up front.
07:02They keep it relatively simple on the back end.
07:05And they've added some really good players.
07:07Where the offense, you know,
07:09they can't really come firing off the ball.
07:11I was talking to Sarge about this.
07:13I feel like Sarge,
07:15I think Sarge may have talked to an offensive person
07:17who really gave him the old O-line propaganda.
07:19Which is true and accurate.
07:21As an offensive lineman, you can't do everything
07:23that you would in a game.
07:25Especially cut blocking.
07:28But as a defensive lineman,
07:30I would say, go die.
07:32No, that's just a stupid excuse.
07:34So you're spreading the truth,
07:36not propaganda about the defensive line.
07:38Sure.
07:40But Sarge made a good point.
07:42I'm glad he talked to me about it.
07:44Because I think you're kind of in wait and see mode.
07:46And I've got to take a little bit
07:48of a baseball spring training approach
07:50where don't worry as much about the results right now.
07:52I think the one thing
07:54I would caution people against
07:56is when you watch one-on-ones
07:58between the wide receivers and defensive backs
08:00on social media, just know
08:02that that drill is heavily slanted
08:04in favor of the offense.
08:06You've got a defensive back
08:08on an island, no help or support
08:10from any safeties or anybody else.
08:12There's no pass rush.
08:14There's no obstructions in the passing lanes.
08:16Guys are hitting double moves.
08:18So just because you see, for instance,
08:20Jalen Petrie get dusted by Tank Dell,
08:22that doesn't mean that that's how
08:24it looks all the time for Jalen Petrie.
08:26But I think they are
08:28really challenging Jalen Petrie.
08:30And working
08:32into this slot position,
08:34they've got him up on the line
08:36a lot. And I think they're saying
08:38look, yep, go ahead and do it versus Tank Dell.
08:40Do it versus Stephan Diggs. Do it versus
08:42Nico Collins. And then
08:44you can kind of hit the easy button
08:46at times once we give you
08:48a little bit more help, both with
08:50coverage and game planning and everything else.
08:52But what that also does,
08:54it does give you the opportunity
08:56with Jalen Petrie to
08:58blitz. And when he's already
09:00naturally up at the line of scrimmage,
09:02man, that blitz from a slot corner
09:04when it's well disguised can be lethal.
09:06He's good at it too.
09:08I'm kind of excited for the upside of that,
09:10but I'm going to be nervous about the downside until we
09:12see him in games.