A highly anticipated day didn’t disappoint.
For the first time in four years, the Texans held a joint practice with another team, as the Miami Dolphins came into town ahead of their Saturday afternoon tilt at NRG stadium.
Practice structure
The Texans stayed in the practice bubble through the first 20-30 minutes of workouts this morning while the Dolphins held walk-throughs with their offense.
Once the Texans came out, and after stretching, the two squads split up their offensive and defensive linemen for a little best-on-best work in the north end zones while the skill positions stayed in individual drills.
Team Periods
The two clubs split squads between two fields for all of the team periods which consist of drives, red zone, and two-minute drills.
I focused strictly on the Texans' offense Wednesday morning. The fans in attendance for the open practice got front-row seats to the first-team offense all morning as well.
CJ Stroud again worked exclusively with the first team, and while it’s just a guesstimate, he seemed to take about 80% of the total reps among quarterbacks on the day.
During the first team period the Texans offensive line looked like this:
LT Laremy Tunsil
LG Kenyon Green
C Juice Scruggs
RG Shaq Mason
RT George Fant
OL Michael Dieter spelled Green a little bit toward the middle portion of practice but Green finished the day at RG.
Stroud had an excellent first series, completing both of his passes to tight ends Dalton Schultz and Eric Tomlinson.
I saw something I hadn’t yet this camp. Stroud checking into other plays at the line of scrimmage. He saw something he didn’t like on the 4th snap of the first series and checked into an outside zone run, handing the ball off to Dameon Pierce who ran for a first down and then some.
On the second series, Stroud tried to air it out a little bit and over-threw both Xavier Hutchinson and Nico Collins on the drive.
Devin Singletary ran well during the period. He hit the hole hard and busted through for two first down runs.
On the third series, Stroud hit Schultz, who was being covered by Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard, for a big gain. It was a beautiful play design as Pierce started in the slot, can in fast motion to line up in a trips-left set. That allowed Schultz to get one-on-one with Howard, whom the Texans exposed all day.
Tank Dell continued to shine. He had a terrific practice, catching three touchdowns on the morning, all of which were from Stroud during 11-on-11 periods.
News & Notes:
DT Hassan Ridgeway, DT Thomas Booker, RT Tytus Howard, QB Case Keenum, LB Christian Kirksey, TE Brevin Jordan and DB Brandon Hill did not practice today for the Texans.
Catching up
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans and Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel spent a lot of time together as workouts began this morning.
The two worked together in San Francisco for a few years before McDaniel took the Dolphins job after the 2021 season.
Oops
Davis Mills threw an interception to Dolphins linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel during 11-on-11 period today against the Dolphins. He didn’t get many reps during the practice, we’ll see if that continues into Thursday's workout.
Keep on keeping on
Texans linebacker Christian Harris had himself another day. He intercepted Tua Tagovailoa in an earlier team period. He continues to be in the right spot at the right time to make plays, is clearly seeing the field really well in the new defense.
The second-year pro, Harris also got into it briefly with Dolphins running back Jeff Wilson after a play.
Receiver Steven Sims had a nice practice. He made a couple of really nice catches during the two-minute drill with Stroud at quarterback.
Not sure how he’s going to factor in a seemingly predictable receiver room already with Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Robert Woods, Noah Brown, John Metchie and Xavier Hutchinson locks to make the team. That’s six guys, but Sims continues to have a really good camp the past two weeks.
Texans cooked a Dolphin
Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard had a rough day. Tank Dell caught a touchdown over him in the back left corner of the end zone during the red zone period, Nico Collins beat him badly on a go-route in an earlier period and Noah Brown absolutely cooked Howard on a dig-route in which Howard was called for holding.
What a way to finish
Texans safety Jalen Pitre ended the joint practice by picking off Tagovailoa on the last play of practice during 11-on-11, returning it for a touchdown. The entire team ran off the field to congratulate Pitre as he ran near the parking lot. The place was JUMPING!!!