Bijani: Observations from Day 7 of Texans training camp

(SportsRadio 610) - The Texans are just one week away from opening the preseason in New England against the Patriots on Aug. 10.

It became a little bit clearer Thursday that the team might be entering into a different phase of camp as they seem to be installing some different things, particularly offensively.

Running backs were working on different routes, like double-move concepts to the end zone during individual drills.

CJ Stroud got first team reps Thursday. He had a much better day at the office than he did earlier in the week on Monday and Tuesday when he threw three interceptions over that two-day span. In fact, Thursday was probably his best day of practice since camp began.

During a team period, vision was limited due to the entire rest of the team forming a wall at midfield, blocking media from seeing much.

What was observed however was Stroud leading a drive that ended with him connecting with Nico Collins on a great looking ball to the third-year receiver, who high pointed the ball over second-year cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. as he rolled into the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

Davis Mills struggled completing balls Thursday. He had some overthrows and receivers dropped some passes.

With the tight end group depleted because of injuries to Dalton Schultz, Brevin Jordan and Teagan Quitoriano, getting a good sense of the offense has been challenging, given how friendly the tight end is to a quarterback in this offense.

Mills did find tight end Jordan Murray, a rookie signed out of Hawaii, for a nice play early in practice, but missed him a couple more times later on slight over throws.

Xavier Hutchinson had another solid day as well. The rookie draft pick out of Iowa State was targeted quite a bit, made a nice catch in red zone period, but missed a slightly overthrown ball from Mills during 11-on-11 that he was clearly frustrated at not catching.

Scott Quessenberry was injured toward the latter half of practice during a team period Thursday. Stroud was under center and as the play developed off a play action fake to the left, it appeared that Quessenberry got rolled up or stepped on.

He went down immediately and the medical cart wasn't far behind. The sixth year pro, who had been getting all of the first team reps through the first week of camp appeared to already have an air cast on his left leg as he was carted off of the field.

Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans couldn't offer an update immediately after practice, but KPRC's Aaron Wilson reported later in the afternoon that Quessenberry tore both his ACL and MCL.

Rookie offensive lineman Juice Scruggs replaced Quessenberry with the first team.

The former Penn State captain had been running with the second and third teams at practice through the first week, even getting reps at guard. It'll be an interesting follow to see how he progresses after being thrown into the fire on Thursday.

Fourth-year defensive end Jonathan Greenard had the quote of the day.

When asked about DeMeco Ryans and the messages he and the team get from their new head coach, Greenard didn't pull any punches on the stark difference from the first-year head coach to previous regimes.

"Anything that comes out of his mouth is not BS," Greenard said. "He's gonna give it to you straight. He understands what it is, been there right at it as you all have seen in the past. I respect a guy like that.

"I can respect a guy, who might get in your face, who might say certain things you might not want to hear. He understands what greatness is and understands how to get to it.

"When you have a coach like that, it changes the whole perspective because you feel bad to let him down."

John Metchie III spoke to the media as a member of the Houston Texans for the first time. The former Alabama standout receiver was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia last July and has since beat it.

"I feel 110% actually," Metchie said. "I feel better now than I ever did in college and I feel better than I did before I got diagnosed so I feel 110% for sure."