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[Vinny]

some stuff on camp from espn...click the link for the full page of stuff

You really need to see Andre Johnson run routes in person to truly appreciate how good he is. He's one of the top wide wide receivers in the game, but no one outside of Houston seems to care.

Wide receiver/return man Jerome Mathis has had an excellent camp, and is in the running for the No. 2 wide receiver job. He's always had unbelievable speed, but he's really done a nice job of learning the position. Kevin Walter still has a chance at No. 2, but he's dropping easy balls in practice. He also dropped a ball against Chicago the other night when Schaub delivered a great throw.

Kubiak puts a lot of trust in his coaches. During team drills, he stands about 40 yards from the action and talks to his quarterbacks on a walkie-talkie. He doesn't appear to say much during practices, but each of the eight players I interviewed said he's in complete control of the team.

I'll have a lot more on this Friday, but Mario Williams appears to be spending way too much thinking instead of playing. One player told me that Williams has "about 20 people" trying to tell him what to do, and that he's still much too mechanical.

Middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans is in the process of becoming the leader of this defense. Smith said Ryans already has the recognition skills of a player that's been in the league for six or seven years. The one thing the Texans have asked Ryans to do is become more of a vocal leader. It's not really in his nature to talk a lot, but Smith says Ryans is so familiar with what everyone else is doing that it's imperative he speaks.

Schaub can make any throw on the field, and it's evident that has a little swagger to him He's quickly won over teammates simply by not rushing to leave them all the time. David Carr couldn't get out of the locker room fast enough after practices, but Schaub appears to enjoy spendiing time with his teammates.

http://myespn.go.com/profile/hashmarks

[JohnsonFan]

Originally Posted by Vinny

some stuff on camp from espn...click the link for the full page of stuff



http://myespn.go.com/profile/hashmarks

good read

[powerfuldragon]

yup, andre is the man.

[Cjeremy635]

Nice find Vinny, good read.

[Double Barrel]

I think AJ is going to have a monster year, and will go to this third Pro Bowl accordingly.

Mario is Mario. Like Vinny mentioned in another thread, he's like a Lamborghini without an engine. He's got skills, but where's the will? At some point the boy just has to play the game and everything that's being taught has to become natural.

I'm a little perplexed by the whole "leadership" angle, though. Has there ever been a successful team that did not have vocal leaders on both sides of the ball?

First the coaches play it up with Schaub in the off-season, but obviously it has to be earned first. Lo and behold, a story comes out a couple of weeks ago that Kubiak is still waiting for a vocal leader to emerge on offense. Guess Schaub has to yell some? Maybe Green will make an impact. We know AJ is not going to change his demeanor, and nor should he.

As far as the 'leader' on D; Seems like Ryans was already that man according to off-season reports, but of course, now when the actual pads are on and dudes are hitting each other, we learn that he's got a ways to go.

So is this much ado about nothing? Do we have too many nice guys and need a couple of big mouths with talent?

The subject keeps coming up, so I'd though that I would throw it out there. Thoughts?

[Malloy]

WoW - I can't believe it's really ESPN!

[powerfuldragon]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

I think AJ is going to have a monster year, and will go to this third Pro Bowl accordingly.

ok, lets let Andre Johnson = P, and Matt Schaub = Q
Q throws to P so P's yardage total will be reflective of Q's total yardage and vice versa.

If P has a monster year, then Q must have a monster year as well, but since he's the qb, we'll downgrade Q's year from monsterous to beastly, thus Matt Schaub will be a beast. any takers?

[Errant Hothy]

Former Delta State defensive tackle Anthony Maddox has nailed down a starting defensive tackle job after spending time on the practice squad last season. I'm told that Maddox also spent some time in the moving business after leaving Delta State. In fact, he once delivered a piece of furniture to Brett Favre's house.

Go Maddox, another good story from the last 2 seasons.

Random bits that made me smile:

Williams spent most of the time talking about his seven remote-controlled cars, and said one of them goes 70 mph. He also has a remote-controlled helicopter that he flies around his neighborhood.

Williams offered to take the entire defensive line to Brazil this past offseason, but only two players showed interest. In football news, Williams actually said he wants to break the NFL's season sacks record, and this seems completely reasonable to me.

One more thing: Eric Winston is the real deal at right tackle. Has great feet, and is powerful enough to fight off the bullrush.

Kalu is the elder statesman of this unit. He and rooke defensive tackle Amobi Okoye are from the same tribe in Nigeria.

"He's the little brother I always dreamed of having," said Kalu, who has two older sisters.

[Texans_Chick]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

Mario is Mario. Like Vinny mentioned in another thread, he's like a Lamborghini without an engine. He's got skills, but where's the will? At some point the boy just has to play the game and everything that's being taught has to become natural.

If I may, I'd like to throw out a scenario for you. Everything I've heard from my various NC State folks is that Mario is: 1. a really nice guy; 2. who really wants to follow his coaching and is eager to please.

So last year he had a guy jabbering to him about technique and now he has two new guys jabbering to him about technique. I'm not sure it is a question of will--as long as we are engaged in rank speculation, I will say it is what we were talking about Okoye about--trying to quiet the voices in your head of what you are trying to do, and just being able to act.

I thought that this observation from Kubiak about Kalu from the other day was interesting:

(on Texans defensive end N.D. Kalu) “First off, he’s a high-energy effort guy, so when we can keep him fresh, he’s going to do some good things on the field. The other thing N.D. has is a lot of experience. He’ll take a few more chances. N.D. probably gets hollered at more than some guys taking a chance, going inside, taking the wrong gap, but he’s just trying to make plays. You’re coaching up young players to play the defense, but every now and then a guy has got to play outside the box a little to make a play and that’s something N.D. has become very good at.”

Something that all our young guys have on the line is the fear of making a mistake. Fear means too much thinking. Kalu's been playing long enough that he doesn't have that fear.

As for the leadership bit, I think that is part of trying to develop a team personality and it takes some time--this is a part of what Kubiak said for the 17th practice:

(on how the team compares to last year’s team) “Starting with the football, it’s a lot further along football wise as far as what we’re doing, what we’re teaching, the complexity of what we’re doing. I think we’re a lot further along right now than what we were last year. I think the football team functions a lot calmer with a lot more poise. We’re pretty consistent in how we work and how we do things. We don’t have any big swings in practices. They’re pretty even-keeled. We get after each other and one side wins then the other side wins. I think we’ve grown up from that standpoint as a football team and I think one of the places we’ve really grown is just our football team being a close group. If your football team isn’t close, if they don’t care about each other when they walk out of this stadium as they care about each other when they walk on this field, then we’re probably not going to make much progress, and I’ve seen some things throughout this camp that tells me this is a very close group.”

(on whether the Texans have their own personality) “I think we have more personality than we had last year. I think there are more guys involved in the leadership and what we’re doing. It’s only going to continue to develop. This is a young football team with a lot of young players that are playing and I think you’ll see new guys emerge week to week.”

This takes time. It's what makes the difference between a bunch of new guys trying to make a team and what makes an actual team.

[brakos82]

Originally Posted by CabbageFerguson

ok, lets let Andre Johnson = P, and Matt Schaub = Q
Q throws to P so P's yardage total will be reflective of Q's total yardage and vice versa.

If P has a monster year, then Q must have a monster year as well, but since he's the qb, we'll downgrade Q's year from monsterous to beastly, thus Matt Schaub will be a beast. any takers?

Take your P's and Q's and eat them for dinner...

[DBCooper]

Originally Posted by CabbageFerguson

ok, lets let Andre Johnson = P, and Matt Schaub = Q
Q throws to P so P's yardage total will be reflective of Q's total yardage and vice versa.

If P has a monster year, then Q must have a monster year as well, but since he's the qb, we'll downgrade Q's year from monsterous to beastly, thus Matt Schaub will be a beast. any takers?

Too much like algebra, Dragon.

[TEXANS84]

Great find, great article. I like the little snippets on the observations that he's seen so far being down here.

[Porky]

Mathis for #2???

Anyone else a bit shocked at that statement?

[powerfuldragon]

Originally Posted by Porky

Mathis for #2???

Anyone else a bit shocked at that statement?

yup. i always thought he would be a one-trick pony.

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by Porky

Mathis for #2???

Anyone else a bit shocked at that statement?

dude is kinda a casual observer of the Texans...take it fwiw

[Texans_Chick]

Originally Posted by Porky

Mathis for #2???

Anyone else a bit shocked at that statement?

Imagine if you were someone national coming to cover a team that you are not terribly familiar with but you are trying to learn up on so that you can write something halfway intelligent. So you spend a day and a half at their camp. I am guessing he might be wrong about that.

[Texans_Chick]

Originally Posted by Vinny

dude is kinda a casual observer of the Texans...take it fwiw

LOL. Damn I'm verbose. Blessing and curse.

Yeah he did kinda sum um what ya said in like 5 words....lol

[The Pencil Neck]

Originally Posted by CabbageFerguson

ok, lets let Andre Johnson = P, and Matt Schaub = Q
Q throws to P so P's yardage total will be reflective of Q's total yardage and vice versa.

If P has a monster year, then Q must have a monster year as well, but since he's the qb, we'll downgrade Q's year from monsterous to beastly, thus Matt Schaub will be a beast. any takers?

Last year P = 41% of our passing game.

This year, P = <40% of our passing game... and ends up with better numbers



Matt Schaub = Beast.

[powerfuldragon]

Originally Posted by The Pencil Neck

Last year P = 41% of our passing game.

This year, P = <40% of our passing game... and ends up with better numbers



Matt Schaub = Beast.

knew i'd forgotten something.