How your Texans offseason practice news is made under O'Brien

Sometimes I think fans read more into offseason news than they should. It’s easy to do because unlike games, fans aren’t watching practices, so sometimes things that were innocuous at practice, become bigger deals.

If you are a fan of the Science Channel show, “How It’s Made,” consider this a primer on how your offseason practice news is assembled. I’ve done a version of this post before, but am changing it up specific to the way things work under new Texans head coach Bill O’Brien.

The NFL has natural pull between fans wanting to know as much information as possible, with no detail too small, and coaches not wanting to give up any secrets that can put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Media Rules.

For the people receiving media credentials, there are rules as to what is allowed to be reported and what is not to try to balance those competing interests. Some of those rules are standardized throughout the league, and some of those rules differ from team to team.

I’ve heard some folks suggest that O’Brien is somehow rude to the media but so far, that has not been my experience at all.

Video and Photographs: During practices, there are designated..

Reporting: Though you can report about generalized things you are seeing, you aren’t supposed to write about...

Twitter: In closed practices, they don’t want you to...

Questions to Players and Coaches: In the past, media members would pretty much chase down the players they wanted to talk to after practice, but also the head coach also answered questions at the same time...

Injuries: The only thing new in the media guidelines for this year is a request not to ask Bill O’Brien about players who are not there... and injuries.
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Just to make sure fans (and fantasy football folks) understood this change, I specifically asked O’Brien what his philosophy is about talking injuries so that everyone would understand his point of view. His response:

OB: My main philosophy on that is I...

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Transcripts: The Texans are kind enough to post transcripts of O’Brien’s remarks, and sometimes player remarks. Not all teams do that, but...

Speaking O’Brien

Ultimately, most coaches not named Rex Ryan are pretty careful about what message they intend to give to the world. They have the point of view that if it doesn’t help winning, they aren’t interested in sharing it. Which means, most of the time, you are going to get mayonnaise-covered nothingburgers for answers. Bland.

Both O’Brien and the players have shared one theme: Team first, being a good teammate, working hard, studying hard, detail oriented, being coachable, learning...

Practice Logistics and What Can Be Known

Unlike a game, there are usually activities going on in various places around three practice fields. And you can’t watch everything all at once from the best angles to watch it.

That makes it also a struggle to report on what you see because...

(...Just thought this was worth writing because I think knowing how the sausage is made a bit changes the way you evaluate what you hear).

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Honoring Earl 34 said:

I wonder how Bill handles open practices .

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Honoring Earl 34 said:

I wonder how Bill handles open practices .

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The Pencil Neck said:

Define "open."

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Honoring Earl 34 said:

I wonder how Bill handles open practices .

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michaelm said:

Coming from the Billacheat tree, I'm interested in how O'Brien handles other team's open practices...

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