Quick Hitters: Texans Hold Joint Practice With the Saints
The Houston Texans held a joint practice with the New Orleans Saints at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center.
The Houston Texans held a joint practice with the New Orleans Saints at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center in Metairie, Louisiana. The Texans and Saints had a full workout in pads on two fields which hosted organized practice schedules. Both teams ran 70 plays a piece on Thursday allowing both teams to get plenty of reps on the field.
Five Quick Hitters From the Joint Practice
The Texans had an up-and-down day, the down part coming early as
Drew Brees came out and sliced up the Texans defense. However, the table quickly turned when the defense woke up and began dismantling the Saints offensive line.
Jadeveon Clowney, J.J. Watt,
Whitney Mercilus, and
Joel Heath all would have had sacks if this was a real game but during practice, plays are either blown dead or defenders run by the quarterback to allow the play to continue. The Texans offense also peaked towards to the middle of practice with
Tom Savage and the offense moving the ball well, especially getting the ball into the hands of
Tyler Ervin,
Bruce Ellington, Ryan Griffin, and
Lamar Miller. Towards the end of practice, the Saints turned up the heat on both offense and defense as the Texans fell flat on both side of the ball.
The offensive line for the Texans was the clear standout for the day with
Kendall Lamm and
Breno Giacomini both showing up as plus players on the field. Lamm and Giacomini were each able to control Hau’oli Kikaha and
Cameron Jordan, the Saints top two pass rushers.
Tom Savage had time to throw from the pocket the majority of the day and the line kept him clean throughout the practice session. When adding this to the play of Nick Martin, Xavier Su’a-Filo, and
Jeff Allen, the interior of the Texans offensive line had an impressive performance.
The cornerbacks for the Texans struggled some today as
Kevin Johnson and
Johnathan Joseph tried to keep up with the bigger and stronger options that the Saints roll out on the field. Johnson struggled on the choppy field, having trouble keeping his footing and allowing his receiver a big catch and run. Also, Johnson was beat on a double move which was dropped in perfectly by Brees for a touchdown.
Marcus Roberson had a strong day today in coverage and was one of the few Texans defensive backs able to body up with the Saints receivers. Roberson showed that he has a chance to fight for one of the final roster spots with his performance today. He got his hands on footballs and made solid plays when it counted.
When the Texans were able to get
Tyler Ervin and
Bruce Ellington on the field at the same time, they caused some issues for the Saints defense in coverage. Ervin had a touchdown reception off the arm of
Tom Savage when Ervin beat a linebacker down the sideline, while Ellington was a menace in the middle of the field when targeted by Savage. Both Ervin and Ellington had strong days in the pass receiving department and the Texans showed a glimpse of the duo's ability to exploit match-ups for favorable results.
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