Texans News and Notes: June 2nd

BRB, I’m extremely sorry for my lack of posting of late.  As I recently told Tim, being busy and lazy is a deadly combination.  Luckily though, not much has been happening in the world of Texans football so I guess if you’re going to be negligent, you might as well do it when it won’t be noticed as much.

There have been scores of articles published in the last few weeks about the Texans' prospects this season.  Even the national NFL media has very little but speculation at this point in the offseason.  I try my best to ignore these articles as much as possible to avoid both the aggravation of negative views and the optimism of positive ones.  It’s all lip service at this point, especially before training camp starts.  I'd be interested though to hear what all of you think about these stories as you have undoubtebly seen them.

Out of all the Texans rookies, I hear Glover Quin’s name the most by far.  Through a couple weeks of OTAs, he has four interceptions in practice.  I realize that OTAs are the equivalent  of dance rehearsals, but it’s still good to hear everyone praising him especially given his size and physicality that he is capable.  Between Quin’s surprisingly advanced play and Fred Bennett’s supposed improvement, Dunta’s leverage for negotiations is shrinking by the second.

Every defensive player interviewed since OTAs began by remarking on the change in attitude and renewed energy on that side of the ball.  I realize that a certain amount of this should be expected as everyone is towing the party line of "change on defense".  They’d be stupid not to because everyone knows that the D has been the Achilles' heel of the Texans.  I am encouraged, however, that players are saying it so often and by all accounts seem to really believe it.  If you want a good example, watch Fred Bennett and Zac Diles’ respective interviews at the team’s official site.

Rookie TE James Casey did a really cool diary piece to inform fans about what the experience of being a brand new NFL player is like.  It’s easy to see that his praise for Owen Daniels and his humbleness about learning the playbook is more than just cliché-coached speech you commonly hear from profeesional athletes.  He also talked about the Texans All Access event and how inspiring it was to have people want his autograph.  He did also mention a man angrily staring at Brian Cushing and muttering things under his breath like, "Cut your damn hair…" and "Who do you think you are, Steven Seagal?"  Casey said the man was wearing a personalized Texans jersey with "Tim" on the back.