I am quite possibly one of the least creative people on the planet. "Day [insert number] Recap Ediiton" again?
I love me some training camp fights! Yes, if anyone was seriously injured I would not love them, but fights such as the one that broke out between DeMeco Ryans and Jeremy Shockey can be entertaining. Ryans put the b*tch in his place. For that alone he deserves a new contract.
One look at the picture accompanying this article, and you may begin to lick your chops at the thought of the defensive line this season. Frank Okam looks like he means some serious business. I don't know what it has been that has made him so commited this off-season. Even at Texas he had a reputation for being boom on one play and bust on the next. That certainly continued over into his first professional season (though there were never any booms). This year, though he still has his moments of inconsistency, he has lowered his weight and shown increased ability to disrupt the quarterback. Keep it up, big guy.
Amobi Okoye recently sat down for an interview with team reporters. I'll touch on the on the interesting material in the quotes section.
Richard Justice thinks the Texans will make the playoffs. We're doomed.
Here's yesterday's recap from the Chronicle and the team website. Drew Brees made his first appearance against the Texans yesterday. It's unfortunate the defense did not get to work against him more during the joint practice, as he truly is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Glover Quin and Brice McCain are still staging an intense battle for the nickel corner spot. There is no clear cut favorite at this point, both have been outstanding thus far.
And now the best quotes of the day:
"I thought we were a bit sluggish, to be honest with you. We need to pick up the tempo. And we will." - Gary Kubiak
"I thought we were sharp and crisp in what were doing. Guys were getting into it mentally." - Matt Schaub
It's probably not a good thing when your starting quarterback and head coach are on different ends of the spectrum regarding practice. Still, it's nothing to be concerned about. It's natural for a coach to expect the best out of his team and rarely be satisfied.
Texans offensive tackle Eric Winston watched his teammates get into six fights with the Saints in the morning practice. He compared it to a movie but not Fight Club.
"It was very Gangs of New York-esque," he said. - John McClain
Sorry, BFD. You were close.
Last year, I had a good, decent year for a second-year player. I just didn't have the expected year that I wanted, and so definitely there's always going to be pressures to be better." - Amobi Okoye
Wait a second? Amobi calls one sack and 24 tackles "decent" for a sophomore? Please, raise your expectations.
(on who will be playing on Saturday night) "We'll just up the ones. They'll basically play about a quarter-and-a-half of the game, then the twos will play about a quarter-and-a-half and then the threes will finish the game. Play count's probably going to be somewhere around 25 for the first group." - Gary Kubiak
Starters should be out there a little longer this game. Still, the backups are always the focus point of intense fans in the pre-season and they will continue to be.
(on if RB Arian Foster will play) "Well, I saw how he looked this morning, and he looked like he was OK. Obviously, he's missed a lot of time, so we'll see how he comes out of today and if he's fine, then I'd like to play him." - Kubiak
Foster needs to play in his first game on Saturday. It will be a huge step for him to be healthy enough to participate. It's time for him to prove why he believes he should be the backup running back. The way Chris Brown has looked so far, he's quickly running out of time.
(on LB Brian Cushing) "You know what, he's doing really well. He ran yesterday a little bit, I don't know if y'all have watched him. It's my understanding he ran a little bit today. He's on schedule; we don't have any doubts that he'll be ready to go opening week. Do we play him in the preseason next week or Tampa Bay? I think that's still up in the air. Our target date is to make sure he's ready to go against the Jets." - Kubiak
Given his injury history, I wouldn't want to jeaporadize his regular season by playing him too early. However, he's progressed quickly and could be back earlier than we expected.
(on what happened between he and Shockey) "Oh, he just got to pushing and shoving on a little pass play, and I told my defensive guys that we're not going to just let them come into our house and think they can take over when they come to Houston. This is our house, and we had to let them know that, and we get a chance to do that again on Saturday." - DeMeco Ryans
Where's his money?