Houston Texans React To First Episode Of "Hard Knocks"

Many Texans fans have already shared their thoughts on how the team came across in the season premiere of "Hard Knocks" last night, but what did the coaches and players think about the portrayal?  That question was answered by several different members of the organization in today's post-practice media session. A complete transcript of the exchanges with Bill O'Brien and select players can be found here; take a gander, as it includes a good deal of information about non-HBO related matters (like training camp, positional battles, and such).

This post, however, will focus strictly on the various reactions to "Hard Knocks" last night. Enjoy the following blurbs.

Bill O'Brien:

(on what his mom thought of Hard Knocks) "You know, you’re mic’d up basically for 14 hours a day. So, we coach them hard, we really care about these guys. Personally, I need to watch language, I really do, and I’m going to try to do a better job of that. It’s just, it’s an intense environment and we’ll try, I’ll try to do better, but I think we’re coaching them, we care about these guys, and hopefully that comes through. Then obviously the most important thing is our players and how hard they work."

(on what he thinks when he watches himself on TV) "Can’t stand it. I just cannot, it’s one of those, part of the job obviously. They pay you a lot of money and there’s a lot of things that come with that job and that responsibility and you take it very seriously. But when it comes to those things, I’m a football coach and that’s not something that I’m real comfortable with."

(on if he analyzes himself when he’s watching himself on TV) "Yeah, I need to stop swearing, or cut it down at least. Some of you guys like that though, right? My brother texted me, he thought it was awesome. My mom texted me, she didn’t think it was too awesome."

(on talking a lot on Hard Knocks about the culture and perception of the Texans) "You come into an organization, it’s important to know the history of the organization. Not the little details of every draft pick from every year, but for the players it’s important to know who the owner is and what he means to this city, and what his family means to this city, and what this franchise means to this city, and what a winning franchise can do for a city like Houston. This is a fantastic city with just an unbelievable fan base, and I think it’s important for our players to know that and then also know each other. I think you have to know each other. The way the game is played now with so much communication on both sides of the ball and on special teams, you really have to know each other well. You don’t have to necessarily hang out outside of the locker room but in that building, you really have to have respect for each other and know each other well."

(on if he talked to his parents about the show) "They already asked me about that. I didn’t necessarily talk to them but I got the message that I need to probably go to confession. I don’t think I’ve been to confession since the sixth grade, so I’ll probably head to confession here soon and try to do better."

(on how he got the message from his parents) "I can’t tell you that, messages come in different ways. I have two older brothers, remember that."

DeAndre Hopkins:

(on if he received a lot of texts and phone calls about Hard Knocks) "Yeah man, all that good stuff. It was a nationally televised show, so of course."

Ben Jones:

(on Hard Knocks) "I really didn’t know what was going to be on there because it’s a lot of action. You’re just out here every day practicing and whatever they put on there, they put on there. I thought they did a good job. They caught me in live action. I don’t know how they got that footage. I guess they snuck in there with a camera or something because I didn’t know they were around."

(on the story about throwing up on the field) "I didn’t know they were around. I was just over there. It was pre-practice. It was at 7:35 in the morning. I was like, I’m not mic’d up, where did that camera come from? I swear they’ve got cameras everywhere out here."

Tom Savage:

(on Hard Knocks) "No, I haven’t watched it. I don’t watch that. I don’t plan on watching it either."

J.J. Watt:

(on Hard Knocks) "I didn’t really get to see the entire thing, but like I said the whole time, what you see is what you get. That’s the Houston Texans. We’re guys who come out here every day. Clearly, we use some interesting language at times, but we come out here every day and we work our asses off and we put in the time and we put in the effort and we got so many different guys putting in the work. It’s a lot of fun. The nation is seeing the Houston Texans and nobody is putting on a show, nobody is putting on a front and sometimes that means some verbiage is used, but like I said, it’s all real. It’s all real."

(on the perception of the Texans through Hard Knocks) "Just us. I mean, you can’t fabricate anything. You can’t fake anything. There’s cameras here 24 hours a day, so you go out there and you just do your business and whatever they decide to put on the show, that’s who you are. What we do is we come to work every single day and we put in the work and we put in the effort and we study the film and we try and get better and we try and be a tough, physical football team and have fun doing it and I think we have a group of guys that come together. We have great team chemistry and we enjoy being around each other and we enjoy the process of working to be great. I think that’s probably what you’re going to end up seeing on the show and obviously, hopefully, they also show some guys’ personalities because we have a lot of great personalities on this team."

(on what may surprise people about the Texans by watching Hard Knocks) "I don’t really know. I think it’s probably just getting to know us. We’re a fairly new organization in general. People probably just don’t know a lot of our guys, a lot of our players, so it’s good for the organization to get that exposure, to be out there in the world. It’s a lot of fun to see so many different people get spotlighted."

Vince Wilfork:

(on the basketball scene in Hard Knocks) "It was a close game, but I dominated. I had about 28, 15 rebounds and probably like nine or 10 assists. I was looking at a triple-double."

(on who his basketball game is modeled after) "Everybody man. MJ (Michael Jordan) in his prime, you know, LeBron (James), Steph Curry, a little Tim Duncan, Shaq Diesel (Shaquille O’Neal), Vlade Divac in the assist game. Big men, you’ve got to be able to pass the ball."

(on the neighborhood taking part in the game) "They tried to double and triple team me on the court, man. It was unfair, but, you know, it is what it is. They got the game plan to go two guys so they tried it, but it didn’t work."