00:00Ladies and gentlemen, the Texans are once again practicing in a little mandatory minicamp.
00:06How about that?
00:06A little bit of a surprise.
00:08Yes.
00:08You were bringing it up earlier.
00:10Yeah, I was a little surprised, right?
00:11Historically, it feels like that third day that is scheduled,
00:15they usually kind of use it as a little bit of a carrot as well,
00:18you know, to be like, all right, well, you guys did well in the first couple days.
00:20Go ahead and start your 40 days of summer early.
00:24Nope, they out there working today.
00:26Which, I guess before we get into this, does that feel like that's notable
00:29or is this just like a, you know, all right, this is a thing they decided to do.
00:32It's one of those where, and we say this occasionally, I mean, it's something, you know.
00:37It's something, make of it what you will.
00:41I feel like with the respect that the leaders on this team have of D'Amico Ryan's and vice versa,
00:49I kind of feel like this might have been like, hey, Will, Daniil, you know,
00:54I'm thinking about going ahead and doing like a little walk.
00:57It's a walkthrough kind of practice today.
00:59By the way, walkthrough on the third day.
01:02I could see where they would be like, yeah, let's do it.
01:05You know, I think it was collaborative.
01:07You know, they have very, very high expectations.
01:10Yeah, Daniil said Super Bowl.
01:11And yes, she sure did.
01:12And maybe that is like, hey, if we're going to the right way, you know.
01:17Maybe so.
01:17Maybe so.
01:18And maybe that's just all us imbuing a lot of meaning into something where they're just like,
01:23hey, we already got the day scheduled.
01:24We all here.
01:25We're just getting here and do it.
01:26And if you're wondering, it's series to series, Jake Andrews, Keelan Rutledge at center.
01:32Okay.
01:33That's what we're getting on.
01:33According to Jonathan M. Alexander, mix and match at center.
01:37One series is Jake Andrews.
01:38Another is Keelan Rutledge.
01:39Okay.
01:39I mean, it feels like this is a two-man race, which honestly, it felt like it was a much
01:44bigger race just looking at the depth chart earlier.
01:46But that makes sense.
01:47Get both of them more reps.
01:50I'm happy that Keelan Rutledge, it sounds weird, remains in this, right?
01:54Because early on, it sounded like with the very first kind of dispatches we were getting
01:59from the practice field, it was like, ooh, the snapping does not look good.
02:01And so, yeah, he's progressing.
02:03He's continuing to be that option.
02:05And hopefully he wins it.
02:05I think we are all invested in him winning it.
02:07I don't know if there's been another kind of battle where you've been so invested in
02:11one side, particularly winning it, as Keelan Rutledge winning the center job from Jake Andrews.
02:16But he's talked about as a leader or whatever in that offensive line room.
02:20But also in that offensive line room, the young buck, who I think they're grooming to be the
02:24actual leader of the next iteration or of the continuation of this offensive line, and
02:28that's left tackle Ariante Urseri, he spoke yesterday.
02:32You know they had to ask him the question du jour of minicamp.
02:35All right, so what are you seeing?
02:37What are you seeing from the new look offensive line?
02:39I think the sky is the limit.
02:41You know, last year was last year.
02:42We put that to bed already.
02:44We more so focus on what this unit can do, what this unit can be.
02:47And I think our unit can be very, very special.
02:50Led by Cole, you know, and I think it is all kind of trickles down.
02:55You got young around making plays and wanting to hit people in the mouth.
02:57So I know a couple guys probably mentioned it.
03:00You know, D'Amico pulling the whole line back.
03:02You know, what usually typically doesn't happen is usually on the defensive side.
03:05So it's been refreshing.
03:08You know, I want to play the next cut as well for him because both of these lead to the
03:12question that I have for you.
03:14And that's cut number four, I believe.
03:18Yeah, he was asked what the comfort level is for him.
03:20I think these both tie in.
03:21With this offensive scheme and you two.
03:22I think it starts with the QB.
03:24You know, CJ has done an unbelievable job this offseason during his OTAs.
03:29I've just taken control.
03:31You know, me reminding him, this is your O-line.
03:32You know, you take control.
03:33Whatever you need us to do, we'll do it.
03:35And then it just gets passed down.
03:37You know, we got guys communicating across the line, making sure, you know, that we're
03:41playing fast.
03:42That's the thing.
03:42That's the advantage that we want to have is play fast.
03:45Okay.
03:45So, and then he went on later and we won't play it.
03:48But he went on later talking about, you know, keeping it simple and playing fast.
03:51You know, we know where that comes from.
03:53That comes directly from D'Amico Ryans on the defense.
03:56You know, from the moment he got there, don't think as much.
03:59He also said that, by the way, at one point.
04:00Don't think as much.
04:01Play fast.
04:03Keeping it simple.
04:04And it just got me thinking, because we know they are going to do that.
04:07We know that they are leaning heavily into run the ball, Patriots offense, safe, fast.
04:13Does that work on offense as well?
04:15Or over the long term, does it even work?
04:18Because on defense, it's one thing on defense.
04:20Line up.
04:21We're going to beat your ass.
04:22You know?
04:22You know what's coming.
04:25Beat your ass on three.
04:25Beat your ass on three.
04:26Here we go.
04:26One, two, three.
04:27Beat your ass.
04:28Line up.
04:28We're going to beat your ass.
04:29I'm trying to picture you saying that in a fight.
04:32I'm going to beat your ass.
04:33That's right.
04:35But I feel like defenses are, you're almost playing into the defense when they know they
04:41don't do a whole lot.
04:42Remember last year, a lot of their motions and stuff was really just window dressing.
04:47I feel as if, I'm not going to say I'm worried, but I'm saying like you're kind of
04:52playing into the defense if they know they're not going to be real fancy.
04:55Well, I think that when we talk about like be simple or rather, you know, kind of be
05:00simple on offense and play fast or whatever, I think it's less about kind of that, like
05:05the schematic things that you're getting to.
05:06I think the simplicity is, hey man, we don't, it doesn't need to be all too complicated for
05:11your big guys is that let's go and let's go and mall.
05:14Like I've talked about this.
05:16You've talked about it.
05:16I think we all understand this in sports, especially in football.
05:19There is nothing that feels so good, at least when you're on the good side of it, when you're
05:23on the bad side of it, it's inversely nothing that feels so bad is knowing what that other
05:27team is going to do and knowing that you can't do a damn thing to stop it.
05:30Right.
05:30And running the football might be the epitome of this in sports.
05:33It's, you know, I'm going to run the football.
05:35I know I'm going to run the football.
05:37Can you tackle me?
05:38Like, can you bow up and stop this?
05:40Right.
05:40It is the tush push.
05:41It is Marshawn Lynch.
05:42Right.
05:43Over and over and over again.
05:44I think that that is the essence that they're trying to get to, which again, speaks to the
05:48physicality that they're trying to imbue.
05:49So in some ways, I think, yes.
05:50Right.
05:51Especially from the offensive line, as we're talking, we're hearing from Ariante Ursary.
05:54I think it can be as simple as obviously it's not like they're not going to have
05:58plays.
05:58They're not going to have technique, but the simple things is get the technique down.
06:03And if you can drive that dude down the field, we don't got to do too much of all this
06:06other
06:06stuff.
06:07We're just going to go and win physically.
06:09No, you're right.
06:10But with the intelligence across the board of defenses, the ability to change things up.
06:16Yeah.
06:16Over the course of a drive and, you know, they're tired, you're tired, and you just, you know,
06:21insert your will and steal your will on a drive.
06:24You're right.
06:25It's awesome.
06:25But over the course of four quarters, if they know it's going to be a dump pass, dude, if
06:29you know, it's going to be this.
06:31If they're not going to go over the top of maybe twice the whole game, you know, we can
06:34take our chances.
06:35Is it smart?
06:36It just got me thinking, you know?
06:37No, I think that's a fair question.
06:39And, you know, me, I am, I am, I don't want to say the king of, because it feels like
06:43self-aggrandizing.
06:44But, you know, I really love the idea of creating schematic advantage from your coaches, right?
06:49If your coaches are here to be able to do something and add in, and they ain't going to get
06:53out
06:53here and block nobody, right?
06:54So, I need you to add the schematic advantage of what's happening here.
06:57So, I do think that that's the case.
06:59We've talked about it.
06:59I'm still optimistic, but very cautiously so, about what Nick Cayley can bring when it
07:06comes to play calling and play design.
07:08But I think in anything, if you can execute really well, and that's a word that gets all
07:12of us, sends shivers up our spies, right?
07:14Just execute.
07:15But if you can execute really well, even the most simple things can be effective.
07:19And then I think that that makes it even more effective if you can indeed elevate what you're
07:23doing from quote-unquote simple to something that's a little more advanced.
07:27But I think in this time period in spring, where we're talking about basics, talking about
07:31establishing the foundation, that mentality, being able to execute, being able to be relatively,
07:36be good in your simplicity, I think is good right now.
07:38No, I think it's the baseline, and it's absolutely something that they need.
07:44Don't get me wrong on that.
07:45No, you're right.
07:46But I'm just saying, schematically, one game to the next, one quarter to the fourth quarter,
07:51your first quarter, is it giving up a little bit of an impact?
07:55It's a very fair question, and there's not really a way to answer it right now.
07:59Hell, I don't know if there's a way to really answer it until we see them week one, right?
08:03Until we see them actually start running this out.
08:04The thing that I have to hope and hold on to, if I'm going to come from an optimistic
08:09perspective, when we had Nick Haley at the podium, out there at the Houston Methodist
08:12Training Center, he did talk about, like, hey, you know, I think B. Scott asked him the
08:16question about, how have you kind of evaluated yourself and so on?
08:20And there were certain instances that made it feel like, okay, he does recognize this
08:24needs to step forward.
08:24He talked about getting more guys on the move.
08:27At least that's one that stuck in mind with me, because I was like, yeah, get Nico Collins
08:30into the slot sometimes.
08:31Move these guys around.
08:32And so I think that he is thinking about these things, but ultimately, thinking about it
08:36ain't enough.
08:37We don't care about you.
08:38Think about it.
08:38We care about you being able to execute.
08:40I agree.
08:40That still remains, like, as optimistic as we can be at times during this time of year,
08:45talking about how, oh, they're getting to the line quicker and all these things, which
08:48are inherently good things.
08:49No, we still have to keep it front of mind that they got work to do, and they've got things
08:53to show us in order for us to fully believe that they can reach the heights that they
08:56should be able to reach.
08:57Yeah.
08:57I'm with you.
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