If plans hold there will be NFL games in the near future. RJ White with CBSsports.com lists game times (in Eastern Time, by the way). As the storm rolls in, Houston Texans will meet virtually and reassess plans for a Thursday scrimmage.

2020 NFL schedule: Date and time for all 256 games of 2020 NFL season, including Texans-Chiefs opener
By RJ White, CBSsports.com

Excerpt from article: For months now, we have known who each NFL team will be playing in the 2020 season. But it’s been an open question of when we would get a full 2020 NFL schedule as sports leagues around the world continue to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. Much like the league did with the draft in April, the NFL stuck to its plan of releasing a full 2020 schedule in early May, and the entire 256-game slate dropped then. While contingency plans must be kept in mind should COVID-19 force a delayed start to the NFL season, we now know each team’s full schedule if the league is able to start on time.

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Texans adjusting schedule as Houston braces for Hurricane Laura to make landfall
By Kevin Patra, NFL.com

Excerpt from article: Hurricane Laura is expected to barrel into Eastern Texas and Louisiana.

In response, the Houston Texans will leave early Wednesday to ensure everyone gets home safely, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. The team will meet virtually on Thursday and reassess the report time and planned scrimmage after making sure it’s safe to return to the stadium.

Laura is intensifying into a Category 3 hurricane as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico. According to the National Hurricane Center, it is strengthening into a Category 4 as it prepares to make landfall beginning early Thursday morning.

Warring has a breakout performance in Day 9 of Texans training camp. Two Reids are better than one: Justin Reid we know about, and now rookie CB John Reid is making a name for himself in Texans camp thus far.

Training Camp Day 9 | The Harris Hits
By John Harris, Texans Analyst

Excerpt from article: A few drives later, Warring was on the field with Deshaun Watson and the quarterback looked him up in the end zone. Warring ran a corner route near the back of the end zone while the defense was in man coverage. Watson lofted one to the back corner and Warring leapt above the defensive back in coverage and snatched the ball out of the air as if that was the last pass on earth. Touchdown! His teammates went crazy and I’m not really sure if Warring realized what he’d done. He kind of had this quizzical look on his face after he came down with the touchdown but his teammates all knew – that was a DUDE Play.

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Texans coach Bill O’Brien says CB John Reid may have had ‘best camp of any rookie’
By Mark Lane, TexansWire

Excerpt from article: Reid, who famously turned down a recruiting barbecue at Penn State in order to study more film, has the genus of maturity that lines up with what the Texans are looking for in “dependable, tough, smart” players.

“He’s got a routine already,” O’Brien said. “He’s in here early. He’s taking care of his body. He’s studying tape. He’s in the meetings. He spends extra time with his coaches. He’s taking advantage of his reps. He’s just a really focused.”

Instead of links to Texans stories, today we’ll spotlight a YouTube video by TexansFilms that features Deshaun Watson’s six 4th-quarter game-winning/comeback drives in 2019 (regular and postseason).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZsgbm0l9k

The Decline of Earl Thomas. Brandin Cooks impresses John Harris in Day 7 of Texans camp. Chat it up, chatter heads. Yeah that sounds lame, I know. :/

The Decline Of Earl Thomas: What Did The Texans Know?
By Mike Fisher

Excerpt from the article: A year ago, it was the assessment of none other than Earl Thomas himself that the Houston Texans’ evaluation of him was that “he didn’t want to play football.’‘

Thomas made the Pro Bowl following his 2019 campaign with the Baltimore Ravens, so if that was truly coach/GM Bill O’Brien’s post-phone-call impression of the then-free-agent Thomas, it wasn’t exactly right.

But maybe O’Brien knew something else about Thomas … something beyond on-field will … something the Ravens are now painfully dealing with.

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Training Camp Day 7 | The Harris Hits
by John Harris, Texans Analyst

Excerpt from the article: A little while later, Cooks made a catch on an absolute laser from Deshaun Watson as he crossed the field. I texted Marc Vandermeer up in his perch to say “yeah, that’s good enough – wrap him in bubble wrap”. That’s what Marc, Andre and I talk about during preseason games when we’ve seen enough to know a guy is ready “Wrap him in bubble wrap – we’ve seen enough”. I want to see more every day from Cooks because I’m greedy that way. What I saw today, though, was enough for me to be giddy about what he can do for this Texans squad this year.

Hang out at Texans Chat. Let me introduce you to one of my favorite ‘Tubers. His name is Mark Wiens, and he travels the world eating street food and making us all very jealous of it.

Below is his video from Oaxaca, Mexico. If you don’t want to go on the entire journey, at least watch the clip below which starts at the 31-minute mark to watch some amazing elote/elotes being prepared. So the guy at the stand slathers mayo with lime juice squeezed onto the mayo, then rolls the cob of corn in cotija cheese (crumbled in the big plastic container), and then it’s on to the sauces (I know one of those is Bufalo sauce, which is available in a lot of stores) and tajin seasoning salt which is also a regular item in stores, in Texas and the southwest at least.

Anyways, thought I’d share a cool video. Next weekend I’ll post something else. Have a great weekend, Chat Heads!

Texans TE Darren Fells Knows What Makes Deshaun Watson a ‘Great’ Quarterback.
By Mark Lane, TexansWire

According to the 6-7, 270-pound Houston Texans tight end, his current quarterback, Deshaun Watson, is already a great at the position.

“He is one of the most phenomenal quarterbacks I’ve ever played for,” Fells said. “His ability to learn from mistakes extremely quick is huge. I’ve never seen him miss two passes twice. He’ll miss one at practice one day and then he’ll never miss that again. That, in my mind, is one of the main differences that make up an average quarterback and a great quarterback.”

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Training Camp Notes, 1-on-1 with Peter Kalambayi, Practice Highlights | Texans Training Camp Today (Thursday, August 20, 2020).

The link above is to a houstontexans.com video with camp footage of Thursday’s action on the field in Houston. Drew Dougherty and John Harris discuss Day 5 of Texans Training Camp, Deepi Sidhu interviews Peter Kalambayi and get a sneak peak at the 2020 team.

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Houston Texans: DeAndre Hopkins and the Patrick Ewing Theory
By Kenneth Cline, HouseOfHouston.com

What is the Patrick Ewing Theory?

You know Patrick Ewing, the NBA Hall-of-Famer. He was one of the best centers to ever play in the NBA. Drafted first overall by the New York Knicks, Ewing became a big piece for a Knicks team that was one of the best in the ’90s but came up short each time to either Michael Jordan and the Bulls, Reggie Miller and the Pacers, and of course, Hakeem Olajuwon and the legitimate champion Houston Rockets.

[Read more…]

Article by bighoss34

Texans Defensive (New) Starters 2020

Give B’OB 6-8 weeks to ease in his rookies to lead roles.  These are my mid-season and on projected starters on Defense and then Offense.

CB

2019 year-end CB starters: Bradley Roby, Gareon Conley, Hargreaves

Projected: Roby, Conley and Lonnie Johnson

Slot corner is not technically a starting position, but I think Hargreaves’ slot corner role is the most vulnerable.  While the position may not always be on the field to start each game, we are playing with 5 Dbs in the majority of our snaps.  Hargreaves was a mid-first round pick so he has talent, but Lonnie Johnson and John Reid will be pushing for that third CB role.  I’ll give Johnson the nod to either cover the TE or big slot, or to play the outside and push Roby into the slot on sub packages.

Safety

2019 year-end Safety starters: Justin Reid, Tashaun Gipson

Projected: Justin Reid and Eric Murray

Gipson and O’Brien must have had a huge falling out over him playing and getting injured in week 16 against the Titans.  We ate $4.25M of dead money to cut him and then pay Eric Murray what we did.  Murray will be the other starting safety and should be able to play the high safety role, help out in nickel, and take a turn getting pushed off by Travis Kelce.  Murray’s pay doesn’t look as bad on Overthecap.com as it was originally reported.  I’m seeing under $5M of cap hit in 2020, and $6.5M in 2021.  He can be cut for $1.5M of dead money in 2022, but until then he has an opportunity to solidify the spot next to star in the making Justin Reid. 

ILB

2019 year-end ILB starters: Benardrick McKinney and Zach Cunningham

Projected: Zach Cunningham and Benardrick McKinney

See what I did there?  No change, but Zach is the new lead dog.

OLB

2019 year-end OLB starters: Whitney Mercilus and Brennan Scarlett

Projected: Mercilus and Jon Greenard

O’Brien likes to ease in his rookies, but Greenard is exactly what the Dr ordered.  He is a strong pass rusher, capable edge setter and even dropped into coverage for the Gators.  I see him starting soon, and getting more reps than Scarlett garnered last season.  Look for Jacob Martin to be strictly a pass rushing specialist for 2020.

D Line

2019 year-end D-Line starters: Whitney Mercilus, JJ Watt, DJ Reader, Angelo Blackson

Projected: JJ Watt, Brandon Dunn, Ross Blacklock

That’s right I have Mercilus starting last year in two positions.  2/3rds of the time he was in as 4-3 DE, and the rest of his snaps were at 3-4 OLB.  Hopefully this year we’ll play more 3-4, and Merc will be given a few reps off to stay fresh.  Watt starts as DE in both formations, but again hopefully he sits a few more reps per game to keep him healthy and effective.  Blackson was nominally a starter in 2019, as he typically was in on the first series across from DJ Reader at 4-3 DT.  I expect Ross Blacklock and Charles Omenihu to take the majority of those snaps this year as both 3-4 ends and at DT with Blackson filling a goal line run-stuffing role.

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Texans Offensive (New) Starters 2020

QB

2019: Deshaun Watson

Projected: Watson

N/A

RB

2019: Carlos Hyde

Projected: David Johnson

David Johnson gives us a more dynamic option at RB1, and hopefully less predicable as an explosive pass catcher.  Johnson looks to be in the best shape of his life, ready to swing from vines and rescue Jane.

TE

2019: Darren Fells

Projected: Fells

Both Fells and Akins garnered north of 60% of the snaps last season.  I expect the team to run less two TE formations with Tytus Howard returning and more talent at WR.  I expect Akins to equal or surpass Fells in snaps this season, but I expect Fells to be in on most first series.

WR

2019: Deandre Hopkins, Will Fuller

Projected: Will Fuller, Brandin Cooks, Randall Cobb

The slot corner may not start each game, but I think we’ll run a lot 3 and even 4 wr sets.  Look out if our top 4 can stay healthy, and we’re in a much better spot if any one of our receivers misses a few games.  A big season from Cooks will go a long way towards cleansing the bad taste from the Hopkins trade.

O-Line

2019: Laremy Tunsil, Max Scharping, Nick Martin, Zach Fulton, Tytus Howard

Projected: Ditto

This is the best news we’ve had for our projected O-Line starters in years.