For the third straight day, in the sweltering Houston heat, the Houston Texans conducted a spirited, physical practice in pads and helmets. A week into training camp, it’s been pretty well established that we could be looking at the best defense in team history. It’s also been well established that the Texans’ offense is a work in progress.
On the heels of Wednesday’s practice, here are a few thoughts on what took place at the Methodist Training Center, and what it all means, as we are just a few days away from the team heading to West Virginia for a week of camp in much cooler weather:
5. It was a productive day for Ka’imi Fairbairn
While most of the time at training camp, the specialists are off to the side doing their own thing, Wednesday  was the first day that Ka’imi Fairbairn was injected into the crucial parts of practice, i.e. 11-on-11 team drills. At the end of each offensive group’s turn in the third team period, and at the end of each drive in the situational team period, DeMeco Ryans had Fairbairn attempt a moderately long to legitimately long field goal. Good news! Fairbairn was a perfect six for six, connecting from (by my estimation) 50, 53, 37, 51, 43, and 44 yards. It was nice to see the version of Fairbairn that took home Special Teams Player of the Week honors twice in the first month of the season last year.
4. The offensive line is slowly taking shape
For the third consecutive padded practice, the first and second string offensive lines were largely the same. The first team, for the third straight day, saw Cam Robinson (left tackle), Laken Tomlinson (left guard), Tytus Howard (right guard), and rookie Aireontae Ersery (right tackle) at four of the five spots. For the second straight day, Jake Andrews ran with the first string at center, although they continue to flip Andrews and Jarrett Patterson back and forth between the first and second string within practice. Overall, the offensive line play is noticeably better than it was at this time last season.
3. We had our first serious injury of training camp
The Texans have managed to stay relatively healthy through the first week of camp, but they sustained their first serious injury of camp on Wednesday, as rookie defensive tackle Kyonte Hamilton was stretchered off the field on the final play of the first set of 11-on-11 drills. The practice stopped for a good ten minutes as medical staff tended to Hamilton. His left leg was in an air cast as he was taken inside the bubble at the Methodist Training Center for further evaluation.
2. A few small thoughts on C.J. Stroud
My colleague at SportsRadio 610, Clint Stoerner, a former NFL quarterback with the Cowboys and Dolphins, had expressed concern earlier this week that Stroud was receiving a light workload for a starting quarterback, the implication being that maybe Stroud was nursing some sort of ailment. Stoerner also noted that Stroud hadn’t really uncorked any deep balls in this camp. Those concerns seemed to be assuaged on Wednesday, as Stroud took the most snaps of any of the quarterbacks in team drills, and his very first pass attempt sailed about 60 yards in the air, incomplete to Nico Collins. Stroud has had some great moments in camp, and some he’d probably like back, which is par for the course for a signal caller learning a new system. On my list of concerns for the Texans this season, Stroud is fairly far down the list.
1. The defense reestablished their dominance
The overriding theme at Wednesday’s practice was the defense’s reassertion of their dominance over the offense. The defense had two pick sixes, one by rookie Jaylen Reed and one by veteran safety M.J. Stewart, both off Davis Mills. The secondary was suffocating, with very few receivers running open all morning long. It was a pretty methodical smothering by DeMeco Ryans’ defensive unit.
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