7 Open Training Camp Dates

[Nconroe]

Texans announced these 7 dates as open training camp

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-announce-open-Training-Camp-dates/40c00c89-a708-4dba-8d6f-d09f30733d48

Free Tickets start to be available sometime Wednesday

Open Practice Dates
Saturday, July 26 8-10:30 a.m.
Sunday, July 27 8:30-11 a.m.
Wednesday, July 30 8-10:30 a.m.
Friday, August 1 8-10:30 a.m.
Saturday, August 2 8-10:30 a.m.
Wednesday, August 13 8-10:30 a.m. These last two are with Atlanta
Thursday, August 14 8-10:30 a.m.

Full Preseason Games schedule is
1 Aug 9 7:30PMCDT AT Cardinals
2 Aug 16 7:00PMCDT Falcons
3 Aug 23 8:00PMCDT AT Broncos
4 Aug 28 7:00PMCDT 49ers

[Keith]

I believe these tickets are available to season ticket holders tomorrow (Tuesday).

These last two are with Atlanta
Atlanta is the focus of Hard Knocks next month, too, right?

I miss the old days when these were in the evenings and the crowds, which I thought were big at the time, were much less than they have been recently. The evening practices got cooler when the sun went down too, and the last hour was usually the best part of those workouts.

Should be interesting to see how things will change under new management this season.

[painekiller]

I believe these tickets are available to season ticket holders tomorrow (Tuesday).


Atlanta is the focus of Hard Knocks next month, too, right?

I miss the old days when these were in the evenings and the crowds, which I thought were big at the time, were much less than they have been recently. The evening practices got cooler when the sun went down too, and the last hour was usually the best part of those workouts.

Should be interesting to see how things will change under new management this season.

Most of that went out the window with the last collective bargaining agreement. They are not allowed to have full practices twice a day, only one full practice and a walk thru, so the evening practices are gone forever, at least the way we remember them to be.

[Arky]

Saw this excellent breakdown by "Playoffs" in the other forum:


2014 Houston Texans Training Camp OPEN PRACTICES presented by XFINITY (http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-2/Texans-announce-open-Training-Camp-dates/40c00c89-a708-4dba-8d6f-d09f30733d48)

WHEN: Saturday, July 26 8-10 a.m.
Sunday, July 27 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Wednesday, July 30 8-10 a.m.
Friday, August 1 8-10 a.m.
Saturday, August 2 8-10 a.m.
Wednesday, August 13 8-10 a.m.
Thursday, August 14 8-10 a.m.

WHERE: Houston Methodist Training Center
Fan parking in Green Lot



*****************
Dave Zangaro ‏@DZangaro

The #Texans joint practices with the #Falcons [HBO's Hard Knocks] are on Aug. 13 and 14. They're open to public too.


*****************

COMPLETE 2014 HOUSTON TEXANS TRAINING CAMP SCHEDULE (http://blog.chron.com/ultimatetexans/2014/07/texans-training-camp-begins-july-25-seven-open-practices/#24365101=0)

Day Date Morning Afternoon

Friday July 25 Team meetings/no practice
Sat. July 26 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Sunday July 27 8:30-11 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Monday July 28 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Tuesday July 29 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Weds. July 30 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Thurs. July 31 Day Off


Day Date Morning Afternoon

Friday August 1 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Sat. August 2 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Sunday August 3 8:30-11 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Monday August 4 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Tuesday August 5 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Weds. August 6 Day Off
Thurs. August 7 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Friday August 8 10:45-12 p.m.
Sat. August 9 Game at Arizona Cardinals, 7:30 p.m. CST
Sunday August 10 Day Off
Monday August 11 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Tuesday August 12 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Weds. August 13 Practice vs. Atlanta
Thurs. August 14 Practice vs. Atlanta
Friday August 15 Practice vs. Atlanta
Sat. August 16 Game vs. Atlanta Falcons, 7 p.m.
Sunday August 17 Day Off.
Monday August 18 8-10:30 a.m.
Tuesday August 19 Practice vs. Denver
Weds. August 20 Practice vs. Denver
Thurs. August 21 Practice vs. Denver
Friday August 22 Walk through
Sat. August 23 Game at Denver Broncos, 8 p.m.
Sunday August 24 Day Off
Monday August 25 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Tuesday August 26 8-10:30 a.m. 4:15-5:45 p.m.
Weds. August 27 Walk through
Thurs. August 28 Game vs. San Francisco 49ers at 7 p.m.
Open Practices in green
Youth Day/tickets at Houston-area Academy Sports Outdoors

[barrett]

They need to change how they do these open practices. Last year they had 10,000 people there when 5,000 would have been over crowded. This year I have been waiting 40 minutes while the ticketmaster site "searches" for tickets.

Just charge $10 each and bring it back to a reasonable number so those who go can actually enjoy it.

[Nconroe]

Agreed, same happened to me. kept saying 3 minutes for an hour but never got a ticket. Now all sold out and timed out now. Poor result.

If anyone has an extra ticket I would like to go to one or two of the open practices.


Update, I sent an email to Texans customer service about this and they did send me a ticket for the two open practices I had requested, one ticket each.

Thank you, excellent Texans ticket customer service.

So I plan to be at practices Sat. Aug 2 and Wed Aug 13. Plenty questions to try and get my own impression on.

[painekiller]

Because of the crowds, I have stopped going to the open practices 2 years ago. I loved going to the practice and seeing the guys up close, but the last time I went the weekday was so packed I could not see anything.

Wish we were in a city that had a larger seating venue available for practice, kinda like the Cowboys in San Antonio, when they practiced in the Alamo Dome.

[nunusguy]

Yea I'm with PK, just too many people to try and endure that heat and humidity for basically a glimpse of the back of the heads of huge crowds of strangers.
On the plus side, looks like that 2-14 season didn't do much to blunt fan support and enthusiasm for the Texans.

[Nconroe]

I'm wondering if they handed out less free seats this year, they really sold out fast.

Last year I got front row standing under the goal posts, so other than heat I could see pretty good. I got there early though, if a little later would have been row 10 of standing room only.

[Warren]

Just charge $10 each and bring it back to a reasonable number so those who go can actually enjoy it.That would stop the "if they're free, I'll take three" mentality, but there's an NFL rule that says if you charge admission for practices then other teams are allowed to send scouts. The Redskins did that a few years ago.

[barrett]

I'm going to watch, but I am far less excited about this season than any I can remember. There is no shortage of storylines/questions to be answered (Bill O'Brien, Clowney, JJ being JJ, etc...). I should be excited. But I can't shake the feeling that we punted on this season the moment we made Ryan Fitzpatrick our starting QB (with no real competition). I can't decide if I'd rather sleep walk through 8-8 (or even 10-6 if we get 2013 KC Chiefs lucky), or 2-14 and the knowledge we'll have a QB a year from now.

Either way it makes me completely ambivalent about the 2014 Texans.

[chuck]

I'm excited about it. Foremost I'm excited to see evidence that BOB is not an idiot and I'm excited to see what if anything that does for the fortunes team. We've had one milquetoast coach and one idiot 0 an agreeable idiot to be sure - but an idiot. And we know the results all too well.

I'd like to see if an assertive non-idiot can bring the team any better success. I bet yes, but I don't know.

I'm excited to see the defense. I'm excited to see the front seven and I'm excited to see what the new staff does with the players who should be better, like, for example, the entire secondary.

I'm excited to see what the staff does with the OL. Could it be worse than last year? Yes, but I doubt it. The running game? The same. Quarterback, play? The same.

I'm at the point where I expect so little from the team that any sort of side story would divert me. On a similar note I was just in a place that was showing some UFC match or another. For some reason that made me thing of Michael Sam. I wonder if he'll make the Rams. I hope so.

And there are a couple more things. I have been astounded to watch the public reaction to the AJ saga. Virtually everyone is united against Andre. I don't understand how fans could possibly unite behind an owner who has delivered exactly dick to them in twelve years while turning their collective backs on the single greatest player in the team's history. Sure, being the greatest Texan ever is the smartest kid on the short bus and sure, Andre has made some bad decisions. But the fury and the antipathy unleashed on Andre has been a shock to me, even if it arises from a place like Necktown.

Second, there has been much backslapping (or whatever you might like to call it) over the ostensible value of the franchise, 13th in the world or some shit. Are you a minority owner? Me neither. So why the hell do you care? Again, a guy cons the city into building him a stadium, doubles his money in ten or twelve years, delivers dick in terms of football success and necks want to celebrate that? I don't get it, at all.

But yeah, I'm ready for the season.

[nunusguy]

Dang good post there, very entertaining, I love when the Chuckster gets wound-up and garrulous.
I too am very excited about the season, and I'm very optimistic though I have no idea why I should be ? Maybe it's just not having any particular expectations for this year with very little pressure on the new HC, after all 2014 is really a mulligan for O'brien and his guys. But with a relatively weak schedule compared to last year, I could actually see the Texans winning 10 games, though I realize it's more likely they lose more than half of their games this year.

[HPF Bob]

It will be interesting to see how much the O'Brien-Crennel show is run differently than the Kubiak-Phillips show. I am excited to see whether Clowney is as good as advertised or a million-dollar talent with a $10 heart.

Regarding Andre - I totally respect the guy. I want to see him traded because he deserves a shot at a ring and it isn't happening here for a few years. I also want to see if we can get a pick in the first or second for him.

As for QB, even if we draft in the Top 5 next year, we may not take a QB if Savage becomes O'Brien's project boy. We might draft more defense or, if we trade AJ, a new receiver.

A lot of UFC looks vaguely like gay sex anyway so I perfectly understand why it made Chuck think of Michael Sam. Looks like two guys dry humping each other. NTTAWWT, if that's what you're into.

[chuck]

Dude, two guys in boxer brief speedos, completely shaven, one minute dry humping each other and then the next minute beating the shit out of each another. I can't think of anything that is as obviously homoerotic and flies past the recognition of all the necks who love it except possibly the Aggie Corps.

I'm oddly optimistic about the season, too. I could see bad quarterback play leading to a bunch of losses and I could see some weird things happen and the team get to the ten win mark nunu mentions.

I guess that's the shame of this whole debacle. The conference sucks so much that any halfway competently run organization should waltz through year after year.

And I'm just trying to get my sea legs back. I'm nowhere near lathered up. Hell, the hot water's barely coming through yet.

Three weeks. Amazing.

[nunusguy]

I am excited to see whether Clowney is as good as advertised or a million-dollar talent with a $10 heart.
[QUOTE]
I confess I got caught up in the Clowneymania, now I'm totally fascinated to watch his NFL career unfold and see what we got ourselves with our #1 overall pick ?

Regarding Andre - I totally respect the guy. I want to see him traded because he deserves a shot at a ring and it isn't happening here for a few years. I also want to see if we can get a pick in the first or second for him.

I'd kinda like to see him end up in someplace like NE catching passes from Brady, or another contending team. It'd really be cool to see Andre in Seahawk colors - chances are we don't go anywhere this year, let him get a shot at a ring. What could we get for him ? A lot 5 or 6 years ago, but today at 33 no way a first round pick, maybe a third rounder.

[barrett]

I just don't believe that AJ is a part of this team when we are winning meaningful games in 2015/2016. So why not take the cap hit this year when we can afford it (The hit is probably still sizable when we inevitably cut him next year or the year after). Additionally, he is probably worth about a 3rd now (or maybe a conditional/performance based 2nd). Another year older and coming off a year of Fitzpatrick throwing to him, we'll get nothing for him.

So why dig in now if someone is wiling to give us anything? I don't buy that we are worried about setting a precedent like I've heard reported. He is not holding out for money, so what is the danger? Are we seriously worried that if we are terrible in the future and guys want to play for a good team, they will point back to this? Shouldn't we be plan on never being a throw away team again?

[painekiller]

It's not about money? That's not what is being reported. NFL Network had reports up that AJ had talked to the coaches and was ready to come in after a week of sitting out. It is reported, that he asked for his $1M offseason work out bonus and the team told him no way, he missed a week worth of workouts and he did not earn the bonus, and the team is also said to have told him not to come in. The report goes on to say AJ then demanded to be traded.

So if these reports are true then it's about the money, as much as anything.

Also if true this is another case of Rick Smith messing up a negotation.

[Nconroe]

Or perhaps AJ's agent messed up.

If AJ wanted to report to practice seems one big misunderstanding.

And seems AJ hasn't really slowed down so he might have5 or more good years.


.

[nunusguy]

Or perhaps AJ's agent messed up.

If AJ wanted to report to practice seems one big misunderstanding.

And seems AJ hasn't really slowed down so he might have5 or more good years.


.
Or maybe more like 5 months because often when an older NFL players career ends, it ends very quickly, very dramatically, especially when it's a skill-position like WR where foot speed and other raw athletic traits are at a premium.

[barrett]

It's not about money? That's not what is being reported. NFL Network had reports up that AJ had talked to the coaches and was ready to come in after a week of sitting out. It is reported, that he asked for his $1M offseason work out bonus and the team told him no way, he missed a week worth of workouts and he did not earn the bonus, and the team is also said to have told him not to come in. The report goes on to say AJ then demanded to be traded.

So if these reports are true then it's about the money, as much as anything.

Also if true this is another case of Rick Smith messing up a negotation.

Blaming Rick Smith for AJ missing training camp is stupid.

AJ has not made a single sound about a new deal. He skipped summer workouts because he wanted to play for a winner. He is one of the highest paid WRs in the league and has 3 more years left on his deal. If we let him out of the deal he would make less not more (both short term and long). This is not a money issue. This is about him not wanting to spend his last year of relevance fielding ground balls from Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The request for the return of the bonus was a sign of Andre giving in and coming to work. Us saying no is a sign we want to make an example of this situation. I would imagine that is far more about BOB than Rick Smith (like Chuck said, BOB is a tough guy). Smith has never handled any negotiation like that. And even if it was Smith, I have no problem with how anyone has handled this on either side. One guy wants out, one team doesn't want him out. Just because 2 sides disagree doesn't mean we have to assign blame.

[Warren]

While I don't think money is only issue, I think it is part of the problem:This all started in 2007 when the Texans convinced Johnson to sign a 6 year extension for pennies on the dollar that would keep him in Houston until 2014. By 2010 Johnson realized how bad a contract this was as his salary was being jumped by far less talented players and tried to hold out, which resulted in a small raise and bigger incentives in exchange for two more contract years that would essentially block him from ever becoming an unrestricted free agent as he made the turn deeper into his 30′s as long as he remained a very productive player.

Since that initial contract Johnson has been named to five Pro Bowls, two All Pro teams and produced at least 1,400 yards in four of the last six seasons, many of which were spent catching passes from quarterbacks who were not exactly top of the NFL caliber players. He’s done all of this while playing somewhere in the ballpark of $6 million less a season than Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals, who has never approached the top end statistical seasons that Johnson has.
overthecap.com (http://overthecap.com/best-worst-contracts-2014-houston-texans/)

By the way, in 2007 Andre was represented by his uncle.

[Nconroe]

Tania Ganguli @taniaganguli Follow
Johnson's visit was absolutely meaningful, though I can see why those close to him would want to downplay that. #Texans
1:39 PM - 22 Jul 2014

It may be a positive sign that things are calming down and Andre may just show up for training camp Friday or very soon.

It would be nice if AJ could get back a posiitive team attitude and approach as the Texans top player of the past 11 years and likely Hall of Fame entrant and maybe finish up his career here as a happy Texan.

I guess nothing guaranteed at this point.

[barrett]

While I don't think money is only issue, I think it is part of the problem:
overthecap.com (http://overthecap.com/best-worst-contracts-2014-houston-texans/)

By the way, in 2007 Andre was represented by his uncle.

The money Andre lost (and his uncle clearly lost him some) is basically irrecoverable. He could have cashed in more during the last 5 years, but if we cut him today, he would sign for less than he is set to make. There is not a team in the NFL that would give him more than we are giving him. He may be upset about what he could have made in his career, he may want back the $1 million bonus (who wouldn't), but he didn't stop coming to practice because he wanted more money. And if he comes back it won't be because he got more. And if he somehow ends up on another team it won't be because that team pays him more than we do.

[Nconroe]

So, is anyone going to an open practice this weekend? I'm going the following weekend.

What might be most interesting to find out or observe?

I think only 12 practices in preseason can have pads so not sure if day we go the team will be in pads or not.

My thoughts initially on a few questions -

1. How is Clowney and all LB looking so far?

2. How does Fitzpatrick and all QB look right now?

3. How do the RB look?

4. How do the FG kickers look?

[barrett]

I'm going August 1. I never really see a ton out of practice to be honest. It is fun to go, but hard to really judge guys without hitting and live opponents.

In the preseason I am very curious about the RB Blue. Many RBs were underused in college and had it actually help them quite a bit in the pros due to less wear and tear (Priest Holmes). If he is talented and has low miles, he could very well be our starter in 2015. Or he could be cut by September. I guess I'm curious.