Full Transcript for Texans All-Access: John Harris Calls It the Best Offensive Practice He's Seen in Camp

see what they do. They're improving Bank of America Stadium, which is not far from where we are right now. So we'll see what happens with them. But the more important thing is that Texas has had a very productive, fruitful, and dominant joint practice with the Panthers today. 00:05:30 Speaker 2: You want me to read my tweet, my post? Yeah, please do. So when... The offense got done. The offense finished a little bit before the defense. A couple, you know, 90 seconds to two minutes. So we were on the far field. So I'm walking across the field and I was like, you know, with Harrison's hits, I mean, I get them out there. People get a chance to read them. They're posted at HoustonTexas.com. So go check them out because you'll get the particulars of everything that happened and we'll break down as much as we can. But I felt like, okay, I need to tweet something just to get it out there, just to let people know what really happened. Because I got a text from my nephew who grew up here in Charlotte with Charlotte Latin. And big Panthers fan was texting me beforehand like, hey, what are the Panthers going to do in a draft? He was really happy about the draft. And so there was a Panthers media member who tweeted after the first team period offense. It was like, oh, Panthers defense holding their own, stifling the run. Two pass breakups on C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills. And I wrote back, and I was like, well, did he tweet any more? Because after that, it was gonzo. So this is what I tweeted right after practice, right as I'm walking off the field. The defense is finishing up, and then they're going to call up both sides. Everybody's going to shake hands and hang out. Bryce with Will Anderson. I tweeted this. Best offensive football I've seen from a Texans team in training camp. 00:06:56 Speaker 1: Maybe ever. 00:06:57 Speaker 2: Dominated from play one. Everything you want from this offense in 2026, it was here today. More later in Harris Hits, but just know it's going to be a fun read. 00:07:04 Speaker 1: What a day. 00:07:05 Speaker 2: So I don't put that out there. I try to step back and collect my thoughts. But it was pretty easy to see what the offense had done today against the Panthers and feel really good about it. Xavier Hutchinson, stud. He was awesome today. He had a day of all days. Deep, short offense. crossed the middle, sidelines, diving catches, going up over Moss and guys. He was tremendous. Jared Wayne, tremendous. Dave Montgomery had a couple of really nice runs, great reception out of the backfield. Great day. The run game was not always there, but they had a couple of really nice chunk runs, especially as practice wore on. X, to me, was the start wide receiver. Nico made a couple of really nice catches. Jared Wayne had a great day. Lewis Bond had an excellent touchdown that really, they were in a two-minute drill. So I wrote this. Listen to this from the two-minute drill. And you know I chart every play. I don't write every single thing

that happened. This was the two-minute drill. This is the last thing they did in practice after they have just had one hell of a practice. So C.J. 00:08:20 Speaker 1: Stroud. 00:08:20 Speaker 2: Now, keep in mind, when the Raiders came to Houston for practice... Offense dominated. And then a two-minute drill started. CJ threw a pick that Walker made a great play on. And then Davis threw a pick. That's how their two-minute drill ended. 00:08:37 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:08:39 Speaker 2: OK. Stroud's two-minute situation today against the Panthers went like this. First play, nice completion to Dalton Schultz. Then, great catch on the sideline by Xavier Hutchinson down the field. Next play, slant route completion to Justin Watson in the face of a blitz. Justin ran hot. Hit him. 00:08:57 Speaker 1: Boom. 00:08:58 Speaker 2: Fourth play. Completion to rookie Louis Bond, who was right in front of us. Ran shallow across and just kept coming. And CJ waited for the linebacker to clear out of there. 00:09:08 Speaker 1: He did. Hit Louis. 00:09:10 Speaker 2: Scored from about 20, 25 yards out. 00:09:13 Speaker 1: Four for four. 00:09:14 Speaker 2: I don't know where they started the drive. I think it was like the 30. So it's four for four. 65 to 70 total yards. Ball never hit the ground. 00:09:21 Speaker 1: That's phenomenal. 00:09:22 Speaker 2: Now let's get to Davis Mills. 00:09:23 Speaker 1: OK. 00:09:24 Speaker 2: First play. Back shoulder fade to Jared Wayne. Great catch, great throw. Second, another deep shot completion to Wayne. Third play, slant route completion to Justin Watson again. Fourth, nobody opened, head throw to Waze. 00:09:38 Speaker 1: Only incompletion. 00:09:39 Speaker 2: Fifth, and I thought this is the best throw Davis has made. It was unbelievable. He saw Trayvon Saunders on the back line. He was covered by a linebacker. And Davis ripped a fastball. I mean, 99 mile an hour, Paul Skeen's fastball. And hit Trayvon Saunders between the one and four touchdowns. So let me recap for you. In the two-minute situation against the Panthers, ones and twos, 9 for 10 combined, 9 for 10 for 140 yards, two touchdowns. The ball hit the ground once. It had to be a throwaway because they didn't get anybody open on that play. 00:10:12 Speaker 1: Which is different than a normal incompletion. That's right. 00:10:15 Speaker 2: How about that to finish the two-minute drill? 00:10:17 Speaker 1: That was good. And there were numerous plays before that, like you pointed out, well before we got to two-minute situations. So that was really terrific to see. Johnny, zooming out. Let's zoom out for a moment because here we are. We talked about this when they began this final two-week period of camp, that they played their first preseason game against the Chargers. Then they went into those weekend practices. You thought that Sunday practice, a week ago Sunday, was really good. They were full pass, very intense. Did well. Tuesday, joint practice to the Raiders. Offense

did well. You mentioned the picks at the end, but there were a lot of good moments in that. And the running game did look good against the Raiders in that. Then the game against the Raiders, you had that one drive. Very nice. Thank you very much. Okay. Over the weekend, D'Amico wasn't happy with, I don't know, what was it, Mondays or Sundays? One of the practices he wasn't happy with. It was the last practice we had. Monday he wasn't happy with. But I think this is all part of the, You've got to break eggs to make an omelet kind of thing. You're going to have some ups and downs and things like that. But we've seen this offense. It's like a graph. It's gradually going up. There's down, up, down. But it goes up in all, right? It's still trending up. And I think that's what we've been seeing with this Houston Texans offense culminating with today. And I say culminating because they're done. Friday night is going to be reserves. It's going to be, hey, whoever can make the 53, this is your last gasp. How about fortifying the depth? How about understanding the depth on the roster a little bit more? Because there are going to be guys making the 53 who are playing this game. Don't get me wrong. You can't sit 53 guys. So that's what it is. Friday night. Looking forward to that game. And get ready for Buffalo. Camp is for all practical purposes over. It really is officially after that game, you would say. But right now, as far as the starters playing their meaningful reps, this is Pretty much ended it today, and I thought it was a good way to end it for the Houston Texans offense, aching to make progress in 2026. They've shown us. 00:12:17 Speaker 2: I chatted with Woody Marks after practice. We'll have this video and interview up for you probably tomorrow. But I said to him, you guys had a really good day today. And I said, but one day, Coach said, you guys, it wasn't up to the level that he expected from you. 00:12:37 Speaker 3: Right, right. 00:12:38 Speaker 2: And Woody said something. 00:12:40 Speaker 1: Very prescient. 00:12:41 Speaker 2: He said, we face our defense every day. 00:12:45 Speaker 1: Yep. 00:12:47 Speaker 2: You have to take that into account at some point. You face our defense every day. And what he said afterwards I thought was really important. He goes, look, you face your defense every day. They know your calls. They know your adjustments. They've seen that play 20,000 times in practice. And it wasn't like, okay, our defense is really, really good and make an excuse for that. But he was saying, and the reasoning I thought was sound, these guys know everything what we're doing. 00:13:14 Speaker 1: They do. 00:13:14 Speaker 2: But he said something to me I thought was really interesting. I asked him about getting prepared, getting ready for a game. He said, I like to watch the defensive film before I like to watch the offensive film. And he said, Jalen Petrie and I, We got together. We were talking about something. They showed– he talked about our defense. They showed a different look in practice. And Woody was like, whoa, what was that? And so he went and tracked down Jalen. He said, Jalen, what were you guys just doing on this? And I just– I love that search for knowledge of trying to make yourself better. Like, hey, that was something different. 00:13:52 Speaker 1: What was that? 00:13:54 Speaker 2: Help me understand that so that next time I see it, It may not be you guys. It might be, I don't know, the Eagles or the Packers or somebody down the road that runs that. I got to remember, hey, wait a second. Back in camp, they showed us that look and this is what they were trying to do. I just thought it was a really interesting conversation with Woody. I think Woody's had a really good camp. He and David Montgomery, as close to healthy as they possibly can, are going to be a really tough they're going to be really tough outs for anybody, but This was good. It was funny because before practice, I talked with Jerry Szaplinski. I asked him, I said, do you get excited about these during practice? 00:14:31 Speaker 1: He said, oh yeah. 00:14:32 Speaker 2: A lot of things that we talk about, he brought up. He said, looking at different fronts, being able to adjust, seeing if our rules work. He was on point with everything. I said to him, one of the things I've said, Jerry, about week one against the Bills is that first quarter, it's going to be one of the most important quarters you guys have in football because You're going to have to get everybody over the sidelines. Like, this is all new stuff from the Bills. 00:14:57 Speaker 1: You have no idea. 00:14:58 Speaker 2: He's not showing you anything. 00:14:59 Speaker 1: Right. 00:15:00 Speaker 2: And so you've got to be able to adjust, and you've got to practice all that. And he said, you know, joint practices help do that. So they did that today, and I thought they looked really good. I just think this offense has been stacking really good days. Obviously, we've lost Jaden Higgins, and that's tough, and Braden Smith went down today, and hopefully Braden's going to be okay. But he went, and he had to leave on a cart, and I hate that for Braden. But I think the real start today, X was tremendous. We mentioned the guys are tremendous. This offense line has been really, really good. 00:15:27 Speaker 1: Yeah, and Trent Brown at right tackle, really, really good. CJ was good today. CJ's been good. Last couple of weeks, like we said, overall, very good, trending, way up, awesome. And watching the Texans defense, it's funny because watching offense versus defense in practice, I'm really pulling for this offense. I'm really pulling for this offense to make strides because we need to see the offense improve. Everybody knows it. This is not a big secret. But being able to watch the defense and just root for the defense can destroy people is so refreshing because I'm watching them against my offense all the time. I want to watch them like I

did against the Raiders in that joint practice. Yes, I want to see the defense destroy the opponent. And that's what I saw today. So that was really nice. I enjoyed it. Kellen Bullock with a couple of picks. And Daniil Hunter just living in the backfield. Will too, but Daniil... I don't know if he had, like, three sacks, however you defined him, because you get close to the quarterback. Did Will take it easy on Bryce Young? No, he didn't. No, he didn't. They're both Bama guys. They were talking after practice. It was a sweet sight to see them sit down. It was really cool. The two Crimson Tide players. Johnny, Jim Caldwell, former NFL head coach for the Lions and the Colts. Yeah. I saw him before practice. He's a senior assistant. It's funny to see the guys that you used to cross paths with. And I've seen Caldwell. And I've told the story before. But he was talking with Jerry Szaplinski. And I said hello to Coach. And, you know, I coached his son at Penn State when I was there. Oh, wow. A thousand years ago. Wow, wow. When he was in eighth grade, Johnny. Oh, jeez. He was in eighth grade. His son was in eighth grade. Caldwell was an assistant for Joe Paterno at Penn State. I was working in State College. So this was a moment for me today. I almost don't want to tell this story. So I was talking to Coach Caldwell. I said, how old is Jim Jr. now? Oh, no. He said, 47. Johnny, I'm not even 47. I'm like, how did he pass me? How is that humanly possible where he could get older? He could get older than I am now. I don't even know. It can happen. But it happened. And that just blew me away, Johnny. That one, you know, you have These things that mark your age from time to time. Oh, totally. This is the all-time winner right now. The leader out in the course is this one, until further notice. But Caldwell said, let's take a picture for Jim, for Jim Jr. He took a picture, and I had one taken as well. So it was great to catch up with him. Tater was here. 00:18:05 Speaker 2: Yeah, Tater's working with the Panthers, as is his son, Tracy C. 00:18:10 Speaker 1: Smith, who was our special teams coordinator for a while. I love those two. 00:18:13 Speaker 2: It's fantastic. 00:18:14 Speaker 1: If you want to feel a little bit better, this will make you feel a little bit better. 00:18:18 Speaker 2: My first teaching class, I had calculus in Jacksonville. 00:18:25 Speaker 1: So you're teaching calculus. They're now in their 50s. You're not even in your 50s. 00:18:33 Speaker 2: How does this happen? I had one kid that was held back. He was a great kid. I don't know why they held him back. But he was held back. And I remember the first day of class, he told me he was 20. And I'm doing the math, and I think they wanted me to be surprised. I don't know if they wanted me to buy him beer or whatever, but I'm like, in my mind, I'm like, I'm 22. So he's been in his 50s for a couple of years. The rest of them being 18, that was 32 years ago. The rest of them are in their 50s now. 00:19:05 Speaker 1: Wow. But you'll always see them that way. 00:19:07 Speaker 2: I'll always see them as 18-year-old senior. I'll always see them that way. And yet they probably have kids and maybe even grandkids. 00:19:14 Speaker 1: At this point. Yeah, they easily could have grandkids. Easily. That's how it is. That's wild. But it was a good day today. 00:19:21 Speaker 2: It was a really good day for the Texans, I think, on both sides. And I think when you get labeled with the Super Bowl contender tag, you can either shrink or in the face of all that pressure, or you can go out on the field every time you go out on the field, especially against some other team in the NFL, and prove. 00:19:43 Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody's right about us. 00:19:45 Speaker 2: We are that badass team that you're going to have to try and face and score touchdowns against. It was funny because I felt like the Panther defense went on a field. They had a little bit of pep in their step. And they had a few plays early on. And then when they started, when the Texans offense really opened up and started hitting them with X, with Wayne, with Nico, CJ beating their blitz, you could just see it. And then the run game started clicking. And then you could just see them kind of like, all right, these guys are really flipping good. 00:20:13 Speaker 1: What about the Panthers' Twitter account? They put out, the ex-account, put out this hit on Jerry Wayne after Wayne catches a receiver screen. And he goes about 15 yards. Yeah. And he takes a thump, OK? It was a nice hit. But it's a key Whitley from Penn State. After Wayne picks up a first down and more. So why are you guys celebrating that? Why are you putting that out there? Big hit. 00:20:35 Speaker 4: So what? 00:20:36 Speaker 1: We just made a play on you. 00:20:37 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:20:37 Speaker 2: 15 yards down the field. It's always the one play that I always bristle against is the defensive back or defender, whoever it is, 15, 20 yards downfield makes a big hit and he flexes. It's like, bro, that was 15 to 20 yards downfield. 00:20:58 Speaker 1: Or the celebration of a. pass breakup, but it wasn't a pass breakup. 00:21:02 Speaker 2: It was just thrown way over. 00:21:03 Speaker 1: The guy's head. 00:21:05 Speaker 2: You're beat by five yards and the ball's thrown ten yards over your head. 00:21:08 Speaker 1: Unbelievable. 00:21:09 Speaker 2: That ranks up there, too. 00:21:10 Speaker 1: Alright, we'll continue the show from downtown Charlotte, coming up with Shelby Coppidge joining us, and later on, Anish Shroff, the voice of the Panthers, and also ESPN play-by-play guy who works with Andre Ware on Friday nights. It's all happening here on Texans Radio. We resume the program here in Charlotte, downtown Charlotte, in our beautiful remote broadcast location overlooking part of downtown Charlotte. It is a beautiful, beautiful day in North Carolina. And it was a little warm this morning for joint practice, but not by

Houston standards. In fact, as Ezell Shire said, it was more like Antarctica compared to Houston. So he gave that comparison. And here we are with Shelby Coppedge, our TV sideline reporter. Yes. You spend a lot of time in the city. So tell us why. 00:21:57 Speaker 3: So I'll be coming to Charlotte once a week starting in two weeks because I'll be a part of the SEC Network studio crew. And I will be their new in-studio volleyball analyst. 00:22:09 Speaker 1: Oh, very cool. 00:22:09 Speaker 3: So like a Johnny to the mark, but in studio. And I'll still be away calling games. 00:22:14 Speaker 1: Okay. 00:22:15 Speaker 3: But it'll be nice to be, you know, in the studio now, too, which is new for them, for volleyball. 00:22:19 Speaker 2: So you'll be in studio. 00:22:20 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:22:20 Speaker 2: Here in Charlotte. 00:22:21 Speaker 1: Every week. 00:22:22 Speaker 2: People don't realize that the SEC Network is stationed in Charlotte. 00:22:24 Speaker 1: Yes. 00:22:25 Speaker 2: Thank you, Johnny. 00:22:25 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:22:26 Speaker 3: So the SEC Network, obviously, under ESPN umbrella. Not sure why, but that is right here in Charlotte. 00:22:31 Speaker 1: So it's awesome. I think it was Raycom back in the day, and Raycom was here or something. I might be wrong about that, TV nerds. Yeah, I'll ask that for you. But that might be the case. But it's pretty cool that the SEC is here. And they put out a tweet today with your picture on it, among others. 00:22:44 Speaker 4: I was right next to Tim Tebow. 00:22:46 Speaker 2: Oh, wow. 00:22:46 Speaker 1: That's high praise right there. 00:22:47 Speaker 4: So cool. 00:22:48 Speaker 3: One of three girls, me, Alyssa Ling. I need to look at the pictures again. But it's so great to just be in studio there. And everyone's so nice. It just could not be better. 00:22:57 Speaker 4: I'm so grateful. 00:22:57 Speaker 1: Have you done work from there? Yeah. 00:23:00 Speaker 3: So I started in December covering the NCAA volleyball tournament. 00:23:05 Speaker 1: Uh-huh. 00:23:05 Speaker 3: And then obviously Texas A & M Kentucky played in the national championship, which has never happened to SEC volleyball teams going against each other in the natty. So they had me come back there and they're like, volleyball is blowing up. We like you in studio. You know, could you come back, make this a regular thing? So I'm very pumped. 00:23:23 Speaker 4: And you just roll in like, like I do now. No one can obviously see me, but hair is not done. Makeup's not done. They do it all for you. Oh yes. Oh Mark, I guess off the plane in there. It's, Awesome. 00:23:35 Speaker 2: Well, I just do my own at that point. 00:23:38 Speaker 4: And you do great. 00:23:39 Speaker 1: Yeah, we were going to say, Johnny, we couldn't tell. 00:23:42 Speaker 2: I'm lucky if my hand goes through my hair and goes that way and, like, I'm done. 00:23:45 Speaker 4: You both have full heads of hair, though. 00:23:47 Speaker 2: Oh, no, I'll take

that. 00:23:48 Speaker 4: It's good that you'll have to deal with your hair. 00:23:50 Speaker 2: So you'll be doing that once a week throughout the season. That's really cool. 00:23:53 Speaker 4: And then weekends, games. 00:23:55 Speaker 2: So you mentioned me, like, okay, you're going to be the me to the mark, whatever. When it comes to SEC teams, 16 teams combined, Knowing all of them, trying to know all of them. How do you kind of go about that aspect. 00:24:09 Speaker 1: Of it, Shelby? 00:24:09 Speaker 3: So thankfully, I'll be a traveling analyst as well still. So I'll still be going to. 00:24:14 Speaker 2: Games, calling them. 00:24:17 Speaker 4: Because you're right. 00:24:17 Speaker 3: I was able to do, I hope so, a good job covering them for the tournament because I've covered the team so many times. 00:24:24 Speaker 4: So just like you two. 00:24:25 Speaker 2: Right. 00:24:25 Speaker 4: You know, for those listening, we have, as an analyst in play-by-play, our boards. 00:24:29 Speaker 1: Right. 00:24:29 Speaker 3: So I have a board of each team in front of me, their names, their stats, what their coach has said about me. 00:24:35 Speaker 4: So I'm on a lot of coaches' calls. 00:24:37 Speaker 3: Any of the teams I can't cover, I probably will just try and jump in on the ESPN calls for that game coming up. 00:24:43 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, sure. 00:24:43 Speaker 3: So even though I'm not actually there at that, we call it actually match, at that match, then I can still, like, hear what the coaches have to say. 00:24:49 Speaker 1: Sure, sure. So you do love volleyball nationally, play-by-play on USA. We've been over this before, which is very cool to do the play-by-play. 00:24:57 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the mark to the Johnny. 00:24:59 Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're a color analyst on ESPN for college and a studio analyst for college, too. That's a lot of work. That's very cool. 00:25:07 Speaker 3: So Joe Buck is the mark, so they're telling you what the action's happening. Then Troy Aikman is Johnny. They're telling you why this play happened, what went wrong, what went right. I played in college. But for the League One level, it's pro. So there's someone who could do much better breaking down these Olympian plays than I can. 00:25:25 Speaker 4: And that is a two-time Olympic medalist, Courtney Thompson. So they still want me on it. 00:25:29 Speaker 1: So it's great. 00:25:30 Speaker 3: But as far as breaking down these high-level rotations and stuff, Courtney has also played with all of them. So it just works out that way. But it's cool to sit in both chairs. 00:25:39 Speaker 1: And love has expanded. Houston, obviously, in its third year, second year under the tutelage, the control of the Houston Texans, which is very cool. And you'll be doing some matches with them at the Berry Center. 00:25:50 Speaker 4: Yes. 00:25:50 Speaker 1: I can't wait for that. That'll be cool. Now, there's going to be a little overlap between the college season and

love, right? Because love starts earlier now. 00:25:57 Speaker 4: Love will start in December. 00:25:58 Speaker 1: All right. We got to work this out. 00:25:59 Speaker 4: We'll figure it out. We haven't done it yet, but we. 00:26:02 Speaker 1: Will figure it out. We always do. We're a little worried about this. But you're doing Texans TV sideline reporting Friday night, ABC 13, 6 o'clock kick. That is going to be cool. And so this is year, what year? Third, fourth year for you doing this? 00:26:15 Speaker 4: It's my third year with y'all. I'm so happy. 00:26:17 Speaker 1: Wow. 00:26:18 Speaker 3: I'm still just trying to go to lunch, hang out with y'all whenever I can and learn from y'all. Okay, I did have one observation, which I know everyone talks about this, but you really don't get the grasp until it's in person. Bryce Young is drastically undersized. 00:26:32 Speaker 4: I mean, we've all heard it, but I just couldn't. 00:26:34 Speaker 3: Believe it when I saw him. When I saw him walk by number nine, I was like, Whoa. I just couldn't believe it was the same level. 00:26:42 Speaker 1: It's a good point because it's one thing to see these guys on TV. Exactly. But joint practice, and we're standing around by the entrance of where the Panthers come in or come onto the field. And when Bryce walks by, you're thinking, did a kid win a contest? I'm just kidding. He's just noticeably smaller. He looks like a receiver. Looks like a smaller receiver type of guy. Doesn't look like a quarterback typically. 00:27:02 Speaker 4: He's like a big tank Dell. 00:27:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe. I don't even think he's as thick as a Jalen Knoll. when you look at it that way. 00:27:09 Speaker 4: No, he's definitely not as thick. 00:27:09 Speaker 2: He's a strong SOB. 00:27:11 Speaker 1: Yeah, but Bryce isn't, but he throws the ball well, though. I know the motion it takes to launch the ball out of that pocket might be more, and Johnny has more on that, but to me, he does make plays, man. There's something about him. Big plays at big times. We talked about it the other day. They had the great playoff game with the Rams. They lost, but he played pretty well at spots in that game, and he had moments last year where He had the clutch gene going, where he would make clutch plays to win games. Now they went 8-9. No one's going to throw a parade. But at least they made the postseason and won the division. 00:27:43 Speaker 2: I think what Bryce is up against, he's in the same spot CJ's in about getting another contract. I feel like because he is a itty-bitty quarterback. I remember being at the combine at 23, and we see him walk past us. And I remember Mark and I thinking, boy, he's tiny. And he was beefed up for the combine. And then CJ walked up and like, okay, CJ's like, there's a thickness to CJ that's good. And plus he's 6'3, and Bryce is 5'10. But I think to give Bryce a contract, it's going to be tough because I think people see that. They see that he is so small. And they're like, man, I feel like the Panthers have got to be absolutely 1,000% convinced. 00:28:31 Speaker 1: Before they give him. 00:28:33 Speaker 2: That opportunity. And that's what I think they're waiting for. They're waiting for that to just be overwhelmed by a season by Bryce. I think he's been good, but I think because he's so small and because it looks like, God, does he really fit? And then you see him today and he's just getting ragdolled by our guys. 00:28:50 Speaker 1: Apparently. 00:28:50 Speaker 2: I mean, I saw a couple of videos we put up on our, on our feed and it was like, Daniel was just like picking up, up like, like I used to, like I used to my son when he was a teenager, like get him, you know, get him out of here. But, But I think that's what Bryce is kind of up against. But he was down a weapon. I saw Xavier Leggett today. He had a boot on his foot. So he's with Ted McMillan, and he's got Jalen Coker. He's not dying without weapons, but he needs all the weapons in the arsenal there for that offense to work. And his offensive line is banged up. Moton was not there. So Monroe Freeling, a rookie, has got to go against Daniil and Will. That didn't go exceedingly well, apparently. Apparently, Daniil went off, but I like watching Bryce. He feels like he's got command, even being as tiny as he is. He still has command with that offense and with those players. I think because you're giving $ 60 million to a quarterback, and if you give Bryce, let's say you give Bryce $ 60 million as a contract, and it doesn't work, what's the first thought? 00:29:52 Speaker 1: Well, look at him. I mean, it's going to be the first thought. Look at him. 00:29:56 Speaker 2: He's 5'10, 185 pounds. How does that work? 00:29:58 Speaker 4: Oh, it's written 205. 00:29:59 Speaker 2: Like it's the first thing. 00:30:01 Speaker 4: Which is hard to believe for me. 00:30:02 Speaker 1: No. If he's 205. I can't. 00:30:04 Speaker 2: No, that's what I'm saying. 00:30:04 Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you a Steve Smith anecdote because, you know, having spoken with him today, which is very nice. 00:30:11 Speaker 2: He's fun. 00:30:11 Speaker 1: He was talking about interns and an intern weighed him once at Carolina. And he said, Steve Smith said, write down 201. He goes, well, that's not what it said. He goes. 201. It's like, okay, Mr. Smith. Steve Smith has this presence about him. You are not going to disagree with him when you're an intern. 00:30:29 Speaker 2: It's like, okay, 201. 00:30:30 Speaker 1: You got it. I love Steve. 00:30:32 Speaker 2: I love talking to Steve. I mean, he's just, he's so damn real. 00:30:35 Speaker 1: He's so real. 00:30:36 Speaker 2: I mean, he's just incredible to talk to, but you look at him and you're like, he's, I mean, now he's, now he's stout. 00:30:43 Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Yeah. He's stout, but he's five nine, but he's, He's a big 5'9. He plays big. 00:30:50 Speaker 2: That's it. You know, and Bryce, I know it's a quarterback.

00:30:53 Speaker 1: He doesn't play big. 00:30:53 Speaker 2: Bryce doesn't play big. 00:30:55 Speaker 1: You know? 00:30:56 Speaker 2: And I think that's the difference. 00:30:57 Speaker 1: Everything is a big effort. What else did you observe? Anything else? 00:31:00 Speaker 3: Okay, an hour on muscles and weight really fast. My biggest forgot of the day. Did y'all see the guy come out first on the field? Panthers uniform. I didn't catch his number. 00:31:09 Speaker 4: His legs. 00:31:10 Speaker 2: Oh, he didn't have his jersey on. 00:31:11 Speaker 1: Thank you. 00:31:12 Speaker 2: He didn't have his jersey on. 00:31:13 Speaker 3: We're going to find him for y'all and come back. But his legs were bigger than all of our entire bodies. 00:31:18 Speaker 2: I've never. 00:31:18 Speaker 4: And he must have been like 5'10, maybe. 00:31:21 Speaker 1: Yeah, he wasn't a tall guy. 00:31:23 Speaker 3: But it was the craziest. Like, how do you get that big? Anyways, observations from today. Well, I have some questions for you and Johnny. 00:31:29 Speaker 1: Okay. 00:31:29 Speaker 3: Who is a player you've seen in person that was kind of like my reaction to Bryce Young? Whether, oh, they are way stronger or faster or better or they're way smaller or something that you were surprised with rather than watching them on TV. 00:31:42 Speaker 2: I hate to even say this one. 00:31:44 Speaker 1: Okay. I hate it. Is this all time or is this just today? 00:31:47 Speaker 4: Any time. 00:31:48 Speaker 1: Okay. 00:31:48 Speaker 3: Because y'all are the ones that see all these players in person. I've only seen a handful of opposing NFL teams in person. 00:31:54 Speaker 2: Jaden Higgins. 00:31:55 Speaker 1: Really? Well, okay. 00:31:57 Speaker 2: I didn't realize Jaden was as fast as he was. Like, he's so– and he is. I mean, he's fast. I mean, don't get me wrong. I mean, like, I just remember in OTA's mini camp his rookie year, he was going up against– I think it was Tremont. And he just ran an iron route, just go route, just go. And Davis launched one about as far as he could and hit Jaden in stride. And he beat Tremont by like a yard and a half. And I was standing near some strength conditioning guys on the sideline, and they're so good. And one of them kind of walked up next to me and said, you know, Tremont's our fastest player. And he didn't need to go any further. I got the plug. I was like, yeah, I understand. And without saying it, he was like, Jim Higgins is really freaking fast. So I think Jaden was from a speed standpoint. I didn't expect that. The other one, because we were talking about weights in the program. 00:33:00 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:33:01 Speaker 2: Vince Wilfork hopped on campus, and the program said 325. 00:33:05 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:33:06 Speaker 2: And I can promise you that number did not start with a three. 00:33:11 Speaker 4: Come on. 00:33:12 Speaker 2: I just remember he was as large as anybody I'd ever seen in my life to that point. 00:33:17 Speaker 4: And could still move. 00:33:19 Speaker 1: He could move. 00:33:21 Speaker 2: He was really fast for a guy that size. It was really amazing to see him just. 00:33:27 Speaker 1: Move and do things. How do you feel about Trent Brown's 380 listing? 00:33:31 Speaker 2: But Trent has lost some weight. So I think that 380 is now in the conversation. 380 last year I don't think was in the conversation. I think 380 is in the conversation now. And Trent's done a really nice job. But seeing Vince Wilfork up close was like, Holy cow. 00:33:49 Speaker 1: It's so different up close. I can give you a couple of examples. Two years ago when Stefan Diggs was around and all the receivers were standing on the side of the field. This is when we were still broadcasting at the 50 yard line during training camp. So Andre Johnson visits camp and he's on the sideline and the receivers are all around him and including Tank, Diggs, everybody, right? Nico too. But to see Andre Johnson, who still looks like he's playing, right? Physically. next to all those guys, you get a sense of Andre Johnson is a big dude. Was and is a big dude. Diggs is not a big guy, but Diggs is a prolific receiver. And Andre Johnson standing next to him, and it looks like he's his big brother. It shows you how Andre Johnson is truly robo-receiver. He was drawn up in a lab. I mean, that size, that speed, it's an unfair advantage. to see his physical presence compared to every other receiver on the roster at the time, including Nico, because Nico's probably taller, he's listed taller, and he is taller, but he's not as thick. But it's just that Andre Johnson, the total package of everything. And Johnny's heard this, and Johnny feels this too. When we were in New Orleans in 2019, and we saw Adrian Peterson. Oh, God. Oh, yeah. 00:35:07 Speaker 4: Hey, I have a funny story about. 00:35:08 Speaker 1: Him, but you finish. Well, when we saw him, we thought, like, I walked by him, and it's like Whitney Merciless as a running back. And Whitney is a physical specimen unlike many others. I mean, Whitney is just built in a lab as well as a defensive end outside linebacker. Peterson almost looks like that, and he carries the football. So he's a freakazoid. And back in the day at Miami, I saw Andre Johnson as a freshman. He looked like he does now. Sean Taylor, when I first saw him, I told that story many times, as a true freshman, looked like he could play in the NFL that weekend. Not everybody has that. He did. What's your Adrian Peterson yarn? 00:35:45 Speaker 4: You know, he lives in the suburbs of Houston. 00:35:47 Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. And his wife is a realtor, by the way. 00:35:50 Speaker 3: That's his wife's name is Ashley. I've met her a few times. And so my birthday and hers are in January. And so we had our birthdays at a restaurant in Houston. It's called Drake's Hollywood. It's really fun, but they were at a room next to us. 00:36:02 Speaker 4: And my, my friends came in like Adrian Peterson's

in the room next to us. I was like, Oh, I'm going to go say I was wife. 00:36:07 Speaker 1: And I go in there. 00:36:08 Speaker 4: It's his wife's birthday. And, She's like, Shelby, get a picture. I felt so cool. 00:36:12 Speaker 3: I was like, didn't even say hi to him, just said hi to her. And then we leave, and I'm holding, like, leftover bags. And I walk out, and I say bye to her, like, you know, kindly say bye to him. And he was like, dang, how you holding all that? 00:36:26 Speaker 4: And he called me ripped, Adrian Peterson. 00:36:28 Speaker 1: Oh, wow. 00:36:28 Speaker 2: Ripped. 00:36:28 Speaker 3: Just not to brag and everyone listening, but he called my arms ripped. 00:36:33 Speaker 4: I was very pumped. That's a good story. 00:36:34 Speaker 1: You are a college athlete. You played volleyball in college, and that's why you're such a volleyball fan. 00:36:39 Speaker 2: But it was great. 00:36:39 Speaker 1: Outstanding TV personality as well, or one of the reasons. 00:36:42 Speaker 2: You know who? There are two other people that fit in that category for me for two different reasons. I remember seeing Will Fuller run for the first time and run by somebody for the first time. And I realized at that point, and still to this day, I don't think I've seen anybody faster on a football field. 00:36:58 Speaker 1: He's like the roadrunner. 00:36:59 Speaker 2: Than Will Fuller. 00:37:00 Speaker 1: Well, because he could turn. 00:37:01 Speaker 2: He could go to a different gear. We were talking with Will last night at dinner. Will, who does tremendous work for us. Will grew up in Seattle, and at the time he was working in Seattle. And so big Seahawks fan, now works for us. And he's just a great guy, great talent. We were talking about this last night at dinner. And he brought up that game in 2017 when Will had the touchdown to start the game. And I remember watching it again. And Will had this tendency of running a certain pace and then realizing that he had to get faster to go. He had to speed up to go get a ball, and he could. And he would speed up and it would look like the other guys would try and speed up with him and they just couldn't. It was just amazing to watch the other. And we should know this because he's one of our biggest villains of all. But I remember the first time that Derrick Henry ended up running to the sideline near me and realizing how big he actually is in person and realize, oh my God, how do you tackle him? And the thing was, is I had followed Derrick's career because he's from Yulee, Florida. which is just outside of Jacksonville. So like Laramie Thompson, so Derek Henry, I followed those guys for a while because I coached in Jacksonville. So Yulia was like this little tiny school. And so I'd watched him and he was like this Sasquatch. He gets all these little dudes. I was like, well, that's just high school. I remember we played the Titans early in his career and he ran out of bounds near me. And I just remember kind of

getting as close to him as possible going, oh my God, I have never seen a running back that size, much less a football player that size. And then it was, it was 2017 because then he took that long 75 yard run against us that we, we, I can't remember what happened, but we were in the game and then he took that run and I was like, it is unfair to be that big and that fast. And then by 2019 it clicked. And then all of a sudden we couldn't tackle him. He had 200 yard games against us on the regular. It was just ridiculous. But I just remember seeing him and thinking, No human being should play running back that big and be that fast and be that humble that he is. 00:39:09 Speaker 1: One of the all-time villains. One of the all-time villains. 00:39:12 Speaker 3: Yeah, how are your legs that huge? Actually, horse legs. What are the beer horses? They're just ginormous, but they're still so fast. 00:39:20 Speaker 1: It's crazy. His workout videos are legendary. I don't even like watching them. It's depressing. It is. Anyway, all right, Shelby. We look forward to seeing you on Friday night. 00:39:28 Speaker 4: Yes, no rain. I'm speaking it. existence. 00:39:31 Speaker 1: Yes, manifest that. Coming up, Anish Shroff, voice of the Panthers and also of ESPN. He's next here on Texans All Access. It's our final segment of the day. Tomorrow, we got another big show from Charlotte for you on the eve of the preseason finale and We're going to try to get Andy Kalou on the show because he's in town for the production meeting, of course, and the rest of the festivities this week with the Carolina Panthers as we wrap up the preseason here in Charlotte. The Texans have played here before in preseason activity twice. Once with Deshaun Watson. That was his first game of any kind as a Houston Texan. Before that, in 2012, Whitney Merciless made his debut preseason. against the Carolina Panthers in a preseason outing. I just remember these things off the top of my head, folks. Those were the only other times the Texans have played the Panthers here in the preseason. And Friday's going to be it, and then you have the cuts on Sunday, and then you have the opener two weeks from then. It'll be September 13th against the Buffalo Bills at Reliant Stadium. And don't forget, it's a Liberty whiteout. Wear white for the opener if you're lucky enough to be going to that game at Reliant. Ticket information at at HoustonTexans.com on all your Texans ticket opportunities, Lux, that would be sweets, and all the other goodies like the Lone Star Ballroom. That is awesome. The Loge seats, those are tasty and toasty maybe too if it gets cold, but we're not worried about that right now. Anyway, let's get to this. Anish Shroff, play-by-play man for the Panthers, also ESPN play-by-play man, and works with Andre Ware on Friday nights usually during the college football season. I caught up with him to talk about how Panthers camp is going. 00:41:13 Speaker 5: Well, the big word that comes to mind is salty. There have been some physical moments, some minor brouhahas, but that's kind of what you expect as the personality of this team emerges. They want to play a physical brand of football, so you've started to see that. But the big storyline is a lot like what you guys have in Houston. Bryce Young goes into year four, and there have been ups, there have been downs. His fifth-year option was picked up, much like C.J. Stroud's, but he's playing for a long-term contract. He's playing to show this fan base and this front office that he's the quarterback for the near and the long term. So I think it all starts there, and if he takes an incremental step, the Panthers are going to be in a spot similar to where they were last year. They'll be in it for the division. They'll be in it for a playoff spot. If he takes that leap that you hope is in there as a former number one overall pick, It changes the calculus for the entire franchise. 00:42:07 Speaker 1: What about the defense? Give me some things you're excited about on that side of the ball. 00:42:11 Speaker 5: Yeah, the two new free agent acquisitions. Devin Lloyd gives them a middle linebacker, a true green dot, a guy who's got great instincts. He can run sideline to sideline. He can cover tight ends if he needs to. That was an issue last year. And then Jalen Phillips, they paid him big money to bolster the pass rush. This was a secondary that was top 10 in interceptions last year with really no pass rush. You add Jalen Phillips, what he can do to impact the quarterback, it should lead to more turnovers. 00:42:38 Speaker 1: And the coaching staff, Kanellis has done a nice job so far winning a division. 00:42:42 Speaker 5: He has, and continuity, as you know, matters. And this is now the third year of this staff. It's the third year of this offensive system. for the defense, they're really in the fourth year of Vero's defense because he was here under Frank Reich. So you get a lot of continuity. You can expand on concepts. You can start to stack concepts, go deeper into the playbook. That helps everybody who's been there now for a few years. 00:43:05 Speaker 1: As we stand here, we're looking at the big indoor building being constructed. So what's the latest on the facility? It looks like we're going to stay here for a while in Carolina. 00:43:13 Speaker 5: Yeah, the construction is going to be a theme over the next few years. We've got a training facility that's coming that should be ready for next year, and then the stadium's undergoing essentially a full-on remodel, and it will be done by ETA 2030, and you hope that goes on time, but it's going to be a state-of-the-art facility, and this is a growing city. People are moving to Charlotte every day. Hundreds of people are moving here every day. The city continues to grow. It's only fitting that the flagship franchise grows with it. 00:43:44 Speaker 1: So how does that affect Charlotte as a sports town with all the incoming residents? 00:43:48

Speaker 5: A lot of transplants. And as you know, when you're a new team, and this is still a relatively young franchise, it's a little more than 30 years old, nobody's grandfather was born a Panthers fan. So what they really want to do is if you can put together a seven, ten year stretch where you're in contention every year, you can win a Super Bowl even better, but You're in the playoffs or competing for a playoff spot for a bulk of that decade. That's how you kind of transform your fan base into. 00:44:24 Speaker 1: Diehards. 00:44:25 Speaker 5: And that's kind of what they're looking for. If you look at the history of the Panthers, they've never had back-to-back winning seasons. They've never had more than three straight years with a playoff berth. They've won a couple division titles with sub-500 records. So I think they're kind of looking at building this thing when they started over a few years ago. Hey, we're building it for the long haul. We want to be good for a long time. We want to be consistent for a long time because that's how you're going to win over all these fans who are moving in every day, and that's how you get their kids. 00:44:54 Speaker 1: You and I both work with Andre Ware, so I know you have a couple of games assigned, right? You have a Cougar game and something else so far, right? 00:45:01 Speaker 5: Yeah, how about poor guy? He's got to go all the way to Houston for his first game. But as you guys know, Houston, the college football team in town, Keyshawn Henderson, dynamic young quarterback. You've got Connor Wigman coming back. Mari Thomas, one of the best wide receivers in the Big 12. He'll return a lot on defense. Willie Fritz can coach ball. They got a chance to play for a Big 12 title this year, so it's going to be exciting for us. It's going to be exciting for Andre. And as you know, it's going to be exciting for his white shoes, which he seemingly wears to every game. 00:45:32 Speaker 1: Anish, thanks a lot for joining us. 00:45:34 Speaker 5: You got it, bud. 00:45:34 Speaker 1: There's our friend Anish Shroff, voice of the Carolina Panthers and also of ESPN. talking about Panthers camp, so you get a little scouting report on them in advance of Friday night. Now, don't forget, the game is live right here, 95.7 The Fan, at 3 o'clock with Texans Countdown, presented by Modelo Especial. That'll be Sean Pendergast and Seth Payne at the mic. And Sean and Clint Sterner have the postgame show after the call. That's me and Andre Robert Hensley in the TV booth on ABC 13 at 6 o'clock Friday night. It is Kevin Kugler on Play-By-Play, Andy Kalou on Color, Johnny Harris in the booth with them, and Shelby Coppage on the sideline. Thanks to Shelby for being on the show tonight, and Anish. Tomorrow night, we're loaded. We got Aziz Alshire. We have Woody Marks. We have other players and people to hear from, and we'll hear from the head coach himself, D'Amico Ryans, as we get ready for the preseason finale. Thanks so much for listening tonight. Have a great evening. Area 45 is coming up next. Go Texans!