Chemistry key for Texans O-Line
May 20, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans tackle David Quessenberry (77) during organized team activities at the Methodist Training Center at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
The ’13 training camp for the Houston Texans’ offensive line is about one thing as they continue to work and battle in the summer heat: “chemistry.”
The offensive line must gain the chemistry needed for not only themselves, but for the entire offense, because if they aren’t on the same page nobody on the offense will be able to do their job.
That is a simple, but true, fact in the NFL.
One way to build that chemistry for players at, near or over 300 pounds is to have meals together away from camp, as left tackle Duane Brown said to the Houston media.
“The closer you are as an offensive line, the better I think your offense will be,” Brown said. “I can’t say about the team in general, but the offense cause the offensive line is all about chemistry.”
Then came the meal comment.
“Yeah, it’s once a week,” Brown said of a lineman group meal. “We can’t afford to have too many more nights. It’s a big tab.”
With Brown being one of the tackles paid to protect quarterback Matt Schaub, he also spoke about fellow lineman David Quessenberry, a rookie.
“I think DQ has a lot of upside,” Brown said. “I like his mentality and approach he takes to the game as an offensive lineman. He is very athletic, very strong, and very eager to learn. I’ve been trying to help him out as much as possible to bring him along.”
But with Quessenberry, he’s been asked to move to guard, and Brown talked about how he’s went about giving advice to his teammate about the possible move, asking him to be “versatile.”
“I know he played a lot of tackle in college and they have been asking him to move down to guard, but he’s been adapting well.
“He is picking it up and I just told him ‘the more you can do the more value you have to the team. You never know what’s going to happen and what position you might have to end up playing, but just be prepared.’ He’s definitely taken the steps to do so.”
One plus Brown sees in the rookie lineman (Quessenberry) is his aggressiveness.
“I like his demeanor,” Brown said. “A lot of rookies come in and they don’t have that intensity as an offensive lineman. They don’t have that ‘nasty’ as an offensive lineman, but he definitely has it. I saw it early on in OTAs and that’s something that I can relate to.”
The Texans’ offensive line might have suffered a bump in the road Tuesday with the knee injury to rookie lineman Brennen William, who had an MRI on his ankle following the morning practice.
As for the injury of Williams, Texans head coach Gary Kubiak said Tuesday afternoon they are “taking a look at it.”
“His knee swelled up on him a little bit again, so we’re taking a look at that,” Kubiak said. “That’s where he’s at this afternoon. Other than that, we’ll find out where we’re at in the morning.
“He’s taken a lot of steps forward. Hopefully, (Tuesday) is not a step backwards. I don’t know. He did finish practice, just had some swelling.”
(Quotes provided by media.houstontexans.com)