Texans morning huddle: Shorts coming back, crucial catch day raises awareness
By Randy Gurzi
Good morning Texans fans! Happy Thursday to you all, we are that much closer to the weekend. This may be the week Houston turns it around, so let’s get ready for the game that could see the season change by catching up on all things related to Texans football! Enjoy;
Breakfast: Crucial Catch Day provides breast cancer education and screening for women – by Jesse Clark, HoustonTexans.com
"October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but sometimes awareness isn’t enough. Education is key, especially when it comes to prevention, and that was the theme throughout the El Centro de Corazón health clinic at the Magnolia Community Center Tuesday morning.Tuesday was ‘A Crucial Catch Day’ at El Centro, an event that raised breast cancer awareness, and more importantly, educated women in the Houston community about the importance of early detection.“The importance of this event is education,” Marcie Mir, CEO of El Centro said. “Especially in the Hispanic community, we find there’s a need to educate our community about breast cancer and getting preventative services such as screenings and mammograms. By coming to our health center, they are taking the first step.”The Houston Texans showed their full support, as cheerleaders, TORO, guard Xavier Su’a-Filo, and a Texans kid’s zone with cornhole, photo opportunities, autographs, face painting and giveaways were on hand to bring additional excitement and a family atmosphere to the event.“Crucial Catch Day is not only about the importance of breast cancer education, but also to engage the family,” Mir said. “It’s just a fun day for the family to come out and learn about breast cancer and educate the entire family. We do want to make it a family event so we have a lot of fun things going on today.”With the help of the NFL, the Texans, and the American Cancer Society, El Centro received a $50,000 Community Health Advocates implementing National Grants for Empowerment (C.H.A.N.G.E.) grant to enable the clinic to provide no cost cancer education and screenings, including free mammograms and well-woman exams, to women in underserved communities at risk for developing cancer.“This is certainly a very crucial activity for educating and raising the awareness of breast cancer to the community,” Dr. Angel Rodriguez, Houston Methodist breast cancer specialist said. “The most important thing is to detect it early and be aware that it can happen to you."
Cecil Shorts III expected to return against Jags – by Deepi Sidhu, HoustonTexans.com
"Cecil Shorts III is preparing for a homecoming against the team that drafted him and where he spent the first four years of his NFL career. Shorts, injured on the final offensive play in Atlanta, is making strides to make his return this Sunday against Jacksonville.“This game is important just like every other game is important, you know what I mean,” Shorts said Wednesday. “I had some good years in Jacksonville so it will be fun to go back there and play against them guys.”Shorts returned to practice on Wednesday. Head coach Bill O’Brien believes Shorts should be good to go against the Jaguars. The fifth year wide receiver missed just one game against Indianapolis with the shoulder injury.“Very tough guy, tough guy, strong player, and he was out there today practicing,” O’Brien said. “We were in pads today, so he was out there full go.”Signed this offseason as a free agent, he’s become a versatile receiving threat for the Texans. Shorts is also one of the first guys to put in extra time, according to offensive coordinator George Godsey, which contributes to his quick return from the injury.“He did a good job for us in the games that he was available,” Godsey said. “Some crucial third-down plays, getting open versus man-to-man. I know he’ll be going back home, but for him it’s just like another week as far as playing and game planning preparation. When he is out there, it’s good to have him.”"
Texans Quotes: October 14 – HoustonTexans.com
"Head Coach Bill O’Brien(opening statement) “Yesterday we made some roster moves. Released Chandler Worthy, released Edawn Coughman and signed Brandon Dunn to the 53 and Josh Lenz to the practice squad. With that, I’ll open it up for questions.”(on if he’s seen progress from OLB Jadeveon Clowney and DE Jared Crick and if they’ll play this week) “I would say they definitely have a chance but it’s day-to-day.”(on the defense not living up to expectations) “We have to, we all have to do better. We have to coach better. We have to get the players to understand what we need them to do better. It starts with me and we all have to do a better job.”(on if WR Cecil Shorts is good to go this week) “Think so, looks like, he practiced today.”(on WR Cecil Shorts’ injury being extremely painful and if the timeliness of his return speaks to his toughness) “Very tough guy, tough guy, strong player, and he was out there today practicing. We were in pads today, so he was out there full go.”(on WR DeAndre Hopkins leading the NFL in multiple stats so far this season) “He’s had an excellent start. He’s worked very hard. He and I spoke today before practice. There are a lot of things he can even do better. He’s always working to try to improve. He came back early for early training camp and it’s really paid off for him. He’s having a good year and we need him. This team needs him.”(on what WR DeAndre Hopkins has done specifically that has helped him catch so many passes) “Well he can do a lot of different things. He’s obviously a good deep route runner. He makes contested catches. He can also run intermediate to short routes. He’s really improved his route running, his knowledge of our offense, got very, very strong hands, very strong hands. He’s done a good job.”(on his impression of WR Allen Robinson based on what he saw from him at Penn State and in the NFL the last two years) “Well he didn’t really play last year. I think he was injured. This year he’s having a really good year. He’s a guy that can make the contested catch. He’s a competitive guy. He’s a really good route runner. He’s tough. At Penn State he was, I think in two years at Penn State, don’t quote me on this, but I think he probably had 160, 170 catches in two years there. Just did a great job for us there, and he’s having a real good year for Jacksonville. It’s a big challenge for our defense.”(on what he’s seen teams do to attempt to contain DE J.J. Watt) “There’s just a lot of different things. J.J. is a great player. He’s made his fair share of plays. He still is in the top 10 I think in sacks in the league, still has tackles for loss. I’m not going to get into the details of how teams are blocking each and every play. I think J.J. is a great player and I think he’s having a good year.”(on if RB Arian Foster went back into the game last week without properly being evaluated for a concussion) “No, he was evaluated. That doesn’t happen. We checked him on the field and then took him off the field. I believe he was properly evaluated. I know we wouldn’t ever put a guy back in the game that we doubted whether he was injured or not, whatever the injury was. I think our guys did a good evaluation of him for that play that he was out and he was able to go back in the game.”(on what he expects from WR Jaelen Strong now with his first game under his belt) “Hopefully he gained some confidence from that game. He did a good job in the game. He came up with two big catches for us, two scoring catches. He’s a big guy. He’s really a good kid. He’s really learned how to pay attention to detail a little bit more each and every week. I can see him playing more and more in our offense.”"
Better Defense Is Key to Turning the Houston Texans Around – by Vanessa de Beaumont, Bleacher Report
"The odds are decisively stacked against their favor, but the Texans could still make waves in an AFC South that is largely dead in the water.If their defense can lock the opposition down, that is.Despite popular belief that Houston’s problems lay at the feet of either quarterback Brian Hoyer or Ryan Mallett, it’s really the 11 men on the other side of the ball who are failing to take care of business.How so?Entering this season, expectations for the Texans offense were understandably low. With no real franchise signal-caller under center and the temporary absence of offensive powerhouse Arian Foster, it was assumed that the defense, particularly the front seven, comprised of some of the most talented pass-rushers and run-stuffers in the league, would patch up their mistakes.Averaging just 19.4 points per game, good for only 26th in the league, the Houston offense has performed quite poorly, just as was expected (via NFL.com).But it hasn’t been all bad.The Texans have been unable to get points on the board, which is, obviously, a large problem. They have, however, been able to move the ball, averaging 396.2 yards/game, fifth-best in the league, and 300 passing yards/game, fourth-best in the league (via NFL.com).There are a lot of factors that comprise those figures, including but not limited to the fact that the Texans have almost exclusively had to play games with a deficit, but the fact remains that there is talent on the offense, and while it might not be sexy or anywhere near exceptional, it is, at a minimum, meeting preseason expectations."