UNCOVERED: Texans defensive rebuild drawing optimism while youth shines - Caught on Camera

I caught the Texans while they were in Foxborough—Houston and New England are the 17th and 18th teams I’ve seen this summer—for their preseason opener. The game itself, not so interesting. But the team in Houston, for the first time in a little while, should be …

• C.J. Stroud had a handful of “welcome to the NFL” moments Thursday. After the Texans churned out a first down on their first three plays, Stroud was sacked, chased from the pocket, then threw a pick on the game’s second third down—the interception coming on a throw that was late enough for safety Jalen Mills to get to it. On their next drive, the Texans essentially went three-and-out twice (a very shaky roughing penalty moved the chains in between those sequences). Now, Houston was playing with just two starting linemen, one of whom is a rookie (center Juice Scruggs) and is putting in a new system under coordinator Bobby Slowik. For his part, Stroud seemed to doubt what he was seeing, leading to a slower trigger, and will have to grow through that. The good news is the staff felt like he just had his best week, and, at least in practice, has gotten more natural calling plays in the huddle and leading from the line while thinking a little less in the line of fire. The next challenge for him will be translating that onto the game field.