HOUSTON — The Miami Dolphins cannot make it to town soon enough for their joint practices this week as the Houston Texans players may be fed up with one another in practice.
For the second consecutive day, tempers flared at Houston Texans training camp. On Sunday, linebacker Christian Harris and running back Devin Singletary had a flare-up that caused teammates to rush quickly to the skirmish and break it up. Monday, it was the offensive and defensive units going at it during 11-on-11 team drills. No punches were thrown, but there was a lot of pushing, shoving, and trash talk going on.
Once again, it was the defensive unit, which had taken on the bravado of their head coach DeMeco Ryans that started the commotion when backup safety M.J. Stewart made hard contact with a running back and continued to try and knock the ball loose even after the play was over. During the altercation, an unidentified defensive player leaped from his feet to jump into the pile of teammates.
“There was a little scuffle today, nothing important,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans about the uproar. “It’s football. It’s training camp. It gets a little testy. We’re probably at our wits’ end going against each other, so it will be really good and refreshing to have Miami come in over the next three days.”
The last two days have shown why general manager Nick Caserio vigorously pursued Ryans with the urging from Cal and Hannah McNair. He has brought the renewed energy missing from Texans’ training camp over the last two seasons.
With his former colleague with the San Francisco 49ers, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel heading into town early for the joint practices and second preseason game on Saturday at NRG Stadium, Ryans conversed with McDaniel to ensure the safety of both teams.
“It’s football,” said Texans HC DeMeco Ryans about the second consecutive altercation between players in training camp. “It’s training camp. It gets a little testy.” #Texans #Sarge @TheTexansWire pic.twitter.com/xYj6gzhi5M
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) August 15, 2023
“Mike McDaniel and I had a conversation, and both of us view it the same way,” Ryans said about controlling the environment at the joint practices. “We don’t want to turn it into a shoving match; we just want both of our teams to get better at football. So, we want to practice. We don’t want to lose time on guys wasting time on stuff that doesn’t matter about football when it comes to shoving and fighting.
“We don’t want those things, so in our agreement, if anybody throws a punch, just like what happens in a game, we’re going to play within the rules. If you throw a punch in a game, you’re kicked out. It’s the same thing in practice. Now, if anybody’s throwing punches, we have to get them out of practice, but we just want these practices to be productive. That’s what it’s about and we’ll handle it that way.”
The last time the Texans held joint practices was in 2019 when the Detroit Lions visited Kirby Drive ahead of their second preseason game.
