All teams around the NFL stick to a common theme that they preach continuously in team meetings, press conferences, television appearances, etc. That theme is “Family Unity.” Players and coaches alike believe that the team is one big cohesive unit.
On Saturday, the Houston Texans got to put that family mantra on display in front of fans in NRG Stadium and those viewing the game on television in their first preseason game against the New Orleans Saints.
Buy Texans TicketsTexans WR Jalen Camp on paying homage to rookie WR John Metchie III who is battling cancer by doing his celebratory “Crane Kick” after he scored
All the guys in the receiving room decided that the very first touchdown that we were going to do the crane celebration.” @JalenCamp__ pic.twitter.com/BkgVtUGoqw— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) August 16, 2022
Early in the second quarter, the Texans trailed the Saints 7-3. Backup quarterback Jeff Driskel found wide receiver Jalen Camp in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown pass.
Camp immediately celebrated by doing rookie wide receiver John Metchie’s celebratory “crane kick,” made famous in the first Karate Kid movie and mastered by Metchie when he played at Alabama.
“Quarterback (Driskel) threw a great ball, and I just tried to make a play for him,” said Camp at his press conference on Monday. “Then afterwards, I think all the guys in the receiving room decided that the very first touchdown that we had was going to be the crane celebration for Metchie for everything that he’s going through and just pay homage.”
Metchie was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia before the Texans began their 2022 Training Camp. After being drafted in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, Metchie missed rookie minicamp and OTAs. Houston wanted to ensure that he had fully recovered from the ACL tear he suffered in last year’s Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
Linebacker Blake Cashman was unaware of what was taking place when Camp scored the touchdown in the second quarter but thought it was pretty cool to honor Metchie in that way.
“I thought that was really cool,” said Cashman. “It was a special thing to do to honor him. I didn’t even catch that until after the game. But I said something to him, I think that just shows how close this group is and how much we appreciate each other in this locker room.”
Camp echoed those sentiments as he spoke about how the team wants Metchie to know they are there with him in this battle.
“We just keep him in our prayers every day and just reach out periodically and just check in on him, make sure he still feels as a part of this team, that he is still a part of this team,” Camp said. “So just little things like that, and then of course the celebration helped, as well, and we’ll definitely try to continue to do that just to pay homage for him because he’s definitely still on our team and still with us.”
