02-08-2025
Everything Texans OL Tytus Howard said after Day 2 of training camp
Here's everything Houston Texans offensive lineman Tytus Howard said following Day 2 of training camp, including the improvement of Tay Ersery, his relationship with new offensive line coach Cole Popovich and the growth of C.J. Howard: 'I think attitude. Everybody, you know, it's a competitive group. So, you know, everybody got to go out there and earn the right to play for the Texans. So, everybody out on the group has a positive attitude, showing up to work every day and just putting in the work and keeping their head down so we can become the best group there is.'
Q: On what he wants to see the offensive line continuously improve on
Howard: 'I'd say it was just, in a run game, just being physical. Then in the pass game just had a mentality that my man can't beat me to get to the quarterback. We have protect C.J. [Stroud]. The job we done last year wasn't good enough. So, this year we just have to put our head down and work all offseason to become the best unit possible and attack the little details so we can get him hit because we know what he can do when we protect him. So, we just got to continue to do that.'
Q: How the offensive line has already improved in practice
Howard: 'Just taking the coaching. Taking what we're doing, being coached on, and just applying it to the field. I know it sounds simple, but a lot of times when guys mess up it's just like we just go do our own thing versus not doing the thing that we were coached to do. So, everybody's just been putting their head down, working every day individually on the things we need to work on, and then just going out on a team each day, setting a goal for the day, and just attacking that goal.'Howard: 'I'll say at the end of the day, you never see an offensive line during the season that just have the same five guys that are starting. So, I feel like the biggest thing is just getting guys out there and then seeing the guys who just, every day being consistently good each and every day. It's not about being the guys that consistently playing with each other. It's about who at each position every day is going out there working their ass off and doing the things they need to do to be the best guy available for the starting five. So, we're not really worried about that right now. Right now, we're just working on the details and trying to get everybody in the group better because everybody in the group have to be good because one guy goes down and the next guy have to be ready to go.'Howard: 'I tell him the main thing is just the mental part first. Getting in the playbook and learning how to switch each play, flip it backwards. That's the biggest part. If you know what you've got to do, the rest is going to take care of itself. He's more than athletic enough to play left tackle and right tackle. It's just getting up there and knowing what he's got to do right away so he's not thinking so much. I think he's been doing a fantastic job on it. He's having a tremendous camp so far and he's only going to get better. I feel like he's a guy that likes to learn from the older guys and the coaches and try to apply that to practice. I'm just excited to be his teammate.'Howard: 'The scheme is a lot simpler. I was in this scheme a little bit when I first came into the league, but it's really just, I think the biggest thing with Nick [Caley] and Cole [Popovich] is the mindset. Our mindset last year wasn't like it is this year. Our mindset now is we've got to get downhill, we've got to get on guys early and move them. And that's something we struggled with in the past is getting the run game going. Because you get the run game going, the pass game is going to get going, you know. So, we have to be able to establish that run early, and they've just been attacking the details of the run game. Getting double teams, we've been doing a lot of double teams, so we're just working on those fundamentals every day and trying to get better.'Howard: 'Jake's a great dude. He's from Alabama and I'm from Alabama so we've got a lot in common. He played at Troy, and I played at Alabama State, which is like 25 minutes away from each other. He's a smart kid. He knows the game. He knows his offense really good. He's very fast with all the calls. He's just a great teammate. He works hard every day. Nothing but good things about him.'Howard: 'Yeah, for sure. It's up to us older guys to establish that for the younger guys. I think that's one of the things I'm trying to do is being a positive example every day of how we've got to go about our business every day. So, when the younger guys see that, they're like, 'oh that's how I've got to be'. That just rubs off on the whole offensive line.'Howard: 'I'd say the number one thing is it's just more demanding. I said we let some stuff get by last year that wasn't good enough, but one thing about Cole is he's demanding and he's going to treat everybody and coach everybody the same way. And I think that's one of the biggest things in having a great offensive line coach. I just know that his mentality rubs off on us every day because he's not going to settle for less.'
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans OL Tytus Howard said after Day 2 of training camp
