I have been doing this a long time, and I have never seen a day at the team shop like Tuesday.
Johnny got there first. He came in off a doctor's appointment, slid through the side entrance, and found a store he did not recognize. "I saw people double fisted with like five hangers of stuff in one hand, four or five hangers of stuff in the other hand," he told me. "They'd grab one of the new Rivalries white helmets in there underneath their arms. Like they just loaded up with stuff, jerseys. I've never seen a day like that at the store."
The line ran the length of the plaza. Ten registers going. Security metering people in two and three at a time as others walked out with arms full. I got over there mid-morning myself, picked up the H-Town long sleeve dry fit and a few other things, and mostly just stood around saying hello to people who had been waiting since before the doors opened.
Here is what struck me. Johnny said it best: "I've never had so many people comment to me, casual fans comment to me, about how much they love these uniforms." That is not a normal reaction to a uniform release. That is a city recognizing itself.
And it is going to show up sooner than Week 11. Liberty White kickoff is a week from Sunday against Buffalo, fans are encouraged to wear white, and the Rivalries gear is white. Johnny's read: "There's no way to prevent this from being an unofficial Rivalries gear day." I think he is right.
The football side gave us plenty too. Nick Caserio met with the media and confirmed T Braden Smith and Sam Hagen are headed to injured reserve, with TE Brevin Jordan and DE Dominique Robinson re-signed into those spots. Caserio does not think about it as a 53 at all. "We don't view it as 53," he said. "We view it as 69, 70 players and everybody's available essentially to play each week." The practice squad, in his words, is stocked with "legit NFL players that we feel at some point if they had to go out there and play, like we feel comfortable putting them on the field."
Then he said the thing. Asked about G Keylan Rutledge, Caserio called him probably Houston's best offensive lineman. Johnny had been saying that for weeks on our show. He has watched every one-on-one and every padded rep from field level, and he saw it early.
"He's not the finished product," Johnny said. "He's going to get better. He's a rookie. He's going to make some rookie errors. But man, oh man, he's ramping up very quickly to be that guy."
Twelve days. Wear white.
