Head coach Bill O'Brien put his stamp on the Texans voluntary veteran minicamp this week in a most unexpected way.
He brought his personal playlist of music. During practice, held outside Reliant Stadium, speakers blasted everything from Rihanna to Jason Aldean to Journey.
"It's my iPod," O'Brien said after practice on Wednesday. "I like a lot of different types of music: country, rap, all kinds of music. I just make sure that it's very respectful, clean music because I don't always know all the words so I have to listen very carefully or have one of the younger guys listen to it for me. That's my music, some guys are complaining about it."
O'Brien's playlist may be arbitrary but the reason behind instituting it was not. He first got the idea of playing music during practice from his days at New England as offensive coordinator under Bill Belichick. O'Brien continued the practice at Penn State.
"The main reason I do it is to force communication," O'Brien said. "It's not about having fun out here at recess. It's about forcing guys to communicate. The coaches aren't out behind them during the game."
An added bonus is the extra energy that music brings to O'Brien's practices. Chris Myers felt the energy level and tempo was positive during the first two days of minicamp. As for the music, he called the range very eclectic and well-rounded.
View photos from Day 2 of Voluntary Veteran Minicamp.
"I'm a guy that likes all types of genres too so that's impressive." Myers said.
