The Texans practiced outside late Thursday morning at the Houston Methodist Training Center. After, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, defensive coordinator Matt Burke and special teams coordinator Frank Ross met with the media in press conferences at NRG Stadium. Here are a few of the more notable storylines from Thursday.
Injury report
Cornerback Derek Stingley, Jr. didn't participate in Thursday's practice because of a hamstring injury. He was a full participant on Wednesday and not listed on the unofficial injury report.
Linebacker Denzel Perryman, cornerback Tavierre Thomas and safety Jalen Pitre also didn't practice Thursday.
You can read the full injury report HERE.
Stroud load management
Quarterback C.J. Stroud was a full participant in Thursday's practice, after being limited Wednesday with a shoulder injury. Last Friday he was on the unofficial injury report and on Sunday said he played through some pain.
On Wednesday he told the media he feels good.
Slowik, as Deepi Sidhu writes HERE, discussed how the Texans are managing Stroud's workload.
Run game improvement
The Texans are averaging 2.5 yards per carry so far in 2023. Slowik explained how "we all know it needs to be better" and detailed some of the reasons why Houston's struggled on the ground.
"We've got to stop having mental mistakes in the run game," Slowik said. "We've got too many unblocked defenders in the hole. We can scheme up some better plays in some areas. When we get the right looks, we've got to make them explosives. Right now, we're not."
In the first half of the Colts loss, the Houston offense ran it 15 times and threw 15 passes. After the intermission, Stroud threw it 32 times and the Texans had 11 carries. Slowik explained why the Texans went to the air.
"You can only stick with that for so long and you've got to adjust," Slowik said. "We did with some tempo. We did with some of the passing game stuff. That's always going to alleviate a little bit of the pressure on the run game.
