There was no "same old, same old" this week at Texans training camp.
The Atlanta Falcons were in town for a pair of practice days, and the Texans benefitted from the change of scenery at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
"The two days were very productive," Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said. "You could see these guys are professional players, so any time you ratchet it up to a game winning situation both sides of the ball come out there and compete. Atlanta was a great team to work with."
The 32-0 loss to Arizona was in the rearview mirror, according to O'Brien.
"I believe we're a better team than we were three days ago," O'Brien said. "Obviously, we want to go out there on Saturday and play well. But again, it is also the second preseason game, and I think having these two practice sessions against Atlanta really helped our team."
The players agreed.
"Anytime you get to see another team, another scheme, different players, it gives you a chance just to hone in your skills a little bit," defensive end J.J. Watt said. "It tests you and it gives you some new competition."
Rookie offensive lineman Xavier Su'a-Filo, who's played in a few different spots up front this week during practice, said matching up with Atlanta helped spur personal progress.
"Going against different opponents, different team, different defensive coordinator, it helps me out as a young guy to notice different things," Su'a-Filo said.
The Texans will practice on Friday morning and then host the Falcons on Saturday night (ABC-13/KTRK, 7:30 p.m. CT) at NRG Stadium.
