This article is adapted from a conversation between Texans Radio's Marc Vandermeer and John Harris following the Texans and Panthers joint practice on August 15.

Preview: Texans vs Panthers Joint Practice Recap

Marc: Welcome to the program. Marc Vandermeer, John Harris with you coming off the fields of the Houston Methodist Training Center where the Texans had a joint practice with the Carolina Panthers, and it was so lovely out. Just a thrilling great weather, Greenbrier type day. No, of course that's not true. It was hotter than the surface of the sun today as the Texans and Panthers engaged in football activities, but it was great to watch another team on the field.

And it's kinda freaky, Johnny, when you see other uniforms on your practice field. I love what N.D. Kalu told us the other day, which was it's one thing when they're on your game field, you kind of expect that. When they're when they're on your practice field, you wanna defend your turf.

John: Mhmm. You want to get that edge. Get them off of your home field. This is where you live every day. There's something special about that, and you wanna protect it.

Marc: Yeah. Absolutely. And that's really the way it starts, and then it's 90-something degrees. And then you're like, let me just let me just survive! I wanna make as many plays as possible, but let me let me just survive this.

John: I would say this: For a lot of people that think a) that the Panthers are the team that Texans should just roll up on and just knock them out with a couple easy punches - that is a well-coached football team. They've gotten better and better. I feel like offensively, I said this the other night, that offensive line is stout.

Taylor Moton and Ikem Ekwonu. I saw Ikem in the hallway, and I said, man, I love how far you've come in two years, man, it's incredible to watch you. I said, keep it up. Brady Christensen has developed too. They went and got Damian Lewis and Robert Hunt in free agency going into '24, and that line works very well together.

Marc: And their receiving pieces are good, and Chuba Hubbard's a really good running back. I think the offense is gonna be much better.

I thought the offense, the Texans offense, though, had a lot of success against the Panthers defense. The Panthers didn't have Jaycee Horn, but they did have Derrick Brown back. But the are hurting at linebacker.

John: I feel like the Panthers defense needs a couple edge guys to step up and really stand out. But the offense had a couple of bogged down moments in the red zone, but then when they got to the two minute drill at the end of practice - forget it. C.J. [Stroud] went right down the field, touchdown Christian Kirk. Davis Mills came on a field, right down the field, touchdown. I'm trying to remember who he threw that to.

Marc: [John] Metchie maybe? I think it was. I can't remember totally, but the two minute drives were telling.

John: I mean, they did they did whatever they wanted to. But, again, the thing about it is, Marc, the pass protection continues to be really, really good.

Marc: Really good. And that is a great sign. And it wasn't always the the front five that we saw at the Greenbrier. There were a couple guys that were different, but what's been consistent is 79. Tytus Howard has been consistent, and all the work against Will Anderson Jr. have made him a better player day after day.

John: Well, one thing I like is we look at this game coming up Saturday as it relates to what you just saw in joint practices, and DeMeco Ryans told me this: I felt like last week, the scrimmage at the Greenbrier followed by the Vikings game, it was like one big file of information.

The joint practice with the Panthers and whatever happens Saturday is like a gigantic collective file of information that they're gonna go through. And it's also spread out over three days, because they have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, but you have game adjustments going on.

Marc: Yep. On the fly.

John: You're facing a different front than you're accustomed to. And it's great work for the offense and the guys on the offensive line and C.J. Stroud to communicate and block everything properly.

And man, was C.J. throwing some dimes in practice. There's some definite dimes. The one to Christian Kirk in red zone at the end. It was a two minute situation. Ended up in the red zone.

Marc: Brilliant. Yeah. They got that in red zone. Yep. A laser It was brilliant.

John: Beautiful throw by C.J. Stroud. There was one red zone period, just purely red zone, where we didn't see Nico. And I'm thinking, where's twelve? And we're having trouble getting in getting into the end zone. Nico checks back in. Boom. Touchdown.

Marc: Yep.

John: Good night, everybody. Mic drop.

Bryce Young did make some throws. You know? He made some throws. Joint practice, you get your head on a swivel.

I'm looking left. I'm looking right. I'm hoping they're in scrimmage play over here, pause, scrimmage play over there, back to this side, back to that side. Sometimes they were Like a tennis match, you're just looking back and forth and back and forth. And sometimes they were doing things at the same time, which sucked.

I was like, can you guys wait a minute? Offense. Hold on. They didn't stop for me.

Marc: They did not. Bryce threw some dimes. He he hit Xavier Legette a few times. He made a couple of big plays, and that's where the Texans secondary gets to go against a really physical dude. Xavier walked by us, and we're just like... whoa. Big dude. He's got muscles on top of his muscles.

But it was it was good work on both sides. You know, it's one of those things where I think the last couple years we joined practices, it was, oh, okay. We're going against the Dolphins. Oh, we gotta prove ourselves. We gotta prove you know?

I think today was really about getting work against a different NFL team. Yeah. And I felt like the Panthers were a perfect squad because I think they've come a long way with Dave Canales as Head Coach and Dan Morgan at GM.

Alright, that's all from us - see you at the game on Saturday, Texans fans!