DAVID CULLEY: Here today with youth leagues from all over the Houston area it was good to have them here and I tell you a little story about that that it reminded me of and now mentioned something to our team coming out this morning.
When I was coming up, I had a situation where I played youth football but where I come from back during the day it was called Blue Jacket Football. I remember going out, the first time I went out, I actually quit. I quit after getting hit one time, and I can remember that I went home and I went for about two days and my dad didn't know I quit and first thing he said was, we don't quit anything. We start something, we finish it.
So he sent me back out there. They never let me play again that year because I quit but I learned a valuable lesson about that and when I saw those youth guys out there today, I talked to them before the practice today and that was one thing that resonated in me about those guys, life lessons, football, which is the best team sport in all of sports, that lesson that I learned from that, and it was good to have them here today.
Q. Can you talk about what happened with Tyrod?
DAVID CULLEY: Tyrod was excused for personal reason, family reason. We talked about that.
Look, obviously we don't interceptions in practice, but it happens. But I thought it was great reps for me and Jeff both today. You know, that's what you've got to do. You've got to get there in the wars and they got the reps.
The thing about those two today is it was a red zone today and red zone day, everything is tight, everything happens in a hurry and then for a rookie, you know, I mean, things happen quickly and they were getting after it today, especially in our team period. I thought they handled themselves well. We got what we expected and we'll go back and watch the video and make corrections. And that was great work. And that's what training camp is all about.
Q. The quarterbacks, what are some of the challenges unique?
DAVID CULLEY: First of all in the red zone, everything happens quicker than out on the field. Everything happens quicker. It's so much faster. The adjustments right now happen so quick that you have to react. You don't have time to think about things and when you don't have a lot of experience, that's the one thing you'll see, and I think on one of the interceptions that we had in practice today, it was just a late thing just because of that.
Q. Do you expect Tyrod back on Monday?
DAVID CULLEY: Yes, he will be back.
Q. How many players --
DAVID CULLEY: When it felt great and for it to be youth football people back here. It was great.
Actually I talked about again, there was a little buzz when we came out to practice. It was almost like, oh, man, it's almost like we're playing a game. And believe it or not in practice when we get into those seven-on-sevens and those time periods, those guys feel that. And then you feel the crowd, a touchdown or a pass called for a great play and one-on-ones today -- I was on the other end but I could hear it. Obviously it's a great play for the Texans because if it was a touchdown or interception, they was cheering on both ends.
Q. On defense today -- flying around -- are you starting to see more and more from them?
DAVID CULLEY: That's what we expect from them. That's a Lovie Smith defense. That's been the hallmark of how his defense has always today. The thing today was the flying around was in such a short, short area of the field because of where we're at but they are doing what we expect to do.
But I tell you what happened today. That right there makes our offense have a sense of urgency because of the way they played and that just makes us better because you kind of get to see the speed of the game, the way it's going to be when you're actually out on the war and we're getting that every day from those guys.
Q. When you watch and learn --
DAVID CULLEY: He's a gifted player. Obviously when he got brought here, he got brought here for a reason. He's one of the top players in this league at his position. He's doing in training camp, along with that entire offensive line, exactly what we expect him to be doing right now. He and Justin have kind of been leaders for that group, which has been great. It's been good to see that.
Q. Talk about how --
DAVID CULLEY: Well, the thing is, we're moving those guys around. We want to see them again. In training camp, going trough training camp, we told those guys up front, we're going to have you all over the place. We've got to be able to see. And so basically you've got to be able to play multi-positions to do what we need to get done up there with those guys, and they are doing that.
Basically we do that to kind of see what's the best fit for them and the only way to see what's the best fit is to put them there and let them do that. Once we get in pads and start to see after a few days, we'll know what's best for them. We're still in the ramp up right now. We have one more day of ramp up on Monday and after that we get to play some football.
Q. What about Mark?
DAVID CULLEY: Mark's a proven player in league, not only a proven player, he's a leader. He brings it every day. He's the same guy every day. Sometimes I like to, because I've been with him for two years at another place, and I sometimes like to feel like when he's in practice, he's an extension of me because he brings it every day. He knows what I'm all about. He knows what we want to get done here. You know, he brings that every day, and I appreciate that from him.
Q. Justin on the practice field, what does that say about Justin?
DAVID CULLEY: Again, he's a football player. He flies around out there. He's back there in that free safety position and the point is he sees everything. He's back there for a reason. The first day of practice he showed up and the first day of practice when he showed up, if we had done the things the right way it would have been a touchdown over the back of his head, so I reminded him about that.
But that's the kind of player he is. A guy that's going to make plays and be around the ball, and that's good to see.
Q. How is Davis Mills --
DAVID CULLEY: He's adjusting well and today was a really good test for him and Jeff in practice going through the red zone because things happening so quick and so fast and we're in that tight confine, and the way our defense is running around and playing around there, it's great for him. It's a great learning experience for him, and that's quarterbacks.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports ....
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports