Q. (Question off mic.)
FRANK ROSS: Fine, just a personal day. He'll be right back, a few days.
Q. Frank, when you look at guys like Isaac trying to find their way onto the roster, how (indiscernible)?
FRANK ROSS: Yep, you guys see it every year, new additions to rosters. Even if they're veterans, those guys obviously as they join the group, they're willing to do dirty work, and that's kicking game, that's 4th down. They've done a good job so far at that.
Q. Do you like having those guys (indiscernible)?
FRANK ROSS: To make a complete football team, you want people believing in that right there, absolutely, good question.
Q. Can you talk about Grayland Arnold and Chad Beebe, how they're (indiscernible).
FRANK ROSS: Yep, love the guys that have maybe a height disadvantage. Okay, I come from that world. Got to play a little bit lower, a little twitchier. Those guys are doing a good job so far putting their head down, doing whatever is asked, returning footballs, getting extra work. Feel good about where Beebe and Grayland are so far, yes.
Q. (Indiscernible).
FRANK ROSS: Yeah, wouldn't say it comes out of nowhere from the special teams. I've had my eye on that guy for a while. Definitely an exciting player and hoping everything I can do to get him better. In a good situation he'd be contributing to the Texans special teams.
Q. What are your biggest goals as far as building on what you did last year to get better this year, specifically in the special teams?
FRANK ROSS: Yeah, so when you're talking 16, 17 games, obviously there's going to be games that come out like call it a wash or neutral, and the special teams where yeah, you're sound, didn't get any big returns, a lot of touchbacks, things like that, core execution. We want to take that next step where on a regular basis have opportunities to impact, and when those opportunities arise, capitalize on them a few more times.
When you're playing the course of a long 17-game season, those things will matter, and those small margins, that's the game within a game. Sometimes unnoticed, well, we all see what those playoffs and those later games in last year's NFL came down to, those critical core situations where those impacts ended up being the difference in the end.
Q. What do you think about the stable of return guys you have?
FRANK ROSS: Yeah, that's an open competition. Excited to see who grabs that by the time we get towards week 1, and ball security is the name of the game. Impact afterwards. Let's see who can do it.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
FRANK ROSS: Yep, great, so obviously phenomenal athlete his whole life. Refined, yeah, we've got to get it to that point, where efficiency, catching it right, getting vertical, those types of things that you see the great ones have done, start to train those mechanics, those habits for a young man, and we'll see how high his ceiling can go.
Q. How far away is he from his --
FRANK ROSS: We'll let you know in a few weeks.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
FRANK ROSS: Yep, done a great job of taking the playbook, trying to apply what I'm asking him to do, the calls we're making, but on top of that, the guy can run, so hopefully he's using all of our fundamentals and techniques and then playing with that explosive traits that's in his body when it's time to go out there and make the plays.
Q. What explosive things does a player have to do -- how good does he have to be for you to consider the risks?
FRANK ROSS: That's a great question. You have load management on those guys. We all know the faster twitch or the more movements you use, those high yards, we've got to back those down at times to make sure we prepare those guys for the full load when it comes to a four-quarter game and of course over the duration of the season. So when you're talking about guys that are twitchy, explosive, just overall explosive athletes, you've got to make sure that they're rested to those quick short bursts whenever it may come up. That's a full combination of sports science, that department, and working the training room and things like that, and then measuring how much we can use them in practice as we progress and build towards week one.
Q. (Indiscernible) talked about the veteran consistency and the leadership. How does someone who already knows (indiscernible)?
FRANK ROSS: That's right, man, the higher we can raise the entire room, smarter football IQs for the entire room, higher urgency for the entire room, things like that, that's going to start with the veterans. At some point it would be nice, and it happens for what I believe is a good special teams unit. It happens at some point where I just turn it over: Hey guys, go play ball; you're the ones doing it. And those guys, it's on their ownership. We get to a point like that, it's going to have ourselves to have a good chance.
Q. (Indiscernible) talked about wanting to play on special teams. What does it mean for him to want to play special teams?
FRANK ROSS: Yep, you know, a lot of you guys know where I come from. Got a lot of heart. Want to come play special teams? We're going to find out. It's not my job to see the whole picture. They let me and they require me to have nice tunnel vision on the kicking game. So when you're playing for me, my goal is to have guys and create an atmosphere where there's a lot of want-to, and hopefully that environment is created.
The better we're going to be when guys are wanting and fighting for those reps. Oh, no, hey, I'm in, I'm getting this one, shaking the next guy. Okay, and jumping in line. If we can get that right there, that's culture for the special teams game.
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