Houston Texans training camp has gotten underway at the team facility at NRG Stadium with the club heavily enforcing social distancing measures.
The team meets in their practice bubble, chair six feet apart, with coach and general manager Bill O’Brien standing in front of a makeshift video screen, inculcating them in the Texan way with a microphone and wearing a mask.
After practice is over, players can get away from the obsessive compulsive disorder germophobia and go back to normal at home and with their friends and loved ones.
Wrong.
In an interview with Albert Breer of MMQB.com, the seventh-year coach has had to emphasize to his players that the club’s strict social distancing measures need to still be practiced even away from the facility as Houston is a hot spot in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of our major things here is to make sure our players know that, and to calm their nerves a little bit, let them know we have a very clean facility and that the big key is that when they leave the facility, they can’t really go out to eat,” O’Brien said. “They’ve gotta go home and they’ve gotta educate their families on how important it is to stay safe and stay healthy.”
The key for the Texans is to stay disciplined outside of the facility, a feat which O’Brien believes can be the case for his team. After all, if the Texans start suffering COVID-19 outbreaks, it could affect the whole season as Houston kicks off 2020 on Sept. 10 at Arrowhead Stadium versus the Kansas City Chiefs.
“The team that can leave the building and understand, ‘Hey man, for six months, can’t go out, can’t go to bars, can’t do the things that maybe I usually would do, even a Thursday night dinner,'” O’Brien said. “You’re going to have to be as disciplined as you can be when it comes to that. I feel really good about our team. We have a very, very professional team.”
If the Texans can stay healthy and safe during training camp, it will also give them a chance to reinforce their continuity and integrate new pieces.
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