Thursday was a rough day, not just in the world, but in sports, mainly because of what had transpired in the world.
Feeling the effects of the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the NBA continued its second day of boycotting playoff games, the NHL followed suit, Major League Baseball similarly postponed games, and some NFL teams did not practice.
There were talks earlier in the week of the Thursday night scrimmage at NRG Stadium being postponed due to Hurricane Laura. By Thursday, it was a hurricane of emotions that swept through the country.
According to Houston Texans coach and general manager Bill O’Brien, there were discussions on Thursday morning of nixing the scrimmage, even though they were in the clear from the storm.
“You know, not every player; it’s impossible to talk to every single player,” O’Brien told reporters after the scrimmage. “It’s just hard to do that with 80 players. But you know, a group of players felt like at the end of the day it was important to get this in tonight and keep building as a team and then also have the discussion about what to do relative to, like I’ve said, trying to put some action into place that they think is good and rewarding.”
The Texans needed the work. They have just two weeks until the regular season kicks off Sept. 10 at Arrowhead Stadium versus the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions, who trounced Houston 51-31 en route to the title.
“I think we have a team that’s mature when it comes to those things and knows when to really focus on football, which they did tonight,” said O’Brien. “I thought we got a lot of things done in the scrimmage and as you guys saw, probably that were in the stands, they are talking and they are thinking about things that they can do to really put some things into action.”
After the scrimmage, receiver Kenny Stills and safety Michael Thomas, two NFL superstars when it comes to social justice advocacy, spoke with the team. However, it wasn’t just Stills and Thomas who talked to the team; the team’s on-field stars in defensive end J.J. Watt and quarterback Deshaun Watson also addressed the team.
Said O’Brien: “We have a lot of guys that are very thoughtful, a lot of guys that have a lot of empathy, that care about the country, that care about a lot of things other than football, but they also are very focused on being as good of a football player as they can be. I think we got a lot accomplished today. I thought it was a good day for our team.”
The Texans need to come together as a team to face the challenges on and off the field. The team has been unbreakable at this point in training camp and has been exemplary off the field in keeping COVID-19 out of the building. The Texans seek to move as one unit off the field in other endeavors to affect change in society.
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