defense.”Watt said he’s excited about Houston’s offseason pickup in safety Tyrann Mathieu, praising the new addition’s value as a teammate and playmaker.“There’s guys all over the place,” Watt said. “We have a chance to

In the not-so-subtle disagreement between Packers coach Matt LaFleur and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers regarding joint practices Jadeveon Clowney Jersey , Rodgers is the winner. As expected.After Thursday’s preseason game against the Texans, LaFleur was asked to address Rodgers’ pointed criticism of joint practices generally and, specifically, the inclusion of close-to-live kickoff drills.After joking that he and Rodgers aren’t on speaking terms after Rodgers spoke publicly about something that should have been handled privately, LaFleur told reporters, “You know what? There’s a lot of things that a lot of players don’t like about training camp.”And then LaFleur basically conceded that Rodgers has a point.“From his perspective, I can understand where he’s coming from in some regard because it’s not like they’re playing, they run about four different coverages, so it’s not overly complicated,” LaFleur said. “It’s not like [Packers defensive coordinator Mike] Pettine throwing everything at you. So, I get it from his perspective. But at the same time Greg Mancz Jersey White , there’s 10 other guys on the field with him on each play, and it was great for us, especially when you talk about our run game getting some different looks to go against. I always respect his opinion, just like I do all our players. But I still think it was beneficial for us.”And then LaFleur basically conceded that, as to the strong criticism of kickoff drills during the joint practice, Rodgers was dead-on balls accurate.“The one thing that I will comment on that I thought that he was dead right on was when you look at the kickoff, they ramped up their intensity level and we didn’t match it,” LaFleur said. “It looked a little, we got it taken to us a little bit. That’s something moving forward I probably wouldn’t do again is those full covered kickoff drills.”All that said, LaFleur should have had to say none of that publicly. Because Rodgers shouldn’t have publicly criticized the coach’s decision to conduct joint practices or the manner in which the joint practices were conducted.It may be hard, given the intensely tribal nature of sports Joel Heath Jersey , for some fans to process this observation as anything but an attack on Aaron Rodgers, but it’s criticism that is warranted and deserved. If Rodgers or any other quarterback has a concern about any decision(s) that his coach has made, the best way to handle it is to handle it privately. Any coach of any team at any level would agree with that.Really, any manager of any business of any kind in any location would agree with that. Concerns about decisions made by the manager shouldn’t be aired out publicly, and any manager who gets called out publicly by one of the employees he manages will, if being candid, admit to being frustrated. HOUSTON (AP) — Nearly 11 months from his most recent NFL game, Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt isn’t hiding his eagerness to get back on the field.The three-time Defensive Player of the Year hasn’t played since he suffered a broken left leg against Kansas City in Week 5 last season. The prior year, he missed the final 13 games of the 2016 season with a back injury that required surgery.With his recent string of injuries, Watt said he has one major objective if coach Bill O’Brien lets him play in the team’s dress-rehearsal game against the Rams in Los Angeles on Saturday night.“I want to come out healthy,” Watt said. “I want to be able to go on the field and then come back off the field.”Sounds simple enough D.J. Reader Jersey White , right?When the Texans selected pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft to complement Watt, the duo was expected to menace quarterbacks for years to come.Four seasons later, however, the two have played in just 25 of 64 games together as Clowney dealt with injuries early in his career and Watt has struggled to stay on the field the past two years.This summer, Watt has been active in practice and has shown glimpses of what made him great in four consecutive Pro Bowl seasons from 2012 to 2015. Last year, despite the injuries, he made his impact off the field, raising more than $37 million for Hurricane Harvey relief. The accolades continued to roll in this offseason when he picked up the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year as well as the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year honors for 2017.Now nearly a year removed and feeling healthy, Watt has plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the 2018 season.“This year has been a lot better than last year,” Watt said. “Last year, we were up there (for training camp in West Virginia) for three weeks http://www.thetexanslockerroom.com/authentic-nick-martin-jersey , then we were in New Orleans, and then we were stuck in Dallas with the hurricane. Just about anything is better than last year. This has been a good camp so far and we’re excited to have a strong finish.”The Texans went back to West Virginia again this summer, but only for two weeks before returning to Houston for joint practices against San Francisco. O’Brien — who has been mum on Watt’s status for Saturday — said Watt looked good in the practices against the 49ers.Clowney, who missed most of the offseason and training camp in his recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery in January, returned to practice on Monday.Practicing alongside Watt again, Clowney is just as optimistic about the defense helping the Texans bounce back from a 4-12 record last season.“The sky is the limit for this defense,” Clowney said. “We just have to come to play like we do — week in and week out and try and stay healthy. If we stay healthy, I don’t see much bad going wrong with this defensive line and this secondary we put together. I’m excited about this team and this defense.”Watt said he’s excited about Houston’s offseason pickup in safety Tyrann Mathieu, praising the new addition’s value as a teammate and playmaker.“There’s guys all over the place,” Watt said. “We have a chance to be a very good defense, but it’s up to us to go out there and execute and do it. It’s easy to look on paper and say we’re going to be good Andre Hal Jersey White , but it’s another thing to go out there and perform.”While Watt might be chomping at the bit to get a taste of game action on Saturday, he said as a pass rusher, he doesn’t have any specific reintroductions to the game such as a receiver getting hit for the first time or a linebacker making the first tackle after a lengthy absence.“I mean, I’m not sure I need to get pancake-blocked or anything like that,” Watt said with a grin. “You just want to hit the pads. You want to try and make a tackle and get back up. You have to get up, get back in line and try to make another play.”