FanHouse Rashad Butler

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

How many years were the Arizona Cardinals picked to finally have their breakout year? It seems like they were the dark horse pick to have a playoff run every offseason. But since they went to the Super Bowl last year, they can't be that sneaky hot team any more.

Maybe the Texans take over that spot. Their franchise has never had a winning season, and the last two 8-8 seasons have only resulted in higher expectations. Houston's offense ranks about the same as the Cardinal offense, their special teams is better and their defense worse. The Texans are trying to fix that bad defense by replacing a number of coaches on that side of the ball.

I love going to training camp. I see a bunch of friends, and it means that the season is around the corner. It also means that we start seeing breathless speculating accounts of who is doing what in camp, but you know, it is just practice in shorts.

You really can't tell much watching a team practice versus reading about it. Often all you can really see is the excitement of the fans, and what sort of condition players appear to be. But most of all, it is an excuse for the team to talk football, so you get that.

So with such caveats in place, this will be my Texans training camp report from the practice fields across from Reliant Stadium with picture goodness. To get the best information from the coaches and players, I strongly suggest checking out the HoustonTexans.com camp quotes and Texans TV.

And to see better pictures than mine, please check out Andy Martin's pictures at TexansBullPen.com. I am no good with action shots, and the one nice one I had of a Schaub to Johnson pass, I accidentally deleted. Grrrr.

According to the Day 2 Training Camp transcript, wide receiver Andre Johnson is reporting no pain with his knee at all, and from my eye, looked like his normal abnormally fit self:

Here's the recap from the Texans website, the Bucs website and the AP version. You can see the game highlights here.

Yesterday, I was fortunate to sit behind the Texans bench, and I thought I might be able to give you a few game day observations and photos you won't find anywhere else (from mostly a Texans' perspective given my vantage point).

Quarterbacks

The game was a battle of the backup quarterbacks with Sage Rosenfels for the Texans and Luke McCown for the Bucs getting the starts due to injuries to the starters.

It is no surprise to Texans fans that Sage Rosenfels can move the ball, even against some good defenses. His aggressiveness sometimes gets him in trouble, but the Bucs weren't able to capitalize enough on the sacks and fumbles. This picture below shows the medical staff attending to Rosenfels chin after one of the sacks.