There was plenty of intensity on Wednesday when the Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers met in the first of two joint practices before
this weekend's preseason game.
A little too much in fact
Authentic Jaden Schwartz Jersey , with Houston receiver DeAndre Hopkins and 49ers safety Jimmie Ward being kicked out of practice after getting into a
scuffle on the first play of receiver drills.
Ward got under the helmet of Hopkins and knocked it off as he was covering him before Hopkins made the catch on a pass thrown by Deshaun Watson.
The two then began pushing each other and some punches were thrown, though none of them landed, and the pair was soon on the ground surrounded by
teammates, including Richard Sherman, appearing to try and break things up.
Order was quickly restored and both players left the practice field.
The incident came after both coaches told their players that such behavior in these practices would have consequences.
"We made it very clear that if anyone throws punches or you do anything that would get you ejected in the game, you'll be done with practice," San Francisco
defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said.
Houston coach Bill O'Brien wasn't as keen on talking about the fracas as Saleh, but did have a terse response to what he thought about it.
"It's ridiculous," he said. "Just have to move on."
O'Brien wasn't the only one that didn't have much to say about it.
"Just competition," Watson said. "That's all I'm really going to speak on that."
Saleh was disappointed that it happened for a variety of reasons.
"It's a missed opportunity on a bunch of levels," he said. "One, you don't get to face a guy like Hopkins. But it's a trickle-down effect because now other
people have to pick up Jimmie's reps and I'm sure on their side receivers had to
pick up for Hopkins. So, it's something that they've got to be aware of. It's a
real thing. If you get ejected in the game, it's a trickle-down effect all the
way through."
Despite losing his top receiver before he could get much work done, Watson thought practicing against another team was valuable for him as he makes his
return after missing the last half of last season with a knee injury.
"Just find some new ways to get better," he said. "Seeing different looks, going against different competition
Eric Staal Jersey , different guys that are showing different techniques and just try to improve as an offense and build our chemistry going against other
guys."
O'Brien said he didn't want to evaluate Watson's work on Wednesday before reviewing the film, but did say that he's been impressed with how he's worked
every day during camp.
"Training camp's really hard," O'Brien said. "You don't know what you're going to see. You have to apply your rules play-in and play-out. I think he does
a great job of that. He thinks about the game, does a really good job at the
line of scrimmage. I'm really happy he's our quarterback."
Also, on Wednesday, 49ers rookie receiver Dante Pettis had a special guest as his dad and Houston Astros third base coach Gary Pettis watched practice before
heading downtown for his team's game against the Colorado Rockies.
The elder Pettis said he was excited to watch his son work, but disappointed that he'd be out of town with the Astros for his game against the Texans on
Saturday night.
The visit came a day after his son donned some Astros gear and took batting practice at Minute Maid Park before Tuesday night's game.
Though Dante, who was a second-round pick in this year's draft, is now a professional football player, he showed plenty of baseball skill on Tuesday when
he hit multiple homers during batting practice.
"Put on a little bit of a show," he said with a smile.
It’s rookie Cedi Osman’s turn to start at point guard for the Cavaliers. Just about everyone else
has gotten a chance.
With guards Jose Calderon and George Hill out with injuries, Osman will make his first career start at guard on Thursday night when the Cavs host the
Washington Wizards. Osman has made nine previous starts this season, but all
were at small forward.
The 6-foot-8 native of Turkey follows Calderon, Hill, LeBron James, Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert and Isaiah Thomas to the point this season. Cleveland has
been besieged by injuries and coach Tyronn Lue
Olivier Rodrigue Oilers Jersey , who is back after missing nine games due to health reasons, is using his 29th different starting lineup against
Washington.
Calderon has given Cleveland a huge lift lately, but he’s dealing with a sore left hamstring. Hill will miss his third straight game with a sprained left
ankle. Calderon took part in the team’s shootaround on Thursday, but was later
ruled out by the Cavs.
Lue could have started Jordan Clarkson at point, but he prefers to have him come off the bench. Lue had another option in James, who typically brings the
ball up anyway.
”We wanted to try and keep him (Clarkson) in the same role, just coming off the bench and being aggressive offensively,” Lue said. ”We’ll see. I like Cedi
out there for some of the matchups defensively. We’ll just kind of see what
happens.”
And as he gets the Cavs ready for the playoffs and another run at the Finals, Lue said he has settled on starting Jeff Green at forward alongside James with
Kevin Love at center.
”I just like his versatility,” Lue said of the 6-foot-9 Green, who is in his first season with Cleveland. ”I think defensive wise we can put him on (DeMar)
DeRozan, you can put him on John Wall, Bradley Beal. You can put him on (Victor)
Oladipo. I just like that we can switch a lot of 1 through 4 stuff and it gives
us another ball handler on the floor too, so I just think it’s the right thing
for us to start.”
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