Houston Texans Team Analyst John Harris shares his notes from Day 5 of Texans Camp.

Wednesday was the third day in pads for the Texans but it was a crisp one, especially for the man pulling the trigger. QB Davis Mills had another strong day leading this offense but he wasn’t alone. Buckle up, it’s time for my observations from Wednesday’s workout at the Houston Methodist Training Center. Let’s get it.

The one-on-ones with the WRs and DBs moved down near the goal line where there are nearly as many go-to routes for the WR. And, DBs also know they’ve got that backline as an additional defender. So, it gets tough for everyone down deep and the winner on a route isn’t absolutely clear at all times. It’s the little things that stand out.

Case in point, WR Nico Collins is a guy I’ve written (and talked) a lot about during this training camp. He was aligned against the DB, who had inside leverage. Essentially, the DB lined up with his body down the middle of Nico’s inside shoulder blade. The thought is that with an inside alignment, the WR will choose to run an outside route and the DB can react accordingly. On the snap, he faced up the DB, shook him outside and then crossed his face quickly back to the inside for a nearly uncontested touchdown reception. That shouldn’t happen against inside leverage but Nico made it happen.

The highlight that fans have been waiting for happened during this one-on-one session. Rookie DB Derek Stingley ran the route for WR Johnny Johnson III. Stingley anticipated the route, broke at the same time Johnson III did and came away with an easy interception. Johnson III saw that Stingley had shut the route down, essentially, and didn’t really know what to do. Whoo, that was nice and it broke the TC practice streak for Davis Mills – we had not seen an interception throughout practice since we started watching last Friday. On the first rep between these two, Stingley had excellent coverage, but Johnson III shielded Stingley from the ball and caught it for a touchdown.

WR Chester Rogers was at practice and whoo, he knows how to get…