When Cal McNair took over daily operations of the Houston Texans, he made sure the team was on the cutting edge. Whether it be due to the betterment of nutrition, scouting, or practice, the Texans became high tech over the 2019 offseason.
One of the focal points of McNair’s future-proofing is the implementation of virtual reality training. Rather than sit in a film room or risk injury going over a game plan, a player can head to a virtual reality room at the team’s campus.
“It’s really pretty cool,” as coach Bill O’Brien told reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s a big wall where the camera gives you basically the picture — not a live picture, but basically a game shot of what the front is, what the coverage,” said O’Brien. “Or if it’s on defense, what the formation is, what the blocking scheme is, what the route is.”
Essentially, the virtual reality is film room — on steroids. If Deshaun Watson needs to gain some looks of a defense or a new play-call, he can do so in first-person instead of the all-22. The most significant difference, however, is that they can act out what they do without breaking a sweat.
“The player stands there in front of it, and somebody is running the clicker, and then the play is run, and then they step to their assignments,” O’Brien explains.
The players love the ability to stay moving while also soaking up valuable film room knowledge.
“The players love it,” said O’Brien. “These guys, they don’t want to sit in meetings all day, and really neither do I … Helping them see it, ‘OK, what do you see here?’ ‘Hey, look at this.'”
The players love it so much, in fact, that the team has added two of the virtual reality training areas.
Welcome to the future.
