McNair and DeMeco Ryans then are of the same min

"If our rookies start acting like they're too big for their britches, we have some pranks for them," center Chris Myers said. "But it's really more annoying than hazing."

When Cowboys rookie receiver Dez Bryant refused to carry veteran Roy Williams' pads, the spotlight was placed on rookie hazing. Rather than have his head shaved and eyebrows waxed like several Cowboys rookies did last week, Texans first-round pick Kareem Jackson said he's fine with carrying pads and having to buy a PlayStation 3 and meals for veterans — treatment he has received in camp.

Texans third-round pick Earl Mitchell probably has received the worst treatment so far.

Mitchell's jersey was submerged in water and frozen. Nearly everything in his locker was wrapped in athletic tape, but he said the pranks don't bother him.

"It's NFL treatment that I can always say I received," Mitchell said. "I'd much rather a few little pranks than not be here at all."

Receiver Trindon Holliday, a sixth-round pick who is 5-5, 160, had his dose of hazing when several veterans joked he was too small for the stationary bikes that injured players ride during practice. The next day, a pink tricycle had Holliday's name and number on it, right next to the stationary bikes. After practice, Holliday was a good sport by getting on the tricycle and letting receiver Jacoby Jones wheel him around.

Ben Tate said dodging the hazing is all about maintaining DeMeco Ryans  respect and keeping a low profile.

"The vets are doing that to those guys because they're not really complying with what they say to do," said the Texans' second-round pick. "I'm doing whatever they say."

Every night during the team meeting, a rookie has to entertain the room. Some sing a song or perform a skit, but Tate did a stand-up comedy routine. He speculated that his jokes were funny enough because he received a warm round of applause.

Others aren't so fortunate.

"If you're not funny, we'll boo you off the stage," tight end Joel Dreessen said.

When Dreessen was a rookie in 2005, he had to sing the fight song of his alma mater, Colorado State. He noted that rookie hazing in the NFL is nothing compared to freshman hazing in college football. He remembered having to play many drinking games and paying for alcohol.

The majority of Texans players agreed college hazing was worse. Some said that being broke college athletes inspired creative pranks, while others blamed immaturity. When second-year center Brett Helms was playing at LSU, he heard horror stories from former teammates who had made the jump to the NFL. But he couldn't imagine treatment being much more cruel than what he received as a freshman. To this day, he doesn't like to discuss it.

"I'll just say it was a lot worse than this and leave it at that," Helms said.

Rookies earn their stripes

Fourth-round pick Darryl Sharpton said he always has his head on a swivel. His mentor, DeMeco Ryans, is the perfect example of how the Texans generally approach hazing with professionalism.

"We never degrade anybody — it's just the way to earn your stripes as a rookie," Ryans said. "Most of our coaches played in the league and went through it, too."

Coach Gary Kubiak said when he was a rookie in 1983, someone threw a smoke bomb at him in the restroom, and he later had to sing the Aggie fight song in front of the team. Defensive line coach Bill Kollar said hazing isn't nearly as bad as it was when he played 30 years ago.

Offensive assistant and Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews said hazing is a necessary evil, like practicing in 90-degree heat during his Oilers days. Along with fellow Hall of Famer Mike Munchak, Matthews would sit all of the rookies in barber chairs and shave shapes into their heads — mohawks and arrowheads were the most popular. A couple of rookies with proudly flowing hair refused the haircut, quit the team and went home to California.

A sign of toughness

"Now, they've sterilized the whole process," Matthews said. "There's a destructive element to rookie hazing, and it can be negative, but it works to strengthen most guys. You want your guys working to make the team, but there's also an element that we need tough guys because it's a tough game.

"If you're going to cave under a little hazing, then you're probably not going to be the guy we need."

When Titans coach Jeff Fisher took over the Oilers in 1994, like many coaches of the modern era, he did away with rookie hazing. But it still exists around the league. Videos on YouTube show Ravens veterans spraying rookies in the face with fire hoses and taping guys in tubs of ice. Chiefs players Saran-wrapped rookies to the goal post and poured ice down their backs.

The Texans are nine days deep into the miseries of training camp, and that also means they are nine days closer to the most important season kickoff in their brief history. The light at the end of this tunnel looks a lot like the Wabash Cannonball. Pardon the mixed metaphor, but the NFL's schedule makers have thrown the Texans a fastball over the middle of the plate by dispatching the AFC defending champions to Houston for the first game.

The Texans can whiff on the pitch, which has been their long-standing habit against Indianapolis — and in recent openers as well — or they can knock it out of the park. While neither result will make or break the season, the monstrous psychological implications of the outcome should be clear to everyone.

If the Texans finally are serious about becoming a playoff team, they know it behooves them to behave like one Sept. 12. And that seemingly should give every camp practice — every rep for that matter — a ramped-up sense of urgency. They have five weeks to ready themselves for Peyton Manning and the Colts, who figure to be in a message-sending mood themselves after their second-half collapse against New Orleans in the Super Bowl.

"That's a good team for us to focus on," right tackle Eric Winston said, "because, hey, let's face it, they've been the top team of this decade. We know where we've got to be to face a team like that."

It's early, and with the unrelenting heat, these are the kinds of days when the forest easily gets lost in the trees. There remains a full slate of four preseason games to be played — the first of them Saturday at Arizona. But it's never too early to start thinking about the Colts.

"Not at all," left tackle Duane Brown said. "We understand what our goal is this year, and that's to make the playoffs. And to make the playoffs, we've got to go through Indy. "
McNair focused, too

Which is what owner Bob McNair wants to hear. The Colts are weighing heavily on his mind.

"That game needs to be our focus," McNair said. "We use (training camp) to get ready, but we want to get ready for Indianapolis. There's no more important game than that one. We've got to be ready. That's a game that can get us started on the right foot . It's exciting for me just to think about it."

McNair and DeMeco Ryans then are of the same mind.

"Our main focus already is on beating Indianapolis," the defensive captain said. "We've got to find a way to beat them, and it starts now."

Head coach Gary Kubiak is trying not to get ahead of himself. Still, he understands why he's already being asked about the Colts.

"Right now, I'm just trying to get through the next practice," Kubiak said. "We have so far to go, and we have a lot of things that have to happen before we play them.

"But we played very poorly on opening day (last year), and it ultimately cost us. So yeah, I've got some things on my mind that I'll want to change from a coaching standpoint as we head into Week 1. It's only natural (to be thinking about the Colts). Our guys know who they open with, how big a challenge that is for us ."

Kubiak is 1-7 with six consecutive losses against Indianapolis after Dom Capers, his predecessor, went 0-8. Kubiak also is 1-3 in openers, the last two of which have been lopsided defeats. The Texans got pounded by the Jets 24-7 on their own turf 11 months ago and then found themselves watching glumly 17 Sundays later as New York claimed the final AFC playoff spot on the last night of the season, winning on the head-to-head tiebreaker with Houston.
Time is now

Strong safety Bernard Pollard hadn't yet signed on with the Texans when the Jets knocked them reeling, so he can't speak to what went wrong. But Pollard was as frustrated as everyone else in the Texans' locker room after their two close losses to the Colts later in the season. Being new to the team doesn't hinder his ability to grasp the gravity of Sept. 12's outcome.