HEY, IT COULD HAPPEN

The Texans? In the playoffs? Hang out at training camp with Mario Williams as your guide and you'll be a believer too.

Mario Williams is about to step out of a meeting room inside Reliant Stadium when he turns around and waves good night. It's an odd gesture, considering a nearby clock reads 1 p.m. Then again, there are two hours to kill before the Texans' second grueling practice of this scorching August day, and the face of the franchise could really use a few winks.

Williams walks deeper into the stadium's bowels, until he reaches the greenroom that the team normally uses to host VIPs. There the Texans have inflated 50 queen-size mattresses and lined them up from wall to wall, making this dark and cold players-only sanctuary feel like a kid's moonwalk ride. Williams passes kicker Kris Brown, cuddled up with his favorite Nebraska blanket, and heads for the left-hand corner of the room, which is occupied by the defensive line. He plops down on an empty bed, where his 6'7", 291-pound frame swallows up the mattress.

This is the perfect setting for Williams and the Texans. Every NFL season features at least one team that emerges from the shadows to shake up the league hierarchy. Think of the 2007 Browns or the 2006 Saints. And the youthful, brash Texans—coming off a quiet 8–8 season—see themselves as this year's slumbering giant, just waiting in the greenroom for their cue. "People still have their backs turned to us," says Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in 2006, who finished tied for third in the NFL with 14 sacks last year. "So it's time to establish ourselves as a great team."

Not many folks, including Texans fans, would have guessed a year ago that Williams would turn out to be the team's biggest It factor. When the Texans passed over Heisman winner Reggie Bush and Houston native Vince Young in the draft, a host of experts panned the move, while the Houston Chronicle said it "smacks of stupidity." And as a rookie suffering from plantar fasciitis in his right foot, Williams looked lazy, lost and, worst of all, indifferent. It didn't help that the team experimented with him all over the line, including at tackle and as a stand-up pass-rusher. The 2006 Texans finished 6–10 while their $54 million prize managed just 47 tackles and 4.5 sacks.

Everything changed last season. Williams settled in on the right side, where his rare combination of speed on the edge and strength inside prompted Tony Dungy to compare him to Mean Joe Greene. Williams was unblockable over the last two months of the season, rolling up 10 sacks in six games. And though the injury-plagued defense struggled to keep up with the AFC South's furious offenses, it did cut down its points allowed per game from 26.1 in the first half of the season to 21.9 in the second. "Mario's starting to realize that he's one of those special players," says Texans QB Matt Schaub. "He's a guy who elevates everyone around him."

Williams grew up in Richlands, N.C., a tiny, anything-but town where he spent many happy
days playing, hunting and exploring in the woods behind his family's trailer. Following his Pro Bowl snub last season, Williams flew home for a few weeks of chill time. But after three days, he was on a plane headed back to Texas. "For the first time, when I left Houston I felt like I was missing something," he says. "Growing up, I was always extremely happy and at peace in the woods, and that's where I am now with football. When you're the first pick overall, there is a sense of chasing it, the pressure of living up to what you know you can do. I've stopped chasing it. Football is coming to me, and I'm running with it."

Hang out in Texans camp, and you'll find that Williams' vibe is clearly infectious. This is a loose, energetic team with a considerable swagger. Or watch the Texans now, several hours after nap time, during their first night practice of the year. Under a breezy, platinum sky, with Flo Rida on the speakers and the stands packed, they put on a show. Wideout Andre Johnson, a two-time Pro Bowler who missed seven games with a knee injury
in 2007, flawlessly catches passes every which way: off his fingertips, with one hand and, on deep, rainbow bombs, over his shoulder. Linebacker DeMeco Ryans, the NFL's leading tackler since 2006, flashes the kind of jaw-dropping burst to
the ball that would make Ray Lewis jealous. Not to be outdone, Williams twists his Texans baseball cap backward and goes to work. He flashes crazy speed on the corner, bull-rush strength on the inside and refined pass-rush moves that look more like jujitsu than football. Afterward, as Williams makes his way off the field, the team's once fickle fans chant, "M-V-P! M-V-P!"

But Williams never looks back. He just keeps moving forward, faster and faster with each step.

1 THROW-DOWN
If you wander into the Texans locker room and see a 6'5" pile of laundry snoring in the corner, it's probably just Matt Schaub (8) catching a few postpractice winks under some towels and jerseys. The quarterback likes to joke that, at 27, he's an old man in Houston. He'd better play like a wily vet—the Texans face four playoff teams in the first five weeks of the season.

2 TWO OF A KIND
In 2007, Mario Williams (90) and defensive tackle Amobi Okoye (91) led all DE-DT duos with 19.5 sacks. They like to march to the field singing Sam Cooke's classic "Chain Gang." And their close bond and explosive talent have become the Texans' trademark. "Oh, we have It, most definitely," says the 21-year-old Okoye. "We can sense it. We can see it, taste it, smell it. People are going to have to accept the fact that the Texans are here."

3 HEALTHY APPETITE
Last season, the Texans lost 17 players to injured reserve. That included topflight cover corner Dunta Robinson (23), who trashed his right knee during a pileup against Oakland on Nov. 4. Relying on so many backups, however, has given Houston a rarity in the salary-cap era: depth. Robinson, expected to return later this season, was replaced by fourth-round pick Fred Bennett, who led the team with three interceptions and 14 passes defended.

4 YOU'RE GROUNDED
The Texans were wildcatting last year when they put a $23 million contract in Ahman Green's aging hands. After missing 10 games with a knee injury in 2007, the 31-year-old Green (30) pulled up lame with a tweaked groin after one touch in Houston's first preseason game this summer. The vet says he'll be good to go for the season opener. We're not buying. Good thing the team drafted Steve Slaton, an explosive back who excelled in a Texans-style one-cut scheme at West Virginia.

5 READY FOR HIS CLOSE-UP
The Texans D, following Williams' cue, had a perfect attendance record during off-season workouts. In fact, Williams has moved beyond the basic technique drills many young pass-rushers must focus on early in their career. Here, coaches pull back a stick that's attached to a ball to simulate snap after snap, to highlight such details as the height of Williams' lead-hand placement on a blocker's outside shoulder (if it's too high, a blocker can get under his pads and win the battle of leverage).

6 YOUNG AND YOUNGER
Starting left tackle Duane Brown, the team's first-round pick this year, continues the time-honored training camp tradition of carrying in the veterans' equipment. Brown turns 23 on Aug. 30, which means he fits right in with the Texans: Rick Smith, 38, is the youngest GM in the game; Kyle Shanahan, 28, is the NFL's youngest offensive coordinator; the average age of the defensive line is 25; and Pro Bowl linebacker DeMeco Ryans is all of 23.

7 SOAKING IT ALL IN
Two-a-days are as much about bonding as they are about practice. And the Texans do plenty of that. Players from both offense and defense often go to a nearby Chicken Kitchen for lunch. Others hit the weight room for an extra lift (jamming to Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl"). Here, fullback Vonta Leach escapes to the rejuvenating waters of the cold tub. If these guys make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, a lot of credit will belong to the all-for-one energy being generated in camp.

8 WHAT THE $#@! ARE YOU LOOKING AT?
The expletive-filled, Axl Rose-meets-Popeye voice of zone-blocking guru Alex Gibbs (in shorts) has been punctuating NFL practices for 24 years. But in his first season with Houston, he may be facing his biggest challenge yet. The Texans' step-up to the big time hinges on their improving last season's 22nd-ranked rushing offense so the team can dictate tempo, hold leads on the road and keep Mario & Co. fresh and frisky.

9 SIGN OF THE TIMES
Only four of the names on the helmet that Williams autographs for a fan were around when coach Gary Kubiak and Smith took over in 2006. One of them, guard Chester Pitts, says you'd need to use the astronomical measurement of parsecs to gauge just how much the team has changed. Smith, though, is careful to note, "We've got all this wonderful potential, but no one's sitting here with delusions of grandeur. We are all still on the grind."

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