HOUSTON — The Texas heat is no joke.

The Detroit Lions and Houston Texans held their first of two joint practices Wednesday and it was a far cry from what we've seen the last two-plus weeks in Allen Park.

Not from a work standpoint. Lions coach Matt Patricia and Texans coach Bill O'Brien come from the same Patriots coaching tree, so the structure and tempo of practice is a lot like what the Lions have done all along.

But as for the conditions the Lions and Texans practiced in, well, to call it sweltering is to be kind.

I checked my phone a couple times during practice and the temperature was hovering right around 92 degrees with a heat index of 104. Many players tried their best to stay in the shade, under an awning between fields, at the start of practice, though the weather didn't seem to affect anyone during drills.

There was a small breeze at times that made practice tolerable, and the Texans do have an enclosed cooling station, a freezer-like facility with benches, behind the end zone of one of their three fields to lower a player's body temperature if needed.

But credit to the Lions for a) being in shape enough to make it through practice without issue, and b) preparing for the weather well in advance of their trip to Houston.

Patricia said he spent time Saturday talking to players about their hydration and food needs too, and he talked "a lot" with O'Brien about how to prepare his team for the weather.

"We’ve tried to stress that through the last 48 hours or so through the travel – obviously getting on the plane, that dehydrates you, too," Patricia said. "Our sports science staff, our trainers, our doctors, they are really on top of it from that standpoint. We’ll go through practice and see how it goes and the big thing for us will be really how we recover tonight, this afternoon, and getting ready for another day of it tomorrow."

The Lions, who've practiced in temperatures in the 70s and 80s for most of camp, open the regular season a little over three weeks from now in Arizona against the Cardinals. And while it's not yet known if the roof at University of Phoenix Stadium will be open for that game, practicing in Houston can only help prepare the Lions for the heat they'll feel in Arizona.

Patricia and O'Brien discussed joint practices long before the regular-season schedule came out and the Lions knew where they'd be Week 1, but Patricia said over the weekend that the Lions were "fortunate" the schedule worked out the way it did.

"It’s not a bad thing from that standpoint," Patricia said. "Probably I think for me in general, wherever we opened up Week 1, it was just a great opportunity to work with someone that I know really well and kind of runs a similar operation from a standpoint of what’s required and how we need to practice and all that. I like the added part of the heat, just in general, regardless of where we play because I think it obviously helps the conditioning aspect of your team. To get down in some heat I think is good for everybody. To try to experience that and push through it and try to make us better."

More observations from Wednesday's practice:

• Several injured Lions did not make the trip to Houston, including defensive tackle Da'Shawn Hand and quarterback Tom Savage. Savage, of course, is dealing with a concussion, but I'm told Hand will be back at some point from the arm injury that's sidelined him most of camp. I wouldn't hold my breath that he'll be back for Week 1, but Hand had a good rookie season and the fact that he'll be on the field this fall is good news for a Lions team that's deep on the defensive line.

• Marvin Jones, Jarrad Davis, Tyrell Crosby and John Atkins were others who did not practice Wednesday, and I didn't see Danny Amendola doing much of anything in team drills. Chris Lacy and undrafted rookie Tom Kennedy got snaps with the first-team offense in place of Jones and Amendola.

• Kennedy has some really good short-area burst, but he's had an uneven training camp (and spring) since signing. Drops were a problem when we saw him in the spring, and he's had trouble getting off jams as a gunner on special teams, but he showed his ability to separate in one-on-one drills Wednesday when he first looked like he beat Briean Boddy-Calhoun deep, then stopped on a dime to lose the cornerback on a comeback route.

• With Crosby out, Kenny Wiggins continued to work with the second-team offensive line at right tackle on Wednesday, and Joe Dahl and Graham Glasgow got first-team reps at guard. I didn't see one-on-one pass-rush drills because of where I was situated on the field, but I saw the Lions and Texans working blocking against combo pass rushes later in practice and the Lions more than held their own in that drill.

J.J. Watt gave Rick Wagner some trouble with a speed rush, but the Lions' first-team line won its other two snaps (against defensive line stunts). On the second-team, I thought Wiggins and Oday Aboushi traded off pass rushers well, while Andrew Donnal got too wide against Whitney Mercilus.

• The Lions did have a rough couple of offensive snaps in a team period earlier in practice. Decker appeared to get beat on two straight plays for potential sacks, once by Mercilus and once by (I think) Brennan Scarlett. Matthew Stafford's pass to Ty Johnson on the third snap was broken up by former Central Michigan safety Jahleel Addae, then Kerryon Johnson made a nice catch on a wheel route on the fourth snap against another Texans defensive back.

• Johnson, by the way, is going to be a monster on that wheel route this year. He's got nice hands and is a mismatch for linebackers down the sideline.

• When the second-team offense came in that same period, things didn't go a whole lot better. Center Luke Bowanko was called for a false start when officials said he flinched the ball, and Patricia made him run a lap. The Texans broke up another pass a few plays later at the line of scrimmage.

• DeAndre Hopkins made the play of the day Wednesday, catching a ball in the back of the end zone from the seat of his pants against Darius Slay. Both the throw, which appeared to go through Quandre Diggs' arms, and the catch were close to impossible. Slay said he considers Hopkins one of the two best receivers in the NFL, and that play showed why.

• Tracy Walker had a interception in red-zone work for the Lions a few plays before Hopkins' impressive catch, and the Lions had a nice offensive showing in red-zone drills as Johnson broke a big run up the middle for a would-be touchdown and T.J. Hockenson used his big body to shield off a Texans defender for a nice catch.

• These two teams go at it again tomorrow, before an off day Friday and Game 2 of the preseason Saturday.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Read more on the Detroit Lions and sign up for our Lions newsletter.