2012 Houston Texans

[Don Wassall]

Adam Schefter is reporting that Houston is trying to trade Jacoby Jones after drafting WR "DeVier" Posey in the third round, who like Jones can return kicks. If that happens, it will help ensure that Kevin Walter keeps his starting job this season. The DWFs have been clamoring for Jones to replace Walter for five years now, but other than an occasional "athletic" play, Jones has hands of stone and makes lots of stupid mistakes. If Walter keeps his starting job it'll be a bright spot on a team that seems to be going all or almost all sumo on the o-line.

Gotta wonder also whether first round pick Whitney Mercilus will be used opposite J.J. Watt as an end or as a pass rushing OLB. If it's the latter then Brooks Reed will likely be the big loser despite excelling as a rookie in 2011. Is Houston following Green Bay's example from last season and trying to avoid the "embarrassment" of not being sufficiently black dominated despite their success in '11?

 

[bearclaw500]

Former nose tackle Seth Payne describes Jared Crick as being a stand-out during OTA's in Houston. He also said he seemed to be in great shape and was more explosive than he originally thought.

http://old.houstontexans.com/news/PodcastCentral2.asp?AUTO=Y&EID=2123

 

[backrow]

from rotoworld:

Connor Barwin notes that fellow Texans OLB Brooks Reed is the "strongest guy on the team, probably, right now" after a "great offseason."

There's a perception around the league that offenses will figure out Reed after one season and that he would be exploited against the run. His playoff performance tells a different story. Reed tied teammate J.J. Watt for the NFL lead in postseason sacks with 3.5 while recording 13.5 tackles as an edge-setting run defender in two games. "With another year under his belt, the sky's the limit for him," says Barwin.

 

[TwentyTwo]

Early projections have the Texans starting 10 whites. 5 on offense & 5 on defense...most of you already know this...if Meyers shifts to Guard & rookie Center Ben Jones starts it could be 11??

QB-Matt Schaub
FB-James Casey
WR-Kevin Walter
TE-Owen Daniels
OL-Chris Meyers

NT-Shaun Cody
DE-J.J. Watt
OLB-Connor Barwin
ILB-Brian Cushing
OLB-Brooks Reed

Still we await a 53-man roster where 27 players are white...the O-Line has the Texans lagging; esp. with just one projected starter on the O-Line + not even a WSTD in the secondary...

WR-Kevin Walter...6'-3" 217 already in his 10th year? Firmly entrenched as a starter; his contributions don't always show up in the stats..one of the best blocking recievers in the NFL!

TE-Owen Daniels..one of Shaub's favorites; had 54 receptions

FB-James Casey 6'-3" 243...is a dangerous threat; can play Tailback; hopefully he stays healthy

DE-J.J. Watt 6'-5" 288...made All Rookie team

OLB-Connor Barwin 6'-4" 264...led team in Sacks; good vs Run

ILB-Brian Cushing 6'-3" 248...the teams Best defender??

OLB-Brooks Reed 6'-3" 250 should become a double-digit sack artist after great rookie season!

Other OLB's Jessie Nading & freakish Bryan Braman 6-5" 246(good enough to start for many teams) should be solid back-up's behind Barwin & Reed!

Rookie DE-Jared Crick could be the "Steal" of the Draft!

It's time for TE-Garrett Graham to step up.

WR-Jeff Maehl is fighting for a roster spot.

Can rookie free agent Shawn Loiseau(Merrimack) land a roster spot??

 

[Don Wassall]

It's like they feel they have to compensate for having so much White talent on defense by having a sumo-dominated o-line. Simply cutting their best lineman, Eric Winston (not even trying to trade him), was about the most idiotic move possible.

If Houston doesn't improve from last season's breakthrough, my bet is that the o-line will be the main reason. Schaub is one of the more injury prone starting QBs as it is and he ranks as one of the most likely to be injured again this season. Arian "Sieg Heil" Foster was injured the early part of 2011, and Andre Johnson gets more brittle every year.

I agree that Crick will "surprise" the usual suspects by how good he is. Hopefully he'll replace the aging and over-rated Antonio Smith by next season. Cody isn't that good and I wouldn't care if he's replaced as long as Crick eventually becomes a starter. Watt, Crick, Cushing, Reed and Barwin all starting would be awesome.

 

[FootballDad]

Cutdown time for the Texans yesterday resulted in these white players waived:

Randy Bullock (K) placed on IR, Kasey Studdard (G), Nick Mondek (T), Brett Hartman (P), and Thomas Austin (C) waived.

Out of 15 transactions, only three linemen and one kicker (and one on IR) were released, so not bad for now.

 

[bearclaw500]

This does not sound good for the future of Brooks Reed.

First-round pick Whitney Mercilus improving in limited role


“Whitney is doing fine,” Phillips said. “We’re trying to bring him in slowly. We tried to do the same thing with Brooks Reed last year and all of the sudden, he had to play all the time. I think Whitney is getting ready to play, and we’ll play him more and more as we go.”

Defensive end and captain Antonio Smith , who is also encouraged by Mercilus’ potential, agreed that it’s just a matter of time.

“He has a lot of upside he has to tap into,” Smith said. “The only way you can do that is to get game-time experience. You need game-time experience. You need game reps to learn how to rush. You can’t always get it in practice

http://www.houstontexans.com/news/a...ted-role/31620ad3-bbb2-4f48-a03b-bcacd4540e57

 

[Freethinker]

I was reading a fantasy blurb by yahoo sports about DE Antonio Smith and came to 2 conclusions. First, don't expect Jared Crick to overtake him as a starter anytime soon. Second, in the caste-NFL it's commonplace for a wildly mediocre black player to carve out a lengthy starting career and become a team captain.

From the yahooligans:
DE Antonio Smith, who plays the right side, is second on the team with two sacks. The coaches say he's having his best season. Smith is the leader of the defensive line and was again voted one of the team captains. He plays the run well and gets to the quarterback when J.J. Watt and Connor Barwin take on the double-teams.
(Yahoo! Sports)

Upon reading this, I expected to see some impressive statistics. In 4 games, he has a whooping 5 tackles (3 solo), 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble. That's it. That's basically a typical half a game for Watt. I wondered, "this constitutes his best season?", until I saw his oh-so-ordinary career totals.:bored:

This is the caste system in a nutshell.

 

[jaxvid]

I was reading a fantasy blurb by yahoo sports about DE Antonio Smith and came to 2 conclusions. First, don't expect Jared Crick to overtake him as a starter anytime soon. Second, in the caste-NFL it's commonplace for a wildly mediocre black player to carve out a lengthy starting career and become a team captain.

From the yahooligans:
DE Antonio Smith, who plays the right side, is second on the team with two sacks. The coaches say he's having his best season. Smith is the leader of the defensive line and was again voted one of the team captains. He plays the run well and gets to the quarterback when J.J. Watt and Connor Barwin take on the double-teams.
(Yahoo! Sports)

Upon reading this, I expected to see some impressive statistics. In 4 games, he has a whooping 5 tackles (3 solo), 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble. That's it. That's basically a typical half a game for Watt. I wondered, "this constitutes his best season?", until I saw his oh-so-ordinary career totals.:bored:

This is the caste system in a nutshell.

If Crick takes over for Smith that would make the Texans defense majority White (by my count). Such a thing is so foreign to the NFL that I believe the oceans would roil, the moon go out of it's orbit and the earth would crash into the sun. So I think from the NFL's perspective it's important that Smith remain a starter and "captain".

 

[FootballDad]

If Brian Cushing does indeed have an ACL tear, the Texans don't have much behind him on the bench. They have a couple of scrubs, Mister (his real name) Alexander and Tim Dobbins. I just saw that Barrett Ruud was released by the Saints yesterday, perhaps the Texans will pick him up.

 

[referendum]

I did notice that Ben Jones was in at guard for much of last nights game, including the Texans final drive. I did find one article about him saying he might become a starter at guard before the season is over. It would be great for that to happen especially with Cushing going down.

 

[Don Wassall]

If Cushing is lost for the season, at least there are still a number of other star White linebackers to root for. It's not like say eight years ago when Brian Urlacher going down would have been a much bigger comparative loss.

And Colin McCarthy and Pat Angerer should be healthy very soon. McCarthy played Sunday but isn't quite back to one hundred percent from his high ankle sprain yet. Angerer may play this Sunday.

 

[Freethinker]

If Brian Cushing does indeed have an ACL tear, the Texans don't have much behind him on the bench. They have a couple of scrubs, Mister (his real name) Alexander and Tim Dobbins. I just saw that Barrett Ruud was released by the Saints yesterday, perhaps the Texans will pick him up.

Nice wishful thinking as it came true:

Texans signed ILB Barrett Ruud and promoted G Cody White from the practice squad.


It's fallout from the Brian Cushing injury. Ruud will bring seven years of experience and 77 starts as a middle linebacker to the Texans' suddenly shaky linebacking corps. He'll back up starters Tim Dobbins and Bradie James.


Of course, weenieworld only sees him as a backup.

Cody White is also a White player.

 

[FootballDad]

Nice wishful thinking as it came true:

Texans signed ILB Barrett Ruud and promoted G Cody White from the practice squad.


It's fallout from the Brian Cushing injury. Ruud will bring seven years of experience and 77 starts as a middle linebacker to the Texans' suddenly shaky linebacking corps. He'll back up starters Tim Dobbins and Bradie James.


Of course, weenieworld only sees him as a backup.

Cody White is also a White player.

Simply amazing that they actually picked up Ruud. No way that he isn't starting over the two mega-scrubs within a couple of weeks.

edit: To make room for the guard, they cut WR Trindon Holliday, who is a perfect example of an awesomely average black WR that effectively steals roster spots (and scholarships) from more deserving (and more talented) white recievers.

 

[Freethinker]

These recent transactions put the Texas at 22 Whites on the roster, counting Cody. If they could whiten the O-line (only 4 out of 10) and get a White safety or 2 we could see the 1st majority White team in forever. Of course, I will not hold my breath for this to happen.

 

[backrow]

and here's why they are succesful (guess who's working out together)

[video=youtube;bR4kTeh1dnI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR4kTeh1dnI&feature=relmfu[/video]