Roughly 75 hours until kickoff
Sep 6, 2007 Chad Stanley, Dunta Robinson, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State makes baby Jesus cry, Please let the season start soon, Preseason 2007, Preview, Secondary issues are primary, Self-Referential Stuff
Contrary to popular belief (hope? expectation?), I did not end it all after Saturday’s Michigan loss. However, with the younger brother in town until 4AM today, I was otherwise occupied with non-blog-related stuff. Shocking, I know.
Stories I missed between Sunday and today:
- TEP was granted a stay of execution and was placed on IR. He’s like herpes… always lurking, ready to flare up, but currently invisible. Eww.
- Dunta Robinson’s house was robbed.
- The practice squad was finalized. Jared Zabransky (QB), Darius Walker (RB), Harry Williams (WR), Brandon Frye (OT), Mike Brisiel (OG), Deljuan Robinson (DT), Tim Bulman (DT), Brandon Mitchell (S), and imported LB Eduardo Castaneda.
- Scott Jackson made the team and then didn’t make the team. He was released when we brought in Carolina-cast-off Rashad Butler. Given that Jackson was doing his best Jimmy Herndon impression in his extended reps, this can only be viewed as a positive.
- Stephanie ran some Q-and-A with me, Tim, and other people whose
cursehobby it is to write about the Texans.
And, just like that, we are up to speed. Awesome.
Looking good, Billy Ray! Feeling good, Louis!
Sep 2, 2007 Boulware, Charles Spencer, Jason Babin, Michigan Wolverines, Preseason 2007, Secondary issues are primary
I was out-of-pocket yesterday, spending most of that time playing football with (much) younger cousins and drinking beer. Thanks to the wonders of cellular technology, however, I received two pieces of interesting news mere minutes after the events occurred in real life.
The first, obviously, was that Michigan lost to something called Appalachian State. Ah, yes… the beautiful state of Appalachia. Where men are men and sheep are nervous.1 Seriously, though, I am not one of those people who is trying to excuse the loss with the whole “well, they won the Division 12 Super Bowl two years in a row.” Fuck. That. Shit. You schedule a HOME GAME with a DIVISION I-AA TEAM, you sure as shit BETTER WIN. End of story. My college football season was ruined on September 1 and I blame Lloyd Carr. I hate you, Lloyd Carr.2 OK, that’s enough Michigan talk. I realize this whole paragraph only applies to me. Moving on…
The other piece of news was the Babin-for-Boulware trade. Now, I am part of a very small group of people who liked Babin as a draft pick, even at that price. I might be the only non-EMU grad who was talking Babin up as a starter even before camp started this year. In short, I had a weird mancrush-like obsession with J-Babs. That said, I LOVE this trade.
Yes, I know that there are concerns that Boulware is a run-stopping safety and not that great in pass defense. So what? That’s pretty much all Glenn Earl did, and I’m 99.27% sure that Boulware will be better than Earl. And no offense to Jason Simmons, who by all accounts is the nicest human being on the planet, but I even more sure that Boulware will be an upgrade over him. Hell, I like having a strong safety that is great against the run. I just wish we had a free safety who was that good against the pass. That will come in time, I suppose. For now, though, we traded a backup DE for an upgrade at SS. That’s a deal I’d make 10 times out of 10.
Besides, the deal looks even better when you stop to consider the odds against us snagging a Boulware-level strong safety in next year’s draft. More importantly, if Boulware works out like I think he will, we won’t have to look for a strong safety next season. We can focus our attentions elsewhere–say FS or (if Barbaro doesn’t come back healthy) OT.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to continue numbing yesterday’s pain with dark beer.
1 How the hell was that quote not on the IMDB page? Someone is slipping.
2 I’ve mentioned this to a couple of you, but isn’t it bizarre that two of my least favorite people in the whole world have the last name “Carr,” yet they are not related? What are the odds of that?
Texans pass on Pass. Please pass the peas.
Aug 29, 2007 2008 Draft, Chad Stanley, Dan The Assassin, Jon Abbate, Matt Turk rules, Michigan Wolverines, Offensive (punch)Line, Posts that list too many players, Preseason 2007
The team made two player moves yesterday, one surprising and one not so much. First, despite the fact that (a) he’d played pretty well, (b) Jon Abbate is nursing a bum bodypart, and (c) he’s not Jameel Cook, the team released RB/FB Patrick Pass.
I want to hope that this means Abbate is going to make the team (or, at the least, that we are going to keep a fourth RB) and that we will not have to deal with another year of Cook screwing things up. I suppose we’ll find out soon enough, like right around the same time we find out if Chad Stanley made some sort of deal at the crossroads with Jerry Jones and traded his eternal soul for the chance to punt in Houston in 2007.
The other move–the unsurprising one–was that Charles Spencer was put on the PUP list to start the season, meaning he will have to miss at least the first six games. According to Kubes, however, “it’s still a pretty long shot that he plays this year, but who knows.”
Spencer will (theoretically) be ready for Opening Day 2008, regardless of how this season turns out for him. If doctors determine that he’d be better served by not playing at all in ‘07, I am fine with that. That said, and coupled with the dearth of first round quality secondary talent next April, it would not bother me one bit if our first pick was Jake Long, Michael Oher, or Sam Baker.
The other question-marked positions (starter at SLB, C, and DT; survivor at P) should be sorted out some time between now and the fourth of never at this rate. Answers were supposed to come yesterday, then Friday, and now Saturday. My predictions are still Danny Clark, Steve McKinney, Anthony Maddox (though Travis Johnson has impressed me this preseason), and Matt Turk. Of course, the last one in that list is the only one that really matters, as that’s the only battle where the loser deserves to be shot in the face gets released.
The best part about all of this, though, is that it means we are only 11 days from a game that actually means something.
Sashay, Shantee
Aug 4, 2007 Andre Johnson, Athletes who don't stab people, Chocodiles, Jerome Mathis got hurt reading this, Michigan Wolverines, Posts that list too many players, Shantee Orr, Shawn Barber and Danny Clark
Going into camp, two pretty wide-spread assumpion were that Jerome Mathis would wind up being cut and Shantee Orr would compete with Charlie Anderson for the starting SLB role.
Oh, how things can change in a week.
First of all, it appears that Mathis is healthy and playing well at WR. (Plus, he’s still really friggin’ fast.)
It’s the best football practice he’s had since I’ve been here, Kubiak said of Mathis. There was a little buzz tonight, some people out here. You can tell his juices are flowing, and if he keeps this up and stays on the field, he’s going to have a special year. We’ve just got to keep him going. He hasn’t worked much at receiver, but he’s progressing. That was nice to see the things he did tonight.”
Then, today, we get this nugget from camp:
WR Jerome Mathis continued his fine play, with several catches, including a leaping one that covered 40 yards.
So… where does that leave us? At first blush, this development would seem to be the worst case scenario for Bethel Johnson. There is absolutely no reason to keep Mathis Lite on the team if the full-calorie version is healthy and productive. If we assume Mathis makes the team, that’s four spots filled (along with AJ, JJ, and K-Dub). I see no way we keep more than six WRs, meaning Apostrophe Davis, Keenan McCardell, David Anderson, the aforementioned Bethel, and a couple scrubs will be duking it out for two spots.
On the other side of the ball as well as the other side of the keep-drop ledger, Shantee Orr has apparently gone from being a starter in 2006 to being unemployed in 2007. Chalk it up to some combination of Orr’s nagging injury, Kubes’ affection for Charlie Anderson, Danny Clark’s versatility, Shawn Barber’s experience, and the emergence of Zac “Choco” Diles, but Shantee seems almost certain not to survive the first real round of cuts.
Linebacker Charlie Anderson hasn’t recorded a start in his three-year career with the Texans. But if his production in training camp is indicative of the future, that statistic may need to be revised, according to Kubiak.
“When I look at the defensive side of the ball, I think Charlie Anderson’s really separated himself,” Kubiak said. “When you look at the linebacker group, you look at Morlon (Greenwood), you look at DeMeco (Ryans), and you look at Charlie. Then right away you go to Zac Diles, and you go to Danny Clark. Shawn (Barber) is missing time, but Shawn looked good. You look at those six, and chances are you’re going to keep six. Those guys have kind of distinguished themselves day in and day out.”
One notable omission from that list is last year’s starting outside linebacker Shantee Orr. Orr has been slowed by injuries this camp, and the fifth-year pro out of Michigan will need to return quickly in order to compete for his roster spot, let alone his old job, Kubiak said.
“He got bruised, some type of bruise the first day of practice, and just continues to not be able to be out here,” Kubiak said. “It’s very important for him to get out here for him to make this football team.”
I fully admit to being a pro-Shantee guy. Hell, I’ve posted at least twice that I thought he would be the starter and would have a pretty good season. That said, I am far from broken up about this; if the linebacking corps is so solid this year that we can cut one of last year’s starters, that is a good thing.
Tyrone Whealey had his way with the Huskies
Jun 16, 2007 Holiday posts, Michigan Wolverines, Teams that aren't the Texans
Happy Father’s Day.
I was really trying to write some heart-string-tugging piece about my dad and some shared love for football. Ain’t gon’ happen, though. While I have all sorts of great (and not-so-great) stories about my pops, he was not and is not a football fan. I honestly can remember only one time that he watched a football game–the 1993 Rose Bowl, in which Michigan defeated the Washington Huskies on the strength of Tyrone Wheatley’s 235 rushing yards and 3 TDs (on 15 friggin’ carries!).
Now, considering I have watched every nationally televised Wolverine game since 1989 (including eight Rose Bowls in that timeframe), the only explanation for this game standing out in my mind is because I watched it with my dad.
Oddly, though, I can recall nothing substantive about actually watching the game with him. I remember Wheatley breaking off his 88-yard run. I remember the Elvis Grbac to Tony McGee TD that won the game. I remember cursing Mark Brunell for roughly three hours. But I remember not a single thing my dad said or did during that game; I just know he was there and, somehow, that is enough to make the game incredibly memorable.
Alright, I just re-read the above and I realize how much it screams of unresolved daddy issues. That’s not really the goal. It’s just that my dad didn’t like football (he’s a baseball man) and, somehow, his lack of interest in it made the one time… aww, hell, you get it.
Anyway, just remember to call your dad today. And if you have kids, make those little turds wait on you hand-and-foot.
***
For much lighter holiday blogging, I point you in the direction of this post from Kissing Suzy Kolber. I also point you to LaRon Landry getting shot. In the junk. By someone not named “Sean Taylor.”
***
Finally, before you accuse me of posting something that has NOTHING to do with the Texans, realize that Mark Bruener was involved in the 1993 Rose Bowl and caught a TD pass. So there.
Gary Kubiak is going Thunderdome at strongside LB
May 23, 2007 Gary Kubiak, Lance Briggs' open invitation, Michigan Wolverines, Super Mario, Training camp 2007
As is generally the case with young teams, several positions are in flux as OTAs and minicamps begin. With the Texans, there is competition for WR2, LT (until Charles Spencer returns), KR/PR, CB3 (nickel), and–apparently–SLB.
This year, the Texans are giving [Charlie] Anderson another opportunity to become a starter by pitting him against Shantee Orr at strongside linebacker. Orr, who has started the past two years, has had to battle for his job every offseason.
[...]
Orr is athletic with pass-rush ability. In the 3-4 alignment in 2005, he set a team record with three sacks in one game and led the Texans with seven total sacks. Last season was Orr’s first in the 4-3, and he was rarely used to blitz. [Author's note: That was a mistake on Kubes' part.] He finished with 1 1/2 sacks and 32 tackles.Anderson, who signed a one-year contract in the offseason, is a talented athlete who is waiting for his first start after three seasons with the Texans. He has 36 career tackles, many of which have come on special teams.
I am on record as being an Orr fan. I liked him at Michigan, I like his motor, and I think he makes the perfect 5th rusher in this defense. With him behind Weaver and Manchild, you create a great opportunity for (a) one of those three to get free and (b) the opposing RB to be occupied with that side of the line, thereby ignoring Super Mario.
Still, the coaches have apparently seen something in Anderson that they dig. If there is one knock on Orr, it’s that he is less than stellar in pass coverage/zone awareness. Maybe Kubiak has seen something that suggests Anderson would be the better all-around LB. I dunno. Anderson is four inches taller than Orr and slightly faster, so that might play into the decision as well.
In the end, I think that Orr will win the starting job. However, if Kubiak is not going to blitz from the Sam position very often, Orr’s contribution is going to be significantly diminished. In that case, I would mind them going in a different direction and seeing what Anderson can do.
Either that, or see if Lance Briggs is interested in wearing battle red.
Jason Babin approves of this message
May 20, 2007 Amobi Okoye is 19, DeMeco Ryans, Demarcus Faggins sucks, Dunta Robinson, Jason Babin, Michigan Wolverines, Secondary issues are primary, Spanish, Super Mario
It is possible that the following is only of interest to Jason Babin and a few of his relatives.
Anyway, though I don’t think I’ve just come out and said it, it’s my not-so-radical theory that the starting defensive line will be Super Mario, Manchild, and Dos Anthonys*. I am generally ok with this. However, it does raise one interesting question: ¿Dónde es Jason Babin?
Fans may recall that Babin was the second of two first-round picks by the Texans in the 2004 draft. A defensive end out of Directional Michigan, Babin ended his collegiate career with 299 tackles (including 202 solo and 75 for a loss) and 38 sacks, despite missing all of his senior season with a broken leg. He was described in various scouting reports as “one of the fastest down linemen in the game of football” and having “tremendous potential as a pass rusher.”
At the time Babin was selected, the Texans were still running Dom Capers’ 3-4 defense. Babin was therefore converted from defensive end to outside linebacker; Capers apparently assumed that a pass rusher was a pass rusher, regardless of where he lined up. (Gee, I wonder why Dom wasn’t successful…)
So it went for the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Babin put up 63 tackles and 4 sacks in his first year, then followed that up with 37 and 4 (and 2 forced fumbles) in ‘05.
Prior to 2006, as the team converted from a 3-4 to a 4-3, Babin was unconverted back to defensive end. Of course, by this time Babin was a man without a starting slot (he started only three times in ‘06). Still, now that he was being asked to do what he was actually drafted to do**, he turned in a career high in sacks (5) regardless of his diminished playing time.
And my point is?
I suppose the underlying point is that Babin has talent and loads of untapped potential, thus it is far to early to relegate him to permanent backup. However, the point of this post is this: I propose that the starting d-line should be (from the right) Williams, Maddox , Okoye, and Babin. Weaver would still get plenty of reps spelling Babin and Okoye (and possibly playing Nose Tackle in certain situations).
Crazy? Hardly. Weaver is a solid run-stopper and he has played tackle on passing downs numerous times before. More importantly, this line would (in theory, at least) give the Texans a very strong pass rush from the front four, meaning the LBs would be free to assist in short pass coverage. Given our secondary of “Dunta and these friggin’ guys,” ANY assistance from the LBs would be worth its weight in cliches.
I realize that the biggest possible question mark in this scenario is how the line would fare against the run. Weaver as an outside run stopper was probably the best on the team last year. I think this question is the wrong way to look at things, however. The biggest problem facing this defense right now is the complete lack of a dependable secondary; having a dominating pass rush would alleviate this. There is no reason to think that the downgrade in run defense from Weaver to Babin would even come close to outweighing the upgrade in pass rush ability. Besides, with Orr (whom I fully admit my bias toward… Go Blue!) behind Babin, you have the ability to run blitz with effectiveness. (Side note: That Orr holds the team single game sack record with three is sad, but illustrates the pressing need for a real pass rush.)
Will my plan be implemented? Unlikely. Kubiak is a fan of using Weavs primarily as an outside rusher. Moreover, it appears that Babin has–in Kubes’ mind–established himself as a ‘tweener, relegated to spot duty at a couple different positions.
Bother.
That means, this is probably all just an exercise in wishful thinking. That does not make it incorrect, however.
*That would be Anthony Maddox and Anthony Weaver.
**Novel concept, eh?
Andre Johnson is even better than advertised
May 9, 2007 Andre Johnson, Michigan Wolverines, Teams that aren't the Texans, The Schaub Experiment
In case you needed any more proof, Andre Johnson is special. Of the 31 receivers taken in the first round between 2000 and 2006, ‘Dre is one of very few who are still with the team that drafted them. More importantly, he is part of the very small group (5 other guys, tops) who can be called true #1 receivers.
So, no surprise, drafting is not an exact science, especially when it comes to WR. (I have to admit completely airballing on David Terrell and Charles Rogers. I thought both would be stars from Day 1. Of course, the former can probably be chalked up to homerism.) Still, for all the questions the Texans have had about their drafts in recent years, you have to give them credit for ‘Dre. Somewhere, Matt Schaub is smiling.
Darius Walker is (possibly) dy-no-mite
May 9, 2007 2007 Draft, Batman, Michigan Wolverines, Ohio State makes baby Jesus cry, RB free-for-all, Undrafted Free Agent watch list
The Texans have signed Notre Dame RB Darius Walker. Now, I may have an active dislike for Notre Dame football (not to be confused with my all-consuming hatred for anything even tangentially related to Ohio State), but I like this move. Walker joins the Texans’ logjam at RB (Ahman Green, Samkon Gado, Ron Dayne, Wali Lundy, Chris Taylor), so there is no guarantee that he will even make the team. This is still a nice low-risk/high-reward move.
An undrafted junior (d’oh!), Walker rushed for 1267 yards and 7 TDs last season. He also caught 56 balls for 391 and another TD. Granted, most of his big games came against the service academies, but he did put up 128 against an LSU defense that dominated the Irish. (Happy Author’s Note: Michigan held him to 25 yards while serving a hot plate of ass-kicking to the Domers. Suck it.)
