Texans Wednesday Injury Report

After practice today Head Coach Gary Kubiak updated the media on the players that did not practice and or were limited at practice. TE Ryan Griffin who missed last week due to a concussion did return to full practice. Notable players that not practice today were DE JJ Watt (back), LG Wade Smith (knee), Kareem Jackson (ribs), and DaAndre Hopkins (sick). The notable players that practiced but on a limited basis were LT Duane Brown (sick), MLB Joe Mays (knee) C Chris Myers (throat) and RB Ben Tate (ribs/ankle/toe). JJ Watt did today say would be back to practice tomorrow so fans please don’t go jump of a ledge because Watt missed a practice. 

Johnson Needs To Demand Change

The Texans have 1 player in Andre Johnson who is a lead pipe lock to make it to the hallowed halls of the pro football hall of fame. Outside of JJ Watt the other 50ish players have 0 shot to make it such a high level. What do Johnson and Watt have in common, they aren’t loud mouths and let their play speak for its self. The game against the Oakland Raiders was a statement game in the fact that, the Texans made a statement to the rest of the league, we aren’t playoff contenders.

The Oakland Raiders came in seemingly limping, losing 2 in a row before playing the Texans and even went to a 3^rd string undrafted rookie QB Matt McGloin a day before the game. The Texans went in riding a small wave of momentum from the Texans own undrafted rookie QB Case Keenum. Texans Head Coach Gary Kubiak at halftime made a change at QB and put in struggling starter Matt Schaub who had missed the past 3 games due to being a back and being injured. On the final play of the game for the Texans ended in an incomplete pass from Matt Schaub to Andre Johnson, the following ensued…. The struggling QB yelled at the over performing future hall of famer WR.

The two even had to be separated on the sideline, and resulted in Johnson running of the field before the game ended. Yea that can’t EVER happen, Andre Johnson has done so much for this team this city. Short of Johnson catching the pass and handing it to the defender there is 0 reason to get mad at Johnson. Post-game when Johnson was asked if he still wanted to be here, Johnson said “I’m under contract”. Bob McNair you need to do something about this situation before it becomes a VERY bad situation. No McNair won’t do anything drastic like that.

If the leaders like Johnson want something to happen, he needs to demand it! Johnson needs to come out be honest, be passionate, and be fiery. He needs to demand change, he needs to share what he wants. It’s so true the one thing we love about Johnson is he is so great and not a diva, but he needs to bring out his inner diva to turn this ship around. If Johnson came out and said “I am done catching passes from Matt Schaub” Case Keenum would be the starter for the rest of the season… If Johnson came out and said “Coach Kubiak is unfair and treats players different and I won’t play for him anymore” Kubiak would be on the next slow boat to China. If JJ Watt and Andre Johnson want something to change on this team, they need to demand it! 

Texans Game Time Decisions

Texans going in to the game with the Raiders, have already ruled out 2 players, both TE Ryan Griffin (concussion) and CB Elbert Mack (hamstring) will not play this Sunday. The team listed another 4 guys as questionable/game time decisions, CB Kareem Jackson (chest), P Shane Lechler (flu), MLB Joe Mays (knee), and MLB Mike Mohamed (hamstring), none of the four participated in Friday’s practice.  The team also listed another 12 guys as probable must notably MLB Darryl Sharpton (foot), RB Ben Tate (ribs), and LG Wade Smith (knee) the three were limited in practice on Friday but should start on Sunday.

It has been announced that Jackson, Mays and Mohamed will not play this Sunday vs. the Raiders. It does seem that Lechler will give it a go today after spending a chunk of the week in the hospital with the flu. 

Terrelle Pryor Out vs. Texans

Texans chances on winning tomorrow and the chances that Bob McNair fires everybody after the game have just increased significantly. The Raiders didn’t wait till game time and went ahead and announced that starting QB Terrelle Pryor will not start. Pryor in his last game suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee and was a game time and questionable heading in to Sunday’s match up. Pryor on the season has played 8 games and lead the team to 3 wins and 5 losses. He will be replaced undrafted rookie Matt McGloin and in 1 game played for the Raiders this season he was 7 for 15 for 87 yards and the team lost to the Eagles 49 to 20. McGloin in 4 years at Penn State in college, completed 513 passes and attempted 894 passes for 6,390 yards. The Texans D gets to sink its horns into an undrafted rookie and at home they will be primed for a win. If they find a way to lose to a 3 and 5 team starting an undrafted rookie the team will have hit the franchise’s rock bottom.  

Texans Future Hall Of Famer Hospitalized

Thursday after practice Gary Kubiak updated the media on the health of the team, the health update is grim and includes a future hall of famer hospitalized. After the teams Thursday practice coach shared Arian Foster had is surgery today and that TE Ryan Griffin, P Shane Lechler, MLB Joe Mays, CB Elbert Mack, CB Kareem Jackson and LB Mike Mohamed all did not practice.


Coach shared the Punter Shane Lechler has spent the past few days in the hospital with the flu and could be released tomorrow. Per Kubiak Lechler did reach out to him and said he will be back, if Lechler does not return in time and healthy Kubiak said that Randy Bullock would have to pull double duty and handle everything punting, field goal kicking and kick offs.

Bullock in 4 years at Texas A&M he made 2 punts for an average of 22.5 yards a punt, which I don't need to tell you is WAY below what Lechler is capable of.
 

Ed Reed has been released

Ed Reed the Texans most prized offseason free agent acquisition is gone as quickly as he came. Reed today was released by the team just days after making the comment of being outplayed and outcoached. Reed recently was also benched in favor of Shiloh Keo, who has more years in the system and this season Keo has made more plays then Reed.

Reed signed with the team in the offseason and then after signing it was learned Reed would need hip surgery. He sat out of all training camp and did not play until week 3 when the team played his former team the Ravens. Reed on the year had 14 tackles 0 impact and plays were made against Reed left and right. Reed today sent out a tweet thanking the Texans (for the money I am sure) and the Houston (jokingly I am sure) and now the team will move with how the season started, Shiloh Keo at the Safety position.

Thanks to the Texans! And the City of Htown!
— Ed Reed (@TwentyER) November 12, 2013

Today I caught up with Texans Tight End Owen Daniels and while he mentioned he was on track to return (3 more games). Daniels also mentioned he was stunned by the news of Ed Reed being released “you don’t see a lot of guys released at this point in the season especially a guy like him”. The question now is can Ed still find work, lots of teams are looking but the Ed Reed we all once knew is long gone.

Arian Foster Out For The Season

Texans Running Back Arian Foster will miss the rest of the season and will be out with a back (lumber) problem. The buzz is Foster will have surgery sometime this week, last week Foster injured his back early in the game and was ruled questionable for a return, and then ruled out for the rest of the game. The report is Monday the team will IR Foster and the team will have an open roster sport. Throughout the preseason and season Foster has been dealing with hamstrings and back issues, but has not missed a regular season this season till now.

Foster this season has had 542 yards on 121 carries and was projected to go over the 1000 mark again. Texans going forward will have Ben Tate as the feature back with Deji Karim who are also the teams only remaining veteran RB’s and the will team also have undrafted rookie free agents Dennis Johnson and Ray Graham on the roster.

Randy Bullock Isn't Worried About His Job

The easiest job in the NFL is being the 2nd string QB, and the toughest job in the NFL is a struggling field goal kicker. Houston Texans Randy Bullock has had a tough career; he was drafted by the team in 2012 and entered camp with veteran Shayne Graham to push him and help him get ready to be an NFL player, but during the preseason he was injured and the team placed him on IR. This season Bullock started the year without any competition. Bullock and Kubiak both played down the no competition factor early in the preseason saying that undrafted rookie Punter Andrew Shaprio, out of Fresno State, was really pushing Bullock, which in its self should have been worrisome. At the time people saw the potential in Bullock and kinda moved on and worried about other aspects of the team.


Bullock this season has an NFL worst 61.9 field goal percentage, Bullock is a perfect 6 for 6 on kicks inside 39 yards. The problem is when you inch on in to the 40 plus yard range Randy is a little bit shaky, 7 for 15 to be exact. While you could say it’s not his fault the coaches keep throwing Bullock out, you do expect a lot of a guy the team spent a 5th round pick on. Bullock mentioned during Friday’s open locker room last week it really wasn’t the wind from the open roof he was just off “there was a little bit of wind but they (the kicks) were just a hair off”. Bullock missed field goal after field goal against the Colts and even the eventual game tier.

The Texans this week brought in 3 kickers for tryouts. This is nothing out of the ordinary, as the team brings a different position group in every week. The players brought in were 2 ex Texans, Neil Rackers and Shayne Graham, and ex Panther Justin Medlock. Even with the team bringing in eventual “maybe” replacements he didn’t worry about his job stating, “I was never really worried about it, it never crossed my mind”. He may not say it yet but the heat has got to start getting to him, NFL Kickers need ice running through their veins. Everyone seems to have an opinion on poor Randy Bullock, even yesterday on national TV NBA analyst and former Houston Rockets Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy compared Bullock to a designated free throw shooter that couldn't make a free throw… Bullock today tried to deflect everyone’s anger saying “none of those fans or anything matter right now, it’s more what’s in here the locker room those are the guys whose opinions that really count, they have confidence in me, I have confidence in myself and the outside noise is outside noise that’s all it is.”
 

Texans post day thoughts: Week 9 edition

Any one remember the Texans played a game on SNF and lost? During halftime as the teams were heading in to the locker room Texans HC Gary Kubiak collapsed untouched on his way back to the locker room. Which seemingly halted every inch of momentum the Texans gained up to the that point.

Texans started off the 1st half of the game playing the football we had all hoped they were capable of at the start of the season. Case Keenum sliced and diced the Colts secondary to the tune of 208 yards on 9 completions, 7 completions went Andre Johnson's way for 190 yards. Ben Tate hobbled by injures even gave you 14 carries for 47 yards, this offensive explosion was good for a 21- 3 lead over the division leading Colts.

The second half started with Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips taking over the head coach headset as Gary Kubiak was on the way to the hospital. And as mentioned before the momentum the Texans had, left with Kubiak as he rode to the hospital. The Colts outscored, out gained, and out coached the Texans in every aspect of the game in the final half of the game. Colts pulled out the miracle win killing the Texans season and cementing the Colts as one of the elite teams in the NFL

Below are the post game comments from Colts TY Hilton and Robert Mathis
      

Texans vs. Colts preview SNF edition

Texans at 2-5 as goofy as it sounds still control their own destiny in the AFC South. While that may be a pipe dream in all actuality it is safe to say crazier things have happened in football. Last season the Texans started hot but faded in the end, could this season be the inverse of last season, struggle but ball out the rest of the season?

This game against the Colts as cliche as it sounds is a MUST WIN, Do or Die or whatever else you want to say. The 2 and 5 Texans have 0 wiggle room the rest of the season, for the rest of the season it’s pretty much win or plan on which top 10 draft pick you are going to take next season.

Texans at the start of the week ended all speculation and named undrafted free agent, last years practice squad QB Case Keenum the starter for the second week in a row over. The Texans are heading in to this game with a question mark at running back going in to the game both Arian Foster and Ben Tate could both play but no way will either be at 100 percent. The Colts on the other side will be with a future hall of famer on offense in WR Reggie Wayne and you wonder how Andrew Luck will fair not having Wayne to throw too. Last season Wayne caught 1,300 plus yards and this season had 500 plus it’s a huge part of their offense that is now gone.

The big match up tomorrow will be between Colts Robert Mathis (DE) vs. Texans Derek Newton (RT) no doubt Mathis is good for at least one sack tomorrow but if you let Mathis tee off on Case Keenum the Texans will have a VERY long day. Look for the Texans to help out tremendously on Newton’s side with TE’s or RB’s chipping him all day long. This is a MAJOR MATCH UP the Texans have to win, limit Mathis and Texans chances on winning improving by 1,000 percent.  

Texans health update

During the rain and wind while you were indoors the team took to the field another day with Case Keenum as QB 1. Coach said the team practiced well and with “good energy” coach said. Today not taking the practice field for the Texans were RB Arian Foster, LG Wade Smith and MLB Daryl Sharpton. Coach did describe that it is no biggie that Wade Smith did not practice and it will be this way the whole season. “It’s just routine” in reference to Smith continuing to miss practice time, he also followed with “he’ll only practice 2 days a week weather he likes it or not”. Coach Kubiak also mentioned that Arian Foster still could be in the mix come the end of the week “he went out and stretched, did some stuff, did some walkthrough” but he knows Foster will do everything he can to be there. Below is coach Kubiak talking about all the 3 new running backs he signed on Monday…

Gunslinger Gets A Second Start

Texans last week went about the mindset of checking the tape and improving going forward. Today coach Kubiak named the Gunslinger Case Keenum the starter for Sunday Night Football against the AFC South leading Indianapolis Colts. The saying all along was when Matt Schaub is healthy he will get his starting job back, and spoiler alert Schaub is healthy and will back up Keenum.

Coaches must have seen something from Case Keenum that no other QB has given them this year. Keenum in one game was able to do something we haven’t seen in a long time, give the team a down field passing attack. If not for a pass that went straight through the fingertips of Garrett Graham you could have seen a team go in and beat the best team in the NFL (Chiefs).

Case Keenum will now have plenty of time to get ready for the Colts, not having to split time with TJ Yates like going in to the Chiefs game. He will now take all the snaps as QB 1 as the starter going in to the game with Colts. Teammates on offensive and defensive have made it clear that Keenum brings that certain something to the QB position a certain X-factor that the team needs in these remaining games. Coach Kubiak made it clear that Keenum is only the starter for the Colts and like always will continue to evaluate going forward