Posts by Stephanie Stradley at FanHouse

Texans wide receiver Harry Williams was having a great camp, and had a chance of making the team based on his special teams play. Those dreams were likely ended yesterday, when Williams suffered a neck fracture while trying to make a special team tackle in the the first quarter of the Texans-Cowboys preseason game.

Williams was paralyzed on the field, but regained feeling and movement while being transported by ambulance to the hospital. The fracture is of the C3 vertebra, and he will be have surgery in Dallas this weekend to fuse his spine. Team orthopedic specialist Dr. Walter Lowe and coach Gary Kubiak discusses the injury in more depth in the above HoustonTexans.com video. They believe his prognosis is good.

Tonight, the Cowboys and Texans will battle for the all-mighty and magical Governor's Cup. It's the big silver trophy awarded to the Texas team that wins their yearly matchup. I'm pictured with it and a large gentlemen who works for the Texans.

Though tonight's game is just a preseason game, the third pretend game is one that knowledgeable fans watch closely because the starters are left in the game longer.

Three Things to Watch From the Cowboy Perspective: (From my semi-reasonable Cowboy fan friend, Michael Whitehead, founder of sofantasyfootball.com, a terrific site to find thoughtful fantasy football information).

1. The Secondary. The biggest problem Dallas has had in recent history is the secondary. What has looked like sure wins has turned into disappointing losses in the second half of too many games. Pay particularly close attention to Adam "Pacman" Jones, as he will get the start, and will have a true test against Andre Johnson. Rookie Mike Jenkins, who started the previous two games will be used in nickel situations, an area that Dallas has truly struggled in for the past two seasons.

If you are a Dallas lover or hater, you have to read the D Magazine interview with Jerral Wayne Jones, aka Jerry Jones, owner of the Cowboys.

He answers just about every question you would want to ask Jones except his views on plastic surgery. Highpoints include a discussion of the firing of long time coach Tom Landry, his business background and growing the Cowboys, criticism of ticket pricing at the stadium, creating a succession plan for his children, and his philosophy on risk. It really is worth a read and is too lengthy to properly summarize.

He was even asked about whether quarterback Tony Romo's relationship with Jessica Simpson bothered him:

ESPN's John Clayton recently wrote a puff piece on Titans quarterback Vince Young, how he is maturing as a player, and how his progress is coming with new offensive coordinator, Mike Heimerdinger. Also, Young talks about his treatment and recovery from his quad injury from last year:

"My quad, man, it was bad. Every week you get it better, then you go out and play and hurt it again. The quad would get weak. I was taking those pills for the pain. I was running around trying to make plays when it's not there. The quad is definitely back where it needs to be although I still have a little hole in there."

As I wrote last year, trying to play on a strained quadriceps muscle before it has a chance to heal runs the risk of making the injury a chronic one. Athletes often make this injury worse because they feel like they can play, but when they use maximum effort, like with sprinting, kicking or jumping, they aggravate their injury.

After reading about the injury and how it was handled, it made me curious. I asked a medical friend of mine who has not seen or treated Young, but has given me good information in the past about football player injuries, why Young would have a "hole" left in his quad. His response:

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora took exception to Pete Prisco's offseason list of top 50 NFL players. Prisco named Mario Williams the top defensive end in the league and number 6 overall. Asked about the list, Umenyiora said that Williams at #6 was "just absolutely ridiculous."

According to a recent article by Prisco, Williams was unamused with Umenyiora's comments. Apparently, Williams saw Umenyiora a couple of days before those comments were made and they didn't speak on this topic at all. Says Williams:

"He's a coward. If he has anything to say to me, he should have said it to my face. You write that."

Usually, Williams doesn't respond to his critics, but yeah, it probably does sting a bit when a guy smiles to your face and then dogs you on a radio show.

The article goes on to justify Williams as a high pick in his list as the defensive end plays a premium position on the field, is young, physically a freak, productive, and still has a tremendous amount of potential. If NFL general managers were picking players off of another team, they would pick Williams as their first defensive player.

By all reports, Williams has had a tremendous camp and believes that he will have an even better season this year. It's hard to disagree, especially to his face. He's a big guy and all.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: In Matt Schaub and Sage Rosenfels, the Texans have two quarterbacks who could start in this QB starved league. Schaub needs to show he can hold up over a full season, and have better decision making in the red zone. Even so, he could end up having a breakout season assuming he and his supporting cast stay relatively healthy. Heat Index: 7

Running Backs: The Texans have been busy fixing so many other parts of their team that they have had little interest in drafting running back with a high pick. The running back group consists of Ahman Green (old and oft injured), Chris Brown (oft injured), Chris Taylor (inexperienced and coming off of injury), Darius Walker (inexperienced), Steve Slaton (3rd round pick rookie and more of a third down back). Coach Gary Kubiak won't want to have to rely on a young player because of concerns about blitz pickup. The best hope for this group is if offensive line guru Alex Gibbs shows some magic in his run blocking teaching that makes this group look good. Heat Index: 4

So has your DVR received a workout rewinding moments in women's beach volleyball? Especially, the repeated NBC replays (YouTube) of the American women celebrating their gold last Olympics. Maybe it's just my husband who does that.

King Kaufman at Salon wondered why the women wear bikinis and the men wear shirts. I came across a genius ploy for page hits video essay at Yahoo! that explains this more than just saying "duh, so men will watch."

Basically, the short answer can be found on not-as-gratuitous picture on page 6. Beach volleyball Olympian Holly McPeak explains that though men typically train wearing board shorts and no shirt, for competition,

"[T]he governing international body for the sport prefers a cleaner look with their country, names, and numbers on their shirt."

It's preseason, so everyone is limited to what they can learn about a team. For me, going to last night's preseason game between the Texans and Broncos was slightly surreal and dream like. And not just because I tailgated with a vampire rock singer.

Here's my preseason game observations from a Texans perspective: Allegedly, this is supposed to be the first year under Gary Kubiak where the running game finally gets it together. So far, not so good.

The Texans running backs were limited to under 100 yards rushing with 29 attempts. The overall rushing totals are inflated due to third string quarterback Shane Boyd's rushing yards, the unplanned fake punt run by old guy punter, Matt Turk and a nice run by wide receiver Andre Davis.

In ESPN's excellent AFC South Blog manned by Paul Kuharsky, RT Eric Winston provides a terrific summary of why the run game struggled.

Starting running back Ahman Green touched the ball once on a catch, promptly fell down and hobbled out with what the Texans are saying is a slight groin pull. Unbleepingbelievable.

Green Bay quarterback, Aaron Rodgers says he doesn't want our pity, but he is going to get some of mine. The kid in the short YouTube above rejected Rodgers' attempt to autograph his football, and as was explained in an article preaching that fans take it easier on Rodgers, another kid told him:

"We don't love you. You suck."

Children often express elemental but brutal honesty, and I'm not sure things are going to be much better for AaRod in his dealings with fans in general.

Whatever side you pick in the Packer front office versus Brett Favre pissing match dispute, there is going to be a percentage of the fanbase who will be bitter at GM Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy for kicking Favre to the curb in favor of an unproven Rodgers. And however misguided it is, those fans will take it out on Rodgers.

Though the course of a game, it is easier to boo Rodgers than Thompson and McCarthy. Emotional and overwrought perhaps, but that's how things work. The decision makers don't throw incomplete passes and every quarterback does.

Even with pollution levels in Beijing at readings that even the Chinese find dangerous, a senior Olympics official claims that the yellow-grey haze in the air is not pollution. It's uh, mist.

Arne Ljundqvist, chair of the IOC medical commission claims that the pollution concerns are overblown by the media:

"The mist in the air that we see in those places, including here, is not a feature of pollution primarily but a feature of evaporation and humidity. We do have a communication problem here. Once the misconception has become sort of established in the minds of people, it's not that easy to get the right message through."

Right-o. And the excrement that comes out of cows is really heart healthy dark chocolate. Try it!