FanHouse BryanPittman

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

How many years were the Arizona Cardinals picked to finally have their breakout year? It seems like they were the dark horse pick to have a playoff run every offseason. But since they went to the Super Bowl last year, they can't be that sneaky hot team any more.

Maybe the Texans take over that spot. Their franchise has never had a winning season, and the last two 8-8 seasons have only resulted in higher expectations. Houston's offense ranks about the same as the Cardinal offense, their special teams is better and their defense worse. The Texans are trying to fix that bad defense by replacing a number of coaches on that side of the ball.

I'm from New Jersey and have seen every episode of The Sopranos, so I like to fancy myself an expert in the field of keeping information "in the family." Roger Goodell, apparently, is not.

Time and time again, the shroud of privacy that the NFL promises its players in certain situations turns out to be as thin as tissue paper; players are held to the tightest-lipped of standards while seeing that courtesy unrequited with every bolded headline exposing a player's "private" matters.

We got a repeat lesson on this hypocrisy this week, when four of supposedly 15ish players -- Saints Deuce McAllister, Charles Grant, and Will Smith along with Texan Bryan Pittman -- were outed as having tested positive for a diuretic that resides on the league's banned substance list. Results of these tests aren't supposed to be made public.

Last month, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, "I don't think there is a significant amount of HGH use [in the NFL], but I have no factual basis for saying that."

At the combine, NFL Player's Association president, Troy Vincent said that the use of HGH is "not something that is common" in the NFL.

Though the league would like to hide behind its year round testing program, the truth is you can't test for HGH in a urine test. The NFLPA's executive director Gene Upshaw says they won't agree to a blood test because NFL players are big fat wusses about needles. (He didn't put it that way exactly, but that's what he is saying.)

The NFL can try to pretend that they don't have a HGH issue, sort of like Goodell destroying Patriots videotapes, but who really believes that performing enhancing drugs in the NFL are not a problem?

All this talk about HGH not being a problem in the NFL reminded me of a Houston Press Q&A with Houston Texans longsnapper Bryan Pittman from last September. When asked about the NFL's dirty little secret of performance enhancing drugs, he answered:

You know, females get the reputation for being the biggest gossips, but it seems to me that the success of ProFootballTalk.com illustrates that guys like gossip too. Texans receiver Andre Johnson's knee is the focus of today's PFT gossip, as he reports that the "current scuttlebutt is he'll miss five weeks." He acknowledges that this gossip could be dog turd, but that's just what the gossip is. I appreciating knowing that.

Texans long snapper and Deadspin/Fark internet sensation, Bryan Pittman in today's Houston Press provides his own AJ scuttlebutt as someone who is actually in the locker room:

"Well, I haven't talked to him personally, but from what I gather, it shouldn't be a lengthy injury. Three weeks at the most, I think. But you never know. Everyone reacts differently when it comes to healing time."

(His interview is a good read for Texan fans, unless they are also Cowboy fans as he is not terribly impressed with the 2007 Cowboys team. He's a straightfoward talker, and you find the archives of the Pittman interviews here.)

Colts cornerback, Marlin Jackson isn't buying any of this injury talk:

"They say he's not playing but we'll see on Sunday."

The Texans are going to re-examine Johnson's knee on Friday and he has already said he doesn't anticipate playing against the Colts. Given the medical stuff linked to previously, I really do think that nobody knows how long Johnson will be out. Texans fans are accustomed to taking injury reports with a big dose of skepticism. That's what happens to people who bought a Tony Boselli jersey as their first one.

Previously at FanHouse:
Texan Andre Johnson 'Doubtful' Against Colts.