FanHouse Ephraim Salaam

If you channel surf any, I'm sure you have seen at least promos for the ABC show, Wipeout. The website for the show describes it as the "world's largest extreme obstacle course designed to provide the most spills, face plants and wipeouts ever seen on television."

Ellen DeGeneres recently invited her two favorite NFL offensive linemen, Ephraim Salaam (Detroit) and Chester Pitts (Houston) to go through the Wipeout obstacle course for her show. Imagine what she would have asked them to do if she didn't like them. (Painful hilarity ensues after the jump)

The decision of the Washington Redskins to release veteran lineman Jon Jansen on Friday came as a bit of a surprise.

There was no question Jansen had plenty of struggles with injuries over his decade in the nation's capital, but he is still a pretty solid lineman. That, and his many ties to the state of Michigan, have led him to quickly come to terms with the Detroit Lions.

An MRI this afternoon confirmed that Texans quarterback Matt Schaub has an injured MCL. Jay Glazer of FoxSports.com is reporting that it is an MCL tear, and Schaub will be out for at least four weeks and perhaps will be put on IR. Coach Gary Kubiak didn't get into any detail in his presser but suggests Schaub will be out 2 to 4 weeks.

Backup Sage Rosenchappa Rosenfels will get the start, and he is likely to put up big numbers (and perhaps big interceptions) in Schaub's absence. Kubiak hasn't decided who Rosenfels' backup will be--either practice squader rookie Alex Brink or some guy they work out tomorrow.

The play that got Schaub limping didn't receive a flag, but it looked like it should have. Vikings DE Jared Allen dove directly into Schaub's knee, without being blocked into it. The above video shows a couple of different angles of this.

An MRI this afternoon confirmed that Texans quarterback Matt Schaub has an injured MCL. Jay Glazer of FoxSports.com is reporting that it is an MCL tear, and Schaub will be out for at least four weeks and perhaps will be put on IR. Coach Gary Kubiak didn't get into any detail in his presser but suggests Schaub will be out 2 to 4 weeks.

Backup Sage Rosenchappa Rosenfels will get the start, and he is likely to put up big numbers (and perhaps big interceptions) in Schaub's absence. Kubiak hasn't decided who Rosenfels' backup will be--either practice squader rookie Alex Brink or some guy they work out tomorrow.

The play that got Schaub limping didn't receive a flag, but it looked like it should have. Vikings DE Jared Allen dove directly into Schaub's knee, without being blocked into it. The above video shows a couple of different angles of this.

I love going to training camp. I see a bunch of friends, and it means that the season is around the corner. It also means that we start seeing breathless speculating accounts of who is doing what in camp, but you know, it is just practice in shorts.

You really can't tell much watching a team practice versus reading about it. Often all you can really see is the excitement of the fans, and what sort of condition players appear to be. But most of all, it is an excuse for the team to talk football, so you get that.

So with such caveats in place, this will be my Texans training camp report from the practice fields across from Reliant Stadium with picture goodness. To get the best information from the coaches and players, I strongly suggest checking out the HoustonTexans.com camp quotes and Texans TV.

And to see better pictures than mine, please check out Andy Martin's pictures at TexansBullPen.com. I am no good with action shots, and the one nice one I had of a Schaub to Johnson pass, I accidentally deleted. Grrrr.

According to the Day 2 Training Camp transcript, wide receiver Andre Johnson is reporting no pain with his knee at all, and from my eye, looked like his normal abnormally fit self:

With the start of Texans minicamp, fans get a sense of themes and storylines for the year, and more information about the rookies just drafted. Here's a few minicamp links, with a few thoughts of mine next to them.

Rookie Duane Brown Gets LT Minicamp Start over Ephraim Salaam: Coach Gary Kubiak knows what Salaam can give him and wants to give Brown as many practice reps against good competition as he can. It wouldn't be too surprising if Brown got the season start over Salaam given that third round pick Charles Spencer got the start two years ago over Salaam.

Texans 2008 Story is All About The Turnover Battle: Fashion and football collide with the message on the bottom of the team's practice shorts. Offensive players' shorts read "Protect the ball" and defensive players' shorts read "Take it away." It is stunning that the Texans finished 8-8 given that they gave up 38 turnovers, second most in the league, and that they took the ball away only 25 times, with only 11 interceptions, tied for last in the league.

I caught up with Houston left tackle Ephraim Salaam at the Texans Draft Luncheon on Tuesday. He was there to accept the Mickey Herskowitz Award for being the most media friendly Texan. The video above is his message to Texan fans, and what he said to the crowd when he accepted his award. (The "Mark" and "Gary" referred to in the video are Texans TE Mark Bruener and coach Gary Kubiak)

Ephraim's personality is as big as he is, which given that he goes 6'7" 300ish, means it is huge. Very friendly personable guy. He had a busy offseason of media-friendly duties after he won the Super Bowl NFL Player ad contest. After that winning that, he and fellow Texan offensive lineman, Chester Pitts did repeated guest shots on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

The NFL contest to choose the "NFL Super Ad" resulted in a 60 second commercial starring Texans offensive linemen, Ephraim Salaam and Chester PItts (YouTube above). I'm guessing we will be seeing a lot of it on NFL Network because I think they have only about 5 commercials in the rotation over there. (So, how many of you can recite the America's Game commercial word for word?)

The Houston Texans have a write up about making the video, and also a longish video showing behind the scenes of "Mr Oboe." The most interesting thing about the video to me is that it is yet another demonstration of how Hollywood will never let the truth get in the way of telling a story. A lot of the behind the scenes video is PItts complaining that Salaam is exaggerating how things actually happened. Oh, and Pitts isn't really playing the oboe in the spot as he claims that the oboe that they used for the shoot was out of tune.

As far as ads go, it was interesting and made the point they wanted to make with the video--humanizing the NFL players behind the helmets.

For the fans of those teams whose seasons are done, FanHouse is doing an offseason roadmap for all the NFL teams. This is the one for the Houston Texans.

The most important thing to read for Houston Texans fans going into the offseason is the last press conference of the season given by coach Gary Kubiak. Like with last year's end of the year presser, he basically gives a roadmap of what the priorities are for the team going into next season. I will sum this up and discuss:

1. Player Acquisitions. If you are looking at Texans priorities, focus on left tackle, running back and corner back because that is what Kubiak does in the presser. There's plenty of positions of need (a true free safety, a nose tackle, and a functioning defensive end opposite DE Mario Williams), but the areas he mentions are probably of the highest need.

Though he claims he is hopeful running back Ahman Green will be back healthy with the team, he recognizes that consistency of who is running the ball is crucial for the team. "Game time decision" isn't who you want as your starter at running back, especially when running the ball is a priority for the team. Kubiak says that he needs to find some younger players at this position.