FanHouse FredWeary

For the last two years, the Houston Texans have finished their seasons with a league high 17 players on IR. Last year, starting quarterback Matt Schaub, running back Ahman Green, and standout wide receiver Andre Johnson were only on the field together for two games. Other key starters that missed substantial time last season due to injury include cornerback Dunta Robinson, center Steve McKinney and guard Fred Weary (Houston Texans video of his rehabilitation above).

There's no way I would have predicted the Texans finishing 8-8 with those injuries and running back Ron Dayne (now unemployed) as their leading rusher. Quite the coaching job by the staff.

The coaches and fanbase are sick of this injury story, and after the last two seasons the team has talked about how they can reduce injuries. An article in HoustonTexans.com discusses how the coaching staff believes that they will be able to reduce injuries:

UPDATE: The Houston Chronicle reports that Pitts will play on Sunday. As I suspected as is typical with these types of facts, he says that the arrest was based on a misunderstanding. His apology for the arrest seems very sincere, given that his father has been a police officer for 30 years.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Texans guard Chester Pitts was charged with felony evading arrest for leaving the scene after being pulled over for making an illegal turn. The Chronicle report has the Houston Police Department's account of the arrest. A Texans spokesmen said that the team is looking into the details of the arrest and will have a comment at the appropriate time.

I am guessing there is more than this than is currently being reported. At 5 pm (likely after practice), why would Pitts flee the scene instead of just waiting for his ticket? There has to be more to this story then a guy wanting to avoid paying a small fine.

Putting my lawyer hat on for a moment, "felony evading arrest" sounds like something that is really bad, but just means under the law that you intentionally left the scene after an officer detains you. It becomes a felony in Texas if it happens with a car. It will be interesting to see what Pitts version of these events are because often these cases happen when a driver doesn't realize that they are being detained.

I'm the last one to be an apologist for lawbreaking NFL players, but I've been wondering lately if the NFL's new personal conduct policy actually INCREASES the amount of attention given to NFL player badness. The policy allows the commissioner a great deal of latitude to decide punishments for players: "Conduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity and reputation of the NFL will be subject to discipline, even if not criminal in nature."

Nobody knows what the penalties for different offenses will be, even apparently NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Reportedly, Goodell was prepared to give Pacman Jones a six month suspension but increased it to an entire year when he heard that Jones had visited a strip club in New York the night before he was set to meet the commish. So basically, Jones' offenses were worth six months, except when they are worth a year long suspension because Jones was an idiot and went to what turned out to be the most expensive strip club ever.

Before the new NFL personal conduct policy, usually if players got sideways with the law, discipline was tabled until after the legal process finished with it. And the problem most people had with that is that usually legal stuff goes pretty slowly, and this meant that a player that did something pretty bad could still be wearing a uniform with nothing happening to him. The news coverage and commissioner actions relating to those events was usually tabled a bit too.

Last November, Texans guard Fred Weary was pulled over in a traffic stop and Tasered for allegedly resisting arrest. Those charges were dropped when a judge found that the police's story didn't add up to a resisting charge. This incident led to calls for the Houston Police Department's Tasering rules to be reviewed.

Well, apparently Weary is sideways with HPD again. A report from KHOU Channel 11 in Houston suggests that Weary is being investigated by police for an incident that occurred in a swinger's bar two weeks ago. According to the report, a group was there for a bachelor and bachelorette party:

"In the police report, witnesses told HPD that for some unknown reason Weary started a fight inside the club breaking tables, chairs and glasses. When people tried to stop him, the report states pushed them around as well.

The big Texans lineman allegedly threw a drink on a female family member and then assaulted her.

Investigative sources told 11 News that female was Weary's wife."

Ew, those allegations don't look so good--swinger bar, fight, assaulted wife--not the trifecta you want to hit. A lot of people gave Weary the benefit of the doubt the last time he was accused because of his reputation as a quiet, family man. I don't know what will come of the investigation, or what the facts may prove if it goes to a court of law, but I guess that isn't important in the new NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell has made it clear that players are held to a higher standard than just legal guilt or innocence in a court of law. What that ends up meaning as it relates to Fred Weary (or any other NFL player accused of something) is unclear.

Update: KTRK 13 in Houston is reporting that the club owner did not press charges because Weary paid him for damages, but that the police are still investigation potential assault charges. Hat Tip: DGDB&D.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)