FanHouse Cecil Sapp

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.

The Houston Chronicle reported today that Texans quarterback Matt Schaub could possibly play in the Monday Night Football game. He's back practicing after suffering a knee injury from two low hits from Vikings DE Jared Allen.

Looking at the quotes from the Friday press conference in their entirety, I'm doubting that Schaub plays in that game. Gary Kubiak sees progress, but says that Schaub is "still a little bit limited."

That running back Steve Slaton says he feeling better is bigger news. With Ahman Green predictably finding his way onto IR, the Texans have to rely on Slaton because the two guys playing behind him are Ryan Moats, who wasn't in camp, and FB Cecil Sapp.

This likely means that the Texans are going to likely throw the ball more and pass protection from the RB spot might be an adventure. Unleash the Rosenchappa interception machine.

The good news is that Al Wilson appears to be okay after suffering what's being called a sprained neck in Sunday night's game against the Seahawks. This AP article seems to indicate that the middle linebacker could return to practice as early as this Wednesday, and might even play against San Diego next week. This dude is clearly tougher than a bad piece of steak - he's already been playing through thumb and chest problems this season, and now may even play right on through a sprained neck. But it's great, obviously, for him and his family, to see that Al is alright after a very scary moment when he was strapped down, taken off the field, and rushed to an area hospital.

The bad news is that unlike Wilson, the Broncos are in serious trouble. After Al left and was replaced with Keith Burns, the Seahawks trampled over the defense, which has been struggling to close out games lately. So much for the unprecedented depth of this team. And next week, the Broncos will see LaDainian Tomlinson again, which ends the following string of running backs this defense has had to face in consecutive weeks: LT, Larry Johnson, Shawn Alexander, and an encore of LT. So far they've lost all of those games - coincidence? If the defense isn't completely burned out by now, they will be after next Sunday. Thank goodness they get a break in the following two weeks, before having to deal with Frank Gore, the NFC's leading rusher. Of course, the secondary will get their workout against Cincinatti, when Ocho Cinco and TJ Houshmandzadeh come to town.

In other injury news, Fullback Cecil Sapp is out for the year with a broken leg, meaning the oft-injured Kyle Johnson will be starting for the rest of the season. And Jason Elam should be okay after straining his hamstring on one of the most bizarre series of plays in Bronco history. More on that later.