FanHouse Duane Brown

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.

If the Texans are going to make the leap to the playoffs this year, the playoff drive will have to start in Week Two, and if the Steelers could play like this every week (they can't) they'd easily win the AFC North. Here's the stars and goats as I see it from the Steelers' 38-17 win.

Stars Of The Game:

1. Steelers outside linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley.

If there's any reason the Steelers will be significantly better this year, it's because Woodley is a better pass rusher and athlete than Clark Haggans, the veteran he replaces in the starting lineup. The opener gave a pretty good sign of what he can do. Woodley had a sack, an interception, a fumble recovery and two quarterback hurries to go with three tackles. Harrison gave rookie left tackle Duane Brown a rude introduction with three sacks, a forced fumble and eight tackles. The Steelers won't get four sacks from their outside linebackers every week, but Sunday was a good sign that they will get plenty of pressure, even when they rush only four.

As we get ready for the Steelers-Texans game, here's three things that excite me about the matchup as a Steelers fan.

1. Duane Brown is a rookie left tackle.

Brown has looked very good, better than expected, during the preseason, but Dick LeBeau has to be spending late nights figuring out all kind of exotic blitzes to confuse the new left tackle.

James Harrison coming off the edge should be enough to give Brown all kinds of problems, but Brown won't get the chance to simply sprint to the edge snap after snap. He'll have to hesitate for just a half a step because he won't know if Harrison is blitzing or if he's going to drop into coverage, or if he's going to fake a blitz to the outside, then drop, while another linebacker or a defensive lineman comes looping in on Brown's inside shoulder.

If Brown can handle all the different looks he'll get this week, it's a good sign that he'll be all right all year, but as a Steeler fan, it's hard not to like this matchup.

As we get ready for week one matchup of the Steelers and Texans, Chris Watkins from the Houston DieHards was nice enough to offer some insights on the Texans for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

1) We Steelers fans are pretty bummed about our schedule, but I have to imagine it's always rough to be a Texans fan. Six games against the Titans, Jags and Colts can never be easy. Is this the year the Texans get out of the cellar?

Check out these two stretches of the schedule for Houston. Stretch 1:Week 1 though Week 5 - at Pittsburgh, Baltimore at home, at Tennessee, at Jacksonville, Indianapolis at home. Stretch 2: Week 9 though Week 14: at Minnesota, Cincinnati at home, at Indianapolis, at Cleveland, Jacksonville
at home, at Green Bay.

Of course Baltimore at home in the first stretch, and Cincy at home in the second should be winnable games, but at this point early in the pre-season, all the others could go either way. Luckily, very few in the Texans fan community are complaining. A lot of us have the attitude of "hey, if we're going to finally get respect in this league, we NEED to beat whoever they throw at us, no matter who it is."

Lots of confusion out there on who is going to get the running back touches for the Texans. I think the confusion exists because I am not sure even the Texans coaches know what they are going to do.

Here's what we know as of today:

1. Green's Injury: Ahman Green was in and out of the lineup for most of last year, and then put on IR due to a bone bruise of his knee. He has recovered from that, but was the anti-weeble in the first preseason game, falling down on his first play without being touched due to a groin injury.

2. Green as Starter: Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle reports that the coaches believe in that Ahman Green will be back for the beginning of the season. As Justice says in his blog comments:

I was told by both Rick Smith and Gary Kubiak that they think he'll be the starting running back in the regular-season opener. He's telling them he'll be ready, which is different than last season when he was never optimistic about coming back. But the biggest factor is that from a talent standpoint he's light years ahead of the other RBs except for possibly the rookie, and there's no way they're going to throw him out there against the 3-4 in the first game.

And he says more about Green in this other blog post.

3. Green Gone: Justice's colleague, John McClain speculates that if Green doesn't play in the preseason, he is going to get cut.

Lots of confusion out there on who is going to get the running back touches for the Texans. I think the confusion exists because I am not sure even the Texans coaches know what they are going to do.

Here's what we know as of today:

1. Green's Injury: Ahman Green was in and out of the lineup for most of last year, and then put on IR due to a bone bruise of his knee. He has recovered from that, but was the anti-weeble in the first preseason game, falling down on his first play without being touched due to a groin injury.

2. Green as Starter: Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle reports that the coaches believe in that Ahman Green will be back for the beginning of the season. As Justice says in his blog comments:

I was told by both Rick Smith and Gary Kubiak that they think he'll be the starting running back in the regular-season opener. He's telling them he'll be ready, which is different than last season when he was never optimistic about coming back. But the biggest factor is that from a talent standpoint he's light years ahead of the other RBs except for possibly the rookie, and there's no way they're going to throw him out there against the 3-4 in the first game.

And he says more about Green in this other blog post.

3. Green Gone: Justice's colleague, John McClain speculates that if Green doesn't play in the preseason, he is going to get cut.

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

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.