FanHouse Richard Justice

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.

Columnist John McClain of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that free agent QB Quinn Gray is about to sign a one year deal with the Houston Texans. UPDATE: Signing is official.

He chose to come to the Texans, canceling other free agent trips, to be signed as a #3 behind #2 QB Sage Rosenfels? GM Rick Smith claims the Texans would like to carry three veteran quarterbacks to start the year, even though the Texans haven't done that while coach Gary Kubiak has been running things.

Of course, nobody with a brain thinks that this is the end of the story. Clearly, the Texans are giving themselves the flexibility to trade Sage Rosenfels for some draft considerations. Most sentient football observers would think this is a sensible thing to do, but Richard Justice at the Chronicle claims that:

The Texans cannot and must not trade Sage Rosenfels. It's not even a close call.
...
Weakening the most important position on the field to strengthen another makes no sense. And there's no one available that's even close to being as good as Rosenfels.

Then he proceeds to say a bunch of blather that has no relevance to whether you should trade Rosenfels away if you get good value for him. Well, I suppose I'm glad that Richard Justice isn't running the Texans as actually it is a close call.

Lately, journalists have criticized bloggers for being overly emotional and non-factual (Bill Conlin) and for "wrecklessness" (Steven A. Smith's spelling, not mine). Ultimately, I believe that neither bloggers or journalists have a monopoly on truth and responsibility. We are all just humans, with our own biases and blindspots and emotions and often deadlines, and that you judge the quality of writing not based on what someone's profession is, but rather on the content of what they are saying.

On a recent PTI, Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon asked the question who deserves a bigger apology: Chargers head coach Norv Turner or Texans defensive end Mario Williams? And they came down on the side of Williams, noting that people called him a bust before he even had put on an NFL jersey:

The 2006 draft resulted in Houston fans saying huh? (and/or various profanities), New Orleans fans rejoicing , and Tennesee owner Bud Adams cackling. With Texan Mario Williams facing Saint Reggie Bush for the first time this Sunday in Houston, expect media types to re-examine the top of the 2006 draft.

In 2007, the fan bases of Texans, Saints and Titans must be wondering if their 2006 #1 draft picks will ever be worth their rookie contracts. Some suggest that the NFL is completely messed up when system makes you pay rookies at the top of the draft more money than established Pro Bowlers. That it is a curse for those teams at the top of the NFL draft to spend that kind of money on guys that are often not worth it.

It's been oft suggested that the Texans should have traded down out of their pick in 2006, but given what players were available in that draft near the top, it might have been difficult to get teams to bite. USC quarterback Matt Leinart would have been chosen #1 in 2005, but instead goes #10 to Arizona in 2006.