The Houston Texans have completed their first minicamp.  Really wishing I was there to see it all in person, but there are really some interesting football nuggets to be gleaned from reading the interview transcripts. 

 

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Apologies if the majority of you were aware of our newest CB's past; I certainly wasn't until I read Steve Campbell's illuminating article in today's paper. Not that I wouldn't have been rooting for Antwaun Molden anyway, but now I'm hoping the guy finally catches every break he possibly can. After the agonizing adversity he's faced, Molden certainly deserves all the success in the world.

First day of mini-camp is over, and Megan Manfull reports that it's not all sunshine and lollipops at Reliant Park. Seems master thespian and incumbent LT Ephraim Salaam was none too pleased to learn that some dude who's been a Texan for less than a month was getting all the reps with the first team:


On one hand, I think I'd be bent if I was Salaam too. Brown has done nothing to earn the job besides being drafted in the first round. You'd think that Brown would have to show he could beat Salaam out on the field before being handed a promotion. On the other hand, Salaam may be getting bent out of shape over nothing. It's the first mini-camp. Brown is raw, and he's going to get beat early and often. The coaching staff will see that, and the guy who's better situated to protect The Schaub come September 7, 2008 will be the guy who gets the starting nod, first-round draft pick or not. On yet another hand (yes, I realize that's three (3) hands; bear with me here), it makes all the sense in the world to get Brown as many reps with the first team as humanly possible. As Matt observed, the relative inexperience possessed by Brown, the relatively short-term presence of Alex Gibbs, and the indisputable fact that D. Brown was drafted to protect the QB's blind side for the next ten (10) years practically demands that Brown take his share of lumps as rapidly as is necessary to get him entrenched and comfortable on the OL.

Kubes' actions thus far aside, I do not think we can pencil D. Brown in to start come Week One just yet. He's going to have to convince the coaches that he's less likely to get The Schaub killed than Salaam is over the next three (3) months to earn the gig. The good news for Brown (and the bad news for Salaam) is that it looks like the coaches are going to give him every opportunity to do it.

Tom Tynan would be proud. The Texans have been building through the draft ever since Smithiak took over. Since 2005, the Texans have drafted 27 players.  Of those drafted, there are still 23 on the roster in one capacity or another.  From 2002 to 2004, the Texans drafted 31 players.  Only 6 players still remain with the team.  So the Texans' fortunes with the players they draft has improved immensely.

 

The road to the Super Bowl is paved with draft success.  The New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers are 4-3 teams that are built through the draft and are playing at a high level.  Will this be the year the Texans make the leap into the playoff contention?  Let's compare blueprints and see how the Texans measure up.

 

 

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The local fishwrap had a short article in today's edition to account for your Houston Texans teeing off the first mini-camp of the offseason today. A few nuggets to chew upon:

-I had no idea that Alex Gibbs contacted Kubes about un-retiring; I was always under the impression that Kubes lured Gibbs out of retirement. The fact that Gibbs, widely considered to be one of the best (if not the best) offensive line coaches in the history of the NFL, chose to reach out to Kubes instead of anyone else speaks volumes. You'd have to think that every head coach in the league would be dying to bring him aboard.

-Very interested to see what the reports on The Schaub are come Monday. We know he's not expected to be 100% until training camp kicks off in July, so how he looks now could be a bit misleading. Unless he looks like a rock star, in which case it's merely an omen of the Lombardi Trophy to come in 2008.

-I refuse to get my hopes up about Charles Spencer. It seems like there are still far too many hurdles to clear to reasonably expect him to contribute in 2008...if ever.

-Other players specifically mentioned by Kubes as meriting scrutiny this weekend: Jacques Reeves, Chris Taylor, Amobi Okoye, and Frank Okam. The Reeves signing is growing on me like some sort of fungus, primarily because the Texans desperately need him to step into one of the starting CB spots. If he can't hold down a starting CB gig, the secondary will be in big trouble. With the arrival of one Super Steve Slaton, I think Taylor's best and only chance to make this squad is going to be as a FB/Special Teams Wizard; in other words, he needs to unseat Jameel Cook, which should be entirely doable. And while I think it's unreasonable to expect Okoye to make the gigantic leap The Biggest Bust in the History of Sport did in his second year (because what Super Mario did was freaking historic), the thought of pairing him with Okam makes me giggle and should make opposing QBs weep.

-Finally, and not included in the Chronicle's article, here's a good read by SI.com's Ross Tucker on his experiences as a rookie in his first mini-camp. Needless to say, I'm excited to hear how the newest Texans handle their first real exposure to the NFL.

According to a recent study from ESPN, we're growing increasingly happy with our team. You knew that, of course; ESPN just attempted to quantify it. And did they ever--the first non-losing season in franchise history saw our perception of Texans fandom skyrocket from melancholy (No. 96 in last year's rankings) to mere mild depression (No. 56 this year).

Aside from the brilliant and witty observations of the fan they interviewed for the piece, any thoughts? Personally, I'd like to think I'm happier about my team than, say, a fan of the Charlotte Bobcats (No. 47) or the Kansas City Royals (No. 51), but maybe that's just a testament to my cheery personality. Or the effectiveness of my various medications. One of those two for sure.

The comments in the previous post got me thinking. Now that we've got ourselves a constantly growing Texans fan community around these parts, I think it's only logical that we pick a home game or two to congregate. As I'm nothing if not an advance planner, consider this your forum to cast a vote as to which game or games you believe we should actively target for a BRB Tailgate. Since we're eyeing this several months in advance, the hope is that it gives people time to calendar and/or schedule around it. If our inaugural gathering manages to get a decent turnout, I could see this becoming more than a once-per-season tradition. But let's not put the cart ahead of MDC's woefully flawed immune system.

While the preseason tilts would most likely have the greatest amounts of tickets readily available, there's nothing like the regular season (or playoffs...so I hear). And I'm also in favor of beginning said tailgate closer to noon than sunrise. Thus, it should come as no surprise that I'd vote for everyone interested to meet up in a designated parking lot at Reliant prior to/after the Baltimore (09/14/08) or Detroit (10/19/08) game. But I'm just one man.

Here's the schedule. What do you think?

Say goodbye to those sleepless nights...the 2008 preseason schedule has been confirmed! To wit:

08/09/08 Denver 7 p.m.
08/16/08 @ New Orleans 7 p.m.
08/22/08 @ Dallas 7 p.m.
08/28/08 Tampa Bay 7 p.m.

Games that see fans charged 100% of regular-season ticket prices for approximately 7.49% of the regular-season value...huzzah!

In our continuing effort to provide you, our readers, with top-notch coverage of the Texans 2008 draft class, we sought out expert insight from those in the know. For the insider's perspective on Steve Slaton, we turned to West Virginia University's Director of New Media, Mr. John Antonik.

Mr. Antonik has been involved with the university for twenty years as a student, graduate student, and as an employee in the athletic department. He has been covering the WVU football team on a daily basis since 1998, writing numerous articles in that time. He is currently responsible for all of the department's websites, including the university's official athletic site. Suffice to say, he is an expert in all things WVU football.

We asked Mr. Antonik ten questions starting off with his first impressions of Steve Slaton and finishing up with his expectations for Steve at the next level. The verbatim questions and responses were as follows.

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With the draft in the books and the first mini-camp of the off-season ready to kick off on Friday, I figured it's as good a time as any to put my very early guess down onto virtual paper as to who's going to be starting when your Houston Texans kick off the regular season in Pittsburgh in approximately four (4) months. With the always-present caveat that injuries could change the equation, here's my prediction as to who'll be starting on the offensive side of the ball when the dust clears and the starters take the field in Week One:

QB: Matt Schaub
RB: Chris Brown (I still foresee Ahman Green falling victim to the reality of the NFL salary cap and more importantly, an overcrowded backfield)
FB: Vonta Leach
WR: Andre Johnson
WR: Kevin Walter
TE: Owen Daniels
LT: Ephraim Salaam (for all our excitement over the prospect of Duane Brown laying claim to LT, it would take a major miracle for it to happen by Week One and, in my opinion, a minor miracle for him to be starting at any point in 2008)
LG: Chester Pitts (though I think that Pitts' status as an automatic starter on the OL is in greater jeopardy than at any other time since the franchise's inception)
C: Chris Myers (on a related note, it's been awfully quiet on the Bring-Back-Steve-McKinney front, hasn't it?)
RG: Mike Brisiel (Fred Weary's return notwithstanding, I'm not sold on the idea of Weary transitioning to a pure zone blocking scheme better than Brisiel will)
RT: Eric Winston

Not a ton of changes from last year, but I don't think many of us expected big changes from what was a reasonably effective offense (despite being ravaged by injuries) throughout much of 2007. What say you? Am I way off on any of these positional predictions?