In a move that's not really surprising but is nonetheless disappointing, your Houston Texans placed longtime RG Fred Weary on injured reserve earlier today. With Mike Brisiel's emergence and Kasey Studdard's ability to back up multiple positions for a paltry salary, this writing has been on the wall for some time.

Here's hoping Fred recovers and gets back on the field soon, whether it's with the team that drafted him or another team. Outside the AFC South, of course.

Thanks for the years of service, Fred. All the best from BRB.

December 2, 2007.  3rd & 7.  Rosenfels is back in the shotgun.  The ball is snapped and Rosenfels passes over the middle to Ron Dayne for a short gain.  Fred Weary goes down with a knee injury.  Back in Houston, Mike Brisiel saw it all on TV.  His stomach turned.  One of his teammates and good friends was hurt.  As he kept watching, he saw Chris White come in and also go down with an injury.  

It was a bittersweet day for Mike.  He had just seen 3 teammates injured, but in the back of his mind, he knew that the team would be calling him up.  He'd been working on the practice squad for 2 years, competing week in and week out for his chance.  And when it came, he took it.

Game day came, and Brisiel took the field with the starters.  He spent most of the game working against Kevin Carter.  Mike said he'd always remember that first game and having to move Carter off the ball because he was so big and had such long arms.  Yet as we all saw, the Texans and Mike Brisiel got it done.

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Tuesday wrapped up Day Five of Houston Texans training camp. Again, temperatures in Houston reached well into the mid 90s. Sweltering heat aside, the Texans continued to focus on improving individually as they work towards building the best team in franchise history.

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Some interesting things are intersecting in the Texans blogosphere...Matt over at DGDB&D has an interesting piece. It's specifically about an argument he's engaged in, but more generally, it's about how the Texans are viewed nationally.

At the same time, Sportsgamer.com just came out with the Madden 09 ratings shown in their graphic to the right.  You can definitely get a sense how the guys at EA Sports feel about the Texans. I bring this up because the Texans are about to enter a watershed season.

Anyone that knows football knows the Texans took a giant leap forward last season. Lots of 2nd and 3rd string players, as well as new starters, established themselves. Guys like Kevin Walter and Fred Bennett put themselves on the map. All but the most hardened man-crushes have let go of the Mario-bashing and decided that Young and Bush are more hype than substance. So with all that, the Texans are poised to make their mark in the national spotlight.

If you read this blog, you're probably a Texans homer.  You know that Mike Brisiel is going to steamroll Albert Haynesworth this year, and that Zac Diles is going to put Goldberg's spear on Maurice Jones-Drew.  So obviously our view of Texans players is probably a little skewed.

That being said, it'll be up to you to set the world right and lead the Texans to conquer the national stage.  Check out the ratings below and see what I mean.

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Much to the chagrin of Houston's law enforcement community, Fred Weary is returning to Reliant Park via a one-year deal. Have to admit that I'm a bit surprised by this. Coming off a pretty horrific injury and with a handful of other options at RG, I really thought Weary would be plying his trade elsewhere in 2008.

I note, however, that the deal is for very little guaranteed money, and I have to believe that Weary's injury scared off a lot of teams who might have paid significant money to sign a young lineman with a good deal of starting experience. Indeed, young linemen rarely even get to the open market; their teams usually lock them up before they have a chance to audition suitors. The relatively small contract given to Weary makes me think that teams were either (1) scared off by his injury and/or (2) not that impressed by his body of work.

Regardless, the cap friendly nature of Weary's deal makes me a strong proponent of his return; now, let's see if he can hold off the challengers to retain his starting gig.