Now the signing of Ephraim Salaam makes more sense...
Like MDC posted earlier, Texans LT Duane Brown has been suspended by the league for four games for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
This comes as quite a blow, with the team going up against one of the league's premier edge rushers this Sunday. And no matter your feelings on Brown, I would much rather he match up against DeMarcus Ware than Rashad Butler. Nothing against Butler, but the guy is a backup for a reason.
Another thing that really hurts about this is the PR implications. Many say they don't care about the team's image as long as they're winning. But the bottom line is that Texans owner Bob McNair does care, and now with a second first round draft pick getting busted for performance enhancers in the past five months, the team is going to take a PR hit. I'm already seeing tweets saying stuff like "No wonder Houston is 2-0...bunch of cheaters!" And "There is more juice in that team than Jack LaLanne." You get the point. So as much as we don't care, you know it has to bother Uncle Bob.
Some more thoughts and quotes from Duane Brown after the jump...
Unlike another certain suspended player, Brown is ready to take his lumps. Yes, he may have deleted his Twitter account to evade getting tweet-bombed, but he didn't duck the media and spoke with them immediately after the announcement:
"First off, I want to personally apologize to Bob McNair, coach Kubiak and the rest of the coaching staff, my teammates, family and to all the great and loyal Texans fans. I take full responsibility for putting myself in this situation. I unknowingly took a supplement tainted with a banned substance and now have to deal with the consequences."
Brown also stated that he would not be appealing the decision.
One more thing I want to bring up is something that Big Ron asked on Twitter. He said, "What's going on with the conditioning program? Didn't have this crap under Dan Riley." Think that is a fair judgment? I won't lie that the thought occurred to me as well. Those guys are there to approve or disapprove any supplements that come through the locker room. No excuse for that, really. Unless this is just another case of an athlete just saying they had no idea what they were taking. Which wouldn't be surprising.
Thoughts?