John McClain carries more water for Kubiak and McNair than a pregnant woman. His source sucks, but it doesn't suck because it's biased against the Texans...
I'm not omitting anything; that's why I specifically added a qualifier to my statement ("so far as I know"). And, still so far as I know, they did not meet/work him out/get serious with him until late September, right? So the Texans expressed an interest, held off to see where they were, etc., revisited signing him...... and it's their fault he got "heavy" in the interim? We're not going to question Schobel's desire or commitment to play football at all? It's McNair's fault? I said one month? Really? I didn't say, "They didn't, so far as I know, meet with him until September, more than a month after he retired." I know "one month" and "more than a month" look nothing alike and therefore are nearly impossible to confuse but... If you're referring to my earlier statement about getting heavy in a month, fine - I'll amend it accordingly: You don't get "heavy" (as in needing to lose upwards of 10 pounds) in two months if you have any desire to play football that season. And if you do, it is not the fault of a wishy-washy football team. We can certainly disagree on whether Schobel was worth this or that - and you can certainly mount an effective case that he would have been an upgrade and they were wrong for passing on him. But blaming the Texans for him getting fat remains a silly approach.
I don't blame them for the fact that he was out of shape in September - he said he would retire if not signed, he wasn't signed, he retired, and he had zero reason to stay in shape. I blame them for not signing him in August when he could have been in reasonable shape for the opener. I blame them for waiting until he was two months out of shape to bring him in. Why don't we just file this with the rest of the Ric Arguments: Texans Front Office Did It, So They Must Have Been Right.
OMG! Can everyone just shut up about Aaron Shobel?? A defensive end. The point is kind of moot when what we needed was secondary help. Who cares how out of shape Shobel was and why. Y'all are taking up 2 pages with this ridiculous argument.
Former Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans RB, Ahman Green, joined Sean Pendergast to discuss his time in Houston. Green reveals that Texans GM Rick Smith questioned the legitimacy of his injury and, furthermore, Green was warned about Smith by other NFL players prior to arriving in Houston. Spoiler Joining me is Ahman Green. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Great. Great to have you on the program. Lets start with the e-mail you sent to me. You said you had a lot of things going on in Houston, certainly injury affected things, things have been documented as well with your daughter, your father passing away. I guess lets start with your time in Houston as you look back at it, I'm probably bringing up a time you didnt look back at fondly, talk about your time here in Houston and some things maybe the fans dont know about off the field at the time. It was a big change for myself and my family. Moving and coming down there for work. A big change in itself. Coming into a new city, a big city. A young team, a opportunity I looked at as trying to bring the team to the next level. Try to get them over that hump, possibly make the playoffs, have a winning season, getting past the Colts, and making it where teams look at and respect the Texans. That was my mindset. Change the mentality there and try to be a solid team player I had been. With moving down there, shortly after, my dad had been fighting cancer for 5 or 6 years at that time, and was in his last stages, with him coming down accelerated the process. He wanted to see me play. That was a good and bad thing. Right during the preseason time and early regular season, he hit his last stages and passed away in early October of 07, so I had that going on. Just trying to deal with that, handling being on a new team, focusing my best effort being the player I had always been, it was a lot of distractions. When it came to dealing with the team, Coach Kubiak, Rick Smith, teammates, they didnt really know me a lot. They took me as being cocky or better than but really Im a quiet guy and lead by example, I dont say a whole lot. If they would have known me, they wouldnt have assumed I was missing treatments on purpose. Fact was, I'm in a new city, my dad has passed away, now I have to deal with being a professional all at the same time. Some things have occured before where I had these issues and had to deal with juggling it all at once. This year, was a perfect storm of issues that arrived at the same time. Not only did I have personal issues but was bumping heads with the team GM. I never had that all at once. When I come to the stadium, I come to release. Get my aggression and anger out. End of the day, I'm exhausted and can come home and relax. When Im bumping heads at work and dealing with stuff outside the workplace, its a perfect storm to get distracted, not being able to focus, thats how I believe where the injuries came from. If your mind isnt right, everything else is off as well. First and formost, how aware was the team of the stuff off the field? Only thing I let them know of was my dad. The stuff with my daughters had been going on for years. Me and their mother seperated in 02 and official in 03. That had been going back and forth since then. I had a grip on that. Nothing new. What added to it was like I said, moving to the city, dealing with new team, dealing with coaches and teammates and the GM not knowing me. Him not knowing Im a quiet guy and lead by example. Sometimes I do keep things to myself but isnt personal. I'm not going to be outgoing. Once I get to know everyone, I open up. This was my first year. I was trying to feel my way around not only the city but the lockerroom. One of the guys on the staff was Mike Sherman. Was he helpful? In the beginning he was but when the injuries, the knee injury in 07 kept lingering, I missed a treatment I didnt know about, he approached me and said Ahman, Im trying to cushion the blow from Kubiak and Rick. They want to know why you missed this or were late to this. I'm like I understand, I said I was having a rough go at it. Im sorry, it wont happen again, which it didnt, but things....I didnt understand why he of all people would question me since he knew me from GB and nothing much had changed from that standpoint. When it boiled down to it, after that exchange with Sherman, Rick Smith called me into his office several weeks after that. I think it was right before Oakland game, where I played, got hit early, was out for the game, right before that, he called me into his office and he didnt know how to start the conversation. He asked me straight up, are you faking your injury? I took a step back. It was like wow. The biggest eye opening thing I experienced in my career. Thats the ultimate right there. For someone to say we think you're being untruthful about being hurt. Nothing worse you can do to an athlete. Exactly. My mom and dad and brothers had instilled into me with sports. If Im hurt, I'm hurt. If I cant perform, let them know. Let the coaches know. I'll be straight up with them. When he asked me that, it took me everything in my power not to do something I would have regretted. I removed myself from his office and called my agent and said get me outta here before I do something I dont wanna do. I had never experienced that type of questioning from a player, a coach, a GM. At that point, the days and months and years after that, it was a bad taste in my mouth and strange experience from that point on. Yeah, you cant come back from that. Right. Football, and Im not the only one, ask any professional athlete, they do their sport to provide for their family, for the love of the game. When you question that, you really are not giving the effort to find out what exactly's going on with that person. If that was me, I find out whats going on before I question something that can put a damper on a relationship or business relationship. With Rick, its on a business level. He assumed I was faking my injury or whatever, he didnt come to me or sit me down and ask me whats going on. I would've told him if he asked just like I told you. Im a man, I wont complain about anything. I tried to handle everything the best I could in 07 but it was overwhelming. A lot of things going on I tried to handle but that question/questioning didnt help. It made things way worse for me and my family down there. Did you know enough about maybe other players and their interactions with the FO to know if you were being singled out or was that a pattern? Did you feel singled out? I would say not anybody on the team currently at that time. I ran into former players outside the team that played for the Texans before I got there that gave me a warning. Be careful, be leary of this person or that person. Ironically, one of those persons I was warned about was Rick Smith. What type of warnings? Be leary of the way/how he works. Interactions with him. Have him on alert. Be ready for seeing a curveball coming at you. Be ready for that. I was like ok, thank you. I'll keep it in the back of my mind. That was hearsay. I dont listen to a lot of hearsay. But when it did happen, I was like aww man, it wasnt far from the truth. You experienced best years in GB. How hard was it to leave GB? Why did you leave GB? That was something I never brought up in the beginning. That was tough to do. GB is where I live. Thats where I got going. Sherman, Ron Wolf, city of GB, they gave me that opportunity. When I got drafted, I said I just need a chance. GB gave me that chance. I love em for it. I'll always thank them for it. When that day came, it was a tough decision. It was hard. Something I never thought would happen. Money wasnt the center but really felt in my heart of hearts I could come down to HOuston and make a difference in a positive way. Felt I was that caliber of player. I wasnt going to come down and win a SB in my first year but thought I could change the mental mindscape of this young team. I knew the athletes were there. Everyone was young but when you have a young team did and kinda still has, nowhere to go but up. I seen other players do it in the past and currently, go to a team that was on the cusp of being good, that player goes to that team and make a difference and I thought I could be that player. How closely, you have been playing last couple years, how closely have you followed the Texans since leaving here and you've probably seen, they had a lot of heartbreaks. Surprised they havent turned the corner yet? No, it doesnt/hasnt surprised me. I see the effort they give. The same effort that started when I got there. It kinda surprised me that....this year, I said this is the year for them. I played and practice with some of those guys. With Arian, never met him, but he's a hell of a runner. Take my hat off to him. With that addition, I said this is all they needed. When I was there, it was me, and Ron Dayne, then Steve Slaton, and Chris Brown, RB by committee. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesnt. No consistency but when they got that consistency with Arian and Vonta doing his thing, they you had threat. Arian on the ground, on screens, and catch the ball, Andre Johnson on the edge - a well respected WR. I saw that and would put money down in Vegas if I was a betting man they would make the playoffs, which Im not. The Baltimore game in Houston, thats fight. When you watch that game, there were opportunities where they could've tucked tail and said game over but they didnt. Difference of a bad throw. Pressure on Matt and end of the game. They showed fight, which has been there since I got there. Story that spurned the blog post I did, you were released by Montreal. Hamstring injury. Are you still trying to play or moving on to something else? I love football. Loved it since I was a kid. Ive been fortunate to have great coaches. The injury wasnt bad, what had occured was, prior to me arriving, 2-3 weeks before I tweaked my left hamstring. I notifited them. GOt that healed up. Was running before I got up there to make sure it was right. If it wasnt right, I wouldnt have went. I went up there rearing to go. Halfway through the 2nd practice, my right hamstring got tight. Didnt pull it or tweak it but got tight. They made the decision they did. I gotta live with that. Right now back in GB. Thinking about things. I got time with the NFL lockout. UFL camps a month away. Im relaxing with my family. Wont rush to any decisions. Mulling things over. How therapeutic was it for you, outlined how difficult 2 years in Houston were, to get back for part of a season in GB? You heard old cliche: whatever doesnt kill you makes you stronger. That experience in Houston and experiences throughout my life, not just in football, did that. Waiting around, hoping in the back of my head that any team would pick me. Cards laid out, it was GB. Wanted to do whatever I could to help them. I would say being in that locker room that year, I saw what happened in 2010. The mental capacity for the 2010 Packers, I would say most championship teams, usually the year before is that marker/foundation for getting ready for the next year for a championship year. We had injuries and setbacks in 09. Cards werent in it that year but following year, they come back and still find a way to get through the playoffs and go to Dallas and beat Pittsburgh. That is something I saw in the locker room a year before. A lot of those guys I know. Im happy for them. Ahman, appreciate you reaching out to me and coming on the show to clarify things we discussed. Hope to do it again soon. Best of luck in the future. Thank you very much. Calling in not to bash anyone but set the record straight because not everyone knew what was going on with me in 07. Thanks for having me and will come back any time. Thanks again. http://www.1560thegame.com/media/?p=4329
No disrespect to Ahman, but all of those excuses are pretty unnecessary. I'm sure Rick Smith was bumping heads with him after paying him all of that money. But the guy was like glass...he couldn't make it through two games without getting hurt. There's not really anything else that needs to be said.
Saw the following exchange on Twitter between Cushing and Rashad Butler: Looks like maybe Baby Shan wants to reunite with Butler? Athletes can't be that transparent, can they? "Let me post something on Twitter that'll tip people off that I've been talking with other teams during the lockout."
Butler is a starting caliber right tackle. If he is allowed to be a free agent, he will get a big paycheck from some team based on the way he played while Duane Brown was out. As for Green, he was terrible as a Texan. I found it comical when he said he "asked" to be let out of Houston. Another thing I found odd is when Green said he was told by other players before signing in 2007 about Rick Smith. Smith hadn't even been a GM for more than a year before they signed Green. And if Green was so leery of Smith, why sign with the Texans? Cause they were dumb enough to offer the most money to this washed up running back.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6671873 I suspected all along this was going to come down to the owners caving as the players called their bluff....NFL demands (outside of rookie scale) were greed based, not need. I'd bet good dollars that the two AFC teams are the Raiders and Bills, possibly the Jags....Ralph Wilson is a dead lock to be crying for franchise welfare.
Marcus Coleman gets his 2 cents in. Former Texans player Marcus Coleman calls in to discuss Ahman Green’s comments on Rick Smith and his thoughts on the Texans organization as a whole.(and a "story" on Glenn Earl) http://www.1560thegame.com/media/?p=4335
Link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/texansfront/7611085.html and Link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/justice/texans/7614610.html
Like one of the comments says, the lockout has always been about the owners getting the players to subsidise the fact that the large market owners don't want to share revenue with the small market ones. That is why Jerry Jones turned into a hardliner in spite of his great bottom line and high owed costs on the stadium - he doesn't want Ralph Wilson to get in on his golden goose. Most of the other hardliners.are small market guys - Jerry Richardson, Mike Brown, etc.
(eye roll)... What am I arguing the Texans' FO did "right"? I'm simply dismissing the notion that they "allowed him to get out of shape," as if there's no personal accountability here. If he was committed to playing football in 2010 (which he directly said he was not, and indicated indirectly that he was not by falling out of shape), he would have kept himself in shape and been ready to go. That wasn't the Texans' fault.
Why are you so hung up about this? It was a get it while it was hot offer: sign Schobel now or watch him get out of shape. They chose to watch him get out of shape. That's what I mean when I say "they decided to let him get out of shape before calling him in Sept" Argue about another pointless semantic or no, I'm done replying to you on the subject. It's been a dead issue for months and I have no clue what you're trying to get at. If you honestly believe I've accused the Texans of somehow making a player get fat, I don't know what to say. My apologies for mentioning the subject in the first place.
Gee, emjohn, I don't know.... ("Why don't we just file this with the rest of the Ric Arguments: Texans Front Office Did It, So They Must Have Been Right.") If you're going to throw haymakers, which is fine, you should probably expect the person on the receiving end to fight back. Collectively, you have, at every turn, railed the Texans' handling of the Schobel situation. Which is not the issue - we all have opinions. But never, not once, have you conceded an inch that Schobel shoulders some responibility here, including seemingly excusing his getting fat because the Texans didn't act. Not Schobel - the Texans. Even though we can easily surmise from Schobel's own mouth that he had lost the desire to play football and had gained enough weight that it was pretty obvious he was getting fat before his retirement/release, not *after* the Texans passed on him. I just think in what's becoming a race to rip the Texans for everything they do, this seemed outlandish. Should they have signed him? You could make a pretty solid case *anyone* would have helped that defense. But him arriving out of shape and blowing his try-out is 100% on Aaron Schobel.
Here are three videos with Reggie Herring explaining aspects of Wade's 3-4 defense. Direct Links to Videos: (sorry no embedding code available as far as I can tell)... Video 1: X's and O's: Herring on LB duties in 3-4 (4:38) Video 2: X's and O's: Herring on 3-4 switches (3:51) Video 3: X's and O's: Herring on 3-4 vs. 3 WR offense (2:44)
