<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Kubiak now at podium. Said CB Ball didn't practice, but it looks like OLB Reed is ready to go.</p>— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonTexans/status/282188912577880065" data-datetime="2012-12-21T18:20:54+00:00">December 21, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Vikings are fighting for their playoff lives and have the most dynamic running back in the league. Also the Vikings are coming in hot after beating a tough Rams team. The Texans are fighting for homefield and also have several exciting players. Would you rather see Matt Schaub, JJ Watt, Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, Adrian Petersen, and Jarard Allen or the Cowboys playing the Redskins without RGIII? I guess just more reason to hate the girls..
Friday's quotes: Head Coach Gary Kubiak Spoiler (on the team’s health) “Physically, same as yesterday, (CB) Alan Ball is the only one that didn’t practice. Everybody looks like they’re ready to go. (OLB) Brooks (Reed) is ready to go and expect him to start the game so it’s good to have him back. That’s where we’re at physically.” (on CB Alan Ball’s status) “Yeah, he’s out yes. He’s very close. He is very close, did work out this week with the trainers and stuff, so it’s encouraging.” (on S Eddie Pleasant) “It’s just kind of fun to watch. This guy has shown a lot of signs that he could really help us here down the stretch. We’re looking to find ways to get better on special teams and those types of things. He did a lot of good things for us early in the season. Basically, we’re rewarding him, bringing him up. I expect him to be active, expect him to be playing for (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe (Marciano) a great deal. Well-deserved for him, there is nothing better in your organization when your practice squad guys get elevated. I think that sends a message to those guys that you’ve got a great opportunity, looking forward to him stepping in and playing.” (on CB Brandon Harris) “I like (CB) Brandon (Harris) a lot. I like his confidence as a player. He’s got to cut down his penalties. That’s been a concern, but Brandon got thrown into the fire, so to speak. with some of the situations we had and then some of the people he’s had to line up against. It’s been a tough deal for him. That’s the only way you get better in this league. That’s why you make it. Brandon’s got the confidence to go out there and do it. I think he’s only going to get better. The more we play this year, the better he’s going to get.” (on his son playing football at Rice with Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier’s son) “Yeah, it is interesting. I’ve known (Vikings head coach) Leslie (Frazier) for a long time and know his son Cory (Frazier), just watching Rice play. That is pretty interesting, but I’ve got a lot of respect for Leslie and the job he does. His son does a hell of a job at Rice, too. It’s been pretty cool. I’ve been reminded of that a couple of times this week. You kind of take that for granted, so that’s pretty cool.” (on his friendship with Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier) “You know what, I’ve seen him at a few spring practices when he comes down and obviously we’re good friends just through the coaching business and spending time together at the league meetings and stuff. He’s been a tremendous coach for years. As players we crossed paths a long, long time ago, both getting a little old. Just got a lot of respect for the job he’s done there in Minnesota and the type of football team he’s put together. Very physical team and very impressive to me.” S Eddie Pleasant Spoiler (on Head Coach Gary Kubiak saying statistics don’t always tell the story) “There are some guys on the team, on the practice squad that are still trying to get up there. But by me moving up, it shows that they still have an opportunity to get up here.” (on what his emotions will be like on Sunday) “I’ll be ready to go. It can’t be too emotional. I still have a job to go do. A lot of the guys on the team are counting on me, so I have to still go out there with a clear head and go out and do what they brought me up to do.” (on what he has improved on since training camp) “Having a better knowledge of the game, knowing more of what I’m doing. When I first got up here I was just running around and playing off of ability and not knowing what I was doing. I felt like the coaches, they told me before they released me, that it’s a mind thing. You don’t really know what you’re doing right now. I guess they feel confident enough in me to go out there and play.” (on if he was surprised when he heard he was moving up off of the practice squad) “In the beginning when they released me, I thought I was going to move up a little earlier than I did. At the end of the day it didn’t really bother me as long as I was still here and still had a job. Being on the practice squad wasn’t that bad at all but at the end of the day, I’m happy that I moved up now.” (on if he is excited) “I’m very excited to go out there and play with my teammates. I haven’t been out there the whole year. My last time playing was at the end of August with the rest of the rookies, so I’m going to be excited to go out there and play.” Also, Rick Smith's weekly conversation: General manager Rick Smith Spoiler (on OLB Bryan Braman’s importance for the team, coming in as an undrafted free agent) “Well, his contribution when you start with what he’s doing for our football team and helping us win, he’s one of our core special teams players. What that means is you’ve got five or six special teams players per game in different units. So, the big four, the punt team, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return that’s your core group. He’s on all four of those. He does a great job for us. He’s got a lot of speed, he’s an aggressive player. Those are attributes you need and typically translate to success of special teams. Certainly he had the big play last week and just a big play in the football game to give us the cushion that we needed and some momentum. He does a nice job for us and he continues to do a nice job. The second part of the question with respect to college free agency and how important that is to us, the more you can find players through the draft process whether they’re drafted or free agent, the better the balance of your football team’s going to be. He’s certainly an example of that.” (on what his first face-to-face meeting with Bryan Braman was like) “It was interesting. The thing that we had in-house is a guy that knew him and stood on the table for him. Bobby King was adamant that he knew that this guy, regardless of what any of the reports said or anything that we heard negative about his past, that he would be able to come in and assimilate to our program and also be accountable and then also be a productive member of our football team. He was adamant about that. And to his credit, we listened and it’s working out well so far.” (on the third round rookies and their progress) “First of all (Brandon Brooks) has got a different skill set. He’s got a different height-weight-speed ratio than most of our offensive line. Very gifted athlete for a man his size. That’s the first thing that you see, you see a stronger, more powerful, explosive guy when you add him to the group. So that’s certainly bodes well for our running game. He’s learned his feet, his pass protection angles, all those things that he has to get better at or he had to work on. He’s improved and we’ve been able to bring him along slowly and he’s shown improvement every time that he’s had an opportunity. That’s what you look for when you give guys opportunities; you want to see them take advantage of it and you want to see them grow. He certainly has done it and DeVier (Posey)’s the same way. We’ve brought him along slowly. The one thing about DeVier is in practice he’s explosive, all of the sudden he just catches your eye because he’s doing things that might be ion the scout team but his athleticism is showing up. We’ve brought him along slowly but boy, all the opportunities he’s had, he’s continued to improve. And I’ll expect that he’ll get some more opportunities, and hopefully he’ll help us down the stretch.” (on if WR Devier Posey has exceeded his expectations) “No, it’s validated it; it’s what we thought. He’s a guy that’s got great length, he’s fast, he’s long, he’s got great hands and good ball skills. He’s competitive at the point, that’s one of the things we see in practice. If he’s covered up, he’s got the length to separate and still make catches. All those things are things we saw. Some of the things like the toughness --he had a great catch in the ball game, caught a ball down the middle and took a good shot--some of those things you didn’t know as much but you see him staying after. He’s the last guy, literally, every day he and Lestar (Jean) are the last guys on the practice field. So he’s got that want –to, that grit about him and he’s got some toughness. And he’s shown some mental toughness. He’s a third-round pick and hadn’t really been going, he had a fourth-round pick Keshawn (Martin) had played a little bit before him, but he didn’t let that deter him. All he did was continue to work. Because he continued to approach things that way, it’s going to give him a chance to really help us as we get going here.” (on how surprised he was that Santa Claus was a Texans fan) “I’m not surprised at all. I think we’ve got great fans out there, we’ve talked about that. I’m not surprised that Santa Claus is one of them, too. I do want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, the best from our family to yours. We appreciate all the support that you continue to show us, and we’re going to continue to work hard and put a good product out on the field for you.”
http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/blogs/184469251.html The full Vikings injury report: Brian Robison (questionable, shoulder) Matt Kalil (probable, illness) Adrian Peterson (probable, abdomen/groin) Antoine Winfield (probable, knee) Jared Allen (probable, shoulder) Chris Kluwe (probable, left knee/right groin) Phil Loadholt (probable, knee) Mistral Raymond (probable, ankle) Everson Griffen (probable, elbow) Marcus Sherels (probable, quadriceps/elbow)
I'm pumped. Game should be on around 9pm here. Will be streaming it from firstrowsports. Wish I bought a new slingbox before heading out to the middle east.
Lets be real, this will probably just be a classic Texans snooser. The Texans will get an early lead, and than Kubiak will go into ultra conservative mode as the Texans grind out the time and their 10+ lead. Lets just call it what it is, the Texans game have not been very entertaining in my eyes at least, and nothing flashy for national TV. Cowboys vs Saints is sure to be a shootout, and Cowboys have everything to lose.
Didn't wanna start a new thread for this but I just wanted to make a statement. After the monster year J.J. Watt is having and being the class act that he is. I will be ticked off if he doesn't get at least half as many endorsements and commercials on t.v. as I see Suh and his classless ass get. I have seen Foster on a few commercials and he has been a great guy too. It just seems with all the crap surrounding Suh I see him on t.v. commercials endorsing things way more then he should be. Thanks for letting me vent.
I think Suh only has a subway commercial. Foster has nfl merchandise commercials. I agree subway should cut Suh though, he's a scumbag
I wanna see the offense explode today. Mostly interested to see what Schaub will do today. I want Foster and AJ to have a great game. Lets go!!
Good Morning. ....I just had a dream that Arian Foster hits a early 80 yard run...in the jic this really happens, thought I might post. Can't watch game, but I'll try radio. I am trying to keep off first row tho...see s like that is getting worse ( for the most part even though I live in middle TN, I have been able to see just about every game in live.)
No surprise but... <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The official roof report is closed for today's game at Reliant Stadium. Kickoff is at noon CT. <a href="http://t.co/WGaXDv29" title="http://bit.ly/Tgl1Gi">bit.ly/Tgl1Gi</a></p>— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonTexans/status/282870453972918273" data-datetime="2012-12-23T15:29:06+00:00">December 23, 2012</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
