[ESPN "Outside The Lines"] Texans' minicamp drills questioned

The lack of severity of the punishment certainly points to a lot of other teams doing this. Add in Weary's comments, and painting between the lines, Kubiak is pressured to win, other coaches and teams do it, so he does something he shouldn't, though caveats it with the old "please don't go full speed and get hurt" speech (which nobody hears, because there's millions of dollars at stake and people trying to make a team), players do get hurt, he stops it.

now they're in trouble and will likely lose their week. if it went on to the extent that they ahve to lose a 4th round pick, though, heads better roll.

the part about the surgery is unsettling, but who knows the real story.

 

Well, coming from a football background and played the position in question, I would say that this is BS.

From peewee to high school, a football player plays at one speed, full speed. When a coach tells you to do something you better be a dead sprint doing it. I realize that this a bit different due to the money involved but all I can say is grow a set and man up!

So I guess we should starting having roughing the OL penalties now?

The NFL rule about the drills is ridiculous. Jeez, football is a CONTACT sport. You don't get any better walking through your plays. You get better by executing them.

So a one on one drill against another player that is NOT padded up is WORST then full speed with pads? If you got hurt pushing back on a guy with no pads, you won't last very long in a game.

Its a non-story that ESPN hopes has legs because this is a slow news time with NBA All star weekend approaching and no baseball and no football (pro bowl does not count. They play half speed there too)

 

I have a hard time believing that all of these injuries were directly correlated with the mini-camp in question. If these players cannot even go through a few contact drills without pads on, then they should be performing in the ballet, not playing in the NFL.

More than likely, these guys suffered injuries, went through and found some loopholes in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and decided to take a course of action to file a grievance blaming their injuries on these contact drills.

 

Can you explain why the NFL and the players association established the rule in the first place? I know you said you have a football background but unless you've played professional football I don't think you or any of your teammates have been paralyzed due to the amount of force and strength at which NFL players play. Whether or not you think its a p***y rule to have that was what was in place in the CBA and Kubiak violated it. And like people said in earlier posts, yeah its supposed to be half speed but when you have guys on the verge of being cut obviously they're going to go full speed without pads as if it were only their half speed to try to impress coaches.

Maybe the injury was related to the contact drills in question or maybe it wasn't. Even if that is the case Kubiak violated the rule and he wouldn't have put himself or the organization in this position if he followed guidelines. And it doesn't help that the Texans lied about it and Stevenson had to tape the film session to expose it.

On top of all of this we've never had a season above .500 so what do we have to show for all of these risky drills??

 

If this was true, then the NFL wouldn't have a rule against it, I believe the NCAA has the same rule as well. Like you said, money is involved and it makes a huge difference. Football is a contact sport but it's not a year around sport, players get hurt during games and practice, but you don't want them getting hurt during drills when they're not properly padded.

 

Which may explain why it's taken him nearly 9 months to blow a whistle?

 

If this article read "Patriots" instead of "Texans" I guarantee you nobody would be defending the organization.

 

My point was that he got hurt doing a simple blocking drill that focuses on your arm strength and power. IMO, I do not feel pads would have done a thing in stopping such an injury. So if he got hurt in a drill that is at worst near full speed to half speed, sounds like a fragile O-lineman. Not something we need and certainly something you want to know about early.

Oh wait...this is a journeymen player who used covert techniques to get info to shakedown the same franchise that is allowing him to use THEIR facilities to re-hab his injury. Weary has already come out and said that this player was less than truthful when dealing with him.

As for the rule, I think the intent of the rule is sound but the application is sketchy. Simple blocking drills should not be part of that application. Sometimes players need to build up a little grit early in the season to get through the aches and pains of a WHOLE football season. In practice, you should go full speed at times or you will not be ready for the REAL game.

But I agree that you should ease up during OTAs. Maybe they should not have done it. maybe all the other teams in the NFL should not do it. I like where they said enough when the injuries started happening.

I think ESPN is making a mountain out of a mole hill. If the Texans were negligent then the league should fine them.

 

I always question people who wait around nine months and then sue, regardless of who the other players are. (That and I'm a closet Patriots fan (2nd to the Texans of course), so you probably should have said, "Cowboys".)

 

Is it possible that the guy mistook the Texans for the insurance company? I could easily see an insurance company weaseling their way out of payments; plus I find it hard to believe that the Texans organization itself would have to pay directly medical expenses like that; isn't that the whole point of workman's comp and insurance in the first place?

Certainly if everything is as written, then the Texans better do something to fix the apparent lack of class that they've shown. But, hardly ever is everything as written when it gets filtered through the media.

Plus, I doubt there's any football team that DOESN'T do these drills.

 

Its cute how it took 3 trolling posts for you to get a response.

 

Funny thing is, every single team, including the Texans will continue to let this happen. Do you guys think coaches like Alex Gibbs will tell Duane Brown to take it easy so that Tim Bulman can go full speed and blow him out of the water? Even if he does, will Duane Brown go half speed or take the challenge?

Imagine this. Von Wafer is playing a game of one on one vs DJ Strawberry. Adelman tells them to take it easy and not play any defense. Both guys know that if they destroy the other guy, they won't get cut. What do they do?

 

Today was the first time I heard about the minicamp drill. I heard about it on ESPN and they said they will talk about in depth on outside the lines on sunday.

 

Classic coaching move to see who wants it more. I agree with that method of coaching but as with anything, use common sense.

If it was a rule that the Texans broke then deal with the penalty and move on.

 

thank you A-rod--espn wants nothing more to do with the texans story.

 

Yeah he learned to respect the man after a good tazing.

 

Jordan Black has wishes he wouldn't have squealed now:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/18673752/index.html