JJ Watt Scores Again

((HT: NFL on CBS))

Which now makes 4 TD's on the season- 2 offensive and 2 defensive...

This time, he goes all out for the 2-yarder from Ryan Mallett


For the record, Watt became the first defensive lineman since 1948 to have four touchdowns in a season tying the mark of Jack Zilly of the Rams and Ray Poole of the New York Giants.

Makes you wonder what Chris Kirksey was thinking trying to defend THAT

BASTA: Charles Woodson on Raiders’ Loss to Texans: “We Suck”

((HT: BASTA their own selves/Klotz))

Charles Woodson summed up the Raiders’ state in two word in his postgame interview: “we suck.” While he went on to explain that the Raider mistakes were fixable (with the added caveat, for now) those are still quite blunt words from the veteran safety.

Once again, the opposing team moved the ball with will against the Raiders’ defense. Arian Foster had a monster game, rushing for 138 yards and a touchdown. Early on, Foster gashed the Raiders with a 40-yard run down to the one yard line. The Texans capitalized a few plays later with a touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to none other than J.J Watt. On the ensuing drive, Foster punched in another short touchdown run. The Texans went into the half leading 17-0.

Maurice Jones-Drew sat out because of a minor hand surgery he had on Monday, so veteran Darren McFadden got the start in his place. While he got off to a slow start, he really came on in the second half and looked like he was running angry at the Texans defense. The Raiders once again showed flashes in the second half, including a read-option 40-yard scamper by Derek Carr. However, turnovers plagued the Raiders and whenever the Silver and Black made a good play, they followed it up with a miscue. To give you an idea of their turnover woes, James Jones managed to fumble the ball twice on one play. Mychal Rivera also had a fumble late in the game.

As a side note, for the second consecutive game, James Jones had a garbage time touchdown reception. On Sunday, Jones, not Rod Streater, seemed to be Carr’s preferred target. Jones had nine catches for 112 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets. Run DMC finished the day with 37 yard rushing on 12 carries and 31 yards receiving. For the second consecutive week Mcfadden looked fairly explosive, but the Raiders struggled to block J.J Watt, Brian Cushing and the rest of the Houston front.

Head coach Dennis Allen heard what Woodson had to say
((HT: CSN Bay Area))


Next up for the Raiders are the New England Patriots. While the Raiders should be able to run more effectively against New England, they may need to throw to keep up with Tom Brady and the Patriots’ passing game.

How Many Of You Had JJ Watt At Receiver In Fantasy...???

((HT: PDS Vine))

The answer is: NONE OF YOU!!!

But this happened in the Texans-Raiders game...


Do what you need to succeed...

That is all...

Bill O'Brien will never tell us on what exact page that play is on, but it worked...

Texans Quessenberry Diagnosed With Lymphoma

((HT: CSN Houston))

The Houston Texans have announced that second-year tackle David Quessenberry has been diagnosed with lymphoma (Non-Hodgkins T Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, to be precise)- diagnosed last Tuesday, and has been put on the team's Non-Football Injury List.

GM Rick Smith issued a statement:

“Our medical community here in Houston is the best in the world. We are extremely confident in the care and treatment David will receive. He is a fighter and a courageous young man and we look forward to his full and complete recovery. We will continue to support him and his family and look forward to his return to the team.”

He's getting treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston

Here's an interview CSN Houston's James Palmer did with Quessenberry in his rookie season and Palmer is steadfast in his belief that this reinforces just how good a kid Quessenberry is

Houston Newspaper Guy Eats His Own Paper

((HT: chron.com))

The Houston Chronicle's John McClain said that he would eat the front page of the Draft Day Chronicle if the Texans did not draft a quarterback in the first round...

The HQ thinks this bet was doomed from the start...

The Texans picked Clowney and McClain had to make a plan for some roughage...

Here's the meal...

Busy First Day For O'Brien In Houston

((HT: KTRK-TV))

Bill O'Brien is in his first weekend of coaching the Houston Texans and there were a few changes in the staff...

Three coaches, including DC Wade Phillips (who filled in as interim head coach when Gary Kubiak was nursing his heart issues) are out looking for work...

Here's the explanation out of Houston...

While You Were Celebrating: Texans Hire Bill O'Brien

There's a really good chance, unless you stayed home Tuesday night you missed the revelation that the Houston Texans have hired a new coach.

That coach, Bill O'Brien, now formerly of Penn State and previous to that, 5-years as a disciple of the Belichick, in the New England Patriots system.

O'Brien became THE hot coaching commodity after steering Penn State to a 15-9 record over the past 2-years despite a loss of scholarships and the general craziness surrounding the school in the fallout after the Jerry Sanduksy scandal.

The Texans, with 2-hours to spare in 2013, secured their immediate future in 2014, as O'Brien will become their 3rd head coach ever.

Read more about the hire from Chron.com RIGHT HERE

O'Brien does not have a lengthy background as a head coach. His 5-years in the NFL were as an assistant and the Penn State job was his first leading a team. The consensus by most was that he'd be ready for the task and with Houston, he inherits a team that has the coming years #1 draft pick. The Texans were expected to be a playoff and possibly a Super Bowl contender, but the season was a complete and total failure which led to the dismissal of Gary Kubiak. In addition, he goes to a franchise considered one of the best run in the league.

The team is expected to make a formal announcement of the hire by Friday.

DEVELOPING: Kubiak Fired In Houston

Losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars will do that for you...

Multiple outlets are reporting that, after team meetings this morning, the Houston Texans have fired head coach Gary Kubiak- solidified after the team's 11th straight loss last night...

Kubiak coached the Houston Texans to back-to-back AFC South division titles and the franchise’s only two playoff victories. But injuries and inconsistency at quarterback sentenced the team to 6 of their losses by a total of 22 points heading into last night's loss in Jacksonville...

From Fox Houston Sports Director Mark Berman and his Twitter:

Bob McNair said he would normally wait until the end of the season to evaluate the team but thought it is best to start the process now

The standard, large table press conference is happening this afternoon...

Here's JJ Watt after last night's loss talking about accountability, which the players are now left with instead of their head coach
((HT: CSN Houston))


Wade Phillips has been named interim coach

ClubberSpeak: The Good, Old, GBU From Week 11

((HT: Jim Lang Blog))

It's the end of Week 11 of the regular season in tackle football...

Clubber vents- as is our want...

This tweet from the NFL Network’s Kurt Warner perfectly sums up the wackiness that is the 2013 season; “This NFL is crazy! How do u figure out who is going to show up every week?? I can’t & my picks reflect that! #airandground”

He makes a great point. Consider some of the starting quarterbacks who led their respective teams to victory yesterday. Mike Glennon, Matt McGloin, Josh McCown and EJ Manuel were all winners yesterday. While Manuel is a first round pick McCown is a back-up and Glennon and McGloin were not even expected to see any playing time this year. This speaks volumes to the long held theory Coaches try to pound into their players heads; “next man up”. If you are on a NFL roster you never know when you are going to be asked to play or, in some cases, start. With that in mind let us take a look back at week 11.

The Good

The Broncos – First off the entire Broncos offensive line deserves a game ball for their performance Sunday night in their win over the Chiefs. Going into the game the Chiefs were leading the NFL in sacks. Led by Toronto’s Orlando Franklin the Broncos O-line pitched a shut-out not allowing a single sack or allowing Peyton Manning to get hit once. All that time allowed Manning to complete 24 passes for 323 yards and one touchdown as the Broncos handed the Chiefs their first loss of the year and grabbed, for the time being, the hammer in the AFC West.

Russell Wilson – Wilson is quietly having an excellent season and his performance in the Seahawks win over the Vikings was a perfect example of that. Wilson passed for 230 yards and two touchdowns as the Seahawks won their sixth straight game and improved to 10-1 on the year. Wilson’s passer rating in the win over the Vikings was a phenomenal 151.4. That was the fourth time in his last six games Wilson has posted a passer rating of 100 or better. In his last three games Wilson has been lights out, completing a remarkable 72.9 per cent of his passes. You take Wilson’s high completion percentage, their power running game and their physical defence and you get a Seahawks team that can hang with any team in the league.

Nick Foles – The Eagles took over first place in the NFC East after they beat the Redskins. The Eagles have won three straight games and Nick Foles has a passer rating over 100 in each of the three games. The most impressive stat from Foles is the fact he has yet to turn the ball over this year. While Michael Vick had three interceptions and a fumble Foles has clean sheet next to his name. Foles efficiency and ball security has allowed the Eagles to find their rhythm on offence and the rest of team is feeding off it. Is Foles Mister Right in Phialdephia? Only time will tell but with the Eagles heading into their bye week Foles is Mister Right Now. He is giving them a chance to win every week. Going into the bye week Foles has the highest passer rating in the NFL and is 10th in completion percentage.

Bobby Rainey – Because of numerous injuries the Buccaneers had to reach down way down on their depth chart to find a running back for their game against the Falcons Sunday. Well Greg Schiano made a brilliant decision by starting Bobby Rainey. The five foot, eight inch Rainey had 30 carries for 165 yards and two touchdowns as the Bucs beat up Falcons. Coming to the game Rainey had run for a grand total of 79 yards on the season. Schiano was as surprised as anyone when he spoke to reporters after the game; “I don’t think anybody thinks that a guy’s going to come out and rush for, whatever he did, 163 yards. But [we are] very proud of him.”

The Bill defence – The Bills defence had four sacks and three interceptions in their win over the Jets. In 2012 the Bills had 36 sacks. After week 11 the Bills now lead the NFL with 37 sacks. On top of that the Bills are tied with Seattle with the most interceptions in the NFL with 16. Of all the things Doug Marrone did in the off-season the hiring of Mike Pettine as his defensive coordinator was one of his smartest moves. The Bills defence had 21 takeaways the entire 2012 season; through 11 games this year they have 20. Only the Chiefs have more takeaways in the AFC.

The Arizona Cardinals – Come on now, don’t laugh. The Arizona Cardinals have won three straight and are 6-4 after 10 games. That is an impressive turn-around by Bruce Arians considering the Cardinals were a 5-11 team last year. What a lot people may not realize is that the Cardinals have the third best run defence in the entire NFL. Now comes the fun part. The Cardinals next game is at home against Arians’ old team the Indianapolis Colts.

The Bad

Jim Schwartz – Lions fans have every right to be pissed off at Jim Schwartz. With the Lions holding on to a 27-23 lead the Lions were in a fourth and five situation at the Steelers 10 yard line. But instead of kicking the easy chip shot field goal Schwartz decided to go for the fake field goal. The decision resulted in disaster for the Lions as Sam Martin fumbled after taking a huge hit. 16 plays later the Steelers scored what turned out to be the game winning touchdown. So instead of all but sealing the deal on what would have been their seventh win of the year, the Lions find themselves tied with the Bears atop the NFC North with a 6-4 record. Schwartz was in a snarky mood after the game when he spoke to reporters and tried to defend his decision to go for the fake field goal.

I am quite sure Lions fans don’t want to hear what Schwartz has to say right about now.

Roughing the passer in the NFL – Week in and week out there is a growing level of frustration of what constitutes “roughing the passer” in the NFL. Take a look at this sack of Drew Brees from the 49ers Ahmad Brooks.

Brooks was nowhere near the head of Brees yet he still got called for a game changing personal foul because the officials deemed hit the ‘neck area”. Yes, the league must protect the quarterback. But what Brooks did was a good football hit; there was nothing dirty about it. But officials are so trigger happy to call roughing the passer that anything, even it is borderline, is going to get called.

RG3 – Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Robert Griffin III. But there is no defence for his end of the game interception that he threw in the Redskins loss to the Eagles. RG3 was putting together what looked to be a thrilling fourth quarter comeback. On a third and one play at the Eagles 18 yard line RG3 was under pressure. But instead of doing the safe thing RG3 lofted up a prayer off of his back foot as he was falling down. The result was the easiest interception Brandon Boykin will ever have and another Redskins loss.

The Ugly

The Houston Texans – The season from hell for the Houston Texans just keeps getting worse. Sunday they lost their eight straight game. They lost it at home to a Raiders team who were forced to start an undrafted quarterback. According to the NFL, the Raiders Matt McGloin was the first undrafted rookie quarterback to throw three touchdowns and zero interceptions in a game since 1967. While McGloin was doing his thing for the Raiders, Matt Schaub was yelling at Andre Johnson on the sidelines after their failed fourth down pass attempt sealed the win for Oakland. It is getting ugly in Houston and there are few signs that it is going to get much better before the end of the year.

The Trent Williams allegations – After the Redskins loss to the Eagles Washington offensive tackle told Comcast Sportsnet that he was cussed out by a ref during the game.

As of right now these are only allegations. But Albert Breer of the NFL Network reported that the incident is under league investigation. If any of this is found to be true the NFL needs to take action against the official. It was one thing for a player and an official to speak to each other during a game but there is no excuse for that kind of behaviour.

The Monday Night game – Finally, a Monday Night game that will be worth staying up for. The 6-3 Panthers will try to extend their winning streak to six games when they host Tom Brady and the 7-2 Patriots in what should be a real slobberknocker of a game. The Panthers are number one in the NFL in total defence and they are number in scoring defence. The Panthers are also out to prove to everyone that they are indeed for real. If the win over the 49ers last week didn’t do it, a win over Brady and the Patriots tonight certainly will.

Kubiak Released From Houston Hospital

((HT: ABC 13 Houston))

After the team has admitted publicly that Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak suffered a mini-stroke Sunday night, he was released from a local hospital.

The technical term for what Kubiak suffered was a "transient ischemic attack," or TIA.
He is expected to make a full recovery, but no one knows what the timetable for his return is at present...

Here's local coverage on the release...

ICYMI: Kubiak May Have had "Mini-Stroke"

((ht: si.com))

Multiple reports on Monday say that Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak suffered a "Mini-Stroke", which led to his collapse at halftime of the Texans/Colts game on Sunday.

According to SI.com, the condition doctors believe Kubiak suffered from is called "TIA" or Trans-Ischemic-Attack". The TIA is not considered a debilitating event and is caused by blood clots. Kubiak is currently undergoing treatment to help alleviate clots. The worrisome part according to doctors is the "TIA" often leads to more serious strokes in the future if not addressed.

Read more from SI.com RIGHT HERE

That's the good news.

It's been a rough week for NFL Head Coaches and their health. Also over the weekend it was revealed the Denver Broncos head coach John Fox had a heart condition he was trying to deal with until the season ended. It caught up to him while playing golf on a bye week and he will have a heart procedure this week.

The question on the table is this? Are coaches pushing themselves too far? Is there too much pressure on them?

And in a lot of ways, yeah, there is.

There has always been a measure of that pressure and most who go into the coaching profession are aware any job with a team, may not be long-term.

But that pressure has only increased over the years and the turnover in the profession has gotten scary-fast. Fans, owners, and even on the college level, boosters are looking for instant results and non-stop success. Anything less and they are calling for these guys heads.

And yes, sure, there are situations where coaches are in over their heads and shouldn't have the job. But often they are blamed for things they can't control. Or otherwise known as player performance.

The "Dark" little secret of coaching is during the season, these guys work sometimes 18-hours a day and will sleep at their jobs. For a couple of hours. And that catches up to you.

But they have to do it. And it's not just the head coach. It's the Assistant Coaches, it's the equipment guys, it's everyone. In college, you've got grad assistants and others making next to nothing, working 18-hours a day for the whole season.

It takes a toll. But they do it, because they want the job. And all know if they won't do it, someone else will. All the extra time, the work for nothing, yeah, that might buy you a season. If the head coach is fired, most of the staff goes with him.

We hope that coaches will take this week as a message. That you can't kill yourself trying to put in more hours than anyone else. And hopefully, it will make fans, boosters, owners and others aware that you shouldn't be demanding these guys work 18-20 hours a day. Yeah, sure in some cases they get paid pretty well, but how much money is killing yourself on the job worth?

 KHOU-TV in Houston with the TV story:

DEVELOPING: Kubiak Collapses At Texans Game (UPDATED)

Leaving the sidelines at the half of the Houston Texans-Indianapolis Colts game, Texans head coach Gary Kubiak has been taken to a local hospital for precautionary reasons...

He collapsed as he was walking off and heading to the locker room and was immediately attended to by on-site medical personnel...

Kubiak, 52, has no known history of medical issues... and the Houston Chronicle is reporting that his family is with him in transport.

Wade Phillips and Rick Dennison are taking over the coaching duties in Kubiak's place in the second half as they lead 21-3...

More when we know more...

Here's video from NBC Sports when they came back from commercial at the beginning of their coverage...
((HT: TheBigLead/NBC Sports/random_sports via Daily Motion))

gk by random_sports

2245 UPDATE: Michele Tafoya reports that the Texans, via hospital personnel, are ruling out a heart attack...

2315 UPDATE: Here's a closer look at Kubiak that was captured by ABC13 cameras on the sidelines...
((HT: Instagram via David Nuno))


Nothing new on the precautionary status of Kubiak... the Texans are still reporting that Kubiak did not have a heart attack...

2345 UPDATE: Texans GM Rick Smith, on NBC's post-game show, told Tafoya he is being evaluated. Kubiak is awake and coherent and Smith said that Kubiak, initially, was light-headed and dizzy- thus, his being encouraged to lay down on the field...

Here's the report from ABC13 in Houston at the top of their late newscast...

Texans Cut 3 Players For Allegedly Violating Team Rules; Players Disagree

Hmmm....

The Houston Texans in the midst of a catastrophic plummet from what most alleged football experts thought was NFL Elite level have made a move to "Shake Things Up".

Coach Gary Kubiak announced Monday afternoon he was cutting 3 rookies for "Violating Team Rules" in the teams Kansas City hotel room. Though he did not specify what those rules were. The Texans played the Chiefs on Sunday, losing 17-16.

The players, RB Cierre Wood, DE Sam Montgomery and OLB Willie Jefferson were not big contributors on the squad, with Wood and Jefferson the only ones seeing any playing time at all. All 3 were inactive in KC.

However, there appears there may be more to this story.

James Palmer of CSN Houston tweeted he spoke to Montgomery who gave an interesting interpretation of the event in question:

Sam Montgomery says he walked into a hotel room where Jefferson & Wood were smoking a cigar. Went to team meetings and was called by Kubiak
— James Palmer (@JPalmerCSN) October 21, 2013

Montgomery went on to tell Palmer it was a "Childish Mistake" and no "Illegal Substances" were involved.

Sounds like a possible "Scapegoating" incident here if nothing else. No word on if any of the players has any recourse (doubtful) and more than likely, the Texans won't release any details.

Our guess is Kubiak et al. are feeling the heat of a season quickly spiraling out of control (Texans are 2-5). They are trying to re-establish there authority while giving the players the impression nobody is safe/secure.

But we could be wrong and this could be a mountain out of a mole-hill--so to speak....it's just interesting...

Legendary Coach Bum Phillips Passes Away

Bum Phillips

((ht: chron.com))

Legendary former Houston Oilers coach O.A "Bum" Phillips passed away Friday at the age of 90. And for those you too young to know, the Oilers were Houston's team long before the Texans arrived.

Phillips, who to many personified the "Texas" football coach, made a name for himself during the late 1970's when the Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) featured running back Earl Campbell and QB Dan Pastorini. Phillips led them to 2 AFC title games and 3 playoff berths in his 5-years running things.

He was immensely popular with the fans and even more so with his players thanks to his down home charm. And because he would often sport a big Cowboy hat while on the sidelines, TV loved him.

Bum moved on to coach the New Orleans Saints through 1985 and at that point, stepped away from the game he loved and his legend just continued to grow.

Read more about the legend of Bum Phillips from the Houston Chronicle RIGHT HERE

Bum's son Wade is the current defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans. His family is asking for anyone looking to express sympathies to make a donation to Bum Phillips Charities.

The link to his website is RIGHT HERE

More on the legend of Bum in Video Form:

Arian Foster With The Segway Videobomb Is GIF Gold

By now, anyone who knows anything about pop culture is aware of the phenomena known as the Photobomb.

The term also applies to video. And there can, and often is a certain art to it.

See how Houston Texans RB Arian Foster masters what is known as the "Segway" ...

Oh the hilarity--From @Texans their ownselves--

#Fostering #SegwayLife on Twitpic">

Reports: Alleged Texans Fans Heckle Matt Schaub at his Home

((ht: houston.cbslocal.com))

Okay, when does this stop?

According to reports, NFL security and Houston Police were alerted that an unknown Houston Texans fan (fans) showed up at Texans QB Matt Schaub's house and berated him.

Seriously?

The reports say the fan(s) left the home before police could respond, but Schaub apparently contacted the team, who in turn contacted league security.

More from CBS Houston RIGHT HERE

For what it's worth, the Houston Police tweeted a denial of the incident Wednesday morning saying: There was not a group of angry fans outside Schaub's home only that someone reported a suspicious male taking photos of the home and they were not called to respond.

The Houston Chronicle elaborates RIGHT HERE

Reading between the lines here tells us this: Someone showed up in Schaub's driveway. It appears...appears someone may have driven to the house, gotten out of the car, screamed something stupid and drove away.

It also appears Houston PD are aware of it, but not too concerned, though the NFL is a little more concerned.

Either way, we will reiterate the story we wrote about the Texans fans not only booing their quarterback, but trying to publicly humiliate him.

You can read that rant RIGHT HERE

And we stand by this. Sorry Texan fan, there's no excuse for your treatment of the guy. NONE. You can boo him all you want. You paid for a ticket, you have the right to boo whomever you want.

But when you start burning his jersey, making a big deal about the "Schaub Pick-Six" sandwich and hacking someone's Twitter account to announce a trade...that is going too far.

Way too far.

If this kind of action is what defines your life Texans fan, you are pretty damn pathetic. We know full well you don't speak for the entire fan base, there's no way you could.

Years ago, Peyton Manning did a series of commercials where he was a fan of people at their workplace. Imagine if that happened to you, only it was vulgar, mean and nasty--


And today at question and answer time, JJ Watt even talks about how the fans are these days...
((HT: CSN Houston))

Proof Houston Texans Fans are Morons: Texans Fans vs Matt Schaub

((ht: deadspin.com))

Okay, this is going to set off a rant here. Houston Texans fans have been on a bizarre rampage since last weekend when their team's quarterback Matt Schaub had a rough finish to Sunday's game vs. Seattle, throwing an interception that was returned for a TD for the 2nd week in a row. The loss to the Seahawks after jumping out to a big lead (which we won't get into) cost the Texans the game.

In response to the past two games (both losses), fans have started burning Schaub's jersey and one restaurant created a "Pix Six" burger to mock him.

**Note**---At 2-2, and 1 game out of 1st place in the AFC South, the Texans are hardly out of the playoff chase.

Video of the idiotic jersey burning:



And then there is the "Pro Matt Schaub Rally" which apparently took place Friday in Houston. A local TV station went and covered it.

We'll add, the rally was really bizarre.

Read about it from KPRC-TV, which weirdly did the story, but didn't post video of it, RIGHT HERE

And there's more.

Some dumb ass fan resorted to hacking the Texans director of broadcasting's Twitter account and posted that Schaub had been traded to Cleveland for WR Josh Morgan. (not true).

You can read about that from the Houston Chronicle RIGHT HERE

Okay, simmer down Texans fans. Really? You are trying to run a FOOTBALL player out of town? Before we explain how idiotically STUPID you are, understand this.

You have NO LEGACY of greatness. No HISTORY of success that would warrant you running ANYONE out of town. Never mind the best quarterback you have on your team.

And this is the part that PISSES us and any REASONABLE sports fan off.....

It's football! It doesn't affect your job. It does not change your life. You will still get paid on Friday. You will still go home to your wife and your 2.2 children and your suburban house and your life will continue even though your team lost last week.

It happens.

SPORTS are just fancy games that guys get paid a lot of money to play.

IF YOU do something wrong at work, do you get harrassed? Does someone burn the computer keyboard in your cubicle if you don't finish your project on time? Does your boss burn your KHAKI's or tie?

No.

Just simmer the @%! down.

Are you allowed to be disappointed your team lost? Yes. Are you allowed to want for a replacement for Matt Schaub? Sure. But this is over the top. Way over the top. It's personal and that crosses the line.

What gives you...or anyone else the right to do everything but string the guy up and hang him at a tree? Which is about the only thing you haven't done yet....

I'll get off my horse now, but it's fans like those of you participating in burning jersey's, hacking Twitter accounts and generally skewering Schaub who give ALL SPORTS FANS a bad name.

Reasonable people who love sports, watch games and get excited when their teams win and sad when their teams lose. And then they go back to living their lives until the next game.

Think about that.....

Arian Foster: I Got Paid So I Could Eat While at Tennessee

((ht: si.com))

An interesting story is developing involving Houston Texans RB Arian Foster and what he says he did while at the University of Tennessee.

And mind you, we agree with him, but he's setting off a bit of a debate.

Foster, in an interview for a documentary called "Schooled: The Price of College Sports", admits that he and several of his teammates took food money (an NCAA violation), while on a football scholarship.

He says he did it, because after a game and the celebration after a win, he went home only to realize he had no food late at night and no money to go get any.

Read more from Sports Illustrated RIGHT HERE

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Our suspicion is, nothing will happen, though the Twitter debate amongst sports writers has been interesting.

Foster spoke out and the documentary producers used him and others to illustrate a fact of life in today's college football.

Everybody is making gazillions of dollars in the game.

Except the players.

Yeah, sure, the old argument that they get a "free-ride" scholarship is true. Though thousands of kids get into school on academic scholarships. And if they take a free meal or a couple bucks from a teacher, the school doesn't run the risk of getting in trouble with the NCAA.

The athletes, most of whom come from poor backgrounds, don't have the pocket money that other college students do. They don't have discretionary money to spend and their scholarships only get them the meals served at the training table. Which isn't necessarily 3 meals a day 7 days a week. Or in their case 11 or 12 p.m after a game.

The NCAA is under a tremendous amount of pressure to allow athletes to have some "spending" money, but nobody can figure out a good way to do it.

We really don't think this should get Tennessee in trouble, but the possibility does exist. Part of the bizarre NCAA rules system tends to punish schools for things that happen, well after the fact. The people involved who may or may not have been involved have long left town and the current players are the one's left to suffer the penalties.

Really, it isn't fair and we, like many, hope it soon will change.

Here's your video of Foster talking about his case:

Suh To Schaub: Rack Me...

And we're going through the whole thing again...

Last year after Ndamukong Suh decided to do some damage to a rival player on Thanksgiving... he apparently did the same thing to a quarterback again this year...

Damage... not an identical injury...

Here's what happened this year- intentional or otherwise...
((HT: NFL on CBS))


"I really don't have anything to say about that play or that person," Schaub said in a postgame scrum.

Last year on Thanksgiving, Suh was ejected for stomping on Green Bay OL Evan Dietrich-Smith and got suspended for two games for that act.

Suh has been fined for damaging Andy Dalton, Jay Cutler and Jake Delhomme in the past...

No word if anything will happen this time...
The HQ thinks it looks a little circumstantial...

Vincent Van Schaub... Mays Hit Takes A Piece With It...

The HQ will admit that there were a couple of shots yesterday that caused us to cringe a little bit...

And, we also think that it's because there are replacement officials that we're having incidents like Ed Reed vs. Deion Branch and Von Miller and Joe Mays vs. Matt Schaub...

Evidence below...
((HT: NFL on CBS/youtube))

So, we now find out that Schaub lost a piece of his ear in all that violence...

"I felt fine. I just lost a piece of my ear," Schaub said. "I was bleeding, and my helmet came off so I had to come out for a play, but I was fine."

Sure, the HQ will be the first to say that we feel "fine" too when we lose a part of a body part...

For the record, TJ Yates came in for the mandatory one play substitution and that was it...
Schaub kept playing and Houston held on for the 31-25 win...