The State of Sports Feb. 11th

Football

-Prediction: What will happen to Reggie Bush?
I know the NFL Draft is on April 28-29th, and thats like more than two months and a half away. However, I have been waiting for something big to make a post on my feelings. ESPN reports that the Houson Texans resigned David Carr today. This is an interresting move, because now we know, the Texans want to keep their future with Carr. There is no QB controversy, like there is in San Diego, but they wont draft a quarterback to make one either. The article remided us that Chris Mortenson reported less than a month ago that the Hiesman running back was going to the Texans.

I doubt this highly. I have three reasons why I dont think this is going to happen. These shots in the dark are ideas that I have played around with to several people, and gotten yea's and nay's about my comments. Other people think im just plain nuts. They are:

-1. The Texans already have a running back. Why would the Texans draft Reggie Bush when they already have Dominick Davis? My friend Chip made the argument that Bush was one of the best running backs in the league, and the Texans would never pass up the opportunity to draft him. Out of college, Bush is most likely already better than half the running backs in the league, was another point my friend made. One of those running backs he mentioned was 2003 rookie of the year Dominck Davis.
-The fourth round choice out of LSU has had an impact on this offense. He had a pretty bad season this year, so I can see why people would think the Texans would take Bush. But the offensive line just had a bad season. In his first two years the run blocking was decent when Davis averaged 1109 yards, 4.1 per carry and 11 TD's. Last year on a very bad offensive line he had 976 yards, and two touchdowns, on the ground.

-I still wonder who they would trade Davis away when he's a gurarenteed 1000 yard rusher who can run the ball well with power inside the goal line when in 2003, 8 of his 8 rushing touchdowns were from inside the red zone. In 2004, 12 of his 13 rushing touchdowns were from inside the opponents 20. Because he had a bad season, he is also on the cheap and could be signed to an lowball figure for an extension. In 2004, he made about $550,000. He's also young has lots of potential to the Texans.

-2. Why would the Texans draft a running back with a terrible offensive line? The preseason rank in CBS Sportslines fantasy football magazine of offensive line has the Texans ranked at 30th out of 32. Yeah, thats pretty bad. The statistic of that proves my point is the amount of times that Carr has been sacked this season (68 times). He had two good offensive line years in 03' (15 sacks) and 04' (49 sacks), but its noticeable that both had good seasons when the Texans had a good offensive line. Another amazing stat is that David Carr has been sacked 208 times in four seasons. The NFL career leader is John Elway, who's been sacked 516 times, in 13 seasons.

-The Texans need desperate help in this area and I think that they would probably draft someone like D'Brickashaw Ferguson from Virgina. Why the Texans would draft a lineman first when Reggie Bush, Vince Young, and Matt Lienhart first is on interresting idea. Which is why I think one of three things will happen: somone will trade up for the pick of Reggie Bush, the Texans will trade down to draft Ferguson, or they draft Bush and then trade him away for more picks on other team concerns. The third possiblilty is the most possible at this stage of the game. If I were to predict a possible scenario, I would go with possiblity 1 or 2 though.

-3. Why would the Texans draft Bush and tie up more salary cap space?
-First round picks have a have a history of commanding a lot of money. Eli Manning signed a record $54 million dollar contract. Alex Smith signed an even larger 6-year $49.5 million dollar deal. The NFL salary cap last season was $80.6 million dollars. Askthecomish.com has the figures as to how much teams have in terms of cap leway for those kind of numbers. Although the Texans have $14 million dollars in leway, most of that money is going to be used up for the extension on Carr. The Texans could always cut money off their payroll to make room, but that wouldnt make much sense when their payroll is pretty high.

-USA Today reports that the Texans 2004 payroll was 97 million dollars (3rd in NFL). That number for 2006 will be significanly less, but I bet thier attendance figures werent very high. According to my ESPN almanac, the 7-9 Texans ranked 10th with 70,000 people in attendance for 2004. The Texans also had two of the top 25 highest paid players in that year as well. Defensive End Gary Walker made 11 million and Offensive lineman Todd Wade signed a new contract that paid him 10 million dollars that year.

-I dont think it would be wise for the Texans to even consider taking more chances by signing a running back that might put them in the hole. Their best chance would be to draft an offensive lineman for their stuggling line that desperately needs help. The NFL Draft is only 2.5 months away. Only time and ESPN will report what people are thinking and I bet the Texans will make no surprises about who they will pick. I think Reggie Bush will be the first one selected in the draft. I dont think he will end up on the Texans roster on draft day.


-BSC Bears:
-The Last Three games

-The BSC Bears go into their final stretch of the season facing Worcester (at home), Salem and Fitchburg (away). It should be interresting as the Men's team is all alone in third place. If we can win vs Worcester and Fitchburg, it should give us a really good chance at taking the 2-3 seed in the MASCAC Tournament. The Bears have to play very consistent and not
give the game away if they want to win.

-The Women's team is unbelievable. I would not be surprised if they won 2 out of the next 3 at Fitchburg and at home vs. Worcester. They need to stop turning the ball over. This is their only weakness to their superior all around game. I shake my head when I see a turnover, and yet I scream, yell, or cheer when I see them force one as well. They are plain downright nasty.

-The Alumni game went well this weekend as 2004 graduate, Billy Hymon took it home with an at the buzzer three point score to win it for the gold team. It was a good time seeing people you havent seen in a while, and going to town with lunch you dont have to pay for after the Men's game.