SB Nation - Boomer Grigsby

Texans Down 'N Dirty: Dramatic 180 Edition

Jake — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:24:25 -0000

Another day, more negativity piled on the Texans. MJD from Yahoo's Shutdown Corner did a post detailing the announcer assignments for Week 1 of the NFL season. In said post he asks,

How bad is the opening week slate of games on CBS? So bad that the network is sending its lead announcing team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to Houston to call a Texans game.

He goes on to say that people in Houston don't even want to see the game as evidenced by the fact that the event has not sold out.

After reading that post and seeing that Richard Justice wrote one about the team, I figured Justice's latest was going to be continuing the trend of cynicism. Justice surprised me, however, and wrote ten reasons why the Texans can make the playoffs. I can't argue with most of his reasoning, although some of it seems to be in direct contradiction to his article that I linked yesterday.

Diehard Chris ponders a scary subject--the rematch of Duane Brown and Jared Allen on Monday night. I'm not too excited about seeing the White Trash Warrior diving at Matt Schaub's knees again, but Chris used this as an opportunity to look at the progress of Brown and what could/should be expected of him this year. In his post, Chris points out that Alex Gibbs is in love with Brown. If Gibbs loves Brown and the progress he's made, it makes me feel a lot better about Schaub's prospects of staying healthy.

Despite giving everyone an entertaining character to watch and root for, the Boomer Grigsby experiment is over. The Texans decided to waive the linebacker-turned-fullback yesterday after he suffered an injury last week. I really like Grigsby, and I hope he lands somewhere where they can use his talents.

Lastly, a group of Houston media personalities have made predictions on the Texans end-of-the-season record as well as jusitifcations for those predictions. My favorite was Representative Gene Green, who by the look of it is not much of a dedicated football fan.

Texans Down 'N Dirty: Day 14 Recap Edition

DreKeem — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:00:19 -0000

The wait is over! Eric Winston has a new video blog out. In it, he discusses the botched play that led to a sack of Matt Schaub in the first pre-season game. He chalks the play up to a good play by the defense. He also had some praise to dish out to the running game as well as some of the young rookies on the defensive side of the ball.

With the loss of Boomer Grigsby, the Texans have turned to James Casey to fill in as the backup fullback. Ideally, Casey would be entrenched in one position (tight end), but we all know just how versatile Casey is when it comes to positions on the field. The man will do whatever is asked to him. Replacement for Dunta Robinson, anyone? No? OK. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see how Casey performs in the backfield and what type of blocking ability he provides from that area. It's just one more aspect of the game to focus on come Saturday against the Saints.

Antwuan Molden is finally back. After a rookie season that was derailed early due to an ankle injury and a nine month rehab process, Molden is finally back on the field participating in drills. His return cannot be understated. He may be behind both Brice McCain and Glover Quin on the depth chart as of now, but he flashed serious potential his rookie year and was a special teams star. If he progresses at all from his play last year he could make a late push for the nickel corner job. The race could turn out much more interesting than it already was between just McCain and GQ. The team plans to ease Molden into the lineup slowly, but he is certainly someone to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.

Khary Campbell, formerly of the Washington Redskins, is your newest Houston Texan. With Brian Cushing, Xavier Adibi, Zac Diles, and Cato June all slowed by injuries, Campbell should fill in as a camp body. Though the player was unknown at the time, you had to expect this one to be coming given the injury situation.

The uniform combinations for 2009 have been released! Battle Red Day is much earlier this year than last, coming in the third game of the season against Jacksonville. Also, as Chris noted, that day will no longer consist of red on white, but rather red on red. I'd prefer we save the red on red for night games on national television. Other than that small quip, the combinations seem solid. Another great season of... uniforms.

Here's the day's recap from the Chronicle and the Texans' website. Nothing too special or extraordinary happened, but there were some good jokes dished out by Frank Okam and Gary Kubiak, which we'll get to in a second.

And now for the best quotes of the day:

(on the plan for the starters' reps for the coming week) "We'll up the reps. We came out of the game with our first-team offense playing 18 snaps. Our first-team defense only played 10, so they got a little bit out of whack. But we'll definitely pick it up, probably start with the idea of a quarter-and-a-half for the first group and go from there." - Gary Kubiak

We'll get to see Schaub and the first team offense pick up from where they left of last week - a perfect 7-7 throwing the ball. Also, this could be an opportunity for a bounce-back game from Steve Slaton.

(on DT Frank Okam's approval that his comment came from an Aggie to a Longhorn) "That's what I told him. I don't give out those attaboys very often, especially to a Longhorn, but he and (G) Kasey (Studdard) earned a couple of them. I told him that those last about as long as a butt chewing, not long, so get back out there and keep doing it." - Kubes

Bye, Travis Johnson.

(on DT Frank Okam's recent performance) "Frank was impressive in the game. Played a lot of plays. I told the team this morning, you're starting to see young veteran backup players starting to play like they belong on the field a lot. We're talking about a (G Kasey) Studdard or a (C) Chris (White) or a Frank or a (DT) DelJuan (Robinson), and that's important for our team. So it's a big step forward for Frank." - Kubes

No, seriously, pack up TJ.

(on the status of DT Travis Johnson) "He's upping his work this week. He's working with (defensive line coach) Bill (Kollar) after practice, doing more, so that'll be our schedule with him this week, and we'll see."

Don't even attempt a comeback. You're done, man.

(on having three quarterbacks on the roster during the season) "Well, it's like I told ya'll, from what I've been through the last two years, I would like to, but I'm not going to keep three guys just to have three bodies. Whoever that guy is, I'm going to have to feel good about (him) playing. We have a long way to go. We'll see how that pans out here in the next few weeks, but I'm not just going to keep three guys to keep bodies around." - Kubes

I think it's safe to say Kubiak is on the verge of trashing the three quarterback experiment after Sexy Rexy's bomb on his first play in the Chiefs game.

(on getting K Kris Brown and RB Chris Brown's names mixed up) "Between he and Kris? Oh, it's very difficult. Many times, someone says ‘Chris Brown came up to your office' and I'll get the wrong Chris Brown. So just tell me kicker or back and you can usually find them." - Kubes, again

Hah.

(on his weight compared to last year) "It's close to the same. It's about 335 pounds, just put in better places. I'm a little quicker and a little more solid. I'm stronger and I'm faster, so I think that'll pay dividends this year." - Frank Okam

I think BFD might have just passed out laughing.

The Legend of Bobby Sippio Continues...in the UFL

Joel Thorman — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:24:14 -0000

Bobby Sippio, 83, loved scoring touchdown(s?) against cross-state rival St. Louis.

View full size photo »

Way back on August 13th of 2007, the Kansas City Chiefs signed Arena League all-star Bobby Sippio. Little did we know he would become the 2007 version of Boomer Grigsby - no-name, hard worker that quickly becomes a fan favorite. The blogosphere was abuzz with Sippio-time and everyone (Yes, everyone) was hoping the Chiefs would keep him on for the season.

By September 3rd, Sippio was officially placed on the practice squad. By September 11th, he was brought up to the active roster. Chris summed up Sippio's 2007 season nicely:

The blogosphere's Boomer Grigsby, Sippio didn't register a catch in 2007 after playing in nine games. The vast majority of that playing time was on special teams. Sippio is an unknown at this point. Hard Knocks footage and a few YouTube clips unfortunately don't tell us much beyond what we've seen. The KC coaches, apparently, haven't been confident enough in Sippio to give him many chances. The fact that he sat on the practice squad for eight weeks, where anyone had the ability to sign him, doesn't bode well for his future as a starting wide receiver in the NFL.

Hard Knocks star. Dedicated worker. 100% effort. Fan favorite.

Cut nearly one year after being signed. Direckshun helped sum up the "folk hero" status of Bobby Sippio.

Okay, I reminisced long enough. On to the actual "news" part of this post. Bobby Sippio took part in tryouts for the United Football League this weekend. Along with former Chiefs quarterback Quinn Gray, Sippio worked out for Dennis Green, one of the UFL's new coaches.

(I'll never look at Quinn Gray the same since I read that article in the Kansas City Star about how many guns he owned. It was strange to publicly release that information. I'd give you a link but can't seem to find it right now.)

Players will be placed on teams geographically the first year, then next season should have a draft according to UFL spokeswoman Rachel Gray (via Pro Football Talk). Sippio is from Orlando, Florida and Gray is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The workout was conducted in Orlando, Florida as well.

Houston Texans OTAs: Day Four

Tim — Fri, 22 May 2009 03:04:05 -0000

Not too much to report via the official site about today's OTAs, though I believe new fullback Boomer Grigsby is well on his way to becoming a fan favorite:

Gone is the Mohawk, but the Canton, Ill., native’s relentless work ethic (and tattoos) remain. Grigsby has gone from a Division I-AA All-American linebacker at Illinois State to a special teams standout in Kansas City in 2005-06; from a linebacker to a fullback in 2007; and from the Miami Dolphins’ starting fullback in the 2008 season opener to a player without a job when the Dolphins cut him after one game.
"That’s the National Football League," Grigsby said. "We played the Jets (and) we got beat by about 30. Brett Favre did some of his miracle stuff and, you know, they fired me and they went to the Wildcat offense where they didn’t even use a fullback.

"I think it’s the kind of business (we’re in)—they say you can never relax. In that situation, I kind of gave it my all, gave it my 100 percent like everyone says, and I did everything I could do. But I refuse to be one of those guys who sits on the outside and says, ‘Woe is me.’ This entire career has been a blessing. It’s been a roller coaster ride."

I'm a sucker for self-deprecating players, so reading Grigsby say he was "fired" as though he was some dude at a 9-to-5 gig makes me grin. And then I read this:

"I love boots. I like country music. I thought Houston would be a good fit. When I was on the plane, I fell asleep listening to Chris LeDoux, woke up listening to George Strait and I figured I might fit in here alright."
–Fullback Boomer Grigsby, on his affinity for boots

Methinks BRB has a new favorite son. Practically speaking, we're talking about a special teams demon and Vonta Leach insurance. I'd bet that Kubes finds a place for Boomer on this squad. Thoughts?