New Orleans Saints

Joe Flacco Has A New Contract: Next Big Thing Or Next Cautionary Tale?

On December 16, the Baltimore Ravens lost their third game in a row, 34-17 to the Denver Broncos in Baltimore to drop to 9-5 on the season and virtually clinch a relatively ho-hum four seed in the AFC. On that day, their starting quarterback, Joe Flacco, completed 20 passes on 40 attempts for 254 l ... More >>

Monday Night Football Cavalcade Of Errors, Starring Rick Reilly!

Something amazing happened last night during ESPN's coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers' 16-13 overtime atrocity win over the lowly Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night. It wasn't the Chiefs' miraculously hanging well within the 12 point spread on this game (obliterating degenerate teaser bets every ... More >>

Week 3 Highlights of FFL (Fan Fighting League): Redskin-On-Redskin Fan Brawl Zapruder Analysis

A couple weeks ago, I launched the maiden week of my new fighting league, the Fan Fighting League, dedicated to bringing you the best in pro sport fan fights from around the globe. Week 1 gave us a quartet of Buffalo Bill fans taking on an entire section of New York Jet fans with very mixed results ... More >>

Texans-Saints: 4 Winners, 4 Losers (The Trindon Holliday Conundrum Edition)

If you are a sports couch potato (and if you are reading this, chances are that is the case), Saturday night was one of those nights that we probably take for granted all of the technological advances that allow us to consume all of the fare on the sports buffet simultaneously. Picture if you will, ... More >>

Texans 26, Panthers 13: Five Things We Learned

It takes looking at just one final box score to show the relative importance, or lack thereof, with early preseason scores. Patriots 7, Saints 6. So the Texans' thorough road dismantling of a capable Carolina team may not signal much, particularly considering most first-teamers played less than a ... More >>

Yes, Gary Kubiak Is In Mid-Season "Battling" Form

With Texans' training camp in full swing, there's one thing fans want to know -- is head coach Gary Kubiak in mid-season quote-machine form? The answer is decidedly yes. Odd circumlocutions? You bet: Former New Orleans Saint, current Texan Mitch King? "He's a try-hard player." Of Houston Cougars' ... More >>

Phil Anselmo Talks Solo Records, New Down Material & Pantera's Legacy

Phil Anselmo, former lead singer of the mighty Pantera, currently of Down, is a busy man. But he always has time to talk about his beloved New Orleans Saints, who are going through a trying offseason, to put it mildly. "I can talk Saints all day. I think we have a great season coming up and I thin ... More >>

The Betting Lines on the First 15 Texans Games Are Here!

Think you have a pretty good idea on how your favorite NFL team will do this upcoming season? More importantly, does your "pretty good idea" differ drastically from the super-early predictions the experts have forecasted for your squad? If so, the gambling gods have given themselves you another way ... More >>

Bobby Hebert Is Not a Fan of LSU Coach Les Miles's Conservative Game Plan (w/ VIDEO)

Predictably, the BCS National Title game was, to use my good friend Jim Ross's phrase, "bowling-shoe ugly." Monday's game between Alabama and top-ranked LSU featured lots of hard hitting on defense, lots of mistakes on offense, and a few field goals. In fact, until Trent Richardson scored a touchdow ... More >>

Kris Kardashian Humphries Re-signs with the Nets

So happy together.​It's Wednesday, December 21, and from a daylight standpoint, it's the shortest day of the calendar year and equally short on newsworthy events around the sports world (unless you count former Philadelphia newspaper columnist and part-time Jabba the Hutt stand-in Bill Conlin ... More >>

Pau Gasol Thoughts, My Texans Prediction and Other Weekend Best Bets

Pau Gasol: The closest he'll get to Rocket red.​On November 23, the Texans signed quarterback Kellen Clemens to take over third-string duties. On December 4, the Texans signed Jake Delhomme and two days later they cut Clemens. I never thought there would be a less satisfying era for a Houston ... More >>

Health Department Roundup

"Let me get a cookie with a milk back."​There are three keys to a smooth Health Department inspection: maintaining a clean facility, keeping your paperwork in order, and...let's see. We can't think of the third one. We can't. Sorry. Oops. There were more familiar faces on the city's inspectio ... More >>

Texans-Ravens: Five Things to Watch

Photo by Marco TorresThe Texans face a tougher test this week.​"If the Texans are 3-3 after the first six games, then we'll be happy." -- Pretty much every same Texans fan The statement is a classic example of how the ebb and flow of a season can recalibrate expectations. The Texans are set u ... More >>

Football! This Weekend's Best Bets

When Steve Jobs passed away yesterday, I was in Target. I learned of his death on my iPhone while standing in the technology section behind the iPad showcase and in front of a rack of DVD's that included several Pixar features. It's about as poignant a moment as you can have learning about the dea ... More >>

Texans Release Slaton, Promote Ogbonnaya

​In what seemed like an inevitability in the preseason, the Texans finally cut running back Steve Slaton from the roster. Slaton was occupying the fourth running back position for much of the preseason behind starter Arian Foster, Derrick Ward and second year player Ben Tate. He was even sound ... More >>

Texans-Saints, Etc. -- 4 Winners, 4 Losers

Big winner: James Casey​The easy fall back after Sunday's 40-33 to the New Orleans Saints is to say "Same ol' Texans," and in a way, I understand. Red zone issues, fourth quarter brain farts (23 points allowed), the untimely turnover, same ol' Texans. But I choose to look at the glass half f ... More >>

Umbrella Man, Texans On At BestFest

Photos by Jason WolterNick Gaitan & the Umbrella Man​Day 2 of the Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest is underway. Nick Gaitain & the Umbrella Man opened with a set of countrified conjunto, steamy barrio ballads and one of our favorite Los Lobos songs, "I Got Loaded." The most prophetic l ... More >>

Six More Reasons to Go to the Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest

Yesterday we gave you the five best reasons to go to the Houston Press Best of Houston® BestFest this Saturday and Sunday in Midtown. We are by no means backing off from them, but we never said the list was exhaustive. Here are six more reasons you need to be there: 6. The Notre Dame game is at ... More >>

Texans-Colts: Five Things to Watch

No Peyton, no chance.​With Peyton Manning out for Sunday's opener and potentially the entire year after undergoing a second surgery on his neck, the narrative for Houston changes from a statement game to one of trends. That is, there should be no way to actually lose, or for the final score t ... More >>

2011 NFL Preview, Spoken In Wagering-ese

The betting window is open​I hope everyone who has had a chance to check out our Texans 2011 preview "The New Normal" has enjoyed it. Big ups to Monica Fuentes for coming up with the season-long interactive game card tracking Texans' results. You need to go check it out. If you haven't read ... More >>

My 2011 Texans Schedule Analysis -- Praying For A Long Work Stoppage

Skip this if you can. (The movie AND the Texans' opening schedule)​Destination programming. It's the lifeblood of any organization whose goal is to entertain the masses. It doesn't matter if you're a television network, an independent radio station, or a professional sports league. If you ... More >>

One Guy's Remaining Thoughts On 2010

Thanks to Tron: Legacy for Olivia Wilde in 3D​As we head into the New Year, I thought I would look back at some of the things in 2010 for which I'm thankful, sports, and non-sports. 1. ESPN's 30 For 30.  ESPN does a lot of things wrong, i.e. the Brett Favre lovefest, The Decision, Col ... More >>

Houston Texans -- Cortland Finnegan Is A Punk Ass Bitch

Down goes Finnegan!! Down goes Finnegan!!​''I want to apologize to the organization, our owner and my teammates. What happened out there today wasn't me. I just lost my cool. I wish I could take back what happened. I can't. It's over and done with now. I'm pretty sure I'll be disciplined. I'll ... More >>

NFL & College Football -- Weekend's Best Bets (with Tales of Deceit, Adultery and Ron Artest)

We see....FAIL in Ron Artest's future​Drayton McLane apparently has plans to sell the Astros. This comes as no surprise, those rumors have been swirling for some time. Now I don't know if he'll get his $800 million asking price, but I did call Drayton and make an offer and we now know that $9 ... More >>

Game Time: Mike Leach, Texans and Grounded Clubs -- Weekend Thoughts

The Whalers can take it out of you​I'm two hours removed from a 5:00 a.m. flight this morning from Boston to Houston, so if this post is even remotely coherent we all have Rich Connelly and his ninja proofreading skills to thank. Because when you go up to Hartford for Whaler Fest 2010, there's no ... More >>

Texans Raise Ticket Prices Because....Because...Because They Can?

​Let's say you're the owner of the Houston Texans. And let's say your team just barely managed to eke out its first winning season despite playing against some of the worst teams in professional football. Let's say that, despite saying this summer that it was the playoffs or bust for the team, ... More >>

Some (Few) Good Things Emerge From Texans' Monday-Night Loss

​It's never truly Texans season until there's the first Matt Schaub injury scare. This year, it came before the season even started -- when the Texans' QB ran out of bounds and turned his left ankle in Monday night's 17-10 preseason loss to the Vikings.But Schaub recovered, and so did the Texans, ... More >>

Texans-Saints: New, "Improved " D Falls Flat In First Home Test

​Run the ball, and stop the run.It's one of the oldest clichés on what determines NFL success. But if there's much truth to it, the Texans' potential breakthrough season might already be in some trouble.With Reggie Bush out with a calf injury, the Saints (2-0) gashed the Texans (1-1) on Satur ... More >>

How To Grab The Reader's Attention

​The Texans and the New Orleans Saints have been practicing together this week, and yesterday they got into some scraps.Houston Chronicle reporter John McClain ably summed things up with this lede on his story:"The Texans and New Orleans Saints spent so much time fighting during Thursday's morning ... More >>

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Hooters and Houston Texans

I'm in a Hooters in downtown Phoenix, Arizona and the Houston Texans are losing to the Oakland Raiders. And I'm the only one in the place watching the game. The requisite Redskins fans are scattered about, watching the Redskins on a majority of the TVs - really, is there any place besides Dall ... More >>

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking: Hooters and Houston Texans

I'm in a Hooters in downtown Phoenix, Arizona and the Houston Texans are losing to the Oakland Raiders. And I'm the only one in the place watching the game. The requisite Redskins fans are scattered about, watching the Redskins on a majority of the TVs - really, is there any place besides Dall ... More >>

John Royal's NFL Power Rankings

John Royal's NFL Power Rankings

John Royal’s NFL Season Picks

Yo. You Live in Houston, Not Tennessee.

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 14: Turning into T-Rex (the Dinosaur, Not the Tolkien-Loving Glam-Rock Band)

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 13: Are There Not 32 Men in This Country Worthy of Being Starting QBs?

John Royal’s NFL Picks, Week 13: Rushing More Than Ricky Williams

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week 11: Tough Week, But Take the Texans

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week Eight: Staring Zeus in the Eye, Daring Him to Flinch

Fires in Southern California: Where Will the Houston Texans Play the San Diego Chargers?

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week Six: Forget Dog Fighting. Parity Is the League’s Biggest Problem.

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks, Week Three: Approaching the Promised Land

John Royal's NFL Picks: Week Two

Jason Friedman’s NFL Picks: Week Two

NFL Predictions

Madonna Shines Ray of Light on Texans

From Britney to U2: The 2007 NFL Preview

He's Ours, Dammit!

Fandemonium

Go nuts for tix at the Houston Texans Touchdown Downtown Event