Slaton could be out 6 months

[painekiller]

according to the chron.com

Meanwhile, Kubiak said the prognosis is good for running back Steve Slaton, who underwent surgery two weeks ago.

Slaton underwent a discectomy to relieve pressure on the nerve root that was causing the problem in his spine.

The surgery was performed in Dallas by Dr. Drew Dossett. The Texans said the surgery went well and that recovery will take from four to six months. Kubiak said Slaton will avoid contact until training camp.

Lets look at the RB position:

Slaton had a poor sophomore season avg 3.3 yds/carry
Jeremiah Johnson, a slower clone of Steve Slaton, coming off shoulder surgery
Arian Foster, solid end of season push, 4.8 yds/carry, still unproven for full season
Chris Henry, a wasted pick by the Titans now wasting space on our roster.
Chris Brown, please let him be gone with the expired contract. 3.4 yds/carry
Ryan Moats, solid enough backup, only averaged 3.9 yds.carry

Now that is a boat load of backs that can easily be thrown away, IMO only Slaton has true NFL potential.

One problem with throwing away the "veteran" RBs, Kubiak rates blocking seemingly above running ability, and rookies normally have not blocked in college, and they tend to miss to many blocks. Kubiak is not big on handing Schaub's backside to a rookie RB.

And this years draft appears weak with top tier RBs.

[nunusguy]

Nerve root, spine, etc. is obviously very serious stuff and therefor lets face it, this injury could very well end up being a showstopper career-wise for
Steve.

[Arky]

Oy, well, sounds like he'll be ready for camp.

Just never understood the big deal on the blocking. These guys have been playing football all their lives and never learned how to block? Perhaps they should call in a football coach and teach them how to block....

Sounds like they are going to pick up a back in the draft. Obviously, they need to make sure they get one that has pro-set blocking skills...

[Mike]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

Nerve root, spine, etc. is obviously very serious stuff and therefor lets face it, this injury could very well end up being a showstopper career-wise for
Steve.

I am not sure that I would jump to that conclusion. Most discectomies are done with removal of the fragment that causes the irritation of the nerve roots and the incision is very small. It is not like he had his spine fused back together.

[NBT]

PK, I agree that a RB needs to be drafted or looked for in FA, but Arian Foster looked pretty good to me at the end of the season. Not the end of the world if Slaton takes awhile to recover.

[Nconroe]

I'd agree Foster looked pretty good, even in training camp. I hope he makes it big time for us.

If Slayton had his injury early in the season, no wonder he wasn't running quite as hard as he did his rookie year, hope he makes a full recovery and becomes a threat again.

And if BP is an RB somewhere around second or third or even fourth round, ok with me.

[Roy P]

Originally Posted by painekiller

according to the chron.com


One problem with throwing away the "veteran" RBs, Kubiak rates blocking seemingly above running ability, and rookies normally have not blocked in college, and they tend to miss to many blocks. Kubiak is not big on handing Schaub's backside to a rookie RB.

The Saints have a potential FA RB named Mike Bell. He averaged 3.8 ypc for them this season and has some history with the Texans. We threw him away.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by Roy P

The Saints have a potential FA RB named Mike Bell. He averaged 3.8 ypc for them this season and has some history with the Texans. We threw him away.

Wasn't he released by the Texans because he just wasn't physically fit, in too poor of condidtion to effectively play when he was with the Texans back in the 2008 preseason ?
BTW the Saints will also probably release Reggie Bush if he dosen't agree to a "haircut" on his 2010 compensation package, but of course he's only a running back for official DC-position designation purposes. He's kinda a faster, more elusive version of Kubiak pet DA.

[nunusguy]

But John McClain from the Houston Chronicle is thinking there may be more to it than that. He went into more detail on the surgery in explaining that the herniated/ruptured disc had to be removed and a bone graft was placed in the resulting space (as a spacer), so that the peripheral nerves coming out of this space are no longer compressed. Yes, a four to six month resting period is required for proper healing.

But that is just part of it. After the healing period, numbness, pain and weakness, due to nerve damage from the previous nerve compression, may take months and months, easily a year or more in some cases, to resolve. And sometimes they don't resolve at all. The prognosis for nerve regeneration is directly related to the length of time the nerve is allowed to be significantly traumatized before a decompression procedure is performed. The greater the length of time, the greater the risk of irreversible nerve damage. And Slaton is rumored to have played most of the 2009 season with this injury.
http://www.battleredblog.com/
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There's a lot more uncertainty to this injury, the surgery, & rehab and recovery than we know about or that Kubiak/Texans are telling us.

[HPF Bob]

All this certainly explains the fumblitis he experienced.

It looks like the Texans may have been zapped by the Dominick Davis curse again. As soon as we find an answer at running back, suddenly we don't.

[NBT]

We do seem to be cursed in the RB department. Anybody know a witchdoctor who dispels curses?