Caste Football Looks at the 2007 Houston Texans

[color=red]pictured: Kevin Walter[/color]Halt the presses! The Texans have a starting white receiver! But wait — the obligatory sensational black rookie has emerged from nowhere. Now it’s just a matter of time until the howls of the media scribes and their drunk white fan sycophants becomes too much for Gary Kubiak to bear, and poor Kevin Walter will be demoted and Jacoby Jones promoted. One cannot read anything about the Texans without hearing about how pitiful their wide receivers are after Andre Johnson (and before Jones “emerged”). This in a league that has many teams with woeful groups of all black receivers. But the Texans must have truly been desperate at the position to have promoted Walter. No one wants to give him a chance, he’s just assumed to suck because he’s white. After making Walter their starter at least temporarily, the team waived their other white receiver, David Anderson, the record setting man with hands of glue from Colorado State who excelled in picking up yards after the catch. Also working against Walter is Owen Daniels, Houston’s starting white tight end who is an excellent receiver and key part of the offense. A white tight end who’s a good receiver AND a starting white wide receiver? That’s very controversial territory indeed for the highly segregated NFL. Better to play it safe and slowly phase out Walter until he’s once again a White Special Teams Demon.The Texans do seem to be working hard to upgrade their offensive line, which has been nothing short of terrible for the team’s first five seasons of existence, but that remains to be seen. There are only two white starters — Eric Winston, a third round draft choice in ’06 out of Miami, starts at RT, with Mike Flanagan at center. Jordan Black, Steve McKinney, and rookie Kasey Studdard from Texas are backups.The Texans have three white tight ends in addition to Daniels — veteran Mark Bruener, Jeb Putzier a converted wide receiver from Boise State, and Joel Dreessen.Whites need not apply when it comes to defense. 14 year veteran Jeff Zgonina is a backup tackle. That’s it. Zgonina is also listed as the third string long snapper. What a lucky guy.NUMBER OF WHITE STARTERS: 5APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF WHITE PLAYERS ON 53 MAN ROSTER: 16GRADE: F+ (F if/when Walter is demoted)

2007-10-24