Texans lose Pro Bowl return man Mathis till October

[Emerson1]

By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

Second-year wide receiver Jerome Mathis, who in his first season with the Houston Texans earned a Pro Bowl spot as a return man, likely will miss the first month of the 2006 campaign because of a foot injury that will require Friday surgery.

Jerome Mathis
Wide Receiver
Houston Texans

Profile
2005 SEASON STATISTICS
Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC
5 65 1 13.0 34 6

Following the surgery, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, Mathis will require about four months of rehabilitation. If there are no complications in his recovery, the Texans hope Mathis will be able to return to the field by early October. He will be off his feet for at least a month following the operation.

Mathis first experienced pain in his left foot during the week of Pro Bowl practices. When the problem persisted following four months of rest and treatment, the team conducted a battery of tests that revealed a stress fracture and mandated the surgery.

A fourth-round draft choice in 2005, Mathis had only five receptions for 65 yards and one touchdown last season. But his performance as a kickoff return specialist was electrifying at times. His 28.6-yard average on 54 returns ranked second-best in the league, and the former Hampton standout was the only player in the NFL to return two kickoffs for touchdowns.

He had a league-high seven kickoff runbacks of 40 yards or more. Mathis wasn't nearly as explosive on punt returns, averaging 5.7 yards on 12 attempts.

The one downside to Mathis' rookie performance was a hamstring injury that sidelined him for four games. He was also involved in an offseason motorcycle accident in which he sustained injuries to both wrists and hands. It is believed that the stress fracture in his left foot was not a result of that accident.

As was the case with the former staff, the new Houston coaches are hopeful that in time, Mathis, who was one of the fastest players in the 2005 draft, can develop into a viable wide receiver. But for all his ability as a return man, and his dynamic speed, Mathis' receiving skills are very raw, and the rehabilitation he now faces will reduce the amount of work he gets at the position.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2466292

[Adidas410s]

too bad they don't have Reggie Bush to fill in for him!!! The curse of Reggie Bush begins!!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[wedo]

Originally posted by Emerson1
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

Second-year wide receiver Jerome Mathis, who in his first season with the Houston Texans earned a Pro Bowl spot as a return man, likely will miss the first month of the 2006 campaign because of a foot injury that will require Friday surgery.

Jerome Mathis
Wide Receiver
Houston Texans

Profile
2005 SEASON STATISTICS
Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC
5 65 1 13.0 34 6

Following the surgery, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, Mathis will require about four months of rehabilitation. If there are no complications in his recovery, the Texans hope Mathis will be able to return to the field by early October. He will be off his feet for at least a month following the operation.

Mathis first experienced pain in his left foot during the week of Pro Bowl practices. When the problem persisted following four months of rest and treatment, the team conducted a battery of tests that revealed a stress fracture and mandated the surgery.

A fourth-round draft choice in 2005, Mathis had only five receptions for 65 yards and one touchdown last season. But his performance as a kickoff return specialist was electrifying at times. His 28.6-yard average on 54 returns ranked second-best in the league, and the former Hampton standout was the only player in the NFL to return two kickoffs for touchdowns.

He had a league-high seven kickoff runbacks of 40 yards or more. Mathis wasn't nearly as explosive on punt returns, averaging 5.7 yards on 12 attempts.

The one downside to Mathis' rookie performance was a hamstring injury that sidelined him for four games. He was also involved in an offseason motorcycle accident in which he sustained injuries to both wrists and hands. It is believed that the stress fracture in his left foot was not a result of that accident.

As was the case with the former staff, the new Houston coaches are hopeful that in time, Mathis, who was one of the fastest players in the 2005 draft, can develop into a viable wide receiver. But for all his ability as a return man, and his dynamic speed, Mathis' receiving skills are very raw, and the rehabilitation he now faces will reduce the amount of work he gets at the position.


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2466292

Another reason why they should have drafted Reggie Bush!!!!

Sorry i know everyone is getting tired of talking about that!! At least its not about Gas Prices!!!

[wedo]

Originally posted by Adidas410s
too bad they don't have Reggie Bush to fill in for him!!! The curse of Reggie Bush begins!!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

yep!!! Im glad im not a Texan fan!!!

[Emerson1]

No, reggie bush is an average returnman at best.

[wedo]

Originally posted by Emerson1
No, reggie bush is an average returnman at best.

You don't watch very much college football do you????

[Emerson1]

I watched a game every night during the season when espn was showing them.

The only return you saw of his was the 1 kick/punt return he had all season. Watching RB highlights on ESPN doesn't count as watching college football.

He averaged 17 yards on KR and 9 on PR, it's even around 3-5 if you take away the one long run he had. Not impressive at all.

[wedo]

Originally posted by Emerson1
I watched a game every night during the season when espn was showing them.

The only return you saw of his was the 1 kick/punt return he had all season. Watching RB highlights on ESPN doesn't count as watching college football.

He averaged 17 yards on KR and 9 on PR, it's even around 3-5 if you take away the one long run he had. Not impressive at all.

Out of how many returns??? I watch more football and know more than you could possibly imagine son!!!!!

[Maroon87]

My guess is that they'll let Phillip Buchanon handle return duties until Mathis is back.

[wedo]

Originally posted by Emerson1
I watched a game every night during the season when espn was showing them.

The only return you saw of his was the 1 kick/punt return he had all season. Watching RB highlights on ESPN doesn't count as watching college football.

He averaged 17 yards on KR and 9 on PR, it's even around 3-5 if you take away the one long run he had. Not impressive at all.

not that many teams kicked to him this past year!!! I know he had a couple returns the season before too!!!! Plus i gurantee that Bush is a thousand times better than Jerome Mathis

[wedo]

Originally posted by Maroon87
My guess is that they'll let Phillip Buchanon handle return duties until Mathis is back.

He was a big dissapointment last season!! Hope he can improve!!!

[Emerson1]

So according to you, Bush is gonna make the pro bowl this season.

He had 23 KR and 391 yard, teams kicked to him, you don't get 23 KR when teams don't kick to you. He had 18 KR and 179 yards. You take away 1 long 70-80 yard run and he has under 100 for the season and his avg drops to 5 yard per punt return. That's not good at all.

[Maroon87]

Tough break
May 31, 2006
By Carmine Pirone
HoustonTexans.com


One week away from his first mini-camp as head coach of the Houston Texans, Gary Kubiak strolled to the sideline to address the media. Despite the veterans displaying more and more confidence in new schemes and nearly every player displaying the type of discipline and enthusiasm often seen in training camp, the tone Wednesday was a bit somber. Kubiak confirmed what the team feared, a serious injury to Pro Bowl kick returner Jerome Mathis.

Mathis missed the Texans workout yesterday and when he wasn’t on the field today, it was revealed that Mathis will likely miss the start of the 2006 regular season with a broken bone in his left foot.

“Since Jerome has come back from the Pro Bowl, he has struggled with his ankle,” Kubiak said. "We took some time off, rehabbed it, did everything we could, it was making progress. Jerome had an accident along the way, but he came out to practice. It continued to bother him and we took an extensive look at it last week and unfortunately we found out what it was, a stress fracture.”

Mathis will undergo surgery Friday at Methodist Hospital to repair the venicular bone in his left foot, a small bone near the top of the foot.

The loss leaves a huge hole to fill in the return game. Wide receiver Jake Schifino and rookie running back Wali Lundy saw quite a few reps as a kick returner Wednesday, and they among those who will fill in, at least for now.

This is just another problem in a series of setbacks for Mathis since being named to the Pro Bowl following a stellar rookie season. He was in a motorcycle accident a few months back as well, though Kubiak and the training staff said that the accident did not play a role in this latest injury. Mathis has completely healed from his injuries from the motorcycle accident.

“It’s something that could fall into the chronic category,” Texans head athletic trainer Kevin Bastin said. “But he might have done it at the Pro Bowl, too. He was running straight ahead in all the offseason stuff and doing fine, but when we started running and cutting and doing other stuff, it wasn’t responding and that prompted us to do a further study of it.”

Mathis will be operated on Friday by team orthopedist Tom Clanton and will then be asked to stay off his foot for about eight weeks, though Bastin said it might be sooner depending on how the foot responds.

In other injury news, defensive tackle Travis Johnson was helped from the field just a few minutes into practice today after suffering a strain in his right calf. It’s unclear how serious the injury is, thought it’s worth mentioning that Johnson left the field under his own power before being driven back to the training room.

On top of all the injuries, departing general manager Charley Casserly said goodbye to the team Wednesday, his last official day on the job. He thanked the players for all their hard work in a short, but poignant address following the workout. Casserly is confident he is leaving the team pointed in the right direction.

“I leave on good terms and I feel like this team is in good shape,” Casserly said after addressing the team. “Winning isn’t far away. We have a good nucleus of players here and we had a terrific offseason. Winning is right around the corner.”

He said that the only plans for his immediate future include driving back to Washington , D.C. , but added he still has designs on a post in the league office. Casserly has no regrets and believes that ultimately the hard work he has put in since being named the first general manager in team history will pay off.

“You have to be patient,” Casserly said. “Expansion teams are different than regular teams. I never lost confidence in the process. I never lost confidence in the people we had and I have no doubt that this team is going to win in the future.”

[big daddy russ]

The Texans will be fine without Bush. When they drafted Williams, they had a starting RB who has All-Pro potential and a KR/PR who is an All-Pro.

While I may not be as high on Williams as some, he was a better football choice than Bush, and still is even with this injury. They needed a stud on defense more than they needed a stud on offense (particularly, at RB). The TEAM will be better overall with Williams, sans Bush (and Mathis for a month or two).

Remember, when a team is looking at the draft, they're not necessarily thinking about which player is going to be the next Hall of Famer. They're trying to figure out which player is going to take the TEAM to the next level. Gale Sayers is considered the best pure runner in football history, but he never once made the postseason. Conversely, the 1972 Dolphins had a perfect season with only one true superstar, and Bob Griese was injured for most of the season and throughout the playoffs. They relied on the RB tandem of Larry Csonka inside and Mercury Morris outside, and a "No-name Defense" that was one of the best in the league.