40 Acres Sports

Rumors are circulating that if Kirk Ferentz doesn’t take the Houston Texans job it’ll be offered to Denver Bronco offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak. If Kubiak gets the job then he would be interested in adding much maligned (pre-Vince) Texas coordinator Greg Davis to his staff. Davis coached Kubiak when he was the quarterback at Texas A&M in the early 80’s.

I’m actually a [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] supporter when it comes to his teaching and gameplanning, but it would certainly be interesting to see who Mack Brown could bring in to replace him. Greg Robinson and Gene Chizik have infused a lot of excitement into the defense, a hot young offensive coordinator that would stick around for a while could be a good thing. Though breaking in a new QB and offensive coordinator at the same time would be an awful lot of change for one offseason. We can’t however afford to be breaking in a new offensive coordinator/scheme every year, it’s a much bigger transition than on the other side of the ball.

David Carr for Ricky Williams?

In other Texans rumors… Are they trying to set up an opening at quarterback so they can draft Vince Young? Rumors are floating around of a possible David Carr to the Miami Dolphins for [tag]Ricky Williams[/tag] trade in the works. The Texans would get Houstonian Vince Young, Ricky Williams playing for the league minimum, and a third round pick out of the deal while the Dolphins would end up with another average QB.

If the Dolphins are willing to do that deal I pull the trigger in a second.

Huge promotion for [tag]Major Applewhite[/tag] as he was named as the next offensive coordinator at Rice University. After just a couple of years as a Graduate Assistant at Texas and one year as QB’s coach at Syracuse, the 27-year old former Horn will be taking over an offense that has been running the option for the last 12 years under former coach Ken Hatfield and will be asked to bring the Owl offense into this century.

Pretty tough job ahead for Major but it’s a great opportunity for him. I’ll defninitely be paying closer attention to [tag]Rice[/tag] games next season.

Hey look, a Major Applewhite and Chris Simms post in the same day. I hope this doesn’t create an ex-QB controversy.

[tag]Chris Simms[/tag] played well this afternoon as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers took on the Washington Redskins during the first weekend of the NFL playoffs but they came up a little short in the end. The former Longhorn QB was 25 of 38 for 198 yards and looked like a slower, less agile Vince Young on a 2 yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He led the Bucs into position for a game-tying score late in the fourth, but his perfect pass was dropped by Edell Shepherd and they then couldn’t convert a 4th down play.

Simms and Tampa Bay were killed by turnovers today as they gave an offensively inept Redskins team 14 early and easy points. They also had one last chance with 50 yards to go and one minute left on the clock but he had a pass batted at the line result in his second interception of the game. The game made my post about him getting too many passes tipped at the line back in November look prophetic.

Tough way to end the season but it sure looks like Chris has nailed down the starting job in Tampa Bay. Improve the offensive line this offseason, build around him and Cadillac Williams, add a little youth to that excellent defense and the Bucs should be a pretty good team next season.

Sprained left foot could sideline him for up to 3 weeks.

It’s a shame he couldn’t keep his grades up, hope he succeeds and gets a degree.

Not much college football on this weekend (Hawai’i Bowl was a great game Friday night) but several Longhorns in the NFL had pretty good games Saturday.

• [tag]Chris Simms[/tag] led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a game-tying touchdown with less than a minute to go in regulation and two easy field goal opportunities in overtime. He finished the day with 285 yards passing and 2 touchdowns and it looks like the Bucs will make the playoffs.
• In his first 20+ carry game since coming back off retirement/suspension [tag]Ricky Williams[/tag] ran all over the Tennessee Titans for 172 yards and a TD. Quietly, Ricky has played really well this season in Miami and has looked like the Ricky of old when given the chance.
• Roy Williams and Shaun Rogers led the Detroit Lions to a win over the Saints in San Antonio. Williams had four big catches for 111 yards and the Pro Bowler Rogers rumbled 21 yards for his first career touchdown after recovering a first quarter fumble.

Certainly doesn’t hurt recruiting to have these guys and others playing well in the pros every weekend. Future NFL success is one of the big draws for programs like Miami and if you can add that factor the UT’s already attractive atmosphere, coaching staff, location, facilities, and tradition I think you’ll see the program get even stronger over the next few years.

Vasher also makes list of most unheralded and Casey Hampton was snubbed.

We definitely need a pep talk or ball handling lessons or something.

“Today, he would retire if he had to make the decision.”

Now with the Rangers, has elbow surgery & won’t be able to catch this year. (BugMeNot.)