Texans' Braman has covered a lot of ground to make the NFL

[Luv_ya_blue]

Not a homer post at all...serious question.

I concede my football knowledge to the gurus and jedis of the message board with regard to this question.

Just seems like this guy has the intensity that is lacking on our D. Is he dumb as a box of rocks or something like that?

Just looking for intel. Doesn't seem like he can do any worse that some that we've given a shot.

What's he lacking? What am I missing?

[CloakNNNdagger]

He is a great STer. But the coaching staff has not felt that he has transitioned to good decision-making in regular play.

[CloakNNNdagger]

I don't think that this piece was posted on TT before. (If it has, feel free to delete the thread.) But his name came up in another thread, and it made me think of him. I feel a desire to share it with everyone. Don't let the fact that Jerome Solomon is the author deter you from reading this piece in its entirety, as I feel that this is probably one of his best productions........and an inspiring one to carry into the adversity-filled Pats game this Sunday.

Bryan Braman overcomes hard knocks, stubbornness to put 'special' in teams

By Jerome Solomon

December 16, 2012

With Walter Matia's powerful "Spirit of the Bull" sculptures outside and its own raging Bulls on Parade inside, Reliant Stadium just might be the perfect habitat for Texans linebacker Bryan Braman, a self-described "hardheaded, stubborn-headed, bullheaded kind of guy."

It is the type of place the born-in-May, Taurus-the-Bull dreamer imagined he would one day call home.

Even when Braman had no place to call home.

Even when he worked 16- or 17-hour shifts five days a week making concrete railroad ties for $10 an hour in his hometown of Spokane, Wash.

Even when the only bed he knew was the backseat of his mother's LeSabre.

That is where Braman and Doja, his American pit bull terrier, slept, bonded, lived.

Braman was a college dropout, having left the University of Idaho, where he was on a football scholarship, without playing in a game and almost never having gone to class.

Around this time, Braman's fraternal grandfather was dying of cancer, just as his other grandfather had five years earlier.

He was depressed, his mother said. He was haunted, said a high school guidance counselor and adviser.

Smiley N. Pool, Staff © 2012 Houston Chronicle

"I was lost," said Braman.

At 6-5 and around 250 pounds, with a V-shaped torso, a chiseled midsection that is better defined than any airbrushed "after" photos in muscle magazine ads and long, flowing locks, Braman looks as if he descended to earth from Mount Olympus. If Paul Bunyan were from Mount Olympus, that is.

A Buick might not have been the most comfortable of abodes for a man his size, but it beat sleeping on the streets.

And Braman was on the streets. An 18-year-old struggling to find his way.

He'd spend a night or two with a friend, and a night or two with another friend and a night or three in his mother's car.

"I was homeless and it didn't matter," Braman said. "I was depressed, I guess, and felt like I had let everyone down because I'd blown the scholarship and I wasn't playing the sport I so loved."

Maybe higher education wasn't a Braman thing, he thought. No one in his family had earned a college degree.

"I figured I'd come from a poor, blue-collar family, and that's just the way my family had always been … work hard for what little we had, work a 9-to-5, so that's what I figured I'd do, work a 9-to-5," Braman said.

But in 2006, Braman wasn't exactly working a 9-to-5. It was more like a 2-to-6, as in 2 p.m. to 6 a.m. (with mandatory overtime) at a Spokane factory, the same place where his father, who was in and out of his life, had once worked.

The $10 an hour was better than what he made picking apples as an eighth-grader. And it was better than what he brought home from his stint at a pizza parlor in the 10th grade. And better than the paper routes he had when he was a junior and senior at Shadle Park High School.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY

[Rey]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

He is a great STer. But the coaching staff has not felt that he has transitioned to good decision-making in regular play.

I can understand that, but I don't get why they don't bring him in sometimes just to rush the passer.

In third and long situations why not just let him pin his ears back and tap into his wild side.

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Rey

I can understand that, but I don't get why they don't bring him in sometimes just to rush the passer.

In third and long situations why not just let him pin his ears back and tap into his wild side.

One still has to be disciplined enough to be on the lookout for delays and draws. Kubiak isn't the only coach that calls the draw play on 3rd & long.

Remember how, at times, Mario used to run himself right out of the play in those situations.

[utahmark]

You let me read half a story and then direct me to a Pay to subscribe site. Not very nice.

[Rey]

Originally Posted by ObsiWan

One still has to be disciplined enough to be on the lookout for delays and draws. Kubiak isn't the only coach that calls the draw play on 3rd & long.

Remember how, at times, Mario used to run himself right out of the play in those situations.

If teams want to run delays and draws on third and long I'd count that as a win.

If we play the patriots or broncos and they are taking the ball out of those qb's hands on third and long to run a draw because Braman is in the game, that's reason enough to play him.

Somehow i doubt draws and such are the reason.

They probably are worried about his coverage and the biggest thing is that they probably just feel that the guys ahead if him are better.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by utahmark

You let me read half a story and then direct me to a Pay to subscribe site. Not very nice.

I'll PM you the rest of this story.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Rey

I can understand that, but I don't get why they don't bring him in sometimes just to rush the passer.

In third and long situations why not just let him pin his ears back and tap into his wild side.

Agreed, we're getting almost nothing from the guys we're sending out there.

But.... it's not like we're not playing him on Defense. We don't see him just like we don't see Barwin, but he does get a snap or two. If he does something with those snaps, I'm sure come hell or highwater, you won't stop Wade from putting him out there.

[SmoochyTX]

Dang. I wanted to read the rest of the story but I'm not subscribed to The Chronicle. What I did read was pretty good though.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by Rey

I can understand that, but I don't get why they don't bring him in sometimes just to rush the passer.

In third and long situations why not just let him pin his ears back and tap into his wild side.

I have also wondered that same thing. Evidently, he has not "earned" his right to be on the field, because he does not play "controlled"...........which is a plus in some circumstances, but can be a catastrophe in others.........like roughing the passer. Still, like you, I'd like to see him in there intimidating the heck out of a QB "target."

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by SmoochyTX

Dang. I wanted to read the rest of the story but I'm not subscribed to The Chronicle. What I did read was pretty good though.

PM coming your way.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

He is a great STer. But the coaching staff has not felt that he has transitioned to good decision-making in regular play.

That would imply the rest of the defense is making good decisions. I guess he must not be jumping offsides EVERY time the QB says "hut HUT!"

[Fred]

Originally Posted by Luv_ya_blue

Not a homer post at all...serious question.

I concede my football knowledge to the gurus and jedis of the message board with regard to this question.

Just seems like this guy has the intensity that is lacking on our D. Is he dumb as a box of rocks or something like that?

Just looking for intel. Doesn't seem like he can do any worse that some that we've given a shot.

What's he lacking? What am I missing?

BTW, you spelled his name correctly in the thread title. I'm pretty sure that is a NO-NO in this forum.

[amazing80]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

PM coming your way.

can you send me one too

[Uncle Rico]

i wonder if all the mushrooms he ate tweeked him out a little. he's got that crazy look in his eyes .... and i like it!!

i remember saying that guy would be somebody after he had like 4 sacks in a preseason game. too bad they havent tried to develop him further, thats on the coaches.

[Home team fan]

I need the PM too, please!

[qqert]

even before he made that no-helmet tackle, i was already a fan.
#50 is a BEAST!

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

I have also wondered that same thing. Evidently, he has not "earned" his right to be on the field, because he does not play "controlled"...........which is a plus in some circumstances, but can be a catastrophe in others.........like roughing the passer. Still, like you, I'd like to see him in there intimidating the heck out of a QB "target."

If you listen to the Kubiak show, you'll know that Gary is very excited about this guys future. I know Gary tends to fluff all his players, but there's something different when he talks about Braman.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by Fiddler

If you listen to the Kubiak show, you'll know that Gary is very excited about this guys future. I know Gary tends to fluff all his players, but there's something different when he talks about Braman.

I believe he is. But now he's mostly excited about him becoming more "refined" for next season.