(Alan Burge column) Tate a happy Texan; Ryan Mathews "scared" he'd be a Texan

[GP]

Well, well, well.....Is it possible that we might have some extra incentive to shut down Ryan Mathews when we play the Chargers? I think Pollard, Cushing, and a few others will make him wish he HAD been a Texan.

It's not like me to go TMZ on you, but while scrolling through my news feeds last night I ran across an interesting quote by the San Diego Chargers first round pick Ryan Mathews.

You may recall that Mathews, the junior running back from Fresno State, was reported by some to be a first round draft target of the Texans.

But it doesn't appear that Mathews was all that keen on the idea of becoming a Texan according to a recent article in San Diego Entertainer Magazine.

“All the talk about Houston and stuff, it really started to scare me and everything,” said Mathews in the article.

Now before you blow up the comments section under that article, keep in mind that we have little or no context for what Mathews said and why he said it. click here to read the full story...

My take on this: He wanted to stay in California, and that's cool. But the main issue here, IMO, is that we missed out on a running back (Mathews) who might not have wanted to be here.

Sure, he could have come around once he saw the $$$ and got over the initial "pain" of not being selected by the Chargers. Nonetheless, it's an issue of Tate being thrilled (just to play at all!) and Mathews being picky.

Whether this is manufactured drama or not, it's still SOMETHING to think about and build up as we get going and eventually face the Chargers.

[badboy]

Locker room bulletin board stuff only. Kid preferred to play in home state. Cool. He should get same response any RB gets "knocked you on your butt, didn't we? Oh, BTW, welcome to Houston."

Tate will sign big contract to play in a system that he should excell in with a team that wants and needs him desperately? Again a no brainer.

[No More 8-8's]

Probably taken out of context. San Diego is his favorite team, so of course we wants to play for them. Also LT was his idol growing up. There was alot of reasons for him to fear being picked away from his ideal location.

With that in mind, I hope Cushing breaks Ryan Mathews jaw.

[ChampionTexan]

Originally Posted by No More 8-8's

Probably taken out of context. San Diego is his favorite team, so of course we wants to play for them. Also LT was his idol growing up. There was alot of reasons for him to fear being picked away from his ideal location.

Could have been a number of things - the SD connection being one of them, or he could have even been talking about being scared of dropping all the way down to #20, and that's very well how it could have turned out if SD hadn't traded up for him. (or it could have been that there was some reason he didn't want to play for the Texans).

Whatever the reason, I'm not losing any sleep over it.

[Second Honeymoon]

He was scared that he might end up a Texan.
Well I was scared that he might end up a Texan too.
I guess we both got a sigh of relief when that asshat went to SD

oh and I am really surprised that a Fresno State player is such a prima Donna little girl. I guess it must be something in the water there that has them churn up so many garbage football professionals. The little puss will probably be on the IR with a hangmail or PMS by Week 3

Ryan Matthews, you suck

[gtexan02]

I agree with ChampionTexan. This is taken completely out of context. He was scared of dropping to pick #20, when he thought he could go much earlier. Thats millions of dollars he was scared of losing, not anything about houston imo

[Cush the Great]

Originally Posted by Second Honeymoon

He was scared that he might end up a Texan.
Well I was scared that he might end up a Texan too.
I guess we both got a sigh of relief when that asshat went to SD

oh and I am really surprised that a Fresno State player is such a prima Donna little girl. I guess it must be something in the water there that has them churn up so many garbage football professionals. The little puss will probably be on the IR with a hangmail or PMS by Week 3

Ryan Matthews, you suck

Agreed. I was jumping up and down when the Chargers traded up and even though the lack of context might be the only thing making this a story count me in as someone wanting to see this guy get stumped hard by one of ours either way.

And I might end up way wrong with this assessment but give me Tate all day over another first round pick from Fresno State.

[Ole Miss Texan]

It'd be similar to a guy from UT saying he was scared of all the talk about dropping to a California team but is happy to be selected by the Texans. Particularly if he grew up in Texas and since he played ball hours away from Houston and his idol growing up played for Houston.

I think Cushing should knock the piss out of him because he's an opponent, not because of his comments who make some fans booty hurt.

[GP]

I love all the different takes on this. This thread is awesome so far.

The thing that sticks out, to me, is that he used the word "scared." Which can be interpreted in many ways, according to each person's opinion or agenda. I foresee Cushing and Pollard using it as bulletin board material.

Yeah, he probably meant that he didn't want to last until pick 20. Our name had been associated with potentially targeting him at #20, so he was "scared" that he would drop that low.

But it still remains that we DID take a running back in round 2. So now our guy will square off against Mathews when we play them, and I think that's going to make guys like Cushing and Pollard see to it that Mathews has the lesser day of the two running backs. At least I hope so.

I want to see a huge professionally-printed banner hanging over the doorway of the Texans locker room, when we are vs. Chargers, that says this:

"All the talk about Houston and stuff, it really started to scare me and everything."- Ryan Mathews

[badboy]

Originally Posted by GP

I love all the different takes on this. This thread is awesome so far.

The thing that sticks out, to me, is that he used the word "scared." Which can be interpreted in many ways, according to each person's opinion or agenda. I foresee Cushing and Pollard using it as bulletin board material.

Yeah, he probably meant that he didn't want to last until pick 20. Our name had been associated with potentially targeting him at #20, so he was "scared" that he would drop that low.

But it still remains that we DID take a running back in round 2. So now our guy will square off against Mathews when we play them, and I think that's going to make guys like Cushing and Pollard see to it that Mathews has the lesser day of the two running backs. At least I hope so.

I want to see a huge professionally-printed banner hanging over the doorway of the Texans locker room, when we are vs. Chargers, that says this:

"All the talk about Houston and stuff, it really started to scare me and everything."- Ryan Mathews

If you like these posts, read the other thread where this came up over a week ago.

[BigBull17]

Maybe he was scarred of having to practice with Pollard, Cushing, Demeco, and Mario. It does sound daunting. He'll be able to roid up with "Lights out" to have a better chance of survival. BTW, if LT was your idol, why would you go to the team that ran him into the groung and then out of town?

[Cjeremy635]

Originally Posted by BigBull17

Maybe he was scarred of having to practice with Pollard, Cushing, Demeco, and Mario. It does sound daunting. He'll be able to roid up with "Lights out" to have a better chance of survival. BTW, if LT was your idol, why would you go to the team that ran him into the groung and then out of town?

Bolded part should be a non issue. That's the "nature of the beast" when it comes to football.....and other pro sports as well. All teams do it and the athlete gets compensated very well for it.

[ledzeppelin229]

I don't really read anything into...theres probably a number of teams that could have been substituted for "Houston" if they had called.

And I think the "scared" thing is just a figure of speech here. Probably should mean that it concerned him, nothing more.

[BigBull17]

Originally Posted by Cjeremy635

Bolded part should be a non issue. That's the "nature of the beast" when it comes to football.....and other pro sports as well. All teams do it and the athlete gets compensated very well for it.

Just throwing something out there. I know the game is very mercenary, but thought it was worth a little blurb.

[GP]

Every team or player looks for an angle or edge against opponents.

Looking back on our younger years, try to think of your time in junior high or high school football: When you heard something that was said by a rival, whether it was true or not (or taken out of context) it became LAW and you couldn't wait to take it out on them on the field.

LOL. I just know there's at least two guys on that Texans defense who savor every little morsel of animosity they can build up against their opponent.

[m5kwatts]

If the Texans had drafted him he would have said he's "glad to get away from everything and go to a new place where he'll only be focused on football."

[Carr Bombed]

Okay, I might be walking out on a limb here......but I'm just going to throw this out there.

How many players from Fresno State really get drafted in the 1st round? I'm going to say not many, infact after checking, it isn't many. He's the 3rd highest drafted Bulldog in school history behind (obviously and painfully) David Carr and Trent Dilfer (#6 ovrl) and he's only the 5th player in school history to be taken in the 1st round (J.D. Williams and Logan Mankins).

Now allums talk to college players all the time..especially ones that come from a school with such a short list of 1st round products...what's to say after Ryan Mathews saw his name slotted next to Houston in just about ever draft that he didn't talk to David Carr? What if David Carr didn't have alot of positive things to say about the team and Kubiak who finally pushed him off the team?

I know there's alot of speculation there, but it's a interesting scenario. I just don't see how a player says..."I was scared I was going to go to Houston". When Houston didn't even get a chance to draft him. If he was happy to be in SD, he should've just said he's happy to go to S.D. and not have said anything about a team that drafted after he was already off the board.

[bah007]

I honestly can't believe how some fans get so upset over things like this.

[OzzO]

I think all of our defensive players need to be slapped in the face about 3 times prior to each game... just to get them fired up.


... just sayin.

[Pocky]

Originally Posted by ChampionTexan

Could have been a number of things - the SD connection being one of them, or he could have even been talking about being scared of dropping all the way down to #20, and that's very well how it could have turned out if SD hadn't traded up for him. (or it could have been that there was some reason he didn't want to play for the Texans).

Whatever the reason, I'm not losing any sleep over it.

Seriously.

Hey, there's a 8th grade football star at a local school in my city that said his favorite team is the Eagles. Let's all garner some black voodoo magic so he can break his leg and never get that slim chance to ever play against the Texans when he grows up!

No wonder people makes fun of us southern folks being 'angry rednecks'. Getting mad over some trivial **** like this. Bravo forum, bravo.