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Slaton Declares Himself 100%

Hopefully, with his improved health and better O line play the Texans will be in good shape at RB.
 
Good to hear Slaton is doing well, hoping he bounces back this year big time. Slaton + Tate will be one of the/if not the best RB duos if Slaton produces like he did his rookie year.

Just hope he has a off day against the Raiders :shades:.
 
eriadoc said:
That's good. The last time he was healthy, he lost 7 fumbles.
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Most seem to think that his injury contributed to his fumbles. I was glad to hear that he's back down to his fighting weight, also. Maybe he will be a little quicker to hit the hole and with Tate there to wear down DL's, this could be a good year for the Texans RB corps. I'm excited to see how Jerimiaj\h Johnson does in TC. He could be a beast.
 
One has to wonder about minor to serious but unknown injuries that effect the play of every guy on the field. Every season is a war of attrition to go along with the plays and scores.
 
A healthy Slaton is a big thing. With Tate, Slaton, Foster and whoever else makes it, that's a pretty good lineup.
 
Thorn said:
A healthy Slaton is a big thing. With Tate, Slaton, Foster and whoever else makes it, that's a pretty good lineup.
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I would be happy with that. At the beginning of the season, I would like to see a heavy Foster/Slaton rotation. Give Slaton a chance to prove he can hold the ball, Give Foster an opportunity to show he isn't a fluke, and give Ben an opportunity to adjust to the speed of the game.

As the season goes on, whoever has consistently made the most of his opportunities gets the most carries.
 
Decent report and then he throws in a stupid last line about Slaton needing to improve in pass protection to win the starting job. Hey dipshit, he did well enough that he had the starting job and the competition is a rookie and a guy who was on the bench for most of the season because of poor pass protection. Sheesh.
 
Promising news. The biggest thing for me will be to see how well he holds on to the ball this season, if he drastically improves then maybe there was something to the injury's contribution. The other thing will be to see if being back at his old weight will give him the burst that so many folks on here complained was lacking last season. If he can regain his form and confidence from his rookie campaign then Slate & Tate is gonna be a lot of fun to watch.
 
infantrycak said:
Decent report and then he throws in a stupid last line about Slaton needing to improve in pass protection to win the starting job. Hey dipshit, he did well enough that he had the starting job and the competition is a rookie and a guy who was on the bench for most of the season because of poor pass protection. Sheesh.
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I know that's right dude.
 
Glad to hear he's healthy. Now we don't have to worry about the damaged neck nerve costing the fumble-itis anymore. And he shed 15lbs, going back to his 2008 playing weight!

Looking forward to seeing Speedy Slate and Thunder Tate being great in 2010.
 
Nawzer said:
I really do hope he is. We're going to need all the help we can get.
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Yeah , I just cant see the defense being as good the first four games as it was to close out last season .... they will have to put up a lotta points in those early games.
 
I don't know how, due to human nature, someone could be the same kind of player after an injury like that - especially at a position where you're getting pounded in the head repeatedly, and lowering your head and taking punishment. How could Slaton not be a little bit timid out there? It just seems unrealistic to expect that he will be.

I mean - I don't want the guy to suffer an even greater injury, as much as I want to see him succeed as a Texan. I'm really going to cringe the first time he gets his face mask tugged on. Ugh.
 
well lets hope hes rdy to take on some stout D this year

NO buffalo or St louis rams on the sechudle this year,,,,,,
 
Norg said:
well lets hope hes rdy to take on some stout D this year

NO buffalo or St louis rams on the sechudle this year,,,,,,
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Are you sure about that? I mean we will be playing Oakland, and Kansas City who were just as bad against the run.
 
Hopefully he'll change his last name to Williams, just in case :)


But seriously, I really, really hope its true. A health Slaton + Tate would be awesome
 
The third-year running back has dropped 15 pounds off his playing weight from 2009, when he looked sluggish at the beginning of the year. Slaton plans to play closer to 200 pounds, where he was as a rookie.
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PFT has updated their story... or ran a new one. I like the fact Slaton has lost some weight. After his rookie season, a lot of us (myself included) wanted him to gain some weight if he was going to have to carry the load. The thought being he would be a little more durable. But I think that really hindered him and am glad to see he's getting back to his "natural optimal playing weight". I think he had lost some of his quickness/speed and now with getting back to 200lbs, he really should be the lightning to Tate's thunder. Although Tate is not slow by any means of the imagination. I really like this combo if both stay healthy and with Foster in the 3rd RB spot.
 
Like Diehard hinted at, I'd like to see him take on (or deliver) a few slobber-knockers before declaring him 100%.
 
I have doubts. It just is what it is.

It's good to hear that he declares himself 100%. Because we need to see if Slaton at 100% is going to handle the burden of running the ball for this team.

If he's going to declare he's 100%, he leaves himself no wiggle room if he struggles early on.
 
Ben Tate was one of only two RBs I wanted from this draft. So I don't really care to see if Slaton can carry any load. I just want to see if he can carry the ball after catching a screen pass or slant from the slot. I'm on the Tate Freight Train. That's who will carry the load this year.
 
eriadoc said:
Ben Tate was one of only two RBs I wanted from this draft. So I don't really care to see if Slaton can carry any load. I just want to see if he can carry the ball after catching a screen pass or slant from the slot. I'm on the Tate Freight Train. That's who will carry the load this year.
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I hate to be a person who jumps on a bandwagon, but I share the same feeling.

I didn't analyze and research the college running backs, so I am basing my opinion on the fact that Smithiak used a 2nd round pick on Ben Tate. I know that Slaton was a 3rd rounder, but it almost felt like he was sort of leftovers at that pick. We needed an OL, and used the extra 3rd rounder on Slaton. I think the true value pick, for us, was at OL (Duane Brown) and the 3rd rounder (Slaton) was a bit of a project--Remember that he had a down season in college, among other things that made his NFL stock drop. I wouldn't call it a pure gamble, but very close to it.

With this year's 2nd rounder, we allowed the Vikes to move up and grab the white guy because the braintrust felt comfy with Tate. It felt like this year we really focused on the two biggest holes: CB and RB. I still do not fully "buy" that we were gunning for Ryan Mathews. I think he was in the mix, but was not a true option that Smithiak felt would be available for us.

It felt like we were making a more educated, less risky pick with Tate. In the footage I have seen, he turns up-field very quickly when finding the running lane. There's no hesitation, and you can see that he has the smarts to let the play develop and trusts that a gap will open at some point. He commits.
 
When a player suffers a knee injury there is a time period to work through for him to know how it will hold up. I feel certain an injury like Slaton will have an even bigger emotional block to get past. While I am hopeful he will return to rookie form, I do not want to see him coming out on a stretcher either.
 
eriadoc said:
Ben Tate was one of only two RBs I wanted from this draft. So I don't really care to see if Slaton can carry any load. I just want to see if he can carry the ball after catching a screen pass or slant from the slot. I'm on the Tate Freight Train. That's who will carry the load this year.
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I agree.

I want to see Tate carry the ball the majority of the time. I think he can be a consistent 1,000 yard receiver for us. For Slaton, I see him coming in on screen plays or sweeps. It'll be interesting to see what lineups this team will do with both Tate and Slate in the backfield.
 
I want to know if that pin in his neck has declared itself 100%

images
 
I would hope that we start running some of the two back sets that Denver used to run with Davis and Griffin(th?) back in the day.
 
Does anyone know when exactly he hurt his neck? I can certainly understand how a pinched nerve corralates with his fumble problems..However i beleive his lack of overall performance ws due to his extra weight he put on in his second season (10-15 lbs). When watching him plant and cut he just seemed a hair slower in getting thru the hole IMO. If he gets back down to 200-205 range i think he'll be fine.
 
When pitts was on sirius, he said slaton was playing with that nerve problem early on. He also said anytime he was hit, his arm would go numb. They say he toughedit out until it got too much to handle.
 
GP said:
I hate to be a person who jumps on a bandwagon, but I share the same feeling.

I didn't analyze and research the college running backs, so I am basing my opinion on the fact that Smithiak used a 2nd round pick on Ben Tate. I know that Slaton was a 3rd rounder, but it almost felt like he was sort of leftovers at that pick. We needed an OL, and used the extra 3rd rounder on Slaton. I think the true value pick, for us, was at OL (Duane Brown) and the 3rd rounder (Slaton) was a bit of a project--Remember that he had a down season in college, among other things that made his NFL stock drop. I wouldn't call it a pure gamble, but very close to it.

With this year's 2nd rounder, we allowed the Vikes to move up and grab the white guy because the braintrust felt comfy with Tate. It felt like this year we really focused on the two biggest holes: CB and RB. I still do not fully "buy" that we were gunning for Ryan Mathews. I think he was in the mix, but was not a true option that Smithiak felt would be available for us.

It felt like we were making a more educated, less risky pick with Tate. In the footage I have seen, he turns up-field very quickly when finding the running lane. There's no hesitation, and you can see that he has the smarts to let the play develop and trusts that a gap will open at some point. He commits.
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Tate is a feature back while Slaton is who we thought he was, a situational third down back. He (Steve) needs to be 100% because Holliday will be nippin @ his heels anyway, just like to see him regain his confidence/form he displayed rookie season.

The Texans like Tate not just because he's their type of ZBS downhill runner with mixture of power & speed, its his blocking that sealed the deal. remember we asked ourselves why Chris Brown was playing ahead of Moats & others during season? well it was because of his ability to block & keep Schaub clean. Tate can fill that role immediately, as a matter of fact he is actually an upgrade used in this capacity as well, not to mention a more dangerous outlet.

However most had Tate graded out in the 3rd to 4th rounds, just check out LZ blogs for confirmation. I always thought of him as a solid to premium 3rd rd. slotted RB which posed a problem for the Texans where they picked (too late in 3rd & too early to take him in 2nd). I predicted they would trade up in the 3rd to get him but actually traded down in 2nd, either method is effective I'm just glad they made the move this year to address the RB need.
 
badboy said:
When a player suffers a knee injury there is a time period to work through for him to know how it will hold up. I feel certain an injury like Slaton will have an even bigger emotional block to get past. While I am hopeful he will return to rookie form, I do not want to see him coming out on a stretcher either.
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That is normally the case on a blown knee. That is most likely because they felt great pain when the knee gave out, they also know the knee gave out doing something they do dozens of times every quarter.

I don't know that Slaton felt any pain... a little numbness if I recall. Now that his issue is "fixed" he may be feeling like a rookie again, and we won't see him have to get "acclimated" again like you would a blown knee.
 
RipTraxx said:
Does anyone know when exactly he hurt his neck? I can certainly understand how a pinched nerve corralates with his fumble problems..However i beleive his lack of overall performance ws due to his extra weight he put on in his second season (10-15 lbs). When watching him plant and cut he just seemed a hair slower in getting thru the hole IMO. If he gets back down to 200-205 range i think he'll be fine.
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According the what Slaton says in the article he has lost that extra weight and is back within the range you mention.
 
beerlover said:
Tate is a feature back while Slaton is who we thought he was, a situational third down back. He (Steve) needs to be 100% because Holliday will be nippin @ his heels anyway, just like to see him regain his confidence/form he displayed rookie season.
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I seriously doubt Holliday is going to be nipping at anybody's heels this season.....he's just a return specialist.
 
thunderkyss said:
That is normally the case on a blown knee. That is most likely because they felt great pain when the knee gave out, they also know the knee gave out doing something they do dozens of times every quarter.

I don't know that Slaton felt any pain... a little numbness if I recall. Now that his issue is "fixed" he may be feeling like a rookie again, and we won't see him have to get "acclimated" again like you would a blown knee.
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You don't think he will have any concerns that a blow to his head/neck will impact his cervical vertebrae? Man, I do. As others with much more medical credentials have stated, this is nothing to be down played. Hope you are correct.
 
I thought and posted a lot last season that maybe SS was reverting to the player we thought we drafted and that maybe 08 was a special year for him. I'm mostly excited that we drafted Tate ( the video on him looks great) and that with a healthy SS we could have a great 1-2 punch with a rope-a-dope off the bench with Foster or Jeremiah Johnson. As dedicated as Kubes is to the run, I can see 3-4 backs getting isignificant carries.
 
Kubiak stated in the OTA video (at HT.com), that if they were hitting today, Slaton would have not been practicing. I guess we have a few more weeks/months until Slaton is actually "100%" and ready to go.
 
badboy said:
When a player suffers a knee injury there is a time period to work through for him to know how it will hold up. I feel certain an injury like Slaton will have an even bigger emotional block to get past. While I am hopeful he will return to rookie form, I do not want to see him coming out on a stretcher either.
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There is one thing that is different though. With a knee injury you have a definite point in time that it happened. It seems like when it happened to slaton there wasn't really any immediate indication. Not saying he won't have a mental block but he doesn't have that moment in time to look back on and shudder. It just kind of happened it seems.

Mike
 
Well, going by Slaton's Tweets it appears he was cleared to DO WORK.

Wish me luck headed to Dallas for my checkup, fingers crossed haha
8:32 AM Jun 28th via Twitterrific
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Thank you lord for watching over me and helping me heal fast and correctly
about 22 hours ago via Seesmic .
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Thanks everyone for your thoughts but ............. I'm back
about 22 hours ago via Seesmic
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http://twitter.com/Steve20Slaton
 
This is always good news. Man if Slaton can get back to his rookie form, we will be absolutely a beast on offense.
 
Slaton rushed for 1,700 yards in my second year on franchise in Madden 10. It's destiny i guess. But we also went 16-0 and won the super bowl so maybe...just maybe. :fans:
 
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