During a press conference announcing a contract extension for Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, team owner Bob McNair said the Texans need to bolster their depth at running back before next season. Kubiak agrees -- Houston ranked 30th in rushing last season (92 yards per game), ahead of only Indianapolis and San Diego. Both those teams won their divisions, but Kubiak added the Texans need a stronger running game to complement their high-powered passing attack. "We can go out there and throw it with anybody in the business. I don't think that's what's best for our team in the long run," Kubiak said. "We've got to be more dominant late in games. Some games we lost, it was because we couldn't hang onto the football late in those games. It's very important in the development of our team, taking the next step. It wasn't good enough last year." Source: CBS Sports
This was a no-brainer!! Slaton is good but he's just not big enough to carry the load as a "feature back." They need a bigger back to wear down o-lines to the point where Slaton can be effective as the speedster.
Bring in LT for a year and let him teach Stevie how to be effective with a little body. Last time I checked Lt was pretty good as a little guy.
5'10" 220 is not a "little guy" as a RB, and the only thing small about Slaton is his height. That sounds weird, but you know what I mean. They list him at 5'9" but I think they are being pretty generous there. Slaton's biggest problem is his ball control, not his size. You could see it, especially late in his season, that although his ball control improved, it made him more tentative and cautious as a runner which obviously made him less effective. He was beasty in 2008 when he was more reckless, but it seemed like those crucial fumbles at the end of the season and the medias blasting him for it made him VERY self-conscious about it to where he was probably over-compensating in '09. He's a young guy with a lot of talent and hopefully he can get beyond this problem ala Tiki Barber.
