Evening Wrap-Up: 8/16, Battle Black Monday

- Obviously, the biggest news of the day was that Ben Tate would be placed on injured reserve, ending his season. We still haven't gotten a full breakdown of what he injured, but Gary Kubiak called it a fractured ankle, and noted that there was some "other stuff" wrong too, which to me would probably indicate tendon damage. Tate's absence will probably hurt the Texans most down the stretch, when he could've spelled Arian Foster for eight to ten carries a game even if he somehow hadn't become the feature back at that point. Instead, the Texans will have to rely on Jeremiah Johnson or Chris Henry to eat carries should Steve Slaton not be effective between the tackles.

- Of course, you can't have a Battle Black Monday without other bad news, and the Texans placed another key depth player on IR today when Tim Bulman's shoulder forced their hand. Nobody was going to confuse Bulman for Mario Williams, but he was a solid rusher and was a good high motor reserve for the Texans the last few years. This, combined with Aaron Schobel informing John McClain that he would retire, forced the Texans to sign some veteran depth in James Wyche. 

The silver lining is that with three solid defensive ends on the roster with Williams, Antonio Smith, and Connor Barwin, and running back being arguably the deepest position in camp, the Texans won't be at too much of a disadvantage. It could have been a lot worse.

Other slight bang-ups: Jack Corcoran out for a few days with a shoulder, Andre Davis out for a few days with a bruised tailbone, and Trindon Holliday may have a thumb issue. 

- Plenty of good wrap-ups of the dustup in the desert on Saturday. I recommend Lance Zierlein's detailed eye on the situation, as well as Houston Diehards and Texans Bull Blog's look at the offensive line. And of course, we have to look at Battle Red Blog's checkup on the roster battles.

- The quotesheet is all about Kubiak and his reaction to Tate and Schobel. The bigger news is probably in his presser last Sunday, where he coachspeak complimented Dan Orlovsky, and gave some nods to some of the youngsters that helped keep the lead intact during the second and third quarters. No such compliments for Fred Bennett.

- The Texans will be heading to New Orleans to scrimmage against the Saints for a few days before they go at it on the field on Saturday. As such, there may be even less non-mothership media coverage out there. I may end up combining a few days together. We'll play it by ear.