Really Delhomme over Garcia C'MON MAN!
And the new Texans 3rd string quarterback is........
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It took a moment for Carol Yates to understand the significance of what was happening. Motherly instincts tend to take over.
From high atop Jacksonville’s EverBank Field, she watched as Texans quarterback Matt Leinart left the field injured in Sunday’s game against the Jaguars. Her first thoughts were concern for the player’s health and, then, how unfair it was for Leinart, finally getting another chance to start a professional football game.
At the same time, she and her husband, John, noticed his replacement, No. 13, trotting onto the field. It was their son, T.J. Yates, about to make his NFL debut.
“We were stunned to the point we couldn’t speak,” Carol said. “I was thinking ‘He’s not ready. He hasn’t even warmed up.’
“It was the most surprising thing in my whole life, one of my top five moments of my life.”
It was the latest leg in Taylor Jonathan Yates’ remarkable journey from Pope High School to the University of North Carolina and on to the NFL. The odyssey continues Sunday when Yates starts for the Texans against his hometown Falcons.
The 24-year-old rookie has been pressed into a starting role after the Texans lost Matt Schaub (foot) and backup Leinart (broken collarbone) to season-ending injuries in back-to-back weeks. A fifth-round draft pick, Yates was inactive for the first 10 games and moved to the No. 2 spot only after Schaub’s injury. With their son in uniform for the first time and with the proximity of Jacksonville, his parents made the trip to Florida for what they thought would be a relaxing weekend.
“I said to my husband, ‘This is so much fun to come to a game and not freak out and just enjoy it,’” Carol said.
Little did they know.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Yates said of being thrust into the limelight. “I try not to think too much about it. I’m trying to stay as focused as possible. I’m trying to keep my head out of all the other stuff. It can do nothing but affect my play on the field.”
Yates was drafted in the fifth round by the Texans with the 152nd overall pick. Coach Gary Kubiak said the team had no plans to draft a quarterback, but couldn’t pass on Yates. He spent most of the NFL lockout in Houston working with Schaub and other players informally. As training camp began and the roster trimmed to the final number, the Yates family hung on the hope the Texans would carry three quarterbacks. They did.
Yates waited behind Schaub and Leinart until finally getting his chance Sunday in the final seconds of the first half.
Yates finished 8-of-15 for 70 yards, throwing only nine passes after halftime, as the Texans won 20-13 to improve to 8-3.
“He’s been forced into a tough role, but that’s what he’s here for,” Kubiak said. “He’s worked extremely hard for his opportunity. ... He’s got a bright future in this league. He can do all the things you ask him to do.”
When Yates got into the game Sunday, it set off a wild reaction back home. When his older brother, David, got phone calls that Yates was in the game, he switched from tracking the game online and raced to eldest brother Evan’s home. When they couldn’t get the game on satellite, they moved on to a restaurant for the final quarter.
“I was freaking out,” David said. “I didn’t expect it to be so exciting.”
John and Carol will make the much longer trip to Houston this week. Perhaps their son can score better tickets this time as a starter. They will want to be lower than five rows from the top of the stadium, as they were in Jacksonville.
“It is a very big opportunity,” Yates said. “It’s hard not to look at it in that way because I never expected to be playing this early in my career, especially under the unfortunate circumstances. Two guys ahead of me going down, you never want to see that happen. You have to take every opportunity you get and run with it.
“I’m trying not to look too much outside the box this week. I’m trying to take it meeting by meeting, practice by practice and game by game — just trying to get better every day.”Comment
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Eric Winston doesn't seem to like the move. They are asking him on the radio and he was dancing around it....esp. when they said the Texans must have seen something out of the 40 something year old Garcia, when he came and tried out.Comment
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