Reaction to Schaub injury echoes response to Cassel's injury
Almost a year ago to the day, on Oct. 7, 2012, Kansas City Chiefs fans cheered when the hometown quarterback, Matt Cassel, was injured in a game against the Baltimore Ravens.
That didn't sit well with Chiefs tackle Eric Winston, who launched a diatribe on the fans after the game.
The same scenario played out Sunday in Houston, where Texans fans happily greeted quarterback Matt Schaub going down with a lower-leg injury.
Multiple Texans players expressed their outrage over the crowd's reaction, using words such as "barbaric," "disgusting" and "no class."
Houston linebacker Brian Cushing said, "That is just tactless and tasteless. I was extremely heated at that. They have to go home and look at themselves in the mirror and if they were born to hurt a man, that's fine. They can do what they do.
"The fans can get emotional. That is just not how I was brought up. That is not the kind of man I am. I've got to go home and raise a daughter and teach her right from wrong. That is just not something you do. I don't care how you feel about a man. You don't kick him when he is down."
Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson added, "No class. It's bad when members of the other team are saying, 'That's messed up that they would do something like that.' It just shows no class. It wasn't all of the fans, but those are the same people when you're out somewhere with your family and you tell them they can't have an autograph right now, they are the same people that tell you you're rude. It's no class. It just shows what they're all about.
"You don't cheer about anybody being injured. I don't care who it is. Guys lay their bodies on the line out there on that field. Some guys get injuries, and it affects them their whole lives. For them to cheer about something like that, it just shows they have no class."
Houston guard Wade Smith said, "I don't think I've ever been as disappointed in our fans than at that moment. In one respect, you have diehard, loyal fans that after we come off the field losing 38-13 are cheering us going in to the tunnel. But on the other respect, you have the majority of fans cheering when a guy that's given so much to the city as far as wins and losses (gets hurt). The bottom line is wins and losses. As far as in the community, giving back to the city, as far as representing an organization the way you want a quarterback to do, for them to cheer at that moment it was extremely disappointing."
Tackle Duane Brown echoed Smith's words about the portion of Houston fans who comported themselves correctly, but he said of those who cheered Schaub's injury, "It's disgusting. ... When a man goes down and he is not able to get up, you don't know what is wrong with him at that point. That could be the last play of his career, and for you to applaud at that -- I have no words for that."
All of the comments were eerily similar to those made by Winston last year.
"When somebody gets hurt, there are long lasting ramifications to the game we play," Winston said at the time. "When you cheer, when you cheer somebody getting knocked out, I don't care who it is, and it just so happened to be Matt Cassel -- it's sickening. It's 100 percent sickening. I've been in some rough times on some rough teams, I've never been more embarrassed in my life to play football than in that moment right there.
"Boo him all you want. Boo me all you want. Throw me under the bus. Tell me I'm doing a bad job. Say I gotta protect him more. Do whatever you want. Say whatever you want. But if you are one of those people, one of those people that were out there cheering or even smiled when he got knocked out, I just want to let you know, and I want everybody to know that I think it's sickening and disgusting. We are not gladiators and this is not the Roman Colosseum. This is a game."
