The Brian Flores case against the NFL and several teams (Dolphins, Texans, Giants, and Broncos) has recently focused on a document produced by Korn Ferry, in connection with a coaching search the company performed for the Ravens.
Korn Ferry and the NFL want the document to remain under seal and, as a result, not available to the public. Flores has challenged the designation.
In most federal civil cases, the presiding judge delegates disputes that arise during the discovery process to a magistrate judge. In this case, the magistrate judge has issued a ruling.
The ruling, as reported by Daniel Kaplan, is also under seal. For now.
The apparent reason for the decision is to give the party that lost the issue a chance to appeal to the presiding judge. And the fact that the decision is sealed doesn’t necessarily mean Korn Ferry lost. In order to issue the preliminary ruling, the magistrate judge likely had to quote from or otherwise describe key aspects of the currently secret document.
If the case goes to trial, the document undoubtedly will be presented and discussed in open court. But that’s a long way away. Securing the publication of the document sooner rather than later could create a bad P.R. look for the league, which could not only spark meaningful settlement talks but also prompt the media, the fans, and those with oversight of the league to sit up and take notice of the manner in which the sausage gets made.
For now, the question is whether the losing party on the issue of the sealed document will appeal within the 14-day time period for doing so. And whoever files the appeal necessarily will have been the losing party.
Texans Clips
The Texans had three changes to Thursday’s practice report.
Offensive tackle Trent Brown (knee/wrist) returned to practice on a limited basis after sitting out Wednesday’s work. But safety M.J. Stewart went the other way, not practicing Thursday with his knee injury after limited work Wednesday.
Defensive end Logan Hall (knee) returned to full participation.
Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (knee), wide receiver Nico Collins (hamstring), linebacker Jake Hummel (groin) and offensive guard Ed Ingram (groin) did not practice again.
Collins injured his hamstring in practice last week and missed the Week 2 loss to the Bengals, and he likely will miss another game.
Safety Reed Blankenship (thumb) remained a full participant.
It’s looking like the Texans are going to be without wide receiver Nico Collins again this weekend.
Reporters at the open portion of the team’s practice on Thursday shared that Collins was not among the player participating in the workout. Collins missed Week 2 with a hamstring injury and he was also absent from practice on Wednesday. That makes five straight missed practices for the wideout.
Given the nature of hamstring injuries, a return to face the Colts this Sunday feels like a long shot but the Texans will not release any official injury designations until Friday afternoon.
Kayshon Boutte, Jaylin Noel, Xavier Hutchinson, and Jared Wayne are the other receivers on the 53-man roster in Houston.
Still looking for their first win of the season, the Texans will face the division-rival Colts in Indianapolis this weekend.
Defensively, they may have gotten a leg up on their preparation from last week’s opponent.
That’s at least the implication from defensive end Will Anderson, who discussed facing Daniel Jones a week after facing Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow in his Wednesday press conference.
“He’s tough. He’s really tough,” Anderson said of Jones, via transcript from the team. “He kind of reminds me of Joe Burrow in a sense. If you disrespect the pocket, he’ll take off on you. He wants to stand in the pocket, and he wants to show that he’s a quarterback. I think he’s been doing a really good job of that.
“We have a ton of respect for him. It’s going to be a great challenge for us. Him and Joe Burrow really remind me a lot of each other. It’s going to be good for us.”
While Houston lost to Cincinnati 20-6, the Texans held Burrow to 20-of-31 passing for 207 yards with two touchdowns. The defense also sacked Burrow five times.
The Texans were without six players in Wednesday’s practice, five of them rehabbing injuries.
Offensive tackle Trent Brown (knee/wrist), defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (knee), wide receiver Nico Collins (hamstring), linebacker Jake Hummel (groin), offensive guard Ed Ingram (groin) and tight end Dalton Schultz (rest) did not practice.
Collins injured his hamstring in practice last week and missed the Week 2 loss to the Bengals.
Defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (rest), defensive end Logan Hall (knee) and safety M.J. Stewart (knee) were limited.
Safety Reed Blankenship (thumb) and linebacker Wade Woodaz (thumb) were full participants.
The Colts will not have receiver Alec Pierce for at least the next four games.
Via multiple reporters, head coach Shane Steichen told reporters in his Wednesday press conference that Pierce is being placed on injured reserve after aggravating the heel he had surgically repaired during the offseason in Sunday night’s loss to the Chiefs.
For now, Pierce will try to rehab the injury without undergoing another procedure. But there is no current timeline for his return.
Steichen added that Pierce hit his benchmarks for recovery and the team’s medical staff had cleared him to play.
“We never would have put him on the field if we didn’t feel good about it and he didn’t feel good about it,” Steichen said, via Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star.
Pierce, who signed a four-year, $114 million deal with the Colts in March, caught four passes for 61 yards in the season opener before catching an 11-yard pass on Sunday night before departing the game.
Pierce registered his first 1,000-yard season last year. He led the league in yards per reception in both 2024 and 2025.
On Sunday, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow took five sacks and 10 total hits against the Texans.
One of them had chiropractic powers.
Microphones caught Burrow after the game thanking defensive end Will Anderson Jr. for popping Burrow’s rib back into place. It was regarded by most as an exaggeration.
A new clip posted on Twitter by the NFL has Burrow telling receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins during the game on the sideline that, indeed, a hit popped his rib back in place.
“Then afterward it felt better,” Burrow said.
Burrow had been listed on the injury report all week with a back injury, and the Bengals elevated veteran quarterback Josh Johnson from the practice squad for Sunday’s game. Burrow told Jay Glazer of Fox Sports that the situation was being “blown out of proportion.”
Apparently, the truth was that a rib had been knocked out of its location.
It remains to be seen whether he has any conditions for which Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt can treat him on Sunday, when the Bengals visit the Steelers.
At this point, it’s still unclear how much time Alec Pierce will miss after departing last night’s loss to the Chiefs.
Pierce hopped off the field after aggravating the heel he had surgically repaired during the offseason.
Via James Boyd of TheAthletic.com, head coach Shane Steichen said in his Monday news conference that the team is “still gathering information” on Pierce. Steichen added he doesn’t know if Pierce will be able to play Week 3 against the Texans. Steichen did not have any additional information.
But Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that Pierce is seeking a second opinion on his heel.
Pierce was on the field for just 17 snaps before he had to exit Sunday’s game. He caught one pass for 11 yards.
So far in 2026, Pierce has registered five receptions for 72 yards.
No team wants to start a season 0-2, but the Texans would seem to be the likeliest team in the league to shrug off a sluggish start to the year.
DeMeco Ryans became the team’s head coach in 2023 and they went from 0-2 to the playoffs. An 0-3 start last year didn’t stop them from doing the same thing and the Texans went on to win Wild Card games in each of those seasons, so one might think that would be a talking point in Houston in the wake of Sunday’s 20-6 loss to the Bengals.
After Sunday’s game, Ryans was asked if there’s anything to take away from past seasons and he did not find any bright side.
“Nothing. We got to go to work,” Ryans said at a press conference. “We got to go play good football. That’s bottom line. It’s nothing to look back on of what happened in the past. This team right now, [the] 2026 Texans have to dig deep, look down — all of us, look down, look deep within ourselves and see how we can find a way to play better football.”
While the Texans might not take solace from history, the present is also kind to them. The Titans and Colts are also 0-2 while the Jaguars are 1-1, so it doesn’t look like the division is going to be running away from them. A trip to Indianapolis is on tap in Week 3 and a win there would make for a much brighter outlook in Houston.
The Bengals defense is not the same defense as last season.
The Texans were 0-for-4 in the red zone, with their only points coming on two field goals, and the Bengals won 20-6.
Cincinnati ran its record to 2-0 in 2026, only the third time in its history that it has started 2-0. Houston lost its first two games for a second consecutive season. The Texans rallied from an 0-3 start last season to make the playoffs.
The Bengals sacked C.J. Stroud four times, with Cedric Johnson getting two and Jonathan Allen and Shemar Stewart each getting one. The Texans were 5-of-17 on third down and 0-for-4 on fourth down, and they gained only 60 yards on 18 carries as prize offseason acquisition David Montgomery ran for 10 yards on six carries.
Stroud led the Texans in rushing 29 yards on three carries.
Stroud threw a career-high 55 passes, completing 30 for 353 yards without his three top receivers. Nico Collins was inactive; Jayden Higgins is on season-ending injured reserve; and Tank Dell is still working his way back from his 2024 leg injury.
The Bengals had only 267 yards and punted eight times, and Joe Burrow was sacked five times. But Burrow, who was limited in two practices last week with a back injury, threw touchdown passes of 32 and 18 yards to Ja’Marr Chase. Chase, who had only two catches for 12 yards in the season opener, caught seven passes for 75 yards. Tee Higgins made five receptions for 95 yards.
Chase Brown ran 20 times for 80 yards.
