When Texans #1 receiver Andre Johnson strained his knee in Week 2 against the Panthers, estimates on his return were as long as five weeks. The Houston Chronicle is reporting today that it is likely that Johnson won't be back until the November 18th home game against New Orleans. Uh-oh.
The Texans have a history of providing overly positive assessments to fans of when players will come back. See e.g. Tony Boselli, Domanick Davis/Williams, Charles Spencer. Hopefully, Johnson's situation is not in that league of unhappy results. For an additional information about Johnson's injury, please check out my September discussion.
The Texans have been able to throw the ball in Johnson's absence even without a functioning running game, but his presence is particularly missed in the red zone. If they can't figure out how to improve red zone scoring in Johnson's absence, field goal kicker Kris Brown is going to have a lot more opportunities like he did against the Dolphins.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-13-2007 @ 8:09PM
danny said...
to bad it's not Travis Johnson missing some time. To borrow from what he said several hours after the game: ---- Travis Johnson
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10-13-2007 @ 9:15PM
Matt said...
Yes, danny, it's "to" bad. Just like it's "to" bad that your parents weren't pro-choice.
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10-13-2007 @ 10:02PM
danny said...
amended comment ---- everyone involved with the Texans other than Gary Kubiak
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10-13-2007 @ 10:34PM
Justin said...
"but his presence is particularly missed in the red zone. If they can't figure out how to improve red zone scoring in Johnson's absence,"
This may have happened a year ago but I'm going to bring it back up, they wouldn't be having that problem now if they would've drafted Reggie Bush. All they would have to do is to line him up in the slot on 3rd downs and throw it to him.
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10-13-2007 @ 10:39PM
Stephanie Stradley said...
Justin,
Are you being sarcastic? R. Bush is having problems finding the end zone for N.O.s, so it isn't likely it would have been better for the Texans.
Reggie Bush is a fun runner to watch, but he isn't particularly the sort of north-south, no dancing runner that Kubiak likes for his offense. Kubiak needs a runner that ensures that the team doesn't get into long yardage situations, so the runner can't dance in the backfield.
Not to mention how sad the Texans defense would be without Mario Williams. Williams-Okoye is the #1 defensive sack tandem in the AFC.
Just an alternative view,
Steph
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10-14-2007 @ 10:27AM
Tom said...
Clearly, the 'red zone' requires it's own playbook. With so many people in such a small space the passing becomes more akin to basketball than football, and running outside is harder because the defense is stacked at the line anyway, so it's already stretched towards the sideline. Seems to me the best way to score from 5 to 10 yards away is with a rollout run pass option, and from 5 yards in just line up the 11 biggets guys you have, or something strange like 2 fullbacks and a tailback with occasoinal misdirection to a fullback to keep the defense honest in their responsibilities.
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