Someone that knows what they are talking about....

i was gonna say David Carr but that'll work.

 

Dude...stick around and you'll soon learn the battle lines

 

teams don't load up on andre as much as people think; he can be (and has been) neutralized with single coverage. tennessee used single coverage on the final, what turned out to be game-tying drive of last year's game in houston, and it wasn't pacman jones manning him up, either.

 

Yeah, I realize this. I've been a bit disappointed in Andre's progression as a receiver since he has been here. Even with a sub-par QB and poor supporting cast, I felt he could have had more of an impact. I think perhaps his "football" speed doesn't exactly jibe with his 40 yard dash speed that everyone was drooling over when we drafted him. Not to say he is bad, but he is probably on the low end of the elite, upper-tier receivers in the NFL.

 

A question only: as I am clueless about what things other than speed and actually catching the ball make a difference for a WR's performance...

Could David Carr's tentativeness be part of the reason teams weren't loading up on Andre? If they know he's not going to be able to deliver the ball to him, why waste another man on him?

 

he led the entire national football league in receptions last year and has gone to the pro bowl two of the past three years. all with david carr as his QB.

so, in a word: no.

i rarely see johnson get separation; he does next to nothing after the catch; and for an supposed elite receiver, he sure seems to drop a lot of balls and/or fails to make enough great catches. sure, other factors have impacted his performance - carr, the supporting cast, the coaches. but he hasn't progressed much as a WR, either, imo. i hope this is the year he breaks out.

 

There's a lot of things you can pick the past Texans teams for, this is not one of them. Didn't he lead the league in yards receiving last year? I might give it to you that he does drop more than he should, but other than that this post is pretty ridiculous.

While he is fast, he doesn't have quite enough speed to outrun DB's ... but he makes up for this with his ability to go up and get the ball.

As far as YAC yards, the only routes he ever really ran that gave him an opportunity were those screen plays (that we overused), and I remember him turning quite a few of those into 8 or 10 yard plays when they should've been nothing. Then teams started to catch on after we ran it about 5 times a game and recognized it sooner.

There isn't much "progressing" he can do, especially after leading the league in yards. He's a top 5 receiver in the league if you ask me. He could probably work on his route-running, but that's about it.

 

Questions about this, and please do remember I have no opinion here, just asking.

1) Was it "easier" to lead the league in receptions with all those dump-offs and with Carr not reading the defense pretty much ever?
2) Did he never get separation or did he get separation, then have to wait for the ball to arrive? This from his own commentary on how Schaub's ball is there with much better timing.
3) Is it more difficult to do things after the catch when the ball arrives late?

I'm not trying to turn this into another piss-all-over-David-Carr session; I'm just wondering what the impact was, especially when he's already commented himself how much better the ball is being delivered to him (or did I misunderstand his comments?). I also have no beef with some of your other commentary; I hope AJ breaks out this year and does better on some of those fronts as well. He's great, but he could be greater.

 

The next good downfield route I see run from Andre Johnson will be the first. For someone who is as good as he is at getting separation, I've never seen a receiver so poor at reading the ball in the air. It could be that Carr hurt his confidence, but I have thrown stuff at the television version of AJ when Carr unleashed one of his rare downfield bombs and AJ would pull up only to have the ball hit the field 5 yards in front of him. He's a good guy in traffic, but he has yet to prove to me that he can be a playmaker.

 

I totally disagree, I remember several catches on deep balls off adjustment, one this year for a touchdown at home, sorry can't remember opponent. one agains the jets this year on two defenders and one in chicago. that's just what I remember.

 

Seems strange Andre Johnson wouldnt have much YAC yards considering he's a big strong guy and fast to go with it. I thought one of the decently effective plays from 2 years ago and back to generate offense was tossing it to Andre on a quick hitch route and him running downfield breaking tackles for more yards He really must have not progressed then.