i like andre johnson; i really do. sincerely. great, great football player. but.... he's averaged 5.5 TDs/year in his career. he's never hit double-digits. ever. not once. it's even more egregious when you consider he's thrown to as much as, if not more than, any other WR in the league. and to not have broken 10 is just... it can't be ignored. schaub rates ahead of him by virtue of position; this team is built around an effective QB. i'd rate mario williams ahead of him, too. not that it's an apples-to-apples comparison - nor is it a definitive statement - but williams has 30 career sacks to johnson's 33 career TDs - in three fewer seasons. again, i just can't ignore that. as much as i think the offense would suffer without johnson, i think the defense would absolutely collapse without williams. i could probably even be talked into slaton being more valuable than johnson - but that gets into the yin-and-yang of why it's silly to assign impact to individual football players.
But let's remember that he's had the likes of David Carr and Sage Rosenfels throwing to him. In 2007-08, he had 8 tds in 9 games. So he was certainly on pace there. To me, Slaton would be more easily replaced. How high do you think the Texans offense would be ranked without AJ? Certainly not 3rd.
I'll go with Andre Johnson as the MVP of Houston sports right now. If we are talking about who has been over the last decade, I choose Berkman/Oswalt. However, right now, Andre is arguably a top 2 or, at the least, a top 3 WR in the NFL. I think OD and KW owe a lot of their success to Andre. I also think AJ's play last season contributed plenty to the success of the running game. Sure, he doesnt have the TD numbers, but thats like discrediting a pitcher for not getting wins. You have to look at the whole package and no receiver in the NFL moved the chains last season like Johnson did. 2007 season: 6-3 with AJ in the lineup...2-5 without him. 2008 season: In games where AJ caught for 75 yards or more, 7-2 (one of the losses was with Rosencopter doing his thing). We had a record of 1-6 when he had less than that. If these stats dont tell you that we need him in the lineup and we need to get him the ball to be successful, then I dont know what will. He is clearly the MVP of Houston sports right now. Without him and his production, the Texans have no playoff hopes.
How in the hell is Yao Ming leading this poll? The team made the playoffs twice with him missing significant portions of the season.
I dont either, but Schaub is not the current MVP of the city...if he stays on the field and puts up sick numbers, then I would make vote for him. He still has a lot to prove, AJ on the other hand, does not.
tony gonzalez had more TDs last year - who was his QB? so, too, did lance moore, whoever that is. calvin johnson had 4 more with the texans' likely #2 qb this year throwing to him. hell, kevin walter had as many TDs as andre. of course it's not all his fault. and yes, he was setting a blistering pace in 2007. still, he caught 213 passes in '06 and '08 but just 13 TDs - that's... well, terrible. he career YPC average is 13.1. that's marvin harrison territory (13.2). consider these contemporaries: moss (15.7); owens (14.8); holt and ocho (14.6); s. smith (14.4); wayne (14.1); fitzgerald (14.0). i think he's a great possession receiver; i'm not convinced he's a gamebreaker; at least, not a consistent one. and thus, i think that's easier to replace, statistically. obviously, he draws attention and forces the defense, etc. - he not NOT invaluable. but with daniels' and walter's emergence, if slaton is the real deal, if schaub is healthy - i think they'd absorb his loss easier than fans think.
not really. it's not entirely his fault - but it can't be discounted. if you're able to get separation, break tackles, outrun the defense... you have more control over scoring TDs than a pitcher does over wins. they're certainly not a *better* team - but i wouldn't discount their chances entirely, either.
Ric, I think you are too hung up on the TD issue...yes, more TDs is a good thing, but that is also just one of many things that you would use to assess the impact of a WR. As a whole, the Texans are incredibly inefficient in the red zone. Poor play calling, multiple mistakes, etc...that just leads to very few opportunities for AJ. Steve Smith is one of the biggest studs at WR...21 TDs over the last 3 seasons. AJ has the same number, but in 2 fewer games. Steve Smith also had 18.3 yards per catch last season (a stat that you find incredibly important), but that obviously didnt translate to many points given his 6 TDs last year. Then you have a guy like Lance Moore, who gets his TDs, not because he is a game changer, but because he is in an incredibly efficient offense that produces when it gets into the red zone. This situation is more of a "right time, right place". So yes, TDs are important...as is YPC, but you have to look at the individual player and how much they are asked to do within their offense. AJ might not have a high YPC, but that is also because there are many times in a game where we just need 5 yards to get that 1st down. You want long receptions? How about the fact that Andre Johnson caught 20 balls last year for 20+ yards? Tied with Larry Fitz. Who were the leaders? Steve Smith - 23 Greg Jennings - 21 Calvin Johnson - 21 As you can see, AJ might not have the ypc average that you would like, but he stretches the field as much as any player in the league. He does it ALL. Not only did we air it out to him as much as we did, but he also led the NFL with receptions for 1st downs (79). Second place? 67 catches. Not even close. How you could not consider AJ a game changer is beyond me. Yes, he is a great possession receiver...but he is also much more than that.
We have never, in the history of the Texans, proven we can win consistently without AJ in the lineup or without AJ putting up 75+ yards per game. I showed statistics on this already. Yes, I do believe we are a better team this year, but again, we havent shown any flashes of greatness without AJ, ever...and Im hard pressed to believe that we could be competitive next season without AJ in the lineup.
You can always find statistical anomalies. Great, Gonzalez had 10 tds last year, but the 4 years before that he had 7, 2, 5, and 5. His QB was Tyler Thigpen, who had a better year than David Carr or Sag Rosenfels ever had. Anquan Boldin and Steve Smith (like rezdawg ponited out) are considered top WRs, but their TD numbers are not better. Steve Smith is definitely a gamebreaker despite the TD numbers, no? Interestingly enough, Steve Smith had problems with Carr as QB and didn't get many long receptions when Carr was QB. I think we'll see AJ break 10 tds as long as Schaub stays healthy.
I think at this point we can safely assume "other" votes are all for AJ. Again, sorry for the oversight. Maybe a mod can change the poll or something.
The Rockets had missed the playoffs three years running before Yao was drafted and since then we have made the playoffs every year that he played most of the season except for his rookie year. If you don't think he was the reason for that improvement go back and look at some of the rosters for some of those teams that made the playoffs. On top of that he was the biggest reason we beat Portland this year since their adjustments to double him allowed other players to go off offensively.
Picking from a mediocre sports era in Houston, I picked Mario Williams as well. He's been consistently dominant sans his rookie year. He's been healthy: a huge plus in Houston sports. He doesn't just rack up the pretty sacks stat, he's great against the run. There isn't a whole lot more you can ask a dominant DL to do.
Mario Williams. Since the Texans moved to the 4-3, he's the only one getting any pressure on QB. As porous as the run defense has been, it has not been bad to his side. Just imagine out secondary trying to cover for 10 seconds
I would say Roy is the MVP. He led his team to the WS in one of the most clutch performances in MLB history. After a defeat like the one the Astros were coming off, to go into hostile territory and dominate the opposition was simply amazing. He continues to be one of the best pitchers in baseball, playing in one of the worst pitcher's park in baseball. Why the hell are Yao Ming and Matt Schaub on the list? Those guys are always injured. Too injury prone to be considered an MVP of anything. They have no playoff success and always crumble under pressure. If you're going to throw these guys into the discussion, then its an insult that you dont have Andre Johnson, Mario Williams, and T-Mac on the list. Yao Ming being in the lead, is a joke and an embarrassment. How any one can consider him the MVP of Houston is beyond me.
