If you are a sports fan, you have felt that feeling. It is the hot burning sensation you feel from the pit of your gut to the top of your throat when your horse, your stud, your guy who will carry your team all the way goes down clutching his knee in the middle of a big play.
All of those thoughts went through the Houston Texans Sunday when Andre Johnson fell untouched after catching Matt Schaub’s second quarter pass for a first down. It was Schaub’s second consecutive Steeler-beater pass to Johnson who gained 10 yards on the previous play.
As Texans players and fans watched in shock as Johnson writhed on the ground, they could not escape thought of the three-letter specter: A-C-L.
Johnson went through a MRI this morning. However, the Texans have yet to make an official statement of his condition. Numerous media outlets, citing sources on the team, report Johnson’s injury to be a strained hamstring and not the knee injury that might have ended his season. Johnson’s hamstring might be another casualty of the lockout’s effect on off-season conditioning. The team can cling to hope for Johnson’s return this season.
What now for the 3-1 Texans who are tied with the improbable Tennessee Titans atop the AFC South? Quarterback Matt Schaub said in a post-game interview that the Texans have the players who can step in Johnson’s absence. The Texans are likely to change their personality in Johnson’s absence from a pass first team to a rushing team.
Arian Foster gained 155 yards on 30 attempts in the Steelers game. He reignited the Texans offense with his 42 yard, third quarter touchdown run. Foster’s touchdown followed head coach Gary Kubiak’s kick-in-the-butt address to the offense to shake them out of shock.
Foster was the workhorse back in 2010 with 327 rushing attempts for 1,616 yards. Kubiak turned to 2010 second-round NFL Draft pick Ben Tate as the lead back this season and felt secure enough in the Tate-Foster tandem that the team released RB Steve Slaton. Tate is the Texans’ leading rusher with 321 yards and a score.
Lost in the noise of Johnson’s injury was Tate’s groin-pull suffered on his second carry. He left the game with 20 rushing yards and did not return. Tate did not believe the groin pull to be serious.
Owen Daniels was Houston’s top receiver in the game with five receptions for 69 yards and a score. He is the Texans’ second-leading receiver after Johnson. Schaub cited wide receiver-punt returner Jacobi Jones as a player capable of stepping up in Johnson’s absence. Jones has 91 yards on seven receptions for the season.
Kubiak would like the defense to pick up the pace. Houston has the tenth-ranked defense after four games. The experiment to shift Mario Williams to outside linebacker in Houston’s conversion to the 3-4 defense appears to be working. The Texans matched the Steelers’ physical play. LB Brian Cushing is the team’s leading tackler.
Whether the Texans can stand up over the next game or two without Johnson is the question of their season. That answer may come as soon as next week when Houston travels to Tennessee to face the Titans for the division lead.
