Tag Archives: Houston Texans

NFL

Rhodes, Ray

Card: Topps 1977, Topps 1978
Acquired: TTM 2010, Texans blitz

Apparently when my friend on the Texans approached Ray with his cards to sign he reacted by being quite amused. Ray Rhodes was an amazing athlete and former coach at a variety of pro levels during his tenure in the NFL. Originally a wide receiver drafted in the 10th round by the New York Giants in 1974 he’d switch to cornerback in 1977. He’d continue playing for the Giants through 1978 at which he was traded to the 49ers (for Tony Dungy) and played one season for them before retiring. Ray would stay with the 49ers and become an assistant coach where he served the team through 1991. In 1992 he’d leave the 49ers to join Mike Holmgren in Green Bay where he’d be the defensive coordinator through 1993. Rhodes would return again to the 49ers for an additional season in 1994, before being made head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1995- a position he’d hold through 1998, until he was replaced by Andy Reid. In 1999 he’d be head coach of the Green Bay Packers for one season, before being unceremoniously released. From there stints with the Redskins, Broncos and Seahawks would occur until he was signed to be an assistant defensive backs coach for the Houston Texans in 2008.  Ray would remain with his native Texans through the 2010 season and now serves on the coaching staff of the Seattle Seahawks. Ray is considered a member of the Bill Walsh coaching tree.

 

NFL

Johnson, Andre

Cards: Score 2009 Franchise,Score 2009, Apex 2010
Acquired: TTM 2009,2011, Texans Blitz

With the 3rd pick of the 2003 draft, the Houston Texans select: Charles Rogers, WR ,Michigan State. One shudders when they think that the Houston Texans draft could’ve gone down like this. With Carson Palmer being a slam dunk to the Bengals, the question now was: What would the Lions do? Leading up to the draft, the Lions (who were embarking on a love affair with wide receivers under Matt Millen) and the Texans, held the #2 and #3 overall draft cards respectively. Both teams desperately needed a wide receiver. The Lions fell in love with Rogers, who had drawn comparisons to Randy Moss and made the pick.  The Texans hopped, skipped and jumped to the podium to grab Johnson with the #3 pick. Andre has become one of the most feared and consistent receivers in the NFL since then, while Rogers is no longer in the league and is widely considered a bust.

While narrowly missing 1000 yards his rookie season in 2003, Johnson asserted himself almost immediately as the team’s #1 receiver and a solid blue chip establishing a solid rapport with starting quarterback David Carr. He’d set multiple team records for the young franchise that season. His 2004 was more impressive as he grabbed 79 balls for over 1100 yards and 6 TDs. Andre would be named to his first ProBowl after that season. 2005 would be a disappointment for Johnson as an injury would largely decimate his season and he’d finish with 688 yards, but 2006 he’d return to form shattering all the receiving records for the Texans again with 103 catches and 1147 yards.  Andre in 2007 would miss a good portion of the season again to injury- but he’d quickly return to form and made a career high 8 touchdown grabs working with new quarterback Matt Schaub. (Over the last 4 seasons, since Matt Schaub joined the team, Andre Johnson has averaged nearly 100 yards per game.) 2008  would be bellweather season for Andre, making over 100 grabs again, and over 1500 yards receiving, but his 2009 would be even more amazing duplicating the 1500 yard effort and 100 catches. He’d also snag a career high 9 td grabs.  Johnson would join Jerry Rice as the only players to lead the NFL in back to back seasons in both catches and yards. 2010, would see a nagging ankle injury from week 2 slow him down, causing the prolific receiver to miss 3 games, but still log 86 catches and over 1200 yards receiving.

I always draft the soft-spoken Johnson whenever I can. In 2009, I had both Johnson and Schaub handcuffing each other for additional points, grabbing Andre in the back end of the first round and Schaub in the 5th. As of the time of this post, I am still awaiting a blitz of autographs from the team that include Johnson. The Apex card was part of a set of cards I designed from the Topps website, and I used Photoshop to make Andre look like he was in the Pasadena Riders uniform.

G/Gs 115    Rec 673   Yds  9164  Avg 13.6    Td 50     Lg 77t

NFL

Winston, Eric

Card: Playoff Prestige 2006
Acquired: TTM 2009, Texans Blitz

Eric Winston wsa be drafted by the Houston Texans in the 3rd round of the 2006 draft. A gifted and intelligent blocker, Winston would form a building block of the Houston Texans massively improved pass defense. The Texans offense used to be something where opposing teams defenses licked their chops knowing Houston was on their schedule- however with the addition of players like Eric Winston and others, the team  saw a quick turn around on the offensive line and cut down their sacks immediately. Over the past few years, Winston has come into his own and as of 2010 borderlines on Pro Bowl caliber talent. Unfortunately the underlying stigma still remains that Houston has bad pass protection, despite the team’s offensive improvement over the last 5 years.