Texans need Johnson production, leadership

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky He's regarded not just as the best player on the team, but as the best player in the franchise's short history.
If the Houston Texans are going anywhere, Andre Johnson will be a big part of taking them there.
Which is why a bad game in Nashville last week was so unsettling.
Johnson had a chance at two touchdown catches at LP Field and failed to haul in either. One went off his hands. On the other, he allowed a defensive back to get in his way when he could have cut him off.
Coach Gary Kubiak admitted the obvious -- that plays like that from Johnson can deflate the entire team.
"We definitely count on him a great deal and when you're struggling and plays aren't going your way and one of your top players misses a play or two, that seeds through your football team," Kubiak said. "But that's also part of this league. It's never going to be easy. It's never going to be smooth. It's hard and you have to build to overcome those things and be tough mentally to work through those things. Those things hurt us in the first half and then in the second half we still had many, many opportunities down there inside the 20 to win the football game and we need some other guys to step up and make those plays. So like I said, it wasn't one guy. It was a group effort."
Johnson was analytical about the plays, and pledged to learn from them.
"The first pass, just from looking at it, I should have run through the ball rather than jumping, trying to reach out for it," he said. "And the second pass, I think I should have just stopped and gone up for the ball. Like I said, I didn't feel the DB behind me, so I just tried to let the ball come down in my hands. But you play and you learn. I should have just gone up for it and made the play on it by jumping up, attacking the ball. I learned from that and, like I said, it's something I'll try not to have happen again."
The Texans are 6-3 against the Jaguars when they've had Johnson on the field. He's averaged 6.1 receptions and 74.9 yards with a total of three touchdowns.


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