Andre Johnson is the embodiment of a playmaker in the NFL. Defenses have to account for him, and the Texans' offense is an entirely different beast with him on the field, as it seems at times like he can almost score at will.
With all the good vibes flowing in the offseason, everyone is happy to see a Texans team returning at near full health. We are all looking forward to see what kind of aerial damage Schaub can do throwing to Johnson, Walter, Davis, Jones and Daniels.
However, a little black cloud has floated into the steel blue Texans sky. Andre Johnson had an arthroscopic procedure on his knee last week.
We all thought he was better, but that doesn't seem to be the case:
“(My knee) did start bothering me at a certain point after I came back,” he said. “But during the week, during practice, I really wasn’t practicing much. I pretty much was just taking reps here and there, resting and then getting ready for the game on Sunday. I came back out during offseason workouts and it kind of flared up on me again. So we just took it from there.”
Thankfully the prognosis seems good:
“I feel good right now,” he said. “The knee didn’t swell up or anything. It has a little bit of swelling, but nothing major. If you looked at my knee, you wouldn’t really even be able to tell anything is wrong with it. Other than that, I am feeling fine, just rehabbing every day, doing what I need to do to get back on the field.”
For what it's worth, AJ has had this kind of surgery before:
“I’ve had it done to my shoulder when I was in college and I came right back and didn’t miss a beat,” he said. “So I’m just doing what I need to do to get myself ready. We don’t play any games any time soon...I mean, I’ve been through this (OTAs) before. This isn’t my first time through this, so I know what to expect.”
If this were any other team, I'd take it with a grain of salt and figure our star player would just power through and continue being the playmaker he's always been. However, this is a Texans team that has been ravaged by injuries and has seen what its offense looks like without Andre Johnson on the field.
The biggest scare for me with this news is that for the first time, I'm now thinking of Andre Johnson as old. I've always thought of him as one of the younger playmakers in the league. But the fact is that he'll be 27 going into this season and fighting a nagging knee injury. I don't see him as having any less ability; I'm just worried that he'll be injury prone. That is, that he'll be more likely to be out this year because of injury.
Another reason for worry is that our franchise triplets at QB, RB and WR are all coming off injuries. I'm hoping the 2008 Texans take these words to heart on the field this year.