He was vilified? Meh... He was glorified first. There was s&*t-ton of hype early on, as he was electric. He certainly has the tools and brought it to the house early in his career as a return man and SOME brilliant catches, but he's WAY too inconsistent. But he gradually lost his support in Houston week by week/month by month as his fun to watch return touchdown celebrations became more overshadowed by his drops, fumbles, muffs, etc... Eventually I think alot of fans tired of the roller-coaster ride that is Jacoby. He certainly wasn't run out of town because he was a great receiver and return man.
Special teams wise, we're still having the same problems. Even fumbles & muffs, after getting rid of our second (our second) return specialist (specialist).... & we still can't block for the guy.
I was watching Green Bay's special teams, every kick-off return that resulted in a touch back, every man ran through the end-zone. Every man. If we kicked the ball off that ended in a touchback, half the team was headed towards the bench once they got to the 20 yard line.
Probably means nothing, right? & How does this relate to Jacoby?
All in all, MOST around here are glad to see him gone, and saddened by the last Jacoby appearance in a Texans uniform resulted in:
Jacoby definitely deserves most of the blame for that & I think
a lot of the blow-back from that was deserved. However, we (the whole team) were doing things & taking chances that game that we just don't do. Tj Yates consistently throwing the ball into coverage for one.
I've got no evidence to back it up, other than I thought that was an uncharacteristic performance from the whole team. The Defensive guys stepped it up big time. That's great, they were challenged & they answered the bell.
To me, it looked like the special teams & the offense was challenged to do the same that resulted in poor decisions. To me, that's knowing your players & knowing how to get 112% from them. We saw one coach who managed it well & two that didn't.
None of that takes responsibility away from the players, I don't think. Jacoby shouldn't try to field a ball on the rebound with a defender in his face. But why in the heck was there a defender in his face?
Last year we were right there with the best return teams, but none of them had to deal with the constant pressure our return man had to face.
To me, it looked like they were told to "make a play" & they tried, just didn't work out the way we wanted. Bad on the player, I'm not saying otherwise, equally bad on the coach for asking inconsistent players to take chances in such an important game.
I still think we could have won that game if we'd have used the "game manager" approach that got us to that game.
So, in summary, Jacoby is deemed as HUGE reward - HUGE risk. With the highs, you have to accept the lows. Houston, after 5 years, finally decided the risk came with too high a price.
I agree with the huge risk/huge rewards statement. As the head coach/offensive coordinator, you're supposed to be able to manage/limit that risk & maximize the rewards. As fans we've been begging for a deep threat opposite Andre to help relieve pressure on Andre. Jacoby had a productive season for a third receiver, followed by another season that would have made him a starter (#2) on just about any other team in the league... he's outperformed the guy in front of him in "reciever stats" but is constantly told that is not good enough??
I know Andre has had great years regardless where/when Jj lined up, but I guarantee you he would have had even better numbers with a burner like Jacoby lining up across from him on a more regular basis. I guarantee you if Jacoby was playing instead of KDub the other night, it would have been a different game all-together
Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter that Jacoby left, I'm happy for him. It's screwed up that he went to the Ravens (who will probably be our biggest rival over the next 10 years) but leaving this team (which I love) is probably more beneficial to Jacoby than us (we don't have the QB or the Coach he needs to succeed. Doesn't make us a bad team, just different, not a good fit.)
Think about that kid that you used to love hanging around with when you were younger. You felt sorry for him, because he's got all the talent in the world, an infectious smile, & wouldn't hurt a fly. He's a good kid, but you know he won't be able to escape his environment. His life is going to be wasted because of his circumstances.
I know we see this scenario play out all the time, with your Andre Johnsons, Jabar Gafneys, Kevin Walters... etc. But to me, Jacoby is different. He didn't go to Miami, or Florida, or Eastern Michagan, or any Div I program. He's a totally different kind of success story that I love & I know about this story because of the Houston Texans, because of Gary Kubiak, so there is no ill will there, only gratitude. I love the Texans more than I love Jacoby Jones, which is why I'm here & not a Baltimore fan.
I'm not related to Jacoby, never had the pleasure of meeting him, but I see kids like Jacoby all the time & I think Jacoby's story is a good story for those kids, an inspiration. In the NFL there's only one champ, but in life there are all kinds of winners. He's not the best receiver in the league, but Jacoby is a winner. Period.
