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It's all about Joppru!!

Ibar_Harry

All Pro
At least BJ showed up for practice, so he's started down the trail to be an active Texan. I hope he's able to get in shape and show what he's capable of doing on the turf.
 

Vinny

shiny happy fan
According to Casserly, he's looking good in practice...

The team is also still awaiting a return on the second-round investments they made in tight end Bennie Joppru and running back Tony Hollings.

Joppru has missed each of his first two years because of a groin injury, and Hollings also has battled injuries, playing in just 21 games in two seasons.

"The grade is incomplete on those guys," Casserly said.

"If you take a guy who has a history of injuries and he doesn't play, shame on you. If you take a guy who has never been hurt, and then all of a sudden he gets hurt, you just have to chalk that up to bad luck. Both of those guys have ability.

"Tony has shown it, and Bennie has shown it on the practice field, and he's fine now."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3138648

Bennie!!!
 

D-ReK

RAWWWRR!
That's really good to see/hear/read...Hopefully both will make a positive impact this year and prove to be worth what we invested in them...
 

Ibar_Harry

All Pro
I'm quite capable of making positive comments, but the Texans usually find a way to burn you when you do with misinformation. Right now, there is a big positive in that they say BJ is healthy. Is that fact, fiction or smoke? I hope he is healthy, because he could really help us a great deal. The best rated TE in the draft has similar problems that BJ has and I don't believe he has the skills that BJ has. Therefore if BJ is healthy and able to play, it would be like signing a number 1 TE draft pick who's better than any TE on the board. What makes me nervous, however, is that Texans have been less than candid concerning the health of players before. BJ could make a very big difference. He can block and he has great hands. We don't have to switch players with BJ regardless of the play. That would be an extemely big plus for our team.

I posted this a little while ago in another forum, but I will add it here since I get so much criticizm. I to am going by what Cass says, but don't forget Hollings and Mr. B. I really hope they are being honest with us. He really could make a tremendous difference for us.
 

Davis37

Rookie
Ive read alot of good posts on here, and now ill give my oppinion. I agree that having BJ in the game would help us cause the defense wouldnt be able to key in on what we're doing (like Miller or Breuner). I personally havent seen him play very much, so i can comment on how much talent he has. I think that the reason our TE's didnt catch many passes last year is because Capers was trying to break Carr of the habit of just looking for the TE and not AJ. Im not saying that is the only reason, but I do believe that the Dominator was trying to get Carr and AJ to build chemisty. If you remember, b4 last season, about 1/2 of Carr's passes would go straight to the TE for 5-6 yard gains b4 he would even look at AJ or Bradford. Well, thats my 10 cents, and ill b waiting for all of you to say that im wrong. :whistle: :listening
 

texan37664

Practice Squad
Grid said:
eh.. this draft sucks at TE.. I honestly wouldnt use a pick on any of them except possibly Matt Jones.

I think we are better off just trying to find a diamond in the rough in the 6th or 7th round.. or trying to pick one up in a hurry through FA.

really though.. we have Gaffney, Armstrong, and DD.. all of them are capable of doing the duties of a receiving TE. So I dont think we will be dead in the water without a good TE.. but i do think we need to try to do something about it by next year if Joppru doesnt step up.
I think Matt Jones is going to be a WR, not a TE. He does not have the blocking skills to be a TE. Remember, he's been a QB. Don't think he has had to throw more than 2 or 3 blocks in his whole career.
 

D-ReK

RAWWWRR!
Bottle-O-Bud said:
I dont want to believe NOTHING! I'll know his healthy when he starts in Buffalo. I have said alot of things about TEs and the draft, but somehow we need to draft a TE in the first day.
I wouldn't be against that...Even if Joppru is healthy, there is no telling how well he will play after being away from football for two years...If he performs well, then what harm is having two good TEs? Bruener and Miller are both FAs after 2006, and I think a "changing of the guard" is in order...
 

threetoedpete

Hall of Fame
Rather than starting a new thread on this, I thought it appropriate to tack this onto the back of a meandering thread. Give it the weight it deserves.
Frist, the draft is an inexact science. There is more art to it than science. You get in a room with all the guys crunch the numbers. look at the emperical data, in the end, you make the best guess you can. I understand what John Lopeze's function in the Houston chronicle is. He is a bomb thrower designed to sell papers. That's his rice bowl. The fact that I only have to put up with him twice a year , durring the draft and durring the start of the season, makes him tollerable to me. What I would lke to know from Mr. Lopez is where the heck have you been all off season ? Where is your Mock draft ? Who should the Texan's select with the thirteen ? Do they hold it ? Do they move up or down ? You know the article this morning, really got me. Go back to you're first loves JL, leave us alone. You know squat bout the game and less about the draft. Stick with the things you know about.
CC has done a good job on the whole. Injuries are part of it. One year, the Old Oilers lost an entire backfeild befor the end of september. They had to claim guys off the waiver wire and all of that. We got a second round jinx. Bad Mojo, whatever. We got to have a tightend to strech a two deep zone. Period. That IS Dungy's baby. A two Deep zone, he is one of the masters of the two deep zone. . Fischer likes it too. The dump off passes are are productive, but untill we get a guy that can strech the tdz in the seem, we will contilually be 8-8. That's what breaks tdz down. Guys in the seem making plays. We ain't got none of those guys yet. BJ might be.
As far as Matt Jones is concerned, he is a very intrigueing prospect. The only negitive I see in the guy is thst he still wants to be an NFL QB. If he's heart isn't in the switch, that spells trouble to me. You can teach guys to block. You can't teach them to run 4.39's forties in the seem of tdz's. So in the second do you take a chance at the guy, shore up the o-line, pick the WR if you pass on him in the first ? Pick the swing D-lineman to help the grey beard ? I don't know what they're going to do. That's what makes it fun. Biggest poker game on the planet. I just hate cheep skate moochers entering the game late. . Maybe parasite is a better term.
 

DBLR1

Practice Squad
I would like to know where I said that he would be Antonio Gates? Many of you criticized me for saying he was going to be AG and what I said is that he would have that type of impact, an impact on our offense as a whole. He has great hands, good speed, good blocking, and great intensity. If the guy comes back and contributes the way I believe he will that will open our offense w/ more options and less focus on our key guys. I agree with 3 toed pete about the zone that Indy plays and BJ will help us beat that ****. I personally hate Michigan but I have always liked Joppru. I am trying to be a glass half full guy here and all the negativity from certain people should just push the off button on your computer and go away because it will get us no where. You might as well pour beer on Bennie! :hmmm:
 

JustBonee

Veteran
Never thought I could root for anyone from Michigan either (devoted OSU fan here) :) .. but he's got my full support. Hope he shows us some of that fire this year.
 

DocBar

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Lots of good posts on here. I guess I'm like everyone else....JUST ONE @#%$&*(&^%$##@ PLAY!!!!!!!!!! :heh: :heh:
 

DRIFTAWAY

Rookie
For all that matters, Joppru has yet to show me anything. I won't be excited about his return, because quite frankly i don't know what to expect from him. He won't get any respect until he shows me something, not neccessarily an Antonio Gates type performance though. As of right now he's classified under bust.
 

Andre_Johnson88

Practice Squad
Hey how big of an impact do you think Joppru will make IF he ends up being ready this season?I mean he was selected in second round so he must have some impressive skills somewhere.... Thoughts?
 

F-minus67

Veteran
I think he will have about the same numbers as Miller had the first year. He will get most of the passes that Carr used to send to Davis when he felt pressure.
 

SBTexans08

Rookie
Makes no difference to me. I'll throw a sigh of relief along with a "damn it's good to see you play!!" and cross my fingers hoping he'll last the entire season.
 

Hervoyel

BUENO!
It's all about Joppru!!
No, it is not. It's not even mostly about Joppru. I'd go so far as to say it's not even a little bit about Joppru. Yes, it would no doubt be good to have a better TE than we do at present but from 1995 until 2002 Bruener started 111 games at TE for the Steelers and they weren't suffering from a lack of production at the TE position. They were doing just fine.

Were they throwing the ball to him ten times a game? Of course not! But he was getting the job done in their offense. Now maybe he's not the player he was then and maybe we'd rather have a TE that's more involved in the passing game but that's not the biggest thing on the Texans plate and increased production from the TE isn't going to do a damned thing for our offense if Carr looks at AJ then dumps to DD. You could have Gates on this team and it wouldn't matter until the line begins to pass protect consistently AND David Carr begins to trust them.

It's all about the offensive line. Even the part concerning the defense gets better or worse depending on how the line responds this year.
 

SBTexans08

Rookie
Hervoyel said:
No, it is not. It's not even mostly about Joppru. I'd go so far as to say it's not even a little bit about Joppru. Yes, it would no doubt be good to have a better TE than we do at present but from 1995 until 2002 Bruener started 111 games at TE for the Steelers and they weren't suffering from a lack of production at the TE position. They were doing just fine.

Were they throwing the ball to him ten times a game? Of course not! But he was getting the job done in their offense. Now maybe he's not the player he was then and maybe we'd rather have a TE that's more involved in the passing game but that's not the biggest thing on the Texans plate and increased production from the TE isn't going to do a damned thing for our offense if Carr looks at AJ then dumps to DD. You could have Gates on this team and it wouldn't matter until the line begins to pass protect consistently AND David Carr begins to trust them.

It's all about the offensive line. Even the part concerning the defense gets better or worse depending on how the line responds this year.
Yup....I agree wholeheartedly. Until the Texans solidify that line...we aren't going to be anything special on offense. Once that O-line protects Carr to where he can build some confidence and has time to actually execute the play with his guys....then we'll get rolling. Until we get this offensive line looking somewhat as a cohesive unit....we'll be yearning to see our offense shine.
 

El Tejano

Hall of Fame
True. Never really thought of it til you brought this up but if the TEs go out for a pass they wont be there to help block for the line.
 

Porky

Hall of Fame
Last time I looked, a good TE can help the line. I think he will have a major impact. I don't know about an AG type impact, but having a complete TE will help the offense in inumerable ways. Also, today's offenses involve the TE more than those of a decade ago.
 

wrestler4life

Waterboy
I live in So Cal, so I can't always hear what is going on as well as those of you in Houston. Is Joppru healthy and expected to play this year?
 

Vinny

shiny happy fan
Porky said:
Last time I looked, a good TE can help the line. I think he will have a major impact. I don't know about an AG type impact, but having a complete TE will help the offense in inumerable ways. Also, today's offenses involve the TE more than those of a decade ago.
Yep, a TE is pretty much a lineman for all intents and purposes...except one that is pass-eligible. A dual threat TE will do wonders for this offense and will help in protections since teams have to account for a pass catching threat if he is not helping to block. This is year 4 and we are still waiting for our first legit TE. Joppru could impact this offense in a major way.
 

THEFUTURE

Rookie
hell I'll be our new TE, i can do it i swear...hell if Antonio Gates can go from college basketball to Pro Football, so can i :jam:
 

briptexanfan

Practice Squad
Honoring Earl 34 said:
:brickwall It could be worse ,we could have spent the 6th pick on Winslow jr.
joppru injury could be a blessing in disguise, we made have won a lot more of the close games last year if he was healthy. after 3 years of building through the draft i think we are ready to start picking near the bottom of the draft and i think he will be a very big part of that. the only thing that matters is building a team that has a chance to win a superbowl. and the higher picks help a lot when you are starting from scratch. now the pieces are almost all in place and we just sit back and wach them grow together as a team. now i think we will start drafting near the bottom of the draft starting next year and start using more quality free agents grabs to fill the last few holes of the team.
 
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