Chris Johnson wasn't very highly touted and a lot of people had him as a 2nd or 3rd rounder. A bunch of teams passed on him and probably didn't even consider him for their first round pick.
TPN, this is in no way directed towards you.
But when you look at what Chris Johnson did these last two years, I believe it is obvious, there were many people who were flat out wrong.
It is possible that he was graded poorly for reasons not related to talent.
However, someone in Tennessee at least, was able to see the talent.
Some people won't even look at a guy, if he didn't come from a big name school, and has accolades, and accolades heaped upon them. They let other people evaluate talent for them, and they end up with your Reggie Bushes, and Dez Bryants, and Marshawn Lynches.
TPN, rmartin, and several other of our draft watchers do a very good job of recognizing talent. It is their own opinion, because they study these guys, and don't just follow the hype.
I'm seeing the same correlation to people who watch our team. Some people won't believe the Texans have what it takes to win big in 2010.
Some people I can understand. They believe the Texans had what it took to win big in 2009, especially with the strength of schedule we faced. Completely understandable.
Others just have no clue. They look at 8-8, 8-8, 9-7 and say the team is mediocre. They completely ignore how the team is playing. There isn't a mediocre team in the league that can put up our stats, and send so many players to the pro-bowl (largely affirmation by their peers). I will agree that our results have been mediocre. But there is no way I can believe this team is mediocre.
Many identified tackling as a serious issue last preseason. It is a fundamental that a team has to excel at, if they expect to win any games. Those that identified the issue are the guys who are watching football, and not just crossing their fingers hoping we can win. Those are the guys with legitimate gripes about our team, and our coach. Defensively, we ended the season tackling much better than the way we started. Our offensive line was playing much better at the end of the season than they were at the beginning. Andre Johnson is not the same guy who led the league in 2008. & Matt Schaub is a much better QB, than he was in Sept 2009.
IMHO, I can't imagine a real football guy not liking the Texans' chances in 2010. Sure they have a lot of things to prove, but if you watch the team, you know it is not outside of their ability.
Yes it was possible in 2008, definitely in 2009. But in those years, a lot more things would have had to bounce our way. They didn't. Things still need to bounce our way in 2010, all teams need it (ask the Colts, or America's Team), but not nearly so much.
& yes, GK & RS have done a good job of finding diamonds in the rough so far; Owen Daniels, Eric Winston, Zac Diles, Glover Quinn, Jacoby Jones, even Steve Slaton. in 4 years.