GAME-BREAKER
WR DeAndre Hopkins ranked third last season in receptions (111) and receiving yards (1,521). He also scored 11 touchdowns. Entering this season, Pro Football Weekly ranked him sixth behind Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Dez Bryant, Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall. Through 11 games, Hopkins is tied for 25th in receptions (55) and 41st in yards (610). He has just three TDs. Dropped passes haven’t been a problem. According to Sportradar, he has two for a low drop rate of 3.5%. Hopkins has been the subject of more and more double coverage, and the Texans just can’t get him the ball.
WEAKEST LINK
It was a weak year as usual for quarterbacks in unrestricted free agency. The only player with youth (he was 25) and potential was Denver’s Brock Osweiler. Broncos GM John Elway established a number for re-signing him, and when the Texans offered $72 million over four years ($37 million guaranteed) he was gone. He started one year at Arizona State and seven games in Denver, and was hurt a lot. Tired of playing with Brian Hoyer and T.J. Yates, management took a shot with Osweiler. He has the Texans atop the AFC South even though his best single-game passer rating has been merely 90.7.
McGINN’S VIEW
Sometimes players just grow on you. Defensive lineman Antonio Smith has been one of my favorite players for years. For a while earlier this season it looked as if Smith, 35, would be calling it a career. He earned a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos in February and became an unrestricted free agent in March, but for six months he remained on the unemployment line.
When the Texans decided J.J. Watt had to go on injured reserve with a groin injury, they called Smith, worked him out and signed him Sept. 28 to a one-year, $985,000 veteran’s minimum contract.
It didn’t take Smith long to start contributing. He always has and always will. He played a game in four days, and two months later has one-half sack and four quarterback hurries in 134 snaps.
The Arizona Cardinals drafted Smith in the fifth round in 2004 from Oklahoma State. He was the 15th-rated defensive end in my draft series.
Of the all the defensive linemen drafted that year, the only two still playing are Smith and fellow Texan NT Vince Wilfork.
“He gives you veteran savvy and the ability to penetrate and rush the quarterback,” an NFL personnel man said Wednesday. “Has some third-down value. Great locker-room presence. Very good teammate.”
Smith has in-between size and 33 ⁄ -inch arms, so he can play almost any D-line position in any scheme. Counting playoffs, he has 51 sacks in 191 games, including 140 starts, for the Cardinals, Texans, Raiders and Broncos.
At the Super Bowl, Denver’s Bill Kollar, the consummate NFL defensive line coach, went on and on about what Smith meant to the Broncos’ great defense in his 32.9% playing time. Every time I saw Smith he was always playing extremely hard, mixing it up and making plays.
Interior pass rushers are worth their weight in gold. To do it for 12 years requires remarkable athleticism, skill, stamina and durability.
How has Smith managed to survive while almost all the others have fallen by the wayside?
“He doesn’t have much left in the tank, but whatever it is, he will use it all,” an NFC personnel director said Wednesday. “He’s a throwback without elite talent. He plays like football is all he has. Coaches, especially defensive coaches, love that.”
Smith was cut twice by Arizona before getting his career underway. He earned a starting job in 2005 and held one for the next decade. From 2007 through ’14 he never played less than 67.9% of the snaps. In his first tour of duty with the Texans, he logged a career-best 85.7% in ’10.
Don’t sleep on Smith. A year ago, when the Broncos wiped out the Packers in Denver, C Corey Linsley let him go on a stunt and he sacked Aaron Rodgers in 2.4 seconds.
Before the 2004 draft, Bears GM Jerry Angelo was asked about Smith’s effort. “That will never be in question with him,” he replied.
It will be a nice way for Smith to be remembered.