Haden has huge challenge in return
Coty Sensabaugh was a cornerback at Clemson when he had to work in practice against three receivers who have already made a significant impact in the NFL – Sammy Watkins, DeAndre Hopkins and Martavis Bryant.
Imagine having to cover those teammates on a daily basis.
“It was hard, man,” Bryant said.
Two of those players will reunite on Christmas in Houston, each hoping to make the types of plays for which they have become known for their respective teams.
Bryant will assume a bigger role for the Steelers because of Antonio Brown’s calf injury. Brown, the NFL’s leader in receptions (101), receiving yards (1,322) and 20+ yard catches (27), is expected to be out until at least the first postseason game. The last time Brown missed a game, Bryant had the best game of his career, catching nine passes for 154 yards and rushing twice for 40 yards in a 2015 playoff game in Denver.
Hopkins, who leads the league with 12 touchdown catches and is second to Brown in receiving yards (1,313), will continue to do what he does best – snatch just about everything thrown his way.
“He has the biggest hands I’ve ever seen,” Bryant said. “It’s crazy. When he wears gloves, he has to cut slits in them just to put his hands in the gloves so they’re not tight. It’s ridiculous.”
Hopkins uses those hands and his size (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) to out-position defensive backs and make contested catches look routine. He has managed to catch 92 passes, fourth most in the league, despite a season-ending knee injury to rookie DeShaun Watson on Nov. 2. With Watson at quarterback, the Texans averaged 34.7 points in his six starts, including 40.5 points in a four-game span. Since then, they are averaging 14.7 points per game, including just 13 during their current fourgame losing streak.
“He’s one of the few guys I’ve ever been around who thinks he should get the ball every play and he thinks he’s open every play, no matter what,” said Sensabaugh, who played only on special teams against the Patriots. “You can have one guy on him, two guys on him, he legitimately thinks he’s open. If the quarterback doesn’t throw it to him, he gets mad.”
He has been making contested catches since emerging from Andre Johnson’s shadow after being a No. 1 draft choice in 2013.
“That’s his game,” Sensabaugh said. “He prefers for people to jam him and get their hands on him, so he can play basketball, play like Charles Barkley and outrebound them.”
Defensive coordinator Keith Butler used more press man coverage last Sunday than they have in his two years running the defense. It is something he has been wanting to do all season, especially in the second half.
But the implementation of that plan was slowed when cornerback Joe Haden fractured his fibula on Nov. 12 in Indianapolis and missed the past five games. Haden, though, is expected to return and start against the Texans, hoping to stem some of the 13 completions of 40+ yards – second most in the league – that have plagued the secondary. Eight have come in the past six games. Hopkins has only two catches of 40-plus yards, but he is second in the league to Brown with 23 catches of 20+ yards.
“Covering him is not enough,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Just simply being close is not enough. We better make plays on the ball. If we don’t he will.”
“He’s got a combination of size, speed, route-running and catch radius, and he’s great on the sideline,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “He understands where he is on the field so he’s able to get both feet in. He’s made some incredible plays for us this year on that.”
He will need to make more if the Texans want to beat the Steelers.